Farmhouse Gardeners

I have some updating to do here, obviously. There hasn't been much gardening going on for the past couple weeks due to the horrible heat. We've been in the high 90s. Record breaking for this early in summer. I do have some backtracking to do though. And I have so many things waiting to be planted.

This morning I went to my favorite nursery, Farmhouse Gardeners in Statesville, NC.




I purchased my holy grail of plants: Black Bamboo. I've wanted it for at least 10 years, when I first saw it at the NC Zoo. It's been elusive and more than I could afford. It's still more than I could afford really, but I had to have it. It's going by the pond.




The rest of my haul included varius coleus, an angel begonia, staghorn fern, birdnest fern, basil, bush cucumber, crookneck squash (I should have already planted vegetables, I know) and a 'Carolina Blue' chaste tree.



It's such a beautiful place. I could hang out there all day.

Marsha's Koi

I had such a fun trip yesterday morning to buy new koi. We went to Marsha's Koi, which is about 45 minute drive away. It's such a beautiful place with beautiful ponds and fish, and the people are so so nice. I got to pet a cat, pet a dog, pet chickens, get my hand sucked on by koi and eat cherries. It was a great morning.



My new koi: Matisse, Calliope, Gauguin.

This reminded me of the cherry tree I had when I was little. I so loved it. These cherries were delicious. I need a cherry tree.

Pond Life

Even though I haven't been posting, I promise I've been gardening. I have lots of catching up to do here, but I thought I'd do a post about my favorite part of all my gardens: My pond.
Colorado waterlily

Sitting by my pond, feeding the fish and watching the dragonflies and spiders, is the most relaxing thing in the world to me. I just love it.

The water is starting to clear up for the season. In a week or two, it should be completely clear (keeping fingers crossed).

This bridge is from my parents' pond. I'm painting it red. This is the before picture, obviously.

I so love my fish! They have such personality.
All my koi have names:

Leonardo da Vinci (Leo), King of the Koi
Zelda
Frida
Romeo (Juliet didn't make it)
Bou
Dottie
Modigliani
Pablo II
Dido
Salvador
Georgia
Blue Boy
Princess Buttercup
Vincent
Rossetti

Two new baby koi born in my pond:

Suzanne Valadon
Toulouse-Lautrec

I also named a Black Moor, Blackie #2, and a googly-eyed goldfish (which is obviously an offspring of Blackie #2), Mr. Limpet.

Phyllis Bide and Other Stuff

I received my Wayside order and got most of it planted. I planted the Rozanne geraniums in the Roadside Garden; the Orion geraniums and the blue malvas in the Fairy Garden; and the epimedium pubigerum, which is supposed to do well in dry shade, in the Under-the-Riverbirch Shade Garden (which I'm renaming the Dot Garden after my mother). Oh and I sprinkled some foxglove seeds in the shade garden too. They are so tiny! We'll see what happens with them.

I also planted one of the Vintage roses, Mme. Charles, in the back of the fairy garden.

I have to get my tomatoes planted today! I need to find a bag of lime in the garage. My daddy always told me to throw a handful of lime in a tomato plant hole. I also hope I have some compost.

I need to make a trip to garden center for a couple bags of mulch for fairy garden. Baby weeds are starting to sprout again like crazy along the border. I need to mulch that area to keep them at bay. I also want to get some kind of garden tool oil. I'm ashamed to say I have two pairs of rusty Felco pruners. I need to steel wool and oil them. I want to look for my favorite annual, angelonia, too. I'm going to plant lots of those this year. They're so beautiful and will bloom forever.

Here is the wonderful polyantha Phyllis Bide in my overgrown (I need to get to work on it!) Secret Garden. I think I planted this two years ago. I fell in love with it from a photo in the beautiful book Landscaping with Roses by Jeff Cox. I just love its raggedy goodness!