Meet TS and Come See the Rest of the Garden...

Saturday, August 11, 2012

A Morning Ramble

I'm a slow morning person. There is no hopping, popping, or jumping out of bed for me but a gradual ascent into wakefulness met with total denial that my sleep is over. My garden eyed me humorously this morning as I stumbled about with my camera. They'd been awake for hours and I was late to the party.  


'Abraham Darby' rose is thriving in a giant pot. Old fashioned multi-petaled roses are my favorite.


This unnamed phlox seedling is the result of some botanical baby-making. I love it's jagged edges. I think 'David' is the father but no one's talking.


Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' in the Founding Flowers garden
All of the flowers that were put into this bed last fall were transplanted from different areas of the garden. Most are original to the garden. The phlox in the background are all seedlings, which is why they're so small. 




'Delta Snow' phlox grows to about 4 feet tall and blooms for over a month. 


'Deam's' rudbeckia has much smaller flowers than 'Goldsturm' and can tolerate a bit of dry shade.


Variegated water celery spills out from the frog pond to meet and mingle with the rest of the garden.


'Night Owl' climbing rose and 'Blue Fortune' agastache 


'Piglet' pennisetum and cone flower seedlings in the rain garden


After losing the last bunch of tomatoes to a squirrel, a storm, and a klutzy kid, I'm excited to have more to harvest. This variety is Heatmaster.


The sweet potato vines are taking over but no one minds, except for the tomato. I heard a bit of grumbling back there.


A cantaloupe vine, gifted by the Compost Angels, grows between the variegated abelia and the loropetalum in my front garden. The loropetalum were planted this spring and are still quite small. 


The vine is covered with flowers! I hope I get to eat more cantaloupe than the bunny.


Annual vinca and lantana grow in the hell strip next to my walkway.


They're being replaced with a perennial butterfly garden this fall.


I added orange milkweed to this bed last fall when I had no where else to put them. They've thrived so much, I've decided to turn this entire hot, dry section into a butterfly garden. I'm adding more milkweed, salvia, and coreopsis. Dalea also grows well between the milkweed and vinca.

57 comments:

  1. Every picture of you delights.
    I admire the beautiful garden yours.
    It is well maintained.
    Lucja

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    1. Thanks! I spend a lot of time in my garden. I'm glad it shows. :o)

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  2. Your gardens look so pretty and green, as do the tomatoes. That Rose is really lovely.

    Cher Sunray Gardens

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    1. I'm surprised by how happy it is in its pot. It's tripled in size this summer!

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  3. Dziękuję za spacer po Twoim wspaniałym ogrodzie, wśród kwitnących kwiatów. Pozdrawiam.
    Thank you for your wonderful walk in the garden among the blooming flowers. Yours.

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  4. I loved this post - anything that has botanical baby making in it has my attention! The butterfly garden will be beautiful x

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    1. I think there's quite a bit of naughtiness going on in the garden once the lights go out. The phlox are the guiltiest at garden bed hopping. :o)

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  5. Your garden looks wonderful, and the hell strip is really amazing! How giant is the Abe Darby pot? The blooms look lovely.

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    1. The pot is approximately 80" in diameter and about 20" high. It's a glazed clay pot I bought at Home Goods, a discount home store.

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  6. Your August garden looks great. Goldsturm rudbeckia got a terrible disease in my garden (I know, they're supposed to be no care), so I'm enjoying yours here. I did put in another type of rudbeckia last year and it is doing well.

    Love the orange milkweed in that hot dry space and the butterflies will love you for putting in a feeding station for them!

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    1. I've had problems with Goldsturm in the past, too. Try rudbeckia 'Deam's'. The flowers are smaller but it's a tougher plant.

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  7. Gorgeous! I've never heard of a hell strip before. What does that mean? So many gorgeous blooms. And congrats on the Tomatoes and Sweet Potatoes. Yum! I guess they'll have to duke it out. ;-)

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    1. A hell strip is any hot, dry spot that is a challenge to garden in. I've tortured a lot of plants in mine. Lantana and vinca like it hot and dry, so they're a good combo. I just wish they weren't annuals.

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  8. Your Abe Darby is looking gorgeous. I love that rose. The rest of your garden looks great too. Sorry to hear about the Dahlia. They snap here, too. :(

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    1. I should have staked mine. Big sigh.... Lesson learned!

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  9. You have such nice flowers around your place. I'm the same way....it takes me forever to get ready in the morning if I don't have to work:) Tomatoes and canteloupes....oh yum yum! I hope the tomatoes make it for you. Have fun with all those cool butterfly plants....but your garden is full of them....so it must be butterfly central at your place:) Have a good Sunday!

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    1. Even on work mornings, I'm a snail. :o) I've had more butterflies this summer than I've ever had before. I wonder if our super mild winter had anything to do with it.

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  10. Tammy, I love your rose 'Night Owl', is very pretty. Your tomatoes in a pot are bigger than mine in a greenhouse!

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    1. It might be the variety. Some are bigger than others. I was surprised by how large these were! They have kind of a spicy taste.

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  11. Your garden is looking great! I always find August a tough month since the heat has taken its toll on many plants and the blooms are not as plentiful. I had to do some major cleaning up of the tomato plants so that the bad bugs didn't have so many places to hide.

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    1. You're totally right about August having the potential to be a rough month. Some of my plants just seem exhausted by then. I've perked up quite a few of them with extra liquid organic fertilizer.

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  12. I love the Phlox seedlings....hope mine are listening!! I was chatting with a neighbor and we are going to put annual vincas up by the front gate, they are so cheery all summer long. Those are some huge seed pods on your butterfly weed!!!

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    1. I like it when surprise seedlings pop up. :o) Vinca is a tough, cheap blooming machine. I don't know why it took me so long to start using it. The milkweed seed pods are enormous! They look like missiles.

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  13. What a pretty garden! I love how you decided to make a butterfly garden since the butterfly weed did so well. It is beautiful with all those seedpods. Tomatoes look delish! P.S. Thanks for your very kind sentiments:)

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  14. Your garden is so lovely. I wish we could stroll through it right now. Thank you for the Garden Love. Oklahoma and I sure need it. We do have some rain in the forecast, so yes, please pray. I'm praying for rain too. Thanks again!

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    1. Absolutely praying for rain for all the states in a drought!

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  15. Tammy, I'm a tad jealous of your beautiful garden.....everything looks so pretty.
    Had no idea there was a variegated water celery...very interesting....thanks for sharing.

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    1. The water celery is a vigorous grower. I have mine in a pot. I don't think I'd let it loose in a pond. It would take over!

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  16. Your patch of the planet looks just beautiful. My toms are still VERY green, beginning to wonder if they'll ever turn red. Have a great week x

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    1. Thanks! With all the rain you've had, at least they didn't rot. :o) Have you ever had Fried Green Tomatoes? It's a southern American dish that is a great way to use tomatoes that don't ripen.

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  17. You have a lot of blooming flowers right now! Beautiful.

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    1. Thanks! :o) The Abraham Darby rose has bloomed all summer!

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  18. At least your tomatoes are turning red which is more than what's happening here.

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    1. The squirrel has been to busy stuffing itself with blackberries to notice the tomatoes lately. The US will gladly trade you a cargo ship full of tomatoes for some of your rain!

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  19. Well done with the tomatoes. We have had such a horrendous summer this year that I have all but given up on my crop. Your garden looks beautiful, by the way.

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    1. Thanks! Growing veggies in pots has worked out really well. :o)

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  20. There is lots to admire in this post, Tammy. I like the pink phlox with the questionable parentage (love that crinkled edge) as well as the lovely Delta Snow. You can never have to many phlox as far as I am concerned. They add so much to the garden at this time of year. I did not get a chance to move my Abraham Darby rose and have paid the price for my negligence. It has been overtaken by the more aggressive plants around it and has failed to bloom more than once. Your picture has reminded me how much it is worth attempting to salvage it. The hell strip garden looks great if you ask me. I planted what I thought was a peachy-orange milkweed, only to be surprised with pink flowers. Like you I love the plant so much I am adding more next year.

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    1. I do love the hell strip this year but the vinca just sat in the soil like little lumps until it got hot in mid-June. I need something that will cover up the fading daffodil foliage so I'm replacing the annuals with perennials.

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  21. Wow! There's a lot going on in your garden. Your blooms look beautiful. I hope you get the tomatoes and melons before the squirrels and rabbits do!

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    1. So far the bunny hasn't found the cantaloupe and the squirrel is busy eating the blackberries.

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  22. I love those posts that illuminate our gardening life. Now I know the name of my never but once blooming rose, it's Abrahm Darhby, didn't spell that right. And I have a long blooming white phlox to look for, to replace those nasty daisies in the front garden.
    And I am definitely getting more Rudebeckia.

    Thanks for all the inspiration.

    Jen @ Muddy Boot Dreams

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    1. I've had mixed luck with rudbeckia. I once killed a whole patch by adding compost to the soil. In retrospect, I think I may have suffocated them. I grew r. triloba and it grew into a massive water sucking beast that I ripped out of the bed mid-summer. Rudbeckia 'Deam's" has smaller flowers but is really tough. I also grow 'Goldsturm' which is a beauty.

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  23. Your garden sounds just like mine, a combination of what I want and plant, and things that plant themselves. It's important to celebrate both! Wonderful growing season you've got going on.

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    1. I don't mind it when my favorite plants plant themselves around the garden. It just gives me more to fill my beds with and more to give away to friends. :o)

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  24. Dalea is one plant I really want to grow but never have been able to find in a nursery here. It just has me so curious. Your Phlox seedling is a jewel. I love those serrated edges. I also like 'Delta Snow.' Gorgeous! And Abraham, oh Abraham!!

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    1. I bought my dalea from High Country Gardens and Prairie Moon. I've never seen it around here. I love that little pink seedling, too. I couldn't find it in the garden and thought it had croaked. I was so glad to see it hanging out with the mountain mint. I had moved it and couldn't remember where.

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  25. Your garden glows with color and grace.

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  26. Vinca and lantana grew well in my desert garden and vinca could tolerate the 114 degree heat with no problem. If the winter wasn't too cold, they survived and were perennials out there. I like your orange milkweed and may plant that when I get my own garden. I have always admired photos of Abraham Darby. Is it hard to care for?

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    1. I've found Abraham to be a pretty easy going guy. It lives in an enormous pot in moisture retentive potting soil I amended with compost and dried banana peels. He has tripled in size and shows almost no blackspot. I bought it from Chamblee Roses, an online nursery. They have great stuff!

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  28. Hi Tammy, I only really love old fashioned roses and that AB is perfectly shaped and a perfect soft pinky-apricot colour. I'm not familiar with milkweed, but I love the name of it. It sounds like something that would grow in Harry Potter's garden to counter The Dark Arts. It should be white not orange but I suppose you could think of it as a frothy orange milk shake. cheers, catmint

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  29. So beautiful! Everything looks just gorgeous :-D

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  30. Love the Abraham Darby rose-so, so pretty!

    If you are coming over to the UK next Spring you may want to consider visiting David Austin Roses on the Shropshire border-well worth a visit!!

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