I've been taking pictures of my pool garden every few weeks to be able to see how it changes over time. I thought I'd share the pics with you guys. Please bear with me it's a lot of pictures:
This first pic is what the garden looked like on May 6th viewed from the right side.
Similar view but 13 days later on May 19th.
similar view but on June 1st.
June 8th. I didn't have one of the same view, but these are the impatiens that are on this right side of the garden.
June 30:
July 20.
Okay. Now for some more pictures. This time, it's the garden viewed from head on:
Here's May 6.
May 19.
June 1st.
June 8.
June 30.
Okay. Now for some from the left views. You getting tired yet?
I don't have any pics form this view for May 6 or May 19. But here's June 1st.
June 30
July 20. I keep trying to post this, but it doesn't show up. Hope it works this time.
Okay. And the head on one from July 20 didn't show up either. I'll try it again . . .
I think it's neat to see what the different stars of the garden are over time. Although I have tons on different flowers in there, to me these are the 'stars':
In May: Columbine and Allium.
In June: Columbine, Veronica, Johnson's Blue Geraniums, Foxglove.
In July: Phlox and Daisies.
Hope that this wasn't too painful for everyone! Thanks for looking.
Very nice. Your garden is lovely and so well maintained. My geraniums have never looked like that!! Gorgeous.
I haven't grown Allium much but I did have the burgundy Drumstick this year. It was lovely but TALL and flopped over. So I just whacked the stems off now that the color has completely faded. I hope that doesn't mean they won't come back. What do you do with thin-stemmed alliums like that? I left the bigger ones like A. christophii and giganteum intact to ripen.
Thanks Cedar!
I cut my alllium back a few weeks after they were done blooming. I probably should have left some to set seed. I look forward to seeing whether they come back again next year. Donna Mack sent me some A. christophii last year, I cut them back after they were done blooming, and they did come back again this year. I planted the rest of the allium bulbs in the fall (they are purple sensation). Luckily, they didn't need any staking.
Are your Geraniums "johnson's blue", or another variety? I also have Jolly Bee and Rozanne. I love that they bloom for a much longer period than the johnson's blues, but I think when they are in bloom, the johnson's blues look so much better than my jolly bees or my rozannes - but the johnson's blues do bloom for a shorter time. It is a trade off. I always cut them back when they are done blooming, and plant annuals where the ground in bare (this year I planted new guinea impatiens). The leaves are already back and looking lush - but I never get a second flush of blooms. I still think they are worth it.
J Blue does not do well here. I 've tried it twice and since read that...(a little late!!)
Rozanne is good here but never lush like yours (well, not for me, I can't speak for the entire Southeast!). I've moved my 2 around this spring (late) and hope for better luck with a bit more sun. Lots of plants that take full sun farther north cook down here in it.
Good news about the allium.
I'm going to attach a pic of my garden -- the "deer resistant" one with the 8' fence.
Lovely garden, Cedar. The colors are beautiful. It must be nice having a deer fence.
Thank you. This is our 3rd year with the fence after 11 years trying to garden "with" the deer. It is wonderful now. But it was an expensive project and we (esp. DH) did all the work. I think of it as the Hawaiian vacation we DID NOT have. :)
nice garden! anyone know of a good "bunny fence"? (no deer here)
Uggh - I wish I knew of one. The bunnies ate all of my larkspur in one of my beds. There were about 30 of them that I had planted from my wintersowing containers. They were looking great, and then one morning they were all cut to about 2" off the ground from the bunnies. They are cute, but I was so mad at them.
pgt,
Your garden is absolutely beautiful! Please keep posting your pictures...
Elsa
Thanks, Elsa.
Beautiful! Love seeing the time lapse progression- great idea!
Pgt - very nice progression. I especially liked how the phlox just popped up in July. I tried growing some this year, but it died soon after I transplanted it from the pot to the ground. I will have to try again next year. What variety is yours?
Thanks Gemini and Soil & Elsa.
G,
The phlox that I have in this garden is "Shortwood" and "David". The Shortwood is the bright pink that's blooming now. David is in bud and is about to bloom. In other beds I have Nikki, Laura, Franz Schubert and Blue Paradise.Franz Schubert has the longest bloom time for me. But I love them all. Don't give up on the phlox that you transplanted. It just may come up next year, and be happy. I can't get enough of phlox. It smells great, blooms forever, and the butterflies love it. The butterflies seem to like my phlox and my echinacea more than the butterfly bush that I bought just for them! Anyway, thanks for the compliments.
--Pam
This message was edited Jul 23, 2009 9:23 PM
Pam, now that I can protect it from deer, I am loving phlox too. I only have David, Laura and a passalong magenta that I assume is the straight species P. paniculata.
You are right about the butterflies (and hummingbirds) loving it. I find it blooms for weeks with deadheading. For me Laura starts out the day and ends it purple, but is bright magenta during the day. Have you seen that? I thought it just a trick of the light, but I cut a bloom head and compared it to the species and yep, it's the same color in the middle of the day.
I'll look into the other cultivars you mentioned as I would like more phlox too.
Pam, beautiful garden! I love seeing the time progression. That's really a good idea for record keeping too. I should start doing that - although the most likely thing you'd notice progressing was the weeds, lol!
Thanks for sharing!
Dee
Thanks for all the nice comments, Everyone!
Here are some august pics (from Aug 21st) - phlox is still the star of the garden - both David and Shortwood are in bloom.
My veronica, campanula, and penstemon have also been blooming in August
The impatiens are huge. I'll have to remember to space them further apart next year - it's hard to remember how big they get when you have tiny little seedlings in the spring.
sedum is in bud
pgt, I do belieive I've oooo'd and ahhhh'd over your garden before. It's positively glorious. Perhaps you already said above, but what is the intensely blue flower in the hanging pots?
Cedar, If you're still here, your fence (and garden) is awesome. I'd rather have that than a trip to Hawaii. You have a bright blue faucet in the garden. Does that mean you have water right there and don't have to lug it in buckets?
Pam
Pam, thanks for the compliment. It is awesome to me too since it means I can finally really garden!!
Yes, it's called a 'frost proof hydrant' and is self draining. They are used at campgrounds and on farms. I asked DH to make me a "cover up" (sort of like a toaster cozy) for the hydrant heads (we have 4 in the garden; really, 3 would have been enough as it turned out, but we didn't want to drag hoses thru all the beds) -- maybe like a bird house type thing (fake of course).
Cedar, I'm envious. I lug water in buckets because the hoses get kinked or destroy plants. I think I know what you're talking about as a tall bird house. That would be very nice, but actually, the bright blue makes it look very decorative. Pam
Pamgarden,
The blue flowers in the hanging baskets are Ramblin Nu Blue petunias that I grew from seed from Swallowtailgardenseeds.com.
I grew all of my annuals from seed this year, and it was so much fun! I'm definitely doing it again this year.
Thanks for the compliments!
--Pam.
pgt, I'm putting those petunias on my wish list so I don't forget. Did you grow your annuals indoors or inplace? I winter sowed a number of things indoors for 2008 garden, but on windowsills, the table, the floor, and was tripping all over things by the time they were ready to go outdoors.
Pamgarden,
I grew most of my annuals from seed indoors under shoplights: petunias, bacopa, lobelia, impatiens, vinca.
Other, easy annuals that I don't have in this bed, but in my cutting garden and other beds, I wintersowed late winter/early spring: zinnias, sunflowers, snapdragons, larkspur, bells of ireland.
I also wintersowed dozens of perennials. I'm looking forward to seeing them bloom next year.
