Vacation Time!

We are just about packed up and ready to go on our wonderful vacation to Germany. As a final blog, I thought I'd show you a few images shot in the past few days.

Up top is Calie the wonder-doodle who has once again captured a hapless chipmunk in the see-saw. As you can see she is quite determined to give it the ride of it's life as she makes first one side and then the other go up and down.

The Hydrangeas are just beginning to bloom and I expect when we return in just over two weeks that we'll find an abundance of these amazing flowers waiting for us.

One of my all time favorite flowers is blooming now. This Stachys monieri has been in my garden for so many years I don't remember when it first arrived. It's very similar to the named variety 'Humelo' that has become popular around here but this one is a wonderful pale pink.

The daylily show has just begun and hopefully I'll still catch the last act when we come home. 'Radiation Biohazard' here is indistructable even with lots of rain storms coming through.

Hemerocallis 'Flight of Angels' is another show stopper, so cool and serene that I just had to stop and drool for a few minutes.

'Smoke Scream' on the other hand has a loud brassy call but you still have to stop and admire it's beauty!

One final look at Calie. While she's sipping water from the pool I'll be sipping some of the world's best beer and wine. A dog's life might be grand but I'd rather be me right now.

Expect me back some time the third week of July and I promise, I'll have lots and lots of photos! Many of my relatives that we are visiting are gardening fanatics like me and I just can't wait to see what they are growing and share it with all of you.

Bye,
Melanie

Hypericum 'Brigadoon'

Two weeks ago when I attended the local daylily club meeting, they had a sale going on. Members brought in plants from their gardens and sold them in the back of the room. Most of the plants were perennials and since I was running late, I missed seeing most of the choice plants.

One member though had a few special things left. Frank and his wife Laura are known to collect unusual specimens so I looked very carefully. There were two pots of Hypericum 'Brigadoon'. Now I've never been too excited by Hypericum but I thought "why not" and decided to bring one home.

The plant is in a one gallon pot and had lots of yellow buds. The Hypericum I have in my garden has small nickle size single blooms and that's what I expected with this one.

Imagine my surprise when the first bud opened up and I saw this flower! Wow!!! It's a "stop you in your tracks" kind of bloom.

This time I vow to do my research and give this beauty the correct location. The sites I've looked at so far show it with golden foliage. The plant I have has a light green foliage but then those sites also say that it needs full sun to get that lighter foliage. I don't think Frank & Laura have that much full sun so it will be interesting to see what happens when I give it a prime spot.

Now I just have to decide if it's going in the long driveway bed or the rock wall around the pool. Right now I'm leaning towards the pool area as it's a summer time bloomer.

I'll take a photo again once I decide where to place this beauty.

Acanthus spinosa

Acanthus spinosa, also known as Bear's Breeches is another perennial in my garden that I know very little about. This beauty was planted out front in a fairly shady spot about 5 years ago. I'm not sure it has bloomed every year.

Doing a google search on it this morning I see that it likes full sun to part shade. Also, the photos I found on line were stunning, big massive clumps of blooms. It requires little care, at least I haven't done anything special here. Average amounts of water so it seems happy with what the surrounding perennials are getting. Also, I haven't seen any signs of pests on this plant.

In this photo I stepped back so you can see the Acanthus as it's set in the garden. I'd say this is one of my less inspired combinations. Obviously this plant can really shine if it's in the right location, I think I need to try it in more sun but I'm not sure about moving it.

Do any of you grow Bear's breeches? I'd love any tips on growing this beauty.

For those of you who read here regularly, I guess you can tell that I'm winding down. Getting ready for my trip has become a full time job and this week will be just packed with last minute activities. I will only have time for a few more posts before we leave and there won't be anything posted again until late July.

Hope you are all still here when I get back!

Melanie