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 |
A
Tag Archives: Lil’s Garden
Violets, Bishops & Iced Tea
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. |
F
Hot Weather and Yellow Roses!
Today summer came back and with a vengeance!
It was somewhere in the 90’s today with lots of humidity.
So, you would think after a long day of working out in this, the last thing I would want to do is be outside!
Nope, not me!
When I got home today, and after unloading my new bounty from the Garden Center (yes, it’s an addiction!)
I did a quick tour of my garden and saw my yellow climbing rose was blooming!
Yay!
 |
|
| Her name is Golden Sunset and she has a glorious honeysuckle like scent! |
 |
| This is my favorite rose of all time~ and yes, she’s a mail order girl! Jung’s Seeds about six or seven years ago. She’s hardy to Zone 4 and disease resistant. |
 |
| She gets around 12 feet tall but right now she’s a little sprawled out. |
A few other things were blooming as well!
 |
| My Gift Peony |
 |
| These were given to me by my neighbor who’s friend dug out a Peony hedge from her yard about ten years ago. Nobody knew the variety but oh do they have the sweetest scent! |
 |
| My Huskers Red Penstemon finally boomed. |
 |
| Pretty little flowers remind me of foxglove….. |
and my little fern…
 |
| My Japanese painted fern has seen better days. It’s not as full this year. I might have to move it. |
W
and my new D&J’s Fuchsia
 |
|
I’m going to start him in a ceramic pot on the deck
and work my way up to a hanging basket |
W
W
Itsy Bitsy Spider & forgotten Peony
I was taking pictures yesterday and saw this tiny little spider and her web in my Nine Bark.
If you look closely, she’s invited three gnats for dinner!
I
I
…and my Peony finally bloomed!
another one I planted years ago
and forgot the variety name of,
and forgot the variety name of,
Sigh……
It has a really sweet scent!
I
Ready to Bloom!
May is almost over and the weather can’t make up it’s mind if it wants to be hot or cold!
Today is cold and rainy, but regardless, everything in the garden continues to progress.
( I couldn’t wait until the blooms were fully open, so here’s a preview~
sometimes the buds themselves are just as interesting as the flowers!)
 |
| I just love this little shrub’s dainty flowers~
Purple Ninebark, Physocarpus opulifolius Diablo
|
 |
| ready to pop! |
 |
| leaf detail |
M
 |
|
| I really do like the purple leaved plants! Here, my penstemon, Husker’s Red, is getting ready. |
 |
| Fuzzy! |
M
 |
| Okay, I cannot remember the name of this hosta and of course I lost the label! Sissy, help me out here! It was one of D&J’s last year or the year before! |
 |
| The first bloom to pop open on my William Baffin- Canadian series shrub rose, ordered from Jung’s seeds catalouge about eight years ago. It’s a loose climber about 8 feet tall and closer to a wild rose. A bit of advice for anyone planting one~ while pretty, it can be a monster and needs plenty of room! |
 |
|
| Here’s a clematis that I forgot the name of as well! I also forgot to cut this and all of my other clematis’ back this year- so there is a lot of dead brown vines tangled in with the new- but it’s really full this year and bloomed earlier as a result. |
M
M
M
M
Perennial Project
I have a galvanized washtub by my front steps
that I have been planting with annual flowers for nearly eight years.
While I like the instant color of the annuals,
it’s the textures and colors of the perennials that I really love!
So this year I’m doing something a little different.
I
A white & fuzzy theme garden.
I gathered some of my favorite “white and fuzzy” plants
from my favorite garden center (supplied by my favorite green house)!
top left to right~ Snow in Summer, Yarrow
bottom left to right~ Wormwood, Silver Mound, and two Lamb’s Ears.
I
Next I get my tub ready…
I’m reusing the soil~ emptying out a few shovel fulls of old
and replacing with composted manure, with about a cup of dry, organic fertilizer~
then mixed well with a few turns of the shovel.
I
I
I
I then arranged the plants with tall in the back and short in front.
It looks a little open and sparse right now, but hopefully it will be full
and overflowing the sides by end of summer!
~
I
I
I’ll have an update photo in a few weeks for you
I
I
I
I
Jeanne Lajoie
One of my favorite little roses is starting to bloom!
O
Jeanne Lajoie is a miniature climbing rose
(another mail order plant) O
The Lowly Dandylion
T
In our youth it brought joy as we set it’s seeds afloat with a puff of breath.
Then as an adult, frustration and debt, as we tried to eradicate it from our lawns…..
Only to have our children puff new seeds afloat!
T
T
Tomato Plants…. and Magpies
Grown with lots of Organic Love…..
G
G
G
Top left~ Tommy Toe cherry, Top right ~ Martino’s Roma
Bottom center~ Tiny Tim cherry
~~~~~~~~~~~
…..oh, and here’s an update on ‘Grannie’s Magpie’
It’s covered in blooms!
(all hanging down in typical wild columbine fashion)
G
Happy Surprise
This morning, I went outside to check if my columbines had bloomed yet so I could get a picture.
What I thought was my pink and white Grandma’s bonnet, which was what I had planted in that spot two years previous, was this….
Apparently my Magpie, a black and white columbine, has cross pollinated with Granny here and this is the happy result. Sadly though, my grandma’s bonnet is nowhere to be found. I will have to start another one soon.
I wonder though, if I saved the seeds from this new cross, if it would come back true or revert back to the Magpie, like most hybrids do…. Hmmm.
I’ll let ya’ll know next year!
T
Lil's Garden Tour 