The front bed of Zinnia's has started to bloom quite nicely. Lots of different colors and the green "Envy" ones are especially pretty.
Here's a little arrangement I whipped up this afternoon along with a couple of sunflowers.
I'm trying a flower preservative recipe that's supposed to keep them fresh for a week, so stay tuned. If it works, I'll share it with you.
Well, the prolonged cold snap we had during winter took it's toll on my lantana plants save one spot. All my plants in the front yard - gone! The only place I have a few sprigs coming up is under the dogwood tree on the side of the house. There it was sheltered and insulated most likely by the surrounding azalea's. Such a shame, as they were all transplants from our old home place. However, on a happier note, what I have left is the purple variety which is quite difficult to find, so I'll nurse it along and hopefully be able to transplant it back to the front.
Here's a picture I took of it in November, right before I cut it back. This particular variety looks it best in late summer and early fall. The yellow/orange variety in the background was quite showy as well but had less blooms by Nov. 
The yellow/orange variety grew to be 5 x 5 ft. and was loved by the hummingbirds and butterflies. I'll replace it but it'll be a while before it gets big as in this picture. 
This was taken in the summer and you can see how bushy it gets.
Transplanting hosta today, as you can see I have a few pots....
I completely forgot to post this little beauty when she bloomed. For the last 5 yrs this plant has lived in a landscaping pot. Almost killing it was a monthly occurrence, because most weeks I forgot to water it.
I finally planted it in the ground in the spring. It produced a lot of blooms this year, all perfect and a beautiful shade of orange. Besides lantana, I can't think of a hardier species.
I divided the main plant into 3 smaller plants, so next year, I hope to have three times as many blooms!
The colors of some of my flowers are absolutely so pretty.
Purples and Yellows -- cosmos, zinnia's and black-eyed susan.
The Dahlia flowers are perfect-something you can't fully appreciate until you see them up close. Prettier than any picture!
The black eyed Susan is certainly taking center stage, it will surely become one of my favorite summer flowers. This one plant has looked fresh with blooms ever since putting out the first ones. Amazing and it thrives in very dry conditions. My kind of plant!
Hope you're enjoying this nice(and hot)sunny day! Phew!!!
From my front garden!
The colors are so vivid, the oranges and pinks mixed along with the lantana on the back side of the fence. So pretty! My Black-eyed Susan has grown by leaps and bounds and it's really starting to blossom. There's just something about that plant--it's so ole fashioned. You can't hardly think of a country hillside without visualizing it being covered in Black-eyed Susans. Or a least I can't. (I need to take a better pic, didn't realize this one was out of focus.)
This evening was really nice outside, on the cool side with the wind blowing and the birds singing. Made me realize how fast this year is flying by. Already June, Father's Day on Sunday. Before we know it - it's going to be Labor Day...Geez!
The Farmer's Almanac predicted a hot first of the summer with cooler temps for July and August. Wonder what they mean by that...instead of being 98 it's going to be 94? Guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Stay tuned for my high tech water conserving - collection system from my a/c condensate line.
Sunflowers that is!
Under each bird feeder the dropped seeds germinated and now I have these wonderful volunteer sunflower plants growing and starting to bloom! In the next few days they will begin to open up even more and the butterflies, bees and dragonflies will begin to visit.
I was able to catch this dragonfly sunning himself on our porch rail. He was there for a good 15 mins before fluttering off.
Finally found the tag to the mystery plant that I bought last year from Aaron -- Tickseed Coreopsis.
It's soo nice to see color popping out here and there! Happy Summer!
No they aren't that kind...lol!
My pole beans are looking pretty good, although something is occasionally eating the leaves. So excited and ready for them do a little climbing!
The cukes in my raised flower bed are also doing pretty good along with all my flower seeds coming up! The last couple of days have been on the cool side so I'm hoping it doesn't have to much effect on the garden.
I planted Cosmos, Zinnia and African Daisy over several days so I have varying degrees of plant development but again, I don't think it will hurt anything. This bed should be very colorful once they all start to bloom. If you notice behind the raised bed the lantana mounds are getting huge. I imagine they are going to get 5 ft tall at the very least!
My azalea's have finished blooming. :( This year was especially pretty with the dogwoods and azaleas blooming. This one azalea bush, growing in a landscape tree pot as it has been for the last 3 years actually bloomed the longest. This last bloom was beautiful and I sure hated to see it go. Now I have to wait another whole year for it to bloom again. I do have some of the Encore azalea's in the front, which are supposed to bloom in spring and again in summer/fall. But to say the least, they just aren't as showy as the Formosa azaleas.
There just seems to be something about magical about spring and too bad we don't get to enjoy more of it. Around here it turns from spring to summer overnight, from cool nights to hot days in a blink of an eye. Unfortunately summer is here, if even the calendar doesn't say it yet.
Bloom, bloom, bloom didn't realize I said it so many times( I guess that's where you are supposed to go back and reread what you wrote...opps!)
Just a few pics of what's bloomed and getting ready to bloom! Soon I hope to have Day Lillies blooming and the Dahlia's are coming up!
This first pic is Lantana, mega to say the least, it will be become very large, maybe even larger than last year, and it will be wonderful for the butterflies and hummers.
This 2ND pic is an unknown perennial flower I purchased from Aaron when he worked at Ingles last summer. It is getting ready to bust forth with blooms!
This last pic is a rose blooming amongst the poison ivy and briar's. I only noticed it yesterday, a bit of pink caught my eye as I parked. Imagine my surprise to see it was a rose, and how it came to live there is any body's guess. Slightly out of focus, it's bloom is now spent, and there is not a another bloom on the vine. I plan to dig it up and place it in a more sunny location. Roses do love the sun!
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