My August Flower Garden

Today is the first day of fall so what better time is it to say "Adieu to the flower gardens."  This is always such a bittersweet time of year for me.  I look forward to a reprieve from garden chores and an opportunity to spend time indoors pursuing other creative endeavors like quilting and paper crafting, but I will also miss my beautiful blooms and warm summer days.

What better way to start an August flower gardening post than with a picture of a sunflower?  This is the only sunflower I got this year, and it wasn't even planted by me but by the birds.  I did plant sunflower seeds, but with the torrential rains we had in spring, very few germinated and the ones that did, I stepped on and crushed.  I'm such an idiot.  😆

I know this is a flower garden post, but vegetables can produce pretty blooms too.

I was in the vegetable garden and noticed this beautiful bloom on my sweet potato plant.  It looks like a Morning Glory to me.  I never grew sweet potatoes before so I had no idea they produced such beautiful blooms!

When I came back from my vacation out west I was shocked to see how beautiful my begonias look.  Don't get me wrong, they looked nice all summer, but they seemed to thrive in the cooler weather I heard we had while I was away.

I love how my front annual beds turned out this year.  These sun impatiens did so well here.  The vine is a morning glory vine that never bloomed but did produce lush, gorgeous foliage.  I have no idea why it never bloomed, this is the second time this happened to me.  All I can think of is it doesn't get morning sun, only afternoon sun, but you would think what time of day it gets the sun wouldn't matter.

Since I've taken this picture it's probably grown twice as large.  This Morning Glory is seriously out of control.  It's hard to even get on the front porch! "Feed me Seymour". 😂

I've always loved "Magic Lily's".  They are so fun, and always a sweet surprise.  They produce gorgeous green foliage in the spring and then die back.  In the fall these tall green stems pop out of the ground magically and these stunning lilies appear.  They are a fun addition to any garden, especially if you have kids!

I buy the same red/white impatient every year for my garden shed window planters.  They just love this spot and they go well with the colors of the shed.

Rudebekia, a.k.a. "Black Eyed Susans" are the star of the late summer/fall garden in my yard.  I love this plant!  Its blooms last forever, and the birds love the seeds.

A close up of my favorite Viburnum bush, that my husband just cut down 😢. He did save me a sucker though so I'm hoping it'll regrow in another part of the yard.  It just got too big for the spot it was in, and he is working on a huge landscaping project where it was.

And here's the big beauty in all its glory.  It was so hard just to walk past it, it had overgrown onto the grassy path.

This is "False Sunflower" it grows about six feet tall.  I only have it growing at the back end of my garden as it's such a huge flower.

The deer eat my phlox every year, it's so depressing.  But sometimes I still get a few blooms like this bunch pictured below.

I can't do a garden post without including a photo of Jackson.  Here he is, lounging on the screened in porch, enjoying the last few days of warm air and sunshine.  It won't be long now before he is curled up in front of the wood stove.

And this is my front garden this year.  The deer didn't eat this phlox, I wonder if it's because of the marigolds I planted in front of them?  I need to plant more marigolds next year.

 I am still struggling with feeling overwhelmed ever since I got home from my vacation.  There seems to be so much to do, and I'm struggling to keep up.  The food processing is endless.  Every afternoon from noon to five pm I am in the kitchen canning or freezing vegetables from my garden, and there seems to be no end in sight.  I am getting frustrated because there are so many other things I want to do like paper craft, blog, tend to my perennial garden, or even just clean my house, and I can't even get to it.  I was planning on starting my new Yellowstone travel series this week, but now I'm wondering if I should hold off on it till this winter because we're going on another vacation to see the grandkids in a few weeks, which, will be awesome, but will also put me even further behind schedule.  I don't remember struggling so much finding time to get everything done before.  It makes me wonder if I'm slowing down because of my age.  Anyway, I say all this to let you know I'm trying to keep a regular blogging schedule, but I am struggling.  I'll post as often as I can.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

My July Flower Garden

As promised, I am back this week with photos of my July garden.  In last week's garden post, I shared that I was behind on my gardening posts and I showed photos from my June garden.  This week I am back on track with everything that bloomed in my garden in July.

July was a wet, cool month for us.  We had a lot of flooding in our area, and everyone is complaining their vegetable gardens aren't doing well because there is too much rain and not enough heat.  So if you're wondering why I haven't posted veggie garden posts, that is why.  It's not that impressive this year.  But I will post some photos and stories soon as we had a little heat wave last week that helped things along.

With all the wind and storms that moved through this area, the gardens have been through a lot.  In the photo below you can see my poor pink Endless Summer hydrangea bush got knocked over.  I ended up cutting the blooms that were laying in the grass and brought them inside.  The white flower in the forefront is a Yucca plant.  I've had it for many years, but this was the best it had ever bloomed.

My little nightly visitors are still doing havoc in the garden, but I must admit, they know how to pose for a photo well! 😂

July is the month of hot colors and lilies.  My septic mound is almost entirely wild orange day lilies, which I absolutely love because it's almost maintenance free and hubby doesn't have to mow it.  I can't even tell you how breath-taking it is in person when all the orange lilies are in bloom, but it is so hard to photograph for some reason.  Pictures just don't do it justice.

Single orange day lilies just don't photograph well for some reason.  Here is a closer view of the mound looking back at the house.

And here is a close up with my back to the house.

Liatris

My one and only Hollyhock plant this year.  Hubby is putting in a staircase down to the lower garden for me so I had to dig up and move my hollyhock as it was in his way.  Unfortunately it did not survive the move.  But hollyhock is a biennial, so I bought some new plants and hopefully I'll have hollyhock next year.

And here is hubby working on staircase.  This will make it easier for me to get to the lower part of the yard, as right now I have to walk through the vegetable garden through two garden gates.  I know, I'm the luckiest gal in the world to have a husband who can do stuff like this. It was a hot humid day, so I rewarded him with a bowl of cold watermelon.

Lavender Bee Balm.  I have the standard red bee balm too, but somehow forgot to take a photo.

Love water plants but don't have a pond?  Just fill a container with water.  I do have a pond, but hubby uses a chemical to keep the water clean so I couldn't put my water lily in the pond.  So instead, I just filled a galvanized pan with water and stuck it in there.  It did very well!

The galvanized pan is in my fenced-in backyard patio where the deer and other critters can't get too.  It's amazing how well things grow when things aren't eating them. 😂

And here are all the different types of day lilies I have growing in my garden other than the common wild orange day lily.

A few years ago I lined a walking path with these beautiful red day lilies.  One of the best gardening decisions I ever made!  I love how their blooms open up towards the path.  I can even see them from my kitchen window while I do the dishes.

I show mostly close ups of my flowers, because when I back the camera up you see mostly green.  It's hard to capture the color with a camera, even it's very colorful in person.  Pictured above is the same day lily pictured below.  You can see how green and lush this garden is.  You can't even see the ground.

The deer really did havoc on my tall Asiatic Lilies this year.  They ate the tops off of half of them.  So sad.  But they did leave me a few to enjoy.  Pictured below is my front pond garden which I'm actually re-doing right now because it got over taken with sedum and ivy.

I have a patch of Filendipula (Queen of the Prairie) growing along my back fence.

Beautiful white hydrangea bush

I planted some Cosmos this year and I am abolutely thrilled with it! This will be a must have purchase for next year too!

Close up of a white Asiatic lily,

Same lily, shot taken farther away.  Again, look how dense the garden is.

Astilbe

Spirea bush.  I love the bright bold color.

Below is a very interesting, impressive plant.  It is a Japanese Golden Ray.  A very large Ligularia plant.  I call it my "dinosaur plant".  Its leaves are so huge up to 16 inches across!  It loves moisture but also morning sun so it can be tricky finding a spot for it in your garden.  I planted it in the corner of the north side of my house.  I planted it last year, and it didn't bloom till this year.  I'd love to be able to dig it up and move it back into the corner more.  There was/is a large hosta there that's why I didn't put it there in the first place.  I'm hoping if I'm able to move it that I won't damage it, as it is a rare beauty.

And finally I can't leave without sharing this cute photo of Jackson sitting inside a basket on my potting bench.  What a cutie!

 

I hope you enjoyed my July garden tour!  I promise I'll be back at the end of August with more photos.

Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!