It's a Bloomin' Party!

 A couple of weeks ago, I showed you many of the plants I had getting ready to bloom in the garden.  

Well, the party has started!

 There are lots of buds on the daylilies, but this diminutive yellow one was the first to show its face.

Catching the late afternoon sun, this red one wasn't far behind.

The "New Gold" Lantanas are filling in spots all around the front border, much to the delight of the bees and butterflies. 

My Easter lilies didn't quite get opened up in time for Easter this year.  But they are lovely anyway, if a little late.

Side note: I'm seriously considering digging up the African lily plants that the builder put in (seen here behind that Easter lilies and also in the photo of the entry, above).  

They are huge and one is planted so close to the sprinkler head that it completely blocks the spray from reaching any of that corner of the bed.  Of course, that closeness to the sprinklers is the very thing that has stopped me from digging -- I don't want to rip out the sprinklers by accident.


In the back garden, the Buddleia has started to bloom behind the utility boxes. I didn't see any butterflies on it tonight, but I know from experience they love this bush.

 And the Vitex, another butterfly and bee magnet, is now covered in blooms.

I bought these garden mums for a little seasonal color -- last Halloween!!  They're in bloom already and I'm sure, with a couple of haircuts, they will be blooming all the way to next Halloween!

A little slow getting to the bloomin' party, the Rose of Sharon has opened her first bloom, with the promise of hundreds more to follow.

What's blooming in your garden this week?




Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Fall Garden Tour

 I've been working such long hours recently, my brain is too fried to write very much, so I'll just show you some photos taken in the garden this week.

My potted Hamelia patens is still blooming, even though the hummingbirds seem to have moved on.  I was quite pleased with how this did in its container, so I'm not sure if I will plant in the ground in the spring, or keep it in the container.

In the front garden, by the garage door, the two sweet potato vines I put in have completely overtaken the little iron topiary -- in fact they have taken over the whole bed!  Since I took this photo, I've trimmed the milkweed back, they were falling over, blocking the door and covered in aphids - I mean just really icky looking.  I hope I left enough so that if we *do* get some more Monarchs coming through, there will be something here for them.

I've got two colors of sweet potato vine -- the chartreuse and this dark one, seen here with some flowers blooming.

Here's another milkweed, this one in the back garden.  I love this one, it's much better behaved than the ones in the front garden and it's not covered in aphids.

I managed to get a bit of gardening done last weekend, in the form of pruning and dead-heading mostly. The Buddleia has really grown tall, but the majority of the flowerheads are finished now, so I did some serious trimming.  Among the dried out blackness, there were still a couple of lovely fresh blooming stalks, much to the delight of the bees.

And of course, with all the pruning and dead-heading, I was able to add some bulk to the contents of our new compost bin. It felt good to do that, rather than bagging it up and cramming it all in to the trash.

Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.

Time Lapse Star Gazer and other Rainy Day Garden Pleasures

 As I was sitting on the patio on Saturday, having morning coffee and wiping the steam from my glasses, I noticed something pink to the side of the grape vine.

I tiptoed across the wet grass and noticed that the small Stargazer Lily, tucked in between the grapevine and the Vitex tree, was beginning to bloom.

I checked on it throughout the day and each time, it's lovely bloom was open a little more. Not great photos, I'm afraid, because the camera lens kept steaming up like my glasses!

This Phillipine Lily looks like it's about to bloom too.

The milkweed are "sans aphids" - perhaps the rain washed them off?

I'm not sure if it's still officially Pollinator Week, but this guy was hard at work on the Rose of Sharon.

This Penta is enjoying the rain... it's neighbor is too far gone to notice...

I hope the swallowtail caterpillar enjoyed it.

I gave the Buddlea a hair cut a week or two back and it's putting out some fresh blooms, which the bees are loving.

OK Mother Nature - the rain barrel is full, you can turn off the waterworks now.

There was lots of bird activity in the garden too, and I managed to get some photos which I'll share in my next blog post.


Words and photographs by Jayne Wilson, Green and Serene, Jayne's Country Garden.