Monday, May 12, 2014

Around the Garden


 A storm is blowing in
so I thought I'd take some shots
of the garden in case they get severe.
The bird bath is framed in both light and dark
purple iris with Stella D'oro daylilies in front.
  Bees and colorful butterflies have been regular visitors.
It isn't unusual to see a cat perched on the bowl.
I'm not sure why it is more tasty than their own 
water, but apparently it is!


My Knockout Rose is still alive!
Thanks farm girls for the tips.
I was about ready to pull it out by the roots.


I tied up the peony bush last night.
They are so pretty until a storm hits and then they
lay down the rest of their bloom time.
Right now the ants are enjoying the unopened 
blossoms of the other two plants.


The bee balm is impressive as ever.


And the hostas are thriving in the early cool weather
followed by warm days for the past week.
I planted row of coleus in front which always looks nice in fall.
I normally try to get a variety of colors but didn't have
much luck this year. 


Our chives require little or no work,
in fact I rarely ever watered their container
and yet they get thicker and prettier each year.


The wild columbine are my favorites,
so dainty and bounce in the breeze.
It's really breezy tonight with the storm coming in.


The spider lily came back.
I was a bit concerned after we piled up so much mulch
but it makes its daily morning debut.


We have some volunteer around here too.
A couple of these made it into my daughter's 
Mothers Day bouquet, picked by her daughter, Taylor.


 With luck, and a little help from Mary,
we will have a nice, gentle rain rather than a raging storm. 
    
Have a wonderful evening!



8 comments:

HIBISCUS HOUSE said...

Everything is looking good!

Harry Flashman said...

Your place looks like a botanical garden. My homesite did too, before we got chickens. But the chickens took everything down to bare earth, in conjunction with the goats I bought.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

The chickens don't get to free range. Between the hawks that sit watching for them in the trees and the cats, coyotes, raccoon and opossum, we keep them in a run. We toyed with goats but not quite ready yet.

Dolly- thanks for the rose tip!

Gorges Smythe said...

I miss the beautiful peonies ("piney's," we called them) that used to grow where I was raised. The current owners mowed them off and chainsawed off the old lilac bush as well.

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Gorges- that is terrible! It would have been better to offer them to you or at least cuttings. I tried to take cuttings of my grandmother's 100 yr old lilacs but it just didn't take. Fortunately she lived in a small town and I probably can get someone to send me another shoot. I'll have to ask.

Carolyn said...

We had that storm come through last night, but nothing serious and we need the rain (it's actually still softly raining this mornning). Beautiful gardens. Glad to know I'm not the only one who lets volunteer flowers grow where they come up...even if it's in the cracks of the sidewalk!

LindaG said...

You have such a beautiful yard!
I guess I need to get a rose bush, since once we get chickens, they like roses.

But the only one I ever had, I killed quite completely.

Try DE or chopped orange peels around your peony. I just read that both are bad for ants. :-)

Cats prefer the bird bath because it tastes like birds and bird poo. ;-)

*hugs* ♥

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

Linda, it's not all beautiful, only what I let you see LOL! Seriously, we have our problem areas, one being the mold/moss that grows on the siding and the roof. We'll have to get someone to come out and power wash, it's a tall house so I don't have the equipment to get that high. Then there is the back of the house beneath the retaining wall where it slopes to the woods. Such wild weeds where we can't run the mower. I need some goats to drop by.