Blooms & Beyond: Year-Round Color for Your Garden

Wondering how to have year-round color in your garden?   I recently gave a presentation to the Grapevine Garden Club on this topic and the video was posted to YouTube.   Click HERE to check it out!

The plants mentioned in this talk are geared toward the Dallas/Fort Worth area in hardiness Zone 7/8, but if you live in other parts of the country, maybe it will inspire you to think through the seasons and how you can add color to your garden with plants that are hardy in your area.    Click HERE to see the plant list.

Below I've listed the garden centers and resources I mentioned in the presentation.

Here's to hoping you have something colorful in your garden all year long!

Toni :-)

Grapevine Garden Club
grapevinegardenclub.com

Stegall's Nursery & Plant Farm
stegallsnursery.com

Metro Maples
metromaples.com

Neil Sperry
neilsperry.com

aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu

TCMGA
tarrantmg.org

Fort Worth Botanic Gardens
fwbg.org

August Fruits of my Labor

I didn't want August to just fade into the annals of photographic history, so on this Labor Day Holiday in September, I thought I'd take a look back at last month's progress in my redeemed hellstrip to see the fruits of my spring labor.

 Here is a picture of the "before" in January 

and the "after" right after planting was completed in late May.

And here's August...

 The Blackfoot Daisies have grown huge!   

And they have the most lovely fragrance :-) 

Sometimes they can be a little cold tender in North Texas, but I am hoping since they are surrounded by all that rock and concrete that they won't go on strike come winter.

The annual 'Cora' Vincas and Moss Roses have done a nice job of filling empty spaces until the perennials fill in.   They have not taken a day off from blooming all summer!

The 'Walker's Low' Catmint and Zexmenia have been working hard all summer in this strip too.   They have definitely earned their keep in my garden!

The driveway end of the strip is progressing a little slower than the rest of the bed because of drier conditions, but the Pink Skullcap and Sedums should be back in business next spring.

Here are some August photos from the other side of the walk, where my garden has performed well all summer even in hot and humid working conditions.

The 'Azure Skies' Heliotrope and Blackfoot Daisies have grown so much, they have almost completely blocked passage down the sidewalk.

Mexican Mikweed (Asclepias curassavica) is on the job, waiting for the Monarch butterflies to report for duty next month.

I hope you were able to take a break from work today to enjoy the fruits of your labors.

Gardens are so rewarding, aren't they?!!

Toni :-)

What's Bloomin' - July 2013

July is one of my favorite months in my garden.   The hard work of spring is over and I can just enjoy my garden and the wildlife it brings.   What better way to spend the day than strolling through my garden with no specific agenda, just deadheading perennials here and there, plucking a few weeds,  marveling at the bees and butterflies, and pausing to take a picture of the newest bloom on the scene (and yes, I must admit, dripping sweat and swatting mosquitoes -- this is Texas in July, after all).

So humor me with my delusions of garden grandeur and come stroll through my garden with me to see what's blooming...

The front perennial beds are full of color:   

Lantana, salvias, phlox, rudbeckia, loosestrife, daylilies, and more.

This swallowtail butterfly paused just long enough on the 'John Fanick' Phlox for a nice photo op.

 

Last month the swallowtails were partial to the bee balm

The fountain by the front walk bubbles away among 

the phlox, rudbeckia, and ferns

 

 

Unlike those pesky mosquitoes,
annual cosmos is always welcome wherever it lands.

The bold foliage of the 'King Humbert' Canna provides a beautiful backdrop for the orange cosmos and 'Karley Rose' fountain grass on one side, as well as the spikes of 'Morden's Pink' Loosestrife on the other side

The new hellstrip (a/k/a heavenly patch of perennials) along the street is starting to fill in nicely.

The crape myrtles are in full bloom

 Mosquitoes being the exception, good things can come in small packages.   

Katie's Ruellia is a faithful summer bloomer

I am starting to become a daylily addict, 

recently adding seven new varieties to my garden.

Here are a few still blooming this month.

Top Left:  Orange (unknown variety - gift from a friend)

Top Right:  Hawaiian Nights

Lower Left:  Persian Market

Lower Right:  Rosy Rhino

Moving to the backyard....

This pink water lily is new to my garden (also a gift from a friend)

After getting off to a very rocky start after being transplanted in 2011 (our worst summer on record!), the 'Endless Summer' Hydrangea proved to be a survivor and bloomed beautifully this year. 

 

And the Oakleaf Hydrangeas have faded to a lovely shade of pink.

 

Unlike my sweaty clothes after a day in the garden, 

the blooms of my 'Guacamole' Hosta have a gardenia-like fragrance :-)

Speaking of sweating, on a recent trip to Beaufort, South Carolina 

(it's just a wee bit humid there),

 I purchased this new hummingbird feeder.  

I hope the hummers like it as much as I do

All sweating and swatting aside,
I hope you've enjoyed July's blooms in my garden.

Join Carol at May Dreams Gardens for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day
and a look at more gardens around the world.

And may your delusions of garden grandeur become reality

Toni :-)

Hellstrip Redemption

Redemption:  The act or process of redeeming

Redeem:

1. To reform, change (for the better)
2. To save, rescue, or recover.
3. To reclaim (to return land to a suitable condition for use).

My hellstrip has been redeemed!  It has been reformed, transformed, and changed for the better.   It has been rescued from a mundane life of Bermuda and weeds needing to be mowed on a weekly basis.  I have reclaimed that long hellstrip of lawn and returned the land to a suitable condition for growing beautiful blooming perennials that attract visitors of the pollinator and people kind.

Here is how the area looked in January right after having the utilities marked.

The transformation began in March by having the Bermuda grass removed.  As the Bermuda attempted a comeback, and as soon as temperatures allowed, I followed up with Roundup applications to make sure the Bermuda was killed to the root, leaving me with a clean slate. 

Then in late May the day I had been waiting for arrived.  

    

3 cubic yards of compost, 2 tons of cobblestone, and 1800 pounds of moss rock boulders were delivered first thing in the morning, and I got right to work.

Since phone cables run the length of the area literally just inches below the surface, and sometimes on top of the ground, I could not till the soil, so I opted to mound the bed with compost. 

Then with the help of my husband, the largest boulders were placed in random spots throughout the bed.    I  also added several pieces of flagstone along the front edge of the bed to make an area for visitors to have something to step on instead of flowers.  Then I began adding cobblestones along the edges to hold the mounded compost.

On Day 2 I finished adding the cobblestones along the edges of the bed.

 

On Day 3 I added the plants, and on Day 4 I mulched the bed.

And here's the finished product!

Notice the heart-shaped boulder :-)   

I love how the new bed turned out!!

You can see the taller plantings in the bed on the other side of the sidewalk.   All of the plants I chose for the hellstrip plantings are lower growing.

 (See detailed plant list below)

Elfin Thyme was added between the flagstones.  I am not sure if it can take this much heat, but I will replace it with sedum acre if it does not do well.  A variety of sedums and thymes were added along the cobblestone edges to soften the look over time as they creep between the rocks.

Before and After

Here's a list of the plants I used:

Catmint 'Walker's Low'

Zexmenia hispida

Lamb's Ear 'Helen Von Stein'

Pink Skullcap, Scutellaria suffrutescens

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink'

Blackfoot Daisy, Melampodium leucanthum

Salvia nemerosa 'Snow Hill' and 'May Night'

Four Nerve Daisy, Hymenoxys

Creeping Phlox, Phlox subulata

Dwarf Mexican Petunia, Ruellia 'Katie's'

Daylily 'Little Missy,' 'Little Zinger,' 'Little Trooper,' 'Dutch Art,' 'Sissy'

Pine Muhly, Muhlenbergia dubia

Germander

Gray Creeping Germander

Santolina (gray)

Thyme:  Thymus vulgaris Lavendar, Elfin, Silver Posie, Lemon, Woolly

Sedum reflexum 'Blue Spruce,' 'Lemon Ball'

Sedum kamtschaticum

Sedum potosinum

Sedum sarmentosum

Sedum mexicanum

Sedum acre

Daffodils:  'Golden Dawn,' 'Tete a Tete,' 'Erlicheer,' 'Carlton,' 'Ice Follies'

'Wise Blue' Starflower

I also added some 'Cora' Periwinkles and 'Sundial' Moss Rose just for some annual color this year until the perennials grow and fill in the extra spaces.   

Yes, my hellstrip has been redeemed!    In fact, I'd say it's downright heavenly now.

Do you have a piece of ground that needs rescuing?

Happy Gardening!

Toni :-)