fantastic flowering… grass?

One of the first things to flower in my garden this spring were some grasses. Every spring I seem to be surprised by something that most likely happened all the previous springs. We really just need to take time to go outside and be present with our plants, don't we?

garden love: daisies

So cheerful and so abundant and so easy to divide and share. A friendly flower, I'd say.

garden love: alliums

These particular alliums have taken over in my garden in a big way. I remember last year yanking and pulling and throwing all the greens in a big heap and a befuddled neighbor inquiring about my efforts, asking if I had a lot of weeds. No, I grunted, my arms all muddy, just plants I didn't plant.

This year I took a decidedly more peaceful approach and let the quarter of my garden that was overflowing with alliums just be. No ripping. A bit of bemoaning for the planned plants that were swamped amongst the allium patch but acceptance. And now I am rewarded for my lack of efforts with 25+ beautiful purple globes.

Perhaps the unplanned is just as beautiful as the oh-so-carefully plotted?

oh my lovely Hibiscus

I have two now: Lord Baltimore (red with green leaves) and Lady Baltimore (pink flowers with purple leaves). They are the last plant to come up in the spring and they take their time growing but grow they do! Here we are mid-July and they are in their glory with plate-sized flowers that peek their faces in the kitchen window – a welcome hello as I begin my day.

I am also fascinated with their spidery buds.

lovely lilies

Lilies are my very favorite flower. Accordingly, I have many of them planted in my yard. Although I think the Asiatic lilies look a bit ridiculous, a bundle of blooms perched atop a very tall stalk  like a floral jack-in-the-box, they are beautiful indeed!

foxglove freckles and fur

The foxgloves in my backyard garden are especially pleasing to me this year. I added more last summer and now there is a whole lovely grouping of them just beginning to bloom.

beauty in decay

This summer I posted some photos of my lush red hibiscus at the height of summer. Just recently my daughter presented me with a fallen bloom she found along the garden path. I loved it! The outer petals had fallen away to reveal the inner structure of the plant (apologies to all the biology teachers who taught me terms like "stamen" and "pistol" and such). And the color, oh how lovely and rich! The dark purple seems so appropriate for these autumn days where the night lasts longer and longer.

I'm dreaming of a pink birdbath...

...just like the ones I've never seen...

The late-summer colors in my garden seem to belong to a pinky-purple color family I quite enjoy. It got me thinking that it would be great to have a glazed ceramic birdbath in that color. Of course, I don't know if such a thing even exists. I have only seen blue, green, and red.

 The morning glories seem to fade from their blue-purple shade to a pink-purple shade. And the rain seems to have made them kind of mottled.

The phlox is still blooming and still smelling lovely. How wonderful to have a long-lasting flower well into September.

 This is a baby foxglove. I am not sure why it has rebloomed in late September.

This is a toad lily, one of my new plants. I was quite surprised to see it blooming. I sincerely hope it doesn't think that spring has arrived!

before & after & beautiful

 Before: an unplanned hodgepodge and a lot of weeds. Also known as "the desolation."

 After: a mulch desert with plant islands! I have to remember everything will double or triple in size!

 Coral bells "Marmalade." Aren't the colors awesome?

 Hakone grass: A beautiful lime green ornamental grass that prefers shade!

 Coral bells again: "Palace purple."

 Autumn fern: The new growth comes in orange. I thought that was so interesting.

And what shade garden is complete without hostas? Giant hostas are actually the centerpieces in the two side pockets and a variety of them create repetition throughout the garden.

dirty work

Thanks to the support (um, hard labor) of my husband the backyard garden project has taken off. He gets full credit for digging out the cement block border, reinstalling said border as a back edge, ripping up sod, inserting the edging, buying and hauling the dirt (I did manage to help with the this), and using the scary looking rototiller.

I removed, relocated, and replanted existing plants. I also used scrap stones from last summer's backyard project to make a path back to the rain barrel. And I very gleefully purchased new plants and arranged them in the new garden. I remember looking over my work and saying "it's just like graphic design!" as I considered how to place different textures, leaf shapes, and plant colors.

 The back edge is raised, allowing the garden to slope forward

Crafting my stone path through the mud and muck

All my new plant babies!

garden dreams and schemes

Lately I have been making plans to expand and improve my backyard garden. A variety of experiments combined with my denial of the shadiness of the site has resulted in an odd mishmash of plants. 

I have been doing my plant research (love the library!) and even drew up an accurate plan on graph paper. If you're feeling inspired to do some reading yourself you might consult these books that I found helpful:

The Perennial Gardener's Design Primer: The Essential Guide to Creating Simply Sensational Gardens

Stephanie Cohen & Nancy J. Ondra

Perennials for Midwestern Gardens: Proven Plants for the Heartland

Anthony W. Kahtz

Best Garden Plants for Michigan

Tim Wood & Alison Beck

Perennials for Every Purpose

Larry Hodgson

The white outline shows the new border. I have to hold off on getting started because the current plants, several of which I will be gifting to others, are still in bloom or have yet to bloom. It may be that the most I will get done in August and September is preparing the site for next spring. I am planning on building up the dirt in the back and sloping it forward. We are also going to replace the raised cement edge with simple edging. The plants that I intend to keep can be put into place as well.

I will keep you updated on this new project!