I Love the Smell of Wisteria in the Morning

It's already in the high 80s this weekend. I'm not ready for the heat! I want more low 70s spring weather. In spite of the heat, I got a lot of stuff planted. My "pot ghetto" has been greatly downsized.

In the front garden/Good and Evil Garden, I planted Baptista australis 'Purple Smoke' (3) (I've wanted baptista for years but never got around to ordering it. I found this at Lowes. You just never know), Digitalis obscura 'Sunset' (3), Digitalis purpurea 'Apricot Beauty' (3), Digitalis purpurea 'Hyacinth Hybrids' (3) (Yes, I love foxgloves. I think they're the perfect cottage garden flowers), Campanula 'Kent Belle' (3), and Paeonia 'Bartzella' (Leftover from last year).
I really want to fill up every inch of this garden and have a true cottage garden effect.

In the roadside/St. Francis Garden, I planted Echinacea 'Summer Sky' and moved a Stargazer lily here from the Pond Hill. Also, moved the bigger St. Francis statue of my mother's to this garden (I had a small one but it got hidden by daylilies). I need to take a photo of it now.

I planted the six Knockout roses on the left side of gate to the Secret Garden. They are behind a row of 'Happy Returns' daylilies. I'm thinking of getting some tall purple irises to plant behind the daylilies, in front of the roses. I think this is really going to look good.

I planted two eggplants in half barrels on the back steps. I still haven't finished digging up the grass on Flower Girl Hill to plant rest of vegetables but almost! I love the way flowers and vegetables look planted together. I want to do more of this.

Pat brought home this table and chairs. This is at the end of my driveway. I am trying to create a sort of courtyard look here. To the right is a row of arborvitaes, about halfway up driveway. To the left is the shade garden/Angel Garden under the River Birch. I desperately need some big, beautiful art/scuplture/something on this fence panel.
A row of Autumn Fern (Dryopteris erythrosora) planted in front of same fence panel. I'm thinking of adding white impatiens here.

Oh, I also finished planting Angel Garden. I like this patchwork look here. And the angel had facial reconstructive surgery! She got her face back! Well, most of it anyway.

What's blooming now:

'Belle of Woking' Clematis

Roses:

'Mutabilis'

'Marie Pavie'

'Mons. Tillier'

'Leonie Lamesch'

'Cramoisi Superior'

Irises:

'Grapsicle'

'Little Showoff'

Unknown passalong

'Good and True'

'Batik'

Creatures:

Lucinda

Clementine, my faithful gardening companion

Henderson

Princess ZelZel!

Extra, Extra: A Snakey Story

I don't dislike snakes. I don't mind nonpoisonous snakes in my yard. I know they're beneficial and all that. This snake though has terrorized us for two years (This would be the third.). It made its home in the deck at our pond that houses the skimmer. Pat told me it was a copperhead. At first, I wasn't sure I believed him, but he seemed certain. Every time Pat had to clean out the filter and basket (which is pretty often), he had to pull off the hatch, not knowing if the snake would be waiting for him (it liked to curl up on top of the skimmer where it was warm). He tried several times to surprise it and kill it, but it was too fast and got up in the deck before he could get to it. It got to the point last year when we just gave up on our pond. I so loved to relax by the pond and watch my fish, but I just couldnt' enjoy it anymore. We even turned off the waterfall. The snake took over our pond.

I was determined to take back the pond this year. I was going to somehow find an exterminator or wildlife person to get rid of the dreaded snake. As I wrote last week, we just got our waterfall going again. We hadn't seen the snake so far. Yesterday, the pump quit and the waterfall stopped running. Pat thought the filter and basket at the skimmer needed cleaning. He carefully opened the hatch. No snake, so he got out the basket and filter and cleaned them. He was trying to get the filter back in, but it wouldn't go. It was hitting something. The something was...yes, the snake! It had crawled into the pump and met its demise. Pat got it out, and it was definitely a copperhead. Even I could recognize it. Also, it had a big bulge in the middle, undoubtedly a fish. I've had several smallish fish that disappeared soon after I got them. I'm sure that snake ate them.

So here are the grizzly photos. Even though I knew this snake was dead, I was still afraid of it and had to use zoom, because I was scared to get close to it!







Ding dong, the snake is dead (and I don't even have to feel the guilt of killing it)!

Back Home

The trip to Chattanooga was wonderful, but I was glad to get back home to my gardens and animals. It rained again Sunday and yesterday though, so it's too wet to plant again. It's extremely frustrating. Since I can't plant, I buy! My pot garden keeps expanding. I need some drier ground!
Yes, I broke down/gave in and bought Knockout roses. I read something that said think of Knockout roses as blooming shrubs instead of traditional roses. That works for me. I have a space on the left front of my house, in front of a row of arborvitae trees where I'm planting them. There is already a row of 'Happy Returns' daylilies there. I think it will look pretty from the road.

I bought a few vegetable plants yesterday: Tomatoes (Better Boy, which my father always planted, and grape tomatoes. I wanted Sweet 100s but didn't find them.); bell peppers; banana peppers; yellow squash; sweet basil (an herb, I know). I also want eggplants but didn't find them either. I'll have to look elsewhere. I'm going to plant my vegetables on my Flower Girl hill this year. I really want a traditional potager with raised beds. Maybe next year.


'Lady Banks' rose is blooming. It grows in the River Birch and makes it look like the tree is blooming.

This doesn't look like much, but it's an azalea that someone sent when my niece Tracy died in February. I planted it in the Angel Garden (shade garden under River Birch).


Wisteria on the back deck. Wisteria runs rampant, like blooming kudzu, but I love it. Need to keep on top of it better though. There are vines everywhere. The second photo is the pergola overhead. I want to weave little fairy lights through it on this.


The view of Flower Girl Hill from the deck (looking to the right). The pond is just beyond. I can't wait until all those roses bloom.

The view straight out from the deck of backyard. I really want a brick path around the perimeter of backyard, with a border of all kinds of shrubs and big roses and evergreens. To the left of this, the yard slopes up to the sideyard, which is my Secret Garden area. We still need to put steps down from there to backyard. Somewhere along this route, I'd love a long rose tunnel.

I have so many plans! That's the fun of gardening.

p.s. I found the angel face! Well, most of it. Now to find glue...

Shade Gardening

So, I got my orders from Bluestone and Wayside. The Bluestone plants were really nice; the Wayside plants, not so much. Why did I order from Wayside again this year? When will I ever learn? Most of what I ordered was for my shade garden, under the River Birch. I planted that today. I can't wait until it all fills in. I still have a few empty spots to fill.

I'm sorry for that faceless angel. I was going to try to fix it today, but I couldn't find her face. A missing face. How scary.



Planted:
Heuchera 'Frosted Violet'
Heuchera brizoides 'Bressingham Mix'
Astilbe 'Purple Lance'
Brunnera macrophylla 'Jack Frost'
Hosta 'Brim Cup'
Hosta 'Aureonebulosa'
Tricyrtis 'Taipei Silk'
Epimedium 'Pink Elf'

Still left to plant. So far. I'm sure I'm not finished shopping.

I started making plant markers. I'm not sure how I feel about them. I think they can detract from the beauty of a garden, but I don't want to forget names. I could do garden maps, but I haven't so far.


I still haven't figured this one out. I've narrowed it down though. I believe it's Cops, Ingenuity, or Widow's Veil. I can't find photos of them though. Anyone?

SDB Iris 'Little Showoff'

SDB Iris 'Lore'

I know I take a lot of Bleeding Heart photos, but I just can't resist.

I couldn't decide which focus I liked better.

Chicken love.

Sad news: Another koi dead. This time it was my favorite koi, Dottie. I am heartbroken about it. I'm going to have to buy an ugly heron decoy.

Going to Chattanooga for the weekend. It's so hard to leave my gardening! I'll be back at it Monday.

Let's Talk Roses

The view out my kitchen window on this rainy day. A peek of the pond in the first one. We just got the waterfall/filter turned on a few days ago. The water is really murky right now. I dream of clear water! Sad fish news: Walked down to the pond Friday to find one of the big koi dead on the path. Most likely the work of the dreaded heron. I thought the heron mostly got goldfish and couldn't catch the bigger fish. Wrong. So heartbreaking.
In the second photo, the pergola that Pat built last summer. Cl. White Maman Cochet is growing on the front right. I want to plant something big on the back. I was thinking maybe Cl. Pinkie, which is an Earthkind rose.

OK, roses. I had decided not to buy any more roses, but I really wanted needed another Perle d'Or (also Earthkind) for my front garden/Good and Evil Garden. I love Roses Unlimited's beautiful, healthy, ownroot, one gallon roses. They have a three rose minimum or pay more shipping, so of course I had to order at least three. Well, maybe six. I waited too late to order though, and all but two were already sold out. So were the next four I inquired about. So far, Mrs. B.R. Cant (One of the most beautiful and carefree roses. I already have one.) and Duchesse de Brabant (another Earthkind) are reserved for me, and I've inquired about Adam, Souv. de Mme. Leonie Viennot, Gilbert Nabonnand, Mme. Lombard and Mlle. Franziska Kruger. Notice that this all started with my desperate need for another Perle d'Or, which I'm not getting. By the way, a great place to read about and see photos of specific roses is the HelpMeFind website.
My Mrs. B.R. Cant from a few years ago.

I am down some roses since I made my list in 2005. I'm going to do a formal inventory soon and make new markers.

Next up: Daylily Lust.

An Introduction of Sorts

Wisteria over deck.

I'm new here to Blogger. I moved my blog/journal over from Live Journal. We built our house 13 years ago on about 1.5 acres. It was just pasture and mud when we moved in, so all the gardens were from scratch. With the exception of trees and a few shrubs, I've planted everything myself that's here now. I like the concept of garden rooms and try to implement that idea. After I get everything cleaned up this spring, I'll do a photo tour of my yard and gardens. Gardening for me is an ongoing experiment, and I garden by trial and error, as do most gardeners, I believe. Oh, and (obviously from the photos so far) I have chickens! I got six chicks last summer: Three buff orpingtons and three plymouth barred rocks. All hens. I love them extremely. My favorite part of my gardens is my koi pond. It needs a lot of work still. I lost both of my parents in the past few years, and as a result of sadness, I seriously neglected my gardens. That is changing this year though! OK, enough babbling! Pretty picture time.








I had forgotten I had a white bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis ' Alba'). I love surprises like that.



I still haven't been able to indentify this SDB iris. It's making me crazy.

This one is SDB 'Jillaroo'.

My Bluestone Perennial order is supposed to be here tomorrow. So much planting to do!