Garden vignettes

The feel of fall is definitely here in Bay Village. 

The hydrangea are antiquing and some of the annuals are starting to look withered. (Could it be that I haven't fertilized in ages? :]) The dahlias are out in full force and fall anemones are blooming. I love the fall season and look forward to all that it brings us.

Check out this color combination!

Some of the dahlias (whose names I don't keep track of):

These blooms are about 8" across and such a rich rosey red.

Just as I was looking at the lantana topiary, the butterfly stopped by! It was my lucky day.

I decided to switch out the weeds under the deck stairs for baby ferns. Aren't they the cutest things?

If you want a fabulous purple trailer in your urns and containers, try the scaeveola flowers. They love the heat and humidity! 

 Garden tip #1:  When your lilies are done blooming, snap off the end portion (the seed pod) of the stem. Look closely at this plant. I snapped off all of the seed pods (end areas) on the right side of the plant. The left side still has the seed pods on the stems, some also with the stamen of the flower. Can you see it? That way, the plant will not put its focus on producing seeds, but rather into making a bigger bulb and more flowers for the next year.

The fall anemones...

My second garden tip is how to know when to harvest the hydrangeas so that the blooms don't wilt, but dry with good color. Look closely at the two center blooms of this blue hydrangea. The one on the right has 4 little lobes and has not bloomed yet. (That is the actual flower, not the blue petals.) The one on the left has a little flower that has just opened. This is NOT ready to be cut for drying yet and will wilt if you try to dry it.

Now look at the hydrangea bloom in the lower right of the next photo. Its flowers have already bloomed, especially in the hydrangea's lower section. The remnants of the center bloom are tiny and sometimes have dried to a brown dot. These ARE ready to cut. Place the flowers in a vase with their stems in about two inches of water. Let the water evaporate for a couple of weeks and they'll be dry and ready to use. You can make a wreath directly after cutting, but you may not have every bloom dry and they may wilt a bit, especially in this weather.

I am getting close to my 100th post. 

To celebrate, I am giving away a hydrangea wreath that I will make out of these hydrangeas. 

Stay tuned for further details!

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home, for Show & Tell Friday.

Thank you, Jessica, at A Few of My Favorite Things, for Favorite Things Friday.

My birthday garden

I celebrated my birthday this week enjoying the mid-summer flowers in the garden. With a lot of watering, everything survived the heat wave. I don't know how the folks in the South handle this heat! I guess I am a Northern gal, through and through!  

I promise- no hydrangeas this week!

One of my favorite summer flowers is the datura. Technically, it is really a brugsmania, but that's too hard to remember! They smell incredible, but only in the evening hours.

 

We caught the flowers with a visitor:

 

Our poor tomatoes on the left were eaten by the deer.

Cool closeup!

The dahlias are just beginning. (Has anyone noticed that we are about 2-3 weeks ahead of the average year?) 

We take up the dahlia tubers in the fall and store them over the winter in an area that stays around 50 degrees. I love this color...

 

This is a front yard urn of goodies. Unfortunately, the deer started feasting a few days ago on the back side of the urn.

Here is a closeup of the trailing petunia:

The Oriental lilies are in full swing.

I am hiding- no makeup on!

Succulents in a miniature pot...

Lastly, here are our pineapple lilies beginning their blooms.

Their foliage is an incredible combo of greens. We also remove these tubers from the ground in the fall. They'll be open next week.

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home

and

Jessica, for Favorite Things Friday.

Nature's Ways

You can say one thing about a heat wave followed by rain. The flowers love it! Most of our flowers and bushes are bursting open.

We grow many hydrangeas for cutting and seem to have them everywhere. Most were started using the hydrangea plants purchased around Mother's Day that were cut to the bone (using the blooming stems for floral arrangements); literally, we planted little stubs. With generous watering the first couple of years (hydrangea.... from the word for water in Latin... they love all the water you can give them), they grew just fine. The hydrangeas are now about six years old.

The hydrangea lane in the front of the house:

and along the side of the back:

And even some at the back of the house!

Hyrangea closeups:

This is such a soft lavender:

Enough about the hydrangeas! Here are other flower closeups.

Joe Pye Weed

Oriental lily

 

Honey rose

 Just Easy rose

These are European ginger babies. If you need a ground cover that is a rich shade of green and will go in both sun and shade, try this! Once you purchase (or, even better, share with a fellow gardener) a few plants, the following year you'll be able to split each plant into several. Soon, you'll be sharing with the neighbors, but the plant is not invasive at all. 

This is a baby lime. Really. Wait 'till you see the next photo.

So, that's what pops off the end of the lime (and lemon and orange, etc.)!

Last, but not least, our back yard is watched over by the robin as his babies are still in their nest high in the trees.

Thank you, Cindy, at My Romantic Home

and

Jessica, for Favorite Things Friday.