I’ve left this for too long, and again, I apologize. When last I really wrote something, we were just planting everything, and now’s it’s November! Well, we’ll have the winter to catch up! How I dread winter this year, especially if it’s going to be like last winter. Entirely too much snow! Let’s hope it’ll be a milder winter.
Let’s look at summer plants! Maybe that will help take my mind (and yours) off the chill November wind blowing. At least we didn’t get snow this weekend. These photos are from mid-June of 2008.
Bleeding Heart and BloodleafI love the leaf on both of these plants. The bleeding heart is such a beautiful shape, and the bloodleaf is interesting also, although maybe it's the stems that intrigue me more. Such a strong fuschia color, not really red. The bloodleaf plants took to this soil like a duck to water, and they grow very quickly. A very nice addition to the shady side of the yard.Daylilies Amongs Weeds
Well, this blog is called the Weed Garden, so here’s your money’s worth. You can just make out the two daylily plants. They are doing alright so far, in spite of the weeds.
Diamond Frost
The Diamond Frost is back! We’re going to try growing it by itself this time rather than with something, although it makes a very nice companion plant for just about anything. Kind of like baby’s breath does.
2nd Summer Impatiens
This impatiens plant is actually the offspring of a hanging impatiens plant we had last year. The hanging impatiens dropped its seed into a pot that actually held some torenia that I took to work. The torenia died, but the impatiens baby continued to grow over the winter. This is how it looked after wintering at my office. Let’s see what happens over the summer!
Hanging Impatiens
This is a pretty impatiens plant. Should make a good hanging plant for the summer in back of our deck.
Heuchera/Coral Bells
The heuchera came back from last year. It sprung some funky tendril-like things that flowered. Another really pretty leafed plant.
Hibiscus
These are hibiscus. We gave one to my dad. Pretty healthy looking! The hibiscus flowers remind me so much of Hawaii, looking forward to this plant blooming! Still have to plant it at this point, though!
Dolce Key Lime Heuchera
Yeah, I think it looks like lettuce too, but it’s the dolce (sweet) key lime heuchera/coral bells. It came back from last year also, in spite of the cold yucky winter. Oops, not supposed to talk about that. Look at plants!
LantanaLook at these fiery colors. It's called Lantana, which I do get mixed up with the Verbena a little. Both have these brilliant colors in close clusters of flowers. Very pretty plant, and it'll do well along the fence.Laguna Heavenly Lilac Lobellia
This lobelia is just so pretty. It’s also along our fence, and is very light and airy.
Mandalay Begonia with Petunias
You can just make out the Mandalay Begonia with a couple of orange flowers hiding toward the top of the plant in the middle. It looks like the petunias are going to overrun the begonia, but I think you’ll be surprised to see what a good combination this turns out to be.
Hanging New Guinea ImpatiensThis hanging plant went out in the front yard, in the shade in front of our evergreen bushes. It's a beautiful plant, and very healthy. Makes a nice accent against the dark of the evergreens.Pink Chablis
This plant came back very nicely. A shade perennial. It’s along the wire fence under the fiery lantana, the lobelia and the scarlet verbena that you’ll see in a little bit.
Pinky Winky Hydrangea
Near the Pink Chablis is this Pinky Winky Hydrangea plant. It came back from last year very nicely also. Gotta love perennials.
Hanging Purple Petunias
Also along the wire fence. Another healthy plant…for now anyway!
Scarlet Star Verbena
Scarlet Star Verbena – a really vibrant red flower. Maybe next year we can pair that with the fiery Lantana and see what happens there.
Verbena on the fence
Here you can see the verbena planter as a whole, with the lantana next to it.
Black Lace, Silver Mound beginnings
This is out front, we call it our Rock Garden. Here you can still see the rocks! Not so much later on. From left, right against the fence is the Coppertina; in the center you can see the Black Lace, and at right is the “button” of Silver Mound.
Serrano Pepper plant
We found another serrano pepper plant. We had such good luck with the serranos last summer that I wanted to try them again. It comes in the biodegradable pot again. Got it at Home Depot.
This year I did find a tabasco pepper plant! Also at Home Depot, and also in the biodegradable pot. I wanted to grow these because my grandfather had them in his garden. They’re very spicy, and the pepper grows upside down (the pointy end grows pointing up at the sky rather than down toward the ground). We’ll see what happens!
I have a few more, but the picture gallery seems to be full for this post, so I’ll have to post the rest later in another post. It’s a lot of plants! But hopefully you’ll enjoy exploring their growth from this summer with me over the next few months. More to come!
