This week, most of the hydrangeas are starting to show their blooms.
Mophead Hydrangea
So far ONE of the mopheads has flowers on it, but I haven’t looked too carefully at the other seven.
Lacecap Hydrangea
This lacecap hydrangea is also just getting started.
Annabelle Hydrangea
Both of the Annabelle hydrangea’s are blooming. I need to cut this one back a little bit because it wants to block the path.
Late Blooming Azaleas
After a little lull, the latest blooming azaleas are essentially at their peak now.
Late Azalea on the slope
The two behind the bench didn’t have very many blooms this year, and the purple encore azalea didn’t look too good either. I think they were just a bit too stressed last year.
Fungus
While clearing out the lower paths today, I came across this fungus growing in the shade of a Hardy Begonia seedling. I left him in place.
Blue-Eyed Grass
In the center of the lower garden, some of the Blue-Eyed Grass is blooming. I just have little clumps of it here and there and this year they are not blooming all at once. Even though it looks like grass (with tiny little flowers at the end of a long thin stem), it is actually a member of the Iris family. It’s a pleasant little surprise.
White Dame’s Rocket?
In April, I posted the picture above, thinking it was White Dame’s Rocket. Although it looks very similar, now that it has gone to seed I see that it is actually…
Lunaria Money Plant Seeds
Lunaria! Or Money Plant. When dried, the seed pods turn a crisp white that looks paper thin. Very decorative.
Hostas, Coleus, Sedum, and more
I’ve added a lot of plants this year- many annual Coleus’ mainly for color. Here you can see a bright pink, and two more mottled with red Coleus mixed in with several varieties of Hosta, Hellebores, some Ivy, Sedum, Azaleas in the back, and dark purple Oxalis up front.
Caladium
I also managed to keep this green and pink Caladium alive over the winter! I let it go dormant, packed it in some loose (basically Orchid) soil, and kept it in the basement in a dark area. I brought it out late, in April, and just let it sit outside and making sure it was watered. Surprisingly to me, it started growing again! It’s bigger than last year too, I’m very happy. I potted it, and repotted the white caladium I bought this year, along with some red shiso and put it out front with some hostas. Now that I know I can keep them alive, I think I’ll get some more!
Overgrown Path
So this picture is from the summer before we moved in, when we having the home inspection done. But it’s one of the best pictures I have to show how overgrown the corner of the path would get- with the grapevine. The grapevine was out of control and had started taking over the Rose of Sharon behind it and reaching up into the big crape myrtle behind that! I hate to pull out any living plant that was purposefully planted, but I really did not care for this one particular beast. Sun is also at a premium in the yard, and I want to use it for pretty flowering plants whenever I can. There’s a pretty little fence behind the vine (that was supporting it) and I thought this year would be so wonderful to have a bank of poppies and bee balm and Liatris (blazing star). I bought and planted some seeds and whomp whomp. I didn’t take the care I should have with them.
New Plants by Fence
So last weekend while I was at Southern States to buy some other needed things, I found some plants I could not pass up. They were on sale, and were very reasonably priced. The tallest plant in the back is Japanese Catmint ‘Pink Dreams’, and then the flowering spikes in front of it is a pink salvia ‘Sensation Rose’, and in front of that is a sedum ‘Purple Emperor’. A couple of small pink snapdragons ‘Montego Mix’ (a dwarf variety) fill in the little spaces. I’m really hoping I can get these plants to grow and and spread out. I’m really excited to see how it fills out in the next few years!
Japanese Catmint
A detail of the Japanese Catmint flowers. It’s a neat plant that I didn’t really know existed until I saw it the other day. Cats are drawn to the scent but not quite as strongly as they are to catnip. I need to clean up my tags, so that I can document all the new plants.
Green Zebra tomato
And even though I’ve been pinching off flowers because I thought it was too early- a few made it through and now I’ve got a baby green zebra tomato fruit! I am definitely ready to have some fresh veggies from my own garden this year!
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