Join Me on My Morning Walk

I will give you fair warning, this post is laden with flower photos.  So if you are hoping for some pithy words of wisdom, forget it! 

If you want a colorful morning in the garden, grab a cuppa and join me for a spell.

I did a post on starting these Delphiniums from seed.  I sent to Dowdeswells for this glorious variety (not available in your ordinary garden center.)

Here are the results. I Love this shade of blue, it pops amongst all its garden comrades.



This next one has the large black bee (center part) and really catches the eye. 



You can see the Delph in the background of this photo of my impressive Warsaw Nike Clematis.

It is the one leaning over way in the back there…



I was pleased to get a white one from my mixed batch of seeds.  The photo is poor, it really is an impressive one.



This is my mid-blue with a white bee, the color is in between the lighter colored one at top and the darker one.  I love the range of blues.  I want to make sure to plant them altogether for an impressive show. 



The lilies are starting, most of mine are a vibrant orange and an orangey red. 





I tried to get an overall shot too. You can see the California Poppies at their feet.  This is the time of year when my garden goes from predominantly purples and pinks to more yellows and oranges.



There is still plenty of pink though…

Rose Campion



This is the Sweet William I mentioned before, with the multicolored blossoms. 



Pink Canterbury bells.  This one surprised me, the parent plant is purple.



Dragons Heart Cranesbill geranium



Oh there is more, but I have to go to work now, and I must get ready to go…so stayed tuned.  I shall share the rest ASAP. 
Ta….

Backwoods Cottage.com

As Summer Flies By

I know, you are thinking that Summer has just begun but time does seem to be just flying.  It has been 5 days since I last checked in.

The days have been packed with all sorts of things that did not include blogging!  The weather has cooled down, in fact, my heater clicked on the past two mornings just to bring the house to 68 degrees inside.

My house stays very cool, great for the summer weather but not if it does not warm up at all during the day.  It was downright cold on Saturday, a high of 55 degrees with cloudy skies and a nippy breeze does not make this heat lovin’ gal happy!
So what have I busied myself with???

Painting.. I have had several custom orders come in and I have knuckled down to get them done.

These are just a couple, a man ordered these to put into his garden. 



Cady is the customers granddaughter.  He wanted something with ladybugs and butterflies with a cute font.

I am not quite sure who Samantha is but the sign was first ordered with just lettering but it just was too plain next to Cady.  So a couple roses were added. 



The garden is beginning to change to it’s summer colors.  In Spring the purple flowers seem to dominate but now the Summer perennials are beginning to take over.
 
Bright yellow coreopsis



It is stealing the show at the moment but the Black Eyed susans are getting ready to add their various shades of happy colors.



The Sweet Williams are always a favorite. I have so many colors. 

 A vibrant red.



rosy pink



These are but a few.  I have one plant that has several colors on each stalk.



that is all I have time for tonight…until next time.

Backwoodscottage.com

For the Love of Summer!

My absolutely favorite time of year, Summer.  Can life get any better than this…

Canterbury Bells in purple..



We have had a full week of fabulous temperatures that have my garden outdoing itself.  I take my first cup of coffee out each morning to enjoy the blooms of the day. 

This week has been cram packed full of activities but I take my sweet time in the morning to just soak up what I love about this time of year. 

Pink Sweet Peas



We are to have a cool down, a dramatic one over the next 5 days or so.  Most of my plants will do just fine if the nights do not drop below the 40’s.  My tomatoes and basil will not like it in the least so I will try to give them some protection.

Princess Diana rose



Seems ridiculous to have to protect the plants when it is more than past mid-June.

Eden Rose



It is what it is.

This rose below I do not know the “real” name for.  I just call it my Grandpa Nute rose.  Grandpa Nute was my paternal grandfather.  This rose was planted out by his well house for 30 odd years.  Each summer my cousins, brothers and I spent a good week or so with our grandparents.

We had tons of fun. Getting up at dawn to milk the cows with Grandpa, he sharing his coffee with us before we headed out to the barn(our cups were filled with mostly fresh hot milk with a tad of coffee and a teaspoon of sugar).



As we all traipsed to the barn loaded with milk buckets and other milking paraphernalia, we had to go past the well house.  Grandpa would pause as he gazed at this lovely rose blooming it’s heart out and rhetorically ask, “isn’t that the purdiest thing you ever saw?”

Grandma could see the rose from her kitchen window and she was just as attached to it.

So when we had to sell their house I made sure we dug it up (I should say my patient and loving husband did, he broke 3 shovels and nearly his back to get it out of the ground for me)and I took it with me. 



It loves it here and I can see it from my studio French doors.  I need to take cuttings and propagate it, it is one tough puppy and it blooms forever. I am training it to cover this lattice, soon I will have a wall of red roses. 

I have a couple roses in pots on my back deck and they are performing well too.

Anne Boleyn



Dreamweaver



My foxgloves are at their best.



This one is an unusual banana crème color.



Petal Pusher



Elke cranesbill geranium



I have tons more but will share those another day.  I am glad you could join me for a little garden tour.  This journal of my blooms will be lovely to look back on this coming winter.

I can at least pretend to be taking a morning walk in the garden as I sip my coffee by the woodstove on a cold, dark winters morning. 

Happy Summer!

Tootsie Time