Tag Archives: garden

container gardening, garden, Illinois, organic, perennials

White & Fuzzy Progress

June 29, 2011 Lillian Davis 1 Comment


I’m really pleased with how this is turning out! The only thing I’m disappointed with is that the Yarrow in the back isn’t keeping up like I hoped.

flowers, garden, hostas, Illinois

"Gimmie More Flowers!"

June 22, 2011 Lillian Davis 1 Comment

Here’s the latest round of summer blooms

Tall Phlox ~ can’t remember the name right now… of course!

close up of Phlox flowers

Penstemon ‘Lilac Frost’ ~ Did you know there was an American Penstemon Society? I didn’t. Here’s a link to that too ~> http://www.apsdev.org/

close up of Annabell Hydrangea

lots of blooms this year~ they really love this rainy weather!

Yellow Sunset climbing rose is still going

The hosta I can’t remember the name of is now blooming

such clear white flowers on short stalks~ I wish I could remember how big it’s supposed to get!

As much as they are over done, you still can’t beat a sunny orange marigold!

My favorite Salvia- the annual ‘Victoria’

Okay, no blooms here and only a weed, but I’m still fond of this little guy~ though mistakenly called a clover by many, this is actually a yellow woodsorrel ( Oxalis stricta ). It’s completely eatable~ One of my neighbors (now passed) told me he used to eat them as a kid to settle a sick stomach. I just loved the exploding seedpods when I was a kid! Here’s a link ~> http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/weeds/plants/yl_sorrel.htm

Vinca Major close up

I have these in a window basket on my deck railing

flowers, garden, Illinois

Summer Flowers, Grapes & Labrador Proofing

June 20, 2011 Lillian Davis 1 Comment

The first day of summer is almost upon us

and the flowers continue to bloom in my garden…

……as I spend all my time in the Garden Center! (sigh…)

I don’t care what anybody says about spirea! I love my little spirea! It blooms with abandon in almost dense shade and does very well in the dry sandy soil against my house…

A closeup

and a little sunlight

Another itsy bitsy spider… Very hard to get the auto focus on the camera to fix on this. I think it took about ten minutes to get this shot!

Dappled light on the Pachysandra

A perennial Geranium called “Splish Splash”

Also a mail order plant of several years ago….

More Blooms on my dark pink clematis

The House Bunn’s veggie barrel ~ celery, Kale, oakleaf lettuce & seedlings, Cos lettuce, tiny thumbelina carrot sprouts on the left (very tiny right now) and red and white Swiss Chard sprouts on the right (also very tiny). Our Bunns are very spoiled rabbits….

Butterfly weed or asclepias tuberosa ~ also started from seed a long time ago. It’s almost ready to bloom.

A Heliopsis or False Sunflower I planted from seed several years ago,,, from this one planting in my front yard, is has reseeded itself all over my backyard…. But I love it and so do the yellow finches!

A metal butterfly I painted and attached to my arbor….

And in the vegetable garden….

GRAPES! I have grapes! Yay! This is one of two grape vines on my back fence. This one here is a seedless Red Reliance

And this one is a green seedless~ I will have to go out and look at the tag on it because I can’t remember the variety at this moment… Both of these came from Dan & Jerry’s Green house five years ago… Last year was the first year it had grapes and I’m glad to see them producing again.

….and finally, the Labrador proofing!


I got my garden in ‘very’ late this year (I’m so embarrassed!) because every day off I had, it was pouring down rain! So last week it was finally nice enough to get out and till, compost and plant! The chicken wire is to keep my black Lab, Annie out because she ate the entire garden last year! Yes, everything! Even the strawberry plants! This dog’s number one hobby is eating!

Sure… She’s all sweet and innocent now~ but as soon as your back is turned….

flowers, garden, Illinois

Tigers & Lilacs

June 11, 2011 Lillian Davis 1 Comment

A rare visitor came to my Lilac tree this afternoon.

I don’t usually see these butterflies in my garden.

Tiger Swallowtail butterfly sipping Nectar from my Japanese Lilac Tree

Bleeding heart, flowers, garden

Violets, Bishops & Iced Tea

June 9, 2011 Lillian Davis Leave a comment

Temps still in the 90’s today

So here’s a few shady pictures for ya….

Violets and bishops weed in the shade of a white birch

Another clematis I forgot the name of that’s growing on the trellis on the shady side of my house. I really need to write down the name of the plants in a note book or something!

here’s another shot of my beard’s tongue

A self sown seedling of my white bleeding heart


My K-Mart climbing rose is still hanging on. It’s 15 years old now. I call it this because this is another one I don’t remember the name of……

Okay, I had to throw a few sunny ones in here too!

This is flowers from a Red Japanese Mustard I planted in the garden four years ago. I still to this day find stray seedlings in the strangest places. This one is in my hosta bed, 15 feet away from the garden!

Tick Seed Coreopsis with a tiny wasp

Okay, I’m sorry, but here’s another shot of my beard’s tongue in the sun. It’s really blooming now and I just love this plant!

Japanese Tree Lilac read to pop!

Really huge panicals on this one.

~~~~~~~~

Today was my first day off since spring began that it wasn’t raining, storming or just too cold~

so dispite the heat, I spent the day getting dirty and filling my planters with veggies, strawberries, herbs & flowers….

Of course by the time I finished it was time to start dinner so I didn’t get any pictures of the finished projects!

I will post them by the weekend…..

So to hold ya’ll til then,

here’s a glass of cold tea on a shady porch…..

there’s my strawberries I planted today in the back. The green tray is lettuce I started early that got out of control because I couldn’t get out to plant it, so we are just going to feed it to the house bunns. And my poor Aloe hates coming outside for the summer at first. It always turns brown until it gets used to the bright sunlight. Little pots are new starts of Swedish Ivy and plain ivy.