Search This Blog

Saturday, August 30, 2008

In the garden today...

A short stroll around the garden today revealed these sights to me...

The Buddliea I had dead headed just two weeks ago is full of blooms again!

The garden is alive with luna moths (or cabbage moths) and they are in love with the Verbena bonariensis that has self sown all over.

The Miscanthus sinensis strictus (porcupine grass) is in it's glory even though it's not blooming yet.

Not everything is pretty as can be. The Sempervivum need weeding badly and it's not as easy as you would think to get those grass roots out without disturbing those hens and chicks. Also, I was amazed to see that they've lost their glorious spring colors.

The full shade bed out front is doing ok even without sunlight. The impatiens could be a bit more lush but the Hosta and newly tranplanted ferns are perfectly happy there.

Oohh! Check out the patterns emerging on my bird house gourd!

The Liriope which is oh so boring in the spring (and almost impossible to sell then) is the neatest edging and sending up lots and lots of bloom stalks.


One last peek on the way back to my computer. What do you do when you have too much of some flowers like Purple Perilla and coneflowers? Why you cut them and stick them in nice clear bottles!

Happy Labor day weekend all,

Melanie

10 comments:

Gail said...

Perilla and the Susans look good together! Plus the perilla smells pleasant to me.

Weeding the sedums and sempervivens is not easy...I just pull the grass out and hope I get it all!

Have a good holiday!

gail

Lavender and Vanilla Friends of the Gardens said...

Hi Melanie; I went back to my earlier posts and saw one of your nice comments. I thought to say hello. Buddleias are a lovely summer choice together with Verbena b. does yours make too underground roots and emerges all over the place? I have started to grow grasses, the one you show is very attractive. I have landed deep in succulents; I think they are such great undemanding plants to have around. I love the birdhouse gourd what a cute name. I have to find the seeds! I grow Liriope as borders, tough and undemanding my sort of plant!
Well, take care I will come around from time to time.

Anonymous said...

Love the bird house gourd! I'm a big butterfly bush fan too, even though it's classified as a noxious weed in our area (Seattle) and I guess I'm supposed to get rid of it. Mine is a kind of reddish purple, and the scent is out of this world. Anything to keep the bees and butterflies happy, that's my view!
- Karen
http://greenwalks.wordpress.com

Dave said...

Your garden is looking good. I like the shade garden area. That's a pretty nice looking gourd.

Melanie Chopay said...

Gail, the Perilla seeds all over but the color is so pretty and I like the smell too! The other day I was so frustrated weeding those semps that I stuck a small scissor in the pots and just cut them off at the root level.

Hi Titania, I will have to stop by as soon as school starts and things get back to "normal" here. The Verbena doesn't seem to have underground runners here but it does self seed in the front of all the beds. The front is a lousy spot because it's too tall for that location.

Karen, a reddish purple sounds beautiful! I would like to get a butterfly bush in another color now as I have three of these light purple ones. The first one was a gift and the other two are seedlings from it that just popped up.

Dave, the shade garden area is by far the best looking after the heat of summer. How are all your cuttings doing? I'm getting ready to do some serious propagating in the next week or two as the weather cools off.

garden girl said...

I love that fern/hosta combo Melanie - such a great textural contrast. Your garden's are looking great, seem to be none the worse for wear even after a nice long trip overseas.

I love liriope, but haven't been having much luck with it here yet. Hopefully the two clumps that survived last winter will survive the coming winter and look a bit more robust next year.

Anonymous said...

I think Perilla more good ... by the way nice blog Melanie ... :)

Anonymous said...

I think Perilla more better ... by the way nice blog garden :)

Connie said...

The birdhouse gourd is charming, and I love your bouquet!

Barbee' said...

Hi Melanie, I am here catching up on old posts that I missed. Your bouquet is pretty and it reminded me of what has happened here. The perilla has self-seeded into the old fashioned orange daylilies. I have really enjoyed it that way.