Monday, May 14, 2012

Growing In My Gardens

 I am extremely happy with the progress that my gardens are making this year!  I'm not much of a gardener, but luckily, I have a friend that is & she has helped me out A LOT with picking plants, choosing where to place them & she has even given me a couple of her extras from her garden.  I can't take credit for this first picture, though as 99% of what is shown here was already here when we bought the house.  These are on the side of our house along where our stone steps are going down to the back of the house (we have a walk-out basement).  I was planning on separating the Hostas this Spring, but then never got around to it & well, with all the rain we've had, it's almost like you can stand out there & watch them grow!  I expect that they will be HUGE again this year, so they will definitely need to be separated either in the Fall or next Spring before they sprout!
 Everything planted in this photo above was all done by myself....this is right next to the garage & when we moved here, there was nothing but a bunch of small rocks & mulch in this space, so I wasn't even sure if anything would survive here.  But luckily, everything is thriving really good.  I have Iris (that haven't bloomed yet & I'm not sure if they're going to this year :( ), 2 Rose Of Sharons (the ones that look dead, but they aren't....they are just later bloomers & just starting to show some signs of green), some different types of Lillies, 2 Knock Out Rose Bushes that I just planted a few weeks ago, a Clematis behind the bird bath & some other miscellaneous plants (meaning, I can't think of the names of them right now, lol).
 The garden area shown above was all planted last year....there used to be grass here & I knew I wanted a flower bed, so my friend helped me with this one.  I love the way it turned out!  I have since added a Lilac Bush this year, but I'm having second thoughts about where I put it, so I may end up having to move it.
 Close-up of this flower bed showing some of my Lillies,Violas & Lamium, one of my favorites.
 Another close-up with more Lamium & my Peony that my friend gave me from her garden....can't wait till it blooms!
 Here is my garden along the side of the garage by the sidewalk.  The Lillies were already here when we bought the house, but I added the Lamium (told ya I loved that stuff!  LOL), some Phlox, a Lavender plant & a Clematis, that I just planted recently.  What you can't see in this picture is off to the left there is a Hydrangea & off to the right by the downspout there is a Rose Bush & 2 Hibiscus (but I'm not sure if they survived). 
 This is the flowerbed in front of the front porch....this bed was shaped this way when we purchased the house, but I've changed out almost everything as far as the flowers go....the only things I didn't change were the Hostas & the Hyacinths (they're already done blooming).  I added the 2 Bloomerang Lilacs that are supposed to rebloom later in the summer (keeping fingers crossed that they do!), the Silver Mound, Violas, more Lamium (hehe), Tulips (also already bloomed) & some more Phlox.  I should also have some Balloon Flowers in here (somewhere, lol), but they haven't started coming up yet.
 Close-up of same bed.
 Close-up of the Bloomerang Lilacs....they smell SOOOO GOOD!!!  I'm still trying to remember what those tall, skinny leaf things are on either side of my angel....guess I'll find out once they bloom.
Along the side of the front porch, I planted 2 Hydrangeas.  Looks like they are lovin' this area.  I just hope the deer don't get to them when they bloom!

Now I just need to get busy on the backyard someday....after all the gardening I did last year, though....I'm still pooped!

Benita