Weekend Blooms

What a hot week it has been and this weekend
looks to be more of the same. I still am not going
to complain because I still remember last winters
long, long days. LOL!
Out in the garden now there is a riot of sounds
and it sounds like August already but I guess it is not far
away now. I saw a full grown Katydid in the garden this
week and it seems too early to me.
Summer seems to be flying by and I hate to see it.
Before you know it the children will be going back to
school here the last of August.
Some flowers are waning in the garden from the heat
and others are getting ready for fall blooms.

Anemone ‘Queen Charlotte’ is getting her buds for blooming.

Coreopsis ‘Limerock Ruby’ has another flush of blooms
since it was deadheaded.

 

The ‘Easy Does It’ rose bush has another flush of blooms.
This rose has been such a beautiful addition to the rose
bed this summer and it just blooms and blooms.
I recommend it for those who like the color and want a
great bloomer. This winter will be the judge of its hardiness
for our zone 5 Ohio winters.

 

Another new flower that I have really enjoyed this summer
is the Gaillardia ‘Mesa Yellow’. It so far has stayed a compact
plant with continuous blooms.I do not think it is going to
be a leggy bloomer like the Burgundy gaillardia that I have had
for years but it is still in its first year so we shall see.
The picture is not the best because it was taken in the high sun.

 

The Elephant Ear in the tub is still growing and putting on giant
leaves. It likes the tub and its home along the woodland bed.
The three new kittens from a dumped off cat has been playing
with the leaves. They also like setting in my dahlia planters
and anywhere else they can climb into.As if we needed more feral
cats around here.

Heuchera’s ‘Amethyst Mist’ and ‘Palace Purple’ are blooming.

 

Eupatorium ‘Chocolate’ Snake Root is growing
well and I love the foliage on it. It looks like a leaf miner
is liking the leaves too.

The new Asiatic Lily ‘Frisco’ that  I got for half price is
blooming.

This Gladiola that just showed up one summer
from out of the blue is pretty with its dark peach
blooms. Free flowers are always welcome.

This white ‘Snow Princess’ lily is just so pretty.
I love pure white blooms in the garden and this
one has very large ones.

These will likely be the last of the lilies blooming
this summer unless Stella de Oro has a few more.

 

Tall Phlox ‘Nora Leigh’ is looking pretty now as the
blooms unfold. The variegated foliage makes it a
favorite of my phlox.

 

Phlox ‘Bright Eyes’ and ‘David’ white are still looking
pretty but my ‘Adonis’ pink is looking sad. Its blooms are
about spent and I deadheaded it this week.
I have fought the mildew on all of the phlox this summer,
even on those that are not suppose to get mildew.

 

Lantana ‘Luscious Purple’ is new this summer.
The bees, hummingbirds and butterflies love it.

 

Pelargonium ‘Raspberry Swirl’ geranium has freckles.

 

Impatiens double blooming ‘Rose’ looks pretty in the…

…..old birdbath.
All of the water splashes out of this birdbath and it was leaking
so it became a planter.

 

A new Astilbe ‘Delft Lace’ has been added to the shady
flower bed. It is a compact astilbe with wonderful foliage
and is suppose to have pink blooms in late spring.
It was another half price bargain.

 

Hydrangea ‘Alpen Glow’ is still looking pretty.

The Butterfly plant from seeds that Darla from “More
Family and Friends” shared is getting some buds.

Nepeta ‘Walkers Low’ Catmint is still spreading and blooming.

 

This Torenia was suppose to be pink instead of blue
but it is pretty anyway.

So that is some of the plants that are blooming and
growing in the garden this weekend.
You all try to stay cool with this heat that is spreading
across the states and stay safe in the gulf with the storm
coming in. I so hate to see the storm pushing in the oil
along the coastline. So many are suffering from this disaster.
Until Next Time,
Lona

Bella’roma Rose

Good morning everyone!
I wanted to introduce you to a new rose bush
the is now blooming in the garden. 
Bella’roma is a hybrid tea rose that was added
to my rose garden  in late spring and I am loving
its beautiful blooms.

It has a wonderful old rose  fragrance and won top
honors as a 2003 Rose of the Year.

 

It has a yellow bud with pink edges.

 

I have been fighting  the insects this summer that are
determined to eat all of my roses and it is just not the
pesky beetles that are after them.

 

We have been getting some rain shower this week
which was needed in this area,
so these pictures were taken in between the showers.

 

As with the Double Delight rose, Bella’roma blooms get
pinker as the bloom ages. 
I guess the real test for this rose is if it survives are roller
coaster winters here in Ohio and my gardening efforts.
I have also promised it that I will not move it. LOL!

 

The foliage is a glossy green and it is suppose to flower
in waves all season. So we will see about this much
wanted trait. It is also suppose to be disease resistant.
The rose was purchased at half price from Edmunds Roses
and came as a bare root rose. I have purchased two roses
from them this year and both were large healthy bushes.

Double Delight rose is having another wave of blooms.
It has a creamy white center while the Bella’roma
has the yellow center.

Double Delight with Sunny yellow Knockout
roses.
These roses were added and moved in to replace the
roses bushes that had turned to all red because they
had died back to the Dr. Huey rose which are used
in a few roses for a graft. More replacements will be
added next spring to the rose garden by then I will
also know what has survived the winter.

 

 Double Delight hybrid Tea

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week and
some of you are getting a little cooler weather.

Happy Gardening Everyone !!
Lona

Technorati Tags: Roses

Rosebud Pelargoniums

 

Though geraniums are considered ‘old lady’ flowers
or ‘old fashioned’  I have fond memories of them being
over wintered in the kitchen widow of my grandma’s home.
Setting in her sunny window they  would often have a  few
blooms in the dead of winter and may have been the only
colorful flowers that she had in the winter other than the
foliage plants of a Snake plant or as some call them
Mother-in-laws tongue.
So call me sentimental but I love geraniums.
There are just so many varieties, they are easy to grow
and they can be over wintered so this would make them
winners to a person like myself who has trouble geminating
seeds but can even get geranium seeds to grow.
Every summer I always write about them.
Maybe because I keep accumulating more and more of
them to add to the ones I keep around all winter in the basement.
I set pots of them in the basement and when I run short
of space take them out of their pots and hang them from
their roots by a piece of twine during the winter and pot them
up again in very early spring.

 

Last Summer Lynn over at  Flower Gardening had this
beautiful Apple Blossom Rosebud geranium that she
had propagated from a friend’s plant.
Well I fell in love with this beauty that she had with its tiny
double blooms that looked like roses, so  I had
to find one like it from somewhere. I searched and finally 
found them at Select  Seed.

 

Not only did they have the Apple Blossom variety but they
also had this Red or Crimson Rosebud geranium.
So two new geraniums have joined to the geranium collection.
What is not to love about these two old ladies flowers??

 

Since I am not a very knowledgeable country gardener I
assumed these Rosebud pelargoniums were something new
to the market but while searching for them I learned that they
had actually been around since 1850. Miniature in size these
ornamental zonal geraniums were often used in button holes
or Victorian bud vases.

I found this old basket at a Goodwill store and spray painted
it a turquoise. It was just the thing to set the two new potted geraniums in out on the front porch.

Some additional information:

They like full sun, grow to 12-16 inches tall, and minimum
temperature to 35 degrees. They bloom repeatedly from spring through fall and can be grown indoors. 
They can be propagated from cuttings or seeds.

Happy Gardening Everyone !!
Lona

 

Technorati Tags: pelargoniums,Rosebud,Geraniums

This Week In The Garden

 
It is hot, hot everywhere now and the dog
days of summer have settled over the Hocking Hills
area. Some showers were a welcome sight this morning
for the garden but the air is thick and steamy now.

Today is Friday and time once again to ‘Flaunt Your
Blooms’ with Tootsie         
and some wonderful gardeners over at Tootsie Time. 

The Crape Myrtle bush is so loaded with blooms this
summer.One limb did collapse after the rain from the
weight.

The Bees are certainly enjoying all of the blooms.

 

Along the highway in front of the house the blue
Corn Flowers, as Grandma use to call them, are just so
gorgeous and the Queen Anne’s Lace are also joining them.
As you can see the tourists are throwing out their trash
or in this case their water bottles to spoil the beauty.

The yellow Gerbera from Mothers Day is still looking
so bright and pretty.

 

New to the garden is this Ajuga Burgundy Glow.

The Coneflowers are still welcomed in the garden.

 

The Pardon Me Lilies along the garage side bed are almost
done blooming for this year.

Eryngium Sapphire Blue Sea Holly is not turning blue.
What’s up with that?

The white Monarda Bee Balm is starting to bloom.
Better late than never. I have to save the seeds for this
one to add more white to the garden.

The old tote container got a new paint job this summer.

David White Tall Phlox

Bright Eyes Phlox

 

 

Nepeta Walkers Low Catmint

 

I am loving the color of this Plumbago Escapade Blue.
This is the first year  that I have grown it and it is going
to become a regular in my garden and containers.
I will have to learn how to get seeds from this one.

 

 

Pentas Butterfly Sparkles is also a new one that was
grown from seed.

Also from seeds some of the first blooms of the Dahlia’s
from the Victoriana series.

 
This beautiful burgundy dahlia is another color
from the Victoriana seeds.

 

Big and bold Lord Baltimore hibiscus is just
so pretty even with holes in the leaves from
those munching Japanese beetles.

Nora Leigh tall phlox is just starting to open
some blooms.

The Zahara Starlight Rose zinnias just keep getting better.

Sunny Knockout  roses are so lovely but I wish their
blossoms hung on there a little longer.

Dianthus Antique Rose is getting a few more bloom since
I deadheaded the plants.

 

and the Double Delight rose bush is getting
another flush of blooms.

Lantana

So you can see there is a lot of blooming going on
right now around in the garden.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

Happy Gardening Everyone !!
Lona