Tomorrow is the 4th of July and the garden is wild! We are finally seeing the Coneflowers appear, but they are mostly hiding behind False Sunflower (Heliopsis helianthoides) and masses of Wild Bergamot (some people call it bee balm). We've spent the last three mornings weeding! The mornings have been so pleasant we really haven't minded being outside, but the weeds do seem more prolific than usual this year. Of course my farmer dad thinks a lot of the plants and flowers in our garden are weeds!
4th of July blooms
Kansas sunsets
Kansas has some of the most beautiful sunrises and sunsets I've ever seen, but they are so difficult to capture on film that we are rarely able to share them via photos. These pictures come as close as any I've ever shot to capturing the breathtaking colors and the sense of calm a Kansas sunset inspires.
[As always, click on any photo for a larger image.]
Butterfly Milkweed is blooming
The Butterfly Milkweed has popped open, leaving bright orange spots in three places along the fence. It looks especially nice nestled between the False Sunflower and white Yarrow.
Coral Bells (upon a slender stalk)
My sisters and I used to sing a beautiful round with these lyrics:
White coral bells upon a slender stalk.Well, we don't have lilies of the valley, but there are coral bells decking our garden walk. The one in bloom is Heuchera Peach Flambe, and you can see from this photo where the coral bells name comes from.
Lilies of the valley deck my garden walk.
Oh, don't you wish that you could hear them ring?
That will happen only when the fairies sing.
Smoky Hills Success
This is the Smoky Hills plant we moved from Rock Garden Hill. It seems to love its new home in the entry garden where it receives nice morning sun, but shade in the late afternoon.
Garden failures
For a couple of beginners, we've been fortunate that our plants have done so well, but we'd be less than honest not to tell you about some of our failures:
Smoky Hills. This pretty purple-bloomed plant (along the base of Rock Hill Garden) captured our hearts when we saw it at the arboretum plant sale. Ken grew up in the Smoky Hills of Kansas, so of course we had to have some! But something about this spot didn't agree with our Smoky Hills (too much afternoon sun?) and it died. Fortunately, we were able to transplant one plant to the flowerbed at the entryway, and it is thriving.
Moonlight Broom. For reasons unknown, this beautiful, unique plant only lasted three years in our garden before giving up the ghost this spring. We held out hope, until early June when we finally dug out the shriveled root. 
Blue Dune Lyme Grass. Its blue hue contrasted beautifully with the lawn. The first year it was mild mannered, but after that, it tried to take over our world (the label warned us, but we turned a blind eye.) Finally this year we got aggressive and fought back with Roundup. It would be a great plant to fill in a large, contained area, but not here, where we prefer to see Catmint and Rose of Sharon thrive.
We've had some other wildflowers that bloomed beautifully one year and didn't come back (Cornflower, Coneflower and Coreopsis...hmmm...all the "C" plants?) and others that we planted that never showed up (New England Aster, Lupine and Stiff Goldenrod). But Cupflower, Butterfly Milkweed, Wooly Verbena, Yarrow, Columbine, Spiked Gayfeather (Liatris) and a host of others return faithfully each year.
Coleus: a good decision
We're so happy with the way the coleus pots are turning out! Every bit as colorful as any flowers we could have planted, and always in bloom, much easier to care for and we can bring some of them inside this fall for cheery color throughout most of the winter. And to fill all these pots, we spent under $14! To see these pots when we first planted them, click here.
June garden
Early June and the garden is on the verge of peaking. The flower pots are filling out, the Carefree Delight roses are a riot of pink against the back of the garage, and the wildflowers along the fence are beginning to bloom. It's a joy to spend mornings and evenings out here, but the hot afternoon sun makes the backyard off limits to everyone but the cats.
Harvesting roses
I forgot what a treat it is to have roses to cut and arrange on a whim. They make the house so cheery!
Celebrating a new tree
A new tree is always cause for celebration here, even though our reason this time is bittersweet. An ash tree that was here when we moved in succumbed to ash borers. It's always sad to lose a tree, but we chose a beautiful lacebark elm (Siberian Elm) to replace it. Because the trunk has a crook in it, and some damage from deer, we got a great deal, but the tree farm planted the tree for us and assured us the elm would survive both flaws. We think it has great character because of those flaws. Here's a before-during-after shot. (As always, click on the photo to enlarge.)
Moments after I first posted, I looked out to see that a fat robin had adopted our tree. Doesn't he look pretty perched there?
Paws and claws in the garden
Biscuit strikes a pose on the deck, and Sundae soaks up some lovin' from her favorite girl. The cats will miss our daughter almost as much as we will when she heads off to college this fall.
Roses in bloom!
UPDATE: The roses are in full bloom...hundreds of them, pink and yellow! And this is the first year they've reached the top of the arbor.
Roses are blooming like mad. This is the yellow rosebush the nursery gave my husband three years ago because they thought it was dead. It's doing better than the one we bought and planted on the other side of the arbor. It will soon be in bloom too. The bright pink Neon Star Dianthus is perfect in a broken pot at the foot of the rose arbor.
The hills are alive!
With color! Rock Garden Hill, that is. The Sedum is blooming, along with the last blush of Columbine, and a lavender mist of Speedwell. Absolutely gorgeous! And it's only May.
A crayon box of color!
May 11, and the garden is a crayon box of colors! Suddenly everything is in bloom and growing faster than we could have imagined. We cut the shrubs back hard this year and they apparently did not get the memo! ;) The colorful daisy-like flowers in the large pot are Gazanias. The blooms are stunning, but the foliage looks a bit too much like a dandelion for our taste.
Hardly know where to begin. . .
There's so much in bloom now, I can't decide what to show you first! The speedwell (our variety: Veronica Waterperry Blue) is doing beautifully...blue flowers on purplish-green leaves, and it spreads like mad, keeps the weeds at bay, and looks gorgeous three seasons of the year. (See the hen and chicks peeking out between the rocks?)
One of our favorite shrubs is Dappled Willow. We pruned it almost to the ground this spring and it's rewarding us with its pretty "dappled" pink- and white-tipped leaves. The plant doesn't actually bloom, but the new growth sure looks like flowers.
And then there's the columbine. We have a luscious shade of salmon and also deep purple. This is the third year for the columbine. (That's yarrow coming up behind the sandstone rocks. It will have pretty white flowers later this spring.)
The great coleus caper
We're being budget conscious this year, so decided to plant coleus in nearly all our flower pots. Coleus has been one of our favorite plants each year, regardless of price. A planting like this:
turns into pots like this in a matter of weeks.
Coleus are extremely easy care (just pinch back every couple of weeks and they stay thick and full) and they seem to thrive in sun or shade. There are dozens of varieties in a rainbow of gorgeous colors, and once they are established, cuttings can be rooted and planted in new pots. Coleus don't have as long an outdoor life in Kansas since they do not tolerate the cold at all, but they can be brought inside to brighten up the house for most of the winter. I had a few pots that made it through the winter inside without getting too leggy or pale. Here are some more of our coleus plantings this year (and again, these pots will be thick and full in a few weeks.)
This is more like it!
April 21: Green grass, sprouting plants, pots filled and on the deck, the outdoor carpets and umbrella in place, and 80-degree temps in the forecast. It's been a long time since we had such a late spring, but finally, finally we're enjoying the outdoors again, and it's glorious! We cut back the red twig dogwood and the dappled willows hard this year. I think we'll miss the lush foliage they provided last year, but they were taking over this little plot and really needed to be controlled. Already they're making their way back. It will be interesting to see how big they get after such a drastic pruning. 
Enjoying spring. . . finally!
It's been a long time coming, and interrupted with snow. But finally mid-April 2009, the grass is green, the leaves are unfurling, tulips are blooming and we can believe that winter is truly over. All the ornamental grasses have been cut down and they're already starting to come back. Next week we'll fill our flower pots, plant a few wildflowers along the fence, hose down the deck and get the outdoor rugs and umbrella out. Can't wait!
Spring...and winter. That's Kansas for you!
The view off our front porch this late March morning is typical spring-in-Kansas. Green grass, forsythia in full bloom – and snow gathering in the flower beds and on the pavement. We have 12 inches of the white stuff predicted for the next 24 hours. Brrrrr! But we can't complain. We'll take the moisture in any form it comes.
Dream a little dream of spring
We worked in the garden for an hour and a half this lovely middle-of-March afternoon, cutting back the rosebushes on the arbor, and the Carefree Delight rosebushes, Spirea, and Dappled Willow. Lots more work to do in both front and back yards. It's hard to believe that in a few short weeks the garden will go from this...to this! 
Finally...rain!
We've been so dry! And finally, today, March 7, we got a nice shower. Not the two or three inches we would have loved, but moisture anyway. Amazing how much fresher and cleaner everything looks now. I'm trying to enjoy all the grasses because we'll be cutting them down soon. I'll miss them, but it won't be long and they'll be back spring-y and green! Can't WAIT!
The colors of February
The colors of February are usually gray and white, but on this 7th day of the month, we're seeing all the shades of sunshine and fire. The red twig dogwood is in its glory, and the sedum on Rock Garden Hill is spiked with red and yellow. I repotted the Christmas poinsettias and cleaned out the succulent dish that's been inside all winter. They will have to live in the garage for the next few weeks, but with temps pushing 70 today, we set the pots on the deck and pretended it was spring. We even put burgers on the grill and lunched out on the deck in sunglasses and shirtsleeves. Our kitties are sure they've died and gone to heaven!
Powdered sugar
I remember sitting under the awning at Café Du Mondé in New Orleans a few years ago (pre-Katrina) enjoying café au laite and beignets with friends. Everything there - tables, chairs, floors, silverware - everything was sprinkled with a fine layer of powdered sugar. That's what it looks like in our garden this morning, January 27, 2009.
Sunset on the prairie
Kansas is famous for beautiful sunrises and sunsets, but we've had some that were absolutely stunning this month. And the days are growing noticeably longer. Can spring be far away?
Mid-January snow
Brrrr! It's cold in Kansas! I don't think the thermometer hit 10 degrees today. But it was a pretty day just the same. Snow flurries this morning. . .and a bit of it stuck, making a pretty pattern on the deck. But we're leafing wistfully through the seed catalogs. . .
Oh, mister moon, moon, bright and silvery moon. . .
January 11 and the moon was HUGE last night. This photo doesn't do it justice as it was taken early in the morning. Astronomy sites called this Hunger Moon, a name from Native American folklore. In the Northern Hemisphere, this was a time of snow and deep winter, when hunting was poor and wild dogs would roam by moonlight searching for food. (If our Sundae's thick coat is any indication, we have snow and deep winter in our forecast!)
Merry Christmas!
Christmas Day, and the kids are starting to arrive one by one. Precious memories being made. Blessings being counted. Hope the same is true for your family. God bless, and a very merry Christmas to you all!
Christmas in the air
Christmas has come to our neighborhood, especially now that we have snow on the ground and more in the forecast. This is the view from the kitchen window, and off our front porch tonight, December 16. If you listen closely, maybe you can even hear the Christmas music that's playing across the street. . .
A REAL snow!
December 16 and finally we get an honest-to-goodness snow. Beautiful and still gently falling! Isn't the red-twig dogwood gorgeous against the snow?
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