Flowers 2005

Matching baskets guard the front courtyard. The white trailing flower is dainty bacopa and the blue is lobelia. Unfortunately, lobelia has a habit of dying out in the middle. And for every six that you plant, maybe two will simply fade away for unknown reasons.

A paprika-colored Quannah daylily shines when surrounded by the blues of salvia (dark) and plumbago (light). Yellow daisies peek out now, but by the end of summer, they will be holding their own in height.

I don't usually buy carnations, but this color and the display in the store was just to gorgeous to ignore. I've paired them with the yellow marigold you can see in front and a white daisy in back, which you can barely see. This pot is centered with two others - dwarf amaryllis, on the right, and with salvia and another marigold on the left, which is out of sight on this picture. This pot has its own bubbler. The amaryllis, however, is directly beneath the bacopa basket pictured above and that bubbler does double duty dripping through the upper basket into the lower pot.

Another shot of the yellow daisy, salvia and plumbago. And, yes, I can see that the daisy needs to be deadheaded. That is a nuisance with these daisy plants, but they put on such a lovely display, it's worth it. I have one yellow daisy on the other side of the driveway that is in its third year and it not only looks great, but it's huge, too.

One of my most gorgeous daylilies. The flowers measure about 7" across. My single plant has multiplied in the past two years so now I have three or four stalks blooming at one time. This one shares space with an old red salvia that somehow dared seed itself amongst the daylilies.

My hydrangea will never grow very large. During the hot summer, it's usually hit with mildew and looks pretty scraggly come March, lots of bare branches, etc. But, look at it now! With all new leaves and tons of flowers, it really will be a spectacular plant. You only see about a fourth of it in this picture.

This pink geranium was a mother's day present from my Florida son. In this picture, it's still sitting in its pot surrounded by penta and a decorative rock. Now, it's been planted in the front courtyard.

This pink dracena was on the east side of the house, but I needed something to center this bed, so my husband moved it here. It will get more shade, which should make it happy, and it adds a bright touch to a low-light area. I've surrounded it with variegated liriope and two rosy-pink impatiens.

This bed of asters, both blue and reddish-pink is about three years old. It began as three plants that have spread over time slowly, but it covers more ground every year. This picture shows just a third of the bed. That large golf ball is a tee marker that my South Dakota son gave to me for a yard ornament.

The blue agapanthus makes the daylily (Garden Style) look demure, but that's just because the agapanthus heads are so big. I've had quite a display of agapanthus this year. The plants have been reproducing for the past five years. I've had to thin them out twice and I gave quite a few to a neighbor this year. He also has a great display blooming now (May).

I have a lot of snow-on-the mountain in the yard. Ten shrubs are growing out front, the west side of the house, and seven are growing out back, on the east side. I love this shrub because it's pink, purple, white and green, all at the same time. It's a soft, lacy-looking attractive plant. There are three lining the wall on this side of the patio.

This firecracker is about 4-years-old and it keeps trying to overtake the path. I have to trim it back substantially each spring and, in the fall, I remove quite a few new plants. If possible, I find some other place in the yard for them because it can be such a dramatic plant.

And, across from the firecracker is a bed of daylilies that was included as a gift plant several years ago. They reproduced so much that I've got a line of them here on the south side and several more out front. When each plant has a bloom open and with the rose-pink impatiens and pink Florida Sweetheart caladium, it's quite a pretty picture. Well, duh, I guess I should wait until this happens and replace this picture!!

One of the joys of having daylilies are the bouquets you can pick. To say they are gorgeous is an understatement. This is the latest bouquet I've enjoyed. It is anchored by a pink glad and these two daylilies are called Rocket Booster. They are not quite as dark a red as this picture shows, but still vivid with a bright yellow eye.

The daylily pictured at right is Choctaw Brave, a gift from a seller. It's been one of the most enjoyed daylilies that I own and, for the past four years, it's been totally resistant to daylily rust.

These two daylilies are the very yellow Butter Block and orange Sweet Summer Heat.

And, this pale yellow daylily is Crystal Tide. One of my most prolific daylilies. It is vulnerable to daylily rust, but I spray several times during the heat and humidity of summer and just like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps growing and growing and growing.

This is the pink gladioli in its natural habitat. It grows inside the fence alongside several others. On the right is a very attrative gold dust croton. Climbing the fence is a red bleeding heart, and at its feet is a dark blue torenia. Growing alongside on the left is a cocoplum shrub. The new leaves on this shrub are a dark reddish color. It's a very attractive plant, but I don't find it at the nursery very often and I've never seen it at the 'big box' stores. If you're interested in trying to find one, its other name is "Chrysobalanus icaco."

Pictured below --

As I mentioned above, the Mother's Day pink geranium is now planted in the courtyard. Nestled under snow-on-the-mountain and variegated liriope it's keeping company with two pink cleome (great reseeders) and two yellow melampodium. The melampodium that I planted a few years ago turned into good groundcover and spread nicely over time. I don't consider it invasive.