Hello sweet friends! With February’s soon arrival (Thursday), I am thinking about gardening and springtime planting!
“There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.”
Jeremiah 10:6 ESV
It was so exciting to receive my delivery of Johnny’s seeds last week…zinnias, sunflowers, snapdragons, cosmos, hybrid marigold, and butterfly/hummingbird mix!
Photo journaling is the easiest way to keep me organized with what has been planted and whether it was a success or failure. Grab a cup of coffee or tea and join me as I peruse 2023’s garden!
To view the original posts, click the highlighted links.
For new readers, our garden was established in late spring of 2015. We were definitely novices when we began. We have learned so much in nine years, but gardening is always a learning experience. We will never be able to claim expert status and aren’t even trying, we just enjoy the successes and try to learn from the failures.
April Garden Journal
By mid-April, the garden’s Bloodgood Japanese Maples and Sunshine Ligustrums are showing off their brilliant colors!
Late March or early April the Kwanzan Cherry tree is in full bloom, and it is one of my favorite blooming trees. It is at least forty five years old, maybe older. It was original to the farm when we purchased it.
Snowball viburnum is another favorite spring blooming shrub/tree. We planted two several years ago by our driveway and both had produced big showy blooms every year and were healthy. We started noticing by early summer one was not looking good. We stayed hopeful but by late summer RM said it was time to cut it down, sniff! We plan on replacing it very soon.
Celebrating Peonies
We finally planted peonies in 2019! Karl Rosenfield is the most amazing color!
Late May Garden
Sarah Bernhardt performed beautifully last year and she prided herself as being the star in floral arrangements! Not pictured is the fragrant Festiva Maxima.
Little Princess spirea has dainty clusters of rose pink blooms and mint green foliage. They make a pretty and compact border!
Stairway to Heaven iris is a showstopper and holds a special place in my heart. A dear blogging friend, Sandra, who was a lovely and knowledgeable gardener sent it to me several years ago. She passed away last February.
Plains coreopsis and cornflower thrive in RM’s wildflower garden. Both of us have enjoyed the two wildflower gardens which attract butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, and birds!
Ageless Beauty daylily is a great garden performer with large ivory flowers, a rose center, and frilly edge! I would love to have a spot just to plant daylilies.
Double Play Doozie spirea was new to our garden last year. It is drought tolerant, deer resistant, and flowers all summer!
A Walk In The June Garden
Sometimes you get a lovely photo when you least expect it. I was taking photos of the amazing and vibrant gladiolus when a ruby throated hummingbird flew into the photo at just the right time! Do you see him?
Luna Red hibiscus is a compact and well branched perennial! It blooms continuously until fall.
A Celebration Of Sunflowers
When the sunflowers bloom, I declare a celebration! I love capturing photos of their happy faces! ProCut Bicolor sunnies are a favorite. I ordered 500 seeds of the bicolor and 500 seeds of Sunrich Summer Provence. We are trying two new varieties (new to us), Desert Sun that is a branching sunflower and Sunbright Supreme, 250 seeds each!
A Walk In The July Garden
Last year we planted sunflowers in three locations. I loved seeing them behind the fence of the cottage garden! I can’t believe I never spotlighted the cottage garden with a blog post in 2023. I promise to do better this year!
The July stars of the garden are Hydrangea Paniculata! Five Vanilla Strawberry hydrangeas were planted in 2015. The large flower heads begin as a creamy white but will turn pink. Other panicled hydrangeas in our garden are three Limelights, two Little Lambs, and a Pink Diamond. Their blooms all grow on new wood which means they can be pruned without negatively impacting the blooms.
Through the hydrangea blooms you can see Sunshine Cottage, my adult and granddaughters’ playhouse. My sweet RM had it built for me in the summer of 2020. I have enjoyed countless hours reading, playing with dishes, serving up tea parties, spend-the-night parties on an air mattress with EM and EK, quiet afternoons listening to music, and an occasional nap!
The Garden’s Most Colorful Flowers…Zinnias
Zinnias are truly the gardens’s most colorful flowers! They give you a big bang for the buck! To keep them blooming until frost, you must deadhead! We received 2500 seeds with our recent order!
Zinnias are a pollinator’s paradise, bees and butterflies love them!
Garden Views
A photo taken from the cottage garden (zinnias in foreground) looking into the main garden and a view of RM’s workshop! The table is my go-to for spring, summer, and fall tablescaping!
“Gardens are not made by singing ‘oh how beautiful’ and sitting in the shade.
~Rudyard Kipling
Autumn Fire Sedum was relocated last year and it thrived in the cottage garden!
RM’s drone shot, taken last July, gives you an idea of the health of the entire garden. We had received reasonable rainfall, but soon after this photo was taken, a long dry spell became our companion!
Thank you for your visit and gracious comments. Wishing you a joy-filled day!
Linking with:Pieced Pastimes,Between Naps on the Porch,Katherines Corner,Follow The Yellow Brick Home,
Life and Linda
