How does my garden grow?

I never seem to have time to post in the summer. Where am I you ask? In my Garden of course. Let me show you what is blooming now and what I have been up to.

 Notice the pesty red beetle? I have been dusting and spraying and now I pick them off as I find them. He went in a jar of soapy water when I finished taking the picture.

As you can see lots of day lilies. I just love them and have been buying them for years.

The roses and cone flower look pretty too.

 Then I have gone a made up a couple little fairy gardens...more to come too.

Happy Gardening all!

Join me for Outdoor Wednesday at A Southern Daydreamer.

Summer gardens

The foxglove are doing well this year as are my ferns and valerian...not so good for some others. Holes chewed in the leaves and I have sprayed hot pepper spray and insecticidal soap the good old sevin! I still have some buggers leaving holes in my leaves.

This is an old rose with the sweetest scent. It came from hubby's grandmother's yard 41 years ago. Notice the chewed leaves and I used  systemic granules also.

 I tried to get a good picture of Hobo, my stray kitty who now has a home with us. He is too busy looking for the chipmunks he knows are in the wall.

 The peonies have done well too. They are a favorite of mine. This one came from my Mom's home.

 This cinnamon fern is just stunning from all angles.

Work~work~work~

Not to much to say these days, just lots of work, not the fun kind. You know the kind of work I HAVE to do. Not in the garden or in the kitchen or even in my craft space. For me it is Real Estate, lots of appointments and paperwork and oh gosh, I feel like I have a phone attached to my ear. So when I get a minute I will wander in the gardens. We have been reworking some beds this year, taking out some trees and bushes. Did I mention weeding, weeding and more weeding?
This is my Limelight hydrangea that I put here to hold over the winter. It loves it here, maybe I will just leave it.

 The window boxes on my potting shed have stayed like this all summer.

 My containers have thrived in the heat and sometimes just going out to water them is a bit like meditation, it soothes the soul.

 Sometimes when I am on the phone too much I just get up and wander to the windows to view the gardens from inside.

 When all else fails some flowers are cut for inside....sunflowers are like a ray of sunshine!

So tonight we went for a drive, with the top down, stopped at a small, but oh so busy, restaurant by the ocean. Trying to take in the simply wonderful dry air. It was perfect. I had worked both days this weekend and just wanted some time with hubby. The ocean, espresso martinis, fresh fish, then key lime pie and coffee. YUM. Then a slow ride home.....there is no place like home ~

 

 

Just a sampling......

of what we saw at the Boston Flower and Garden show. I always come home wishing for Spring to come faster and this year it did, all last week was in the high 70's to 80's, about 30 to 40 degrees warmer than usual this time of year.  The garden show always inspires... so enjoy.

                      Reminds me of a bird house my son made for my birthday a couple of years ago.

What a great treefort :)

Love the faces.

Spring at my back door

I was out shopping yesterday and I saw these sweet Ranunculus. I couldn't resist......
I wanted a bit of color at the backdoor to greet my visitors. It is cold here today and I am so anxious for spring weather~60 degrees please! Not 30 degrees. So yes, I am dreaming of Spring.

The Wreath

OK, to make this hydrangea wreath was one of the easiest things I have done. First you cut your hydrangeas just before want to make your wreath, they dry quick and are more manageable while still damp. So after you cut the blooms you can lay out the colors in a pleasing manner. The Supplies you need are as follows:

About 50 blooms, give or take.

One straw base, whatever size you prefer.

50 U pins (1 pkg) to hold your blooms on. Base and pins available at Michael's or any craft store.

Clippers to snip your stems.

That's it. Easy Peasy

Start laying stems one overlapping the other all the way around, push u pins in to hold

Fill in around the center and outside, leave back empty, except for the u pin you will use as a hanger. You don't even need to take the plastic off the base.

The blooms will dry quickly and will last for the year. I don't spray them or anything, just leave them natural. This is a good way to get my hydrangeas all year round!

Of course my garden club made about 30 wreaths and I did not bring my camera, too much else to carry, bags and bags of blooms and other stuff too. This is fun to make and a way to extend the season a bit. Not to mention the 50+ mind that seems to forget stuff more and more.