Finding a spot of cool

Poor Sundae has trouble staying cool with that thick fur coat she wears. She's shed more of her coat than usual this year, but she still has to stretch out in whatever shady patch she can find to beat the triple digit temperatures we've had this summer. As July comes to a close, we're hoping for an unseasonably cool August! And we're still praying for rain!

Ivy covered tower. . .well, ivy covered shed

The sprigs of ivy we planted beside the shed have taken hold beyond our wildest expectations. I would cover the entire house with it if the head honcho gardener would let me. As it is, this little pathway between the house and the shed is as close to a secret garden as I have. If we didn't need someplace to store the lawnmower and rakes and shovels, I'd clean out the shed and hang some pretty curtains in the window and turn it into my own little hideaway.

Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus)

The Rose of Sharon bushes are loaded with buds, but really feeling the affects of the extreme heat.

Oh, that these were rainclouds

... but alas, they were not. Our well and sprinkler system are the only reason we have green grass and anything blooming at all. Like so many around us, we desperately need rain.

Back by popular demand: coneflowers!

The coneflowers are beautiful right now. In spite of our hot temps and lack of rain, this clump in front of the rock wall is thriving among the false sunflowers.

Taming the Sedum

This week we pulled out all the spent blooms in the sedum on the flagstone patio.
This is what it looked like all over the patio a few weeks ago. Pretty, but too overgrown now. I like the look of the new "haircut" and tamed patio much better now.

Different Perspectives

I've gotten in a rut of photographing the gardens from the same spots, so I'm trying to think of new perspectives (while still keeping neighbors' homes, the electric meter and the BBQ grill out of the shots). This is the first view we have when we come out onto the deck.

Twilight

The evenings have been cool enough that we can enjoy the west-facing deck again after sunset. We added twinkle lights under the railing and a lantern on the post. Add a few fireflies to the mix and it's altogether magical in the evenings at dusk. (If you click on the photo to enlarge, you can see the orange-and-white blur who also enjoys evenings in the yard with us.)

Purple Fountain Grass...Every Year

It's always a surprise to see what comes up in the prairie grasses and flowers along the fence. What we plant in the pots changes every year, too. Maybe that's why there is one staple to our backyard garden. The Purple Fountain Grass that goes in the big green pot every single year. And it's never failed to be beautiful. (Sadly, Purple Fountain Grass is an annual in Kansas, but we've learned to buy the smallest size available because it always grows to fill the pot by mid-summer.)

Lawn games

When we first moved in, my husband dug a perfectly good tree out of the yard. It was a bald cypress, and it was small, but still... But according to him, it was "right in the middle of the football field." So out it went, and as usual, he was right and I've been glad ever since. Here are some of the things we've done on the "football field" over the years.

Our newest lawn game is Kubb, which our son in Germany sent us.

 

Slip 'n' Slide!

 

Bean Bags and Bouncy Balls

Sometimes we just like to sit and watch the sprinklers run.

A three-and-a-half-minute tour

I took a stroll through the backyard gardens just before sunset last night with my camera set to video. It's a little bouncy, and windy, but you can also hear the fountain, the chirp of cicadas, and the birds singing. In bloom during these last days of June are carefree delight wild roses, false sunflower, wild bergamot (beebalm), fleabane, Canada milk vetch, a few coneflowers, catmint and salvia. The hibiscus (Rose of Sharon) is loaded with buds that will soon pop, and in the arbor garden off the deck, sedums, Dahlberg daisies and purple wild verbena star, along with the purple fountain grass in the large green pot. The prairie grasses are beginning to head out along the fence, too. Oh, and sweet Sundae comes out to greet you at the end of the clip. : )

The first of the coneflowers!

Coneflowers seem like the quintessential prairie flower to me. We have several different varieties of coneflower close to blooming, but these pretty orange-red ones, a gift from our friend Nancy's garden, were the first. They are back between the fence and the tallgrasses, so we have to work to see them, but there are others that will bloom above the grasses soon.

Coral Bells (Heuchera)

The coral bells seem to get more beautiful every year. They have an old-fashioned look about them that I just love. These photos were taken June 20.

This year's flower cart

We've had something different every year in the flower cart my dad built for us as a housewarming gift. We scaled back this year and planted sparsely, but I'm pleased with the fact that the pansies are still thriving and the coleus is finally getting big. A fun surprise: we saved the "spuds" from the sweet potato vine we had in pots last year, not sure if it would come up or not. It's coming in beautifully and helping to fill out the pot. We're eager for it to start trailing out of the pot, as the cart looks nicer with something spilling over.

Pretty in purple

Two new things blooming along the fence line, both shades of lavender and purple. Wild bergamot is abundant this year. Only the southernmost stands are in bloom, but it won't be long before it all pops.
The leadplant is beautiful and larger than last year with more blooms. It's leaf pattern and color are distinctive even before it blooms, but it has one of the most unusual flowers of anything in our garden.

Blooming sedum

We have sedums everywhere, all different varieties. I've lost track of what is what, but this one is in full bloom right now––tiny little white flowers. Just beautiful. But so much of it growing in the crevices of the flagstone patio, that we're digging it up and sharing with friends and family.

Knobby knees and Carefree Delights

The Bald Cypress is getting huge, and putting out "knees" clear out into the grass. It's a beautiful tree all year long, and does well in this rather soggy corner of the yard.

The Carefree Delights are blooming later than usual this year––probably because we pruned them hard, clear to the ground this year. We've seen our local arboretum (where we bought these plants) prune their wild roses way back, and come back vigorous as ever. We pruned everything back hard this year, and the yellow roses have been disappointing, but I think we'll be glad that we pruned them next year.

What's blooming June 7, 2011

Carefree Delight Prairie Rose

 Every day we walk through the gardens and discover new things blooming. Above is Carefree Delight, a wonderful native prairie rose. Below the Butterfly Weed is just about to burst into bright orange blossoms. The yellow clump of flowers below is some form of sedum, we think. Can't find the tag for that one, and it's something we planted several years ago. The main thing blooming in the garden right now is False Sunflower, and it's shooting up all along the fence. Those spots of yellow can be seen from the deck and even inside the house.

Butterfly Weed

Thanks to our friend Susan, we've identified this one: Gray Santolina!

False Sunflower

The garden at evening

Sedum: We love 'em

We have loved having a wide variety of sedums in the gardens and they are really showing off this year, both in the rock garden, and in the pots (which we plant simply by digging up a clump from the ground and plopping it in a pot for the summer). When summer's over, we dump the pots behind the shed, and by spring we have a whole new crop to choose from. Sedums are a great bargain because the spread and multiply each year. Some of our varieties include: Stonecrop, Angelina, Dragon's Blood, Album.