One project checked off the list!

It has been a busy time out in the garden, but we now have one project checked off our list. One of the beds along the fence in back needed to be enlarged a bit. The curve was too severe, and I could use more room for flowers. We had to remove the existing sand stone bricks carefully so the wildflowers I have growing would not be disturbed.
After moving the bed out from the fence and redesigning the curve, I filled in the new area with a mixture of top soils.
I was really pleased with the new look..now on to plants!
Behind this little gate are larkspurs getting ready to put out their buds. I seeded these in fall with heirloom seeds given to me by a special friend. I have never grown these flowers before, but know they will get really tall so I needed something short for the front..and something that can take really hot sun. Traveling to a couple of garden centers I found one of my favorites already in stock--Blackfoot Daisies. Perfect!
In front of the verbena I planted (close to the edge) Laura Bush Petunias (also given to me by a special friend!) Hopefully they will spill out over the bricks and not interfere with the verbena.
I can just picture the tall colorful Larkspurs behind the Blackfoots!
And since we are visiting this area--how about those Blue-
bonnets! Yum!!!!
Happy Spring everyone--have a wonderful weekend!

Pretty 'n Pink

Most of you are going to shudder when I say this--but I really like my pink Ruellia! I know, they are SO invasive! The speaker in my MG class yesterday said that if you are really quiet you can hear the flowers spitting out seeds.
I only had one large plant last year, and of course now I have several volunteers in all different locations in the backyard. But..I love that cottage garden look, so I am ok with them popping up. I need their pretty color, especially this time of the year.
They add a backdrop to other flowers in my garden. And if I see one coming up that I really don't want to live there, I just pull it up. Of course I garden in a really small space. I know this is not practical for everyone. And I also know that next year I may be singing a different song, but this year I am really loving them.
Their pink color adds such a soft touch to my hot backyard. Oh, and another thing that makes ruellia one I love--in all this over 100 degree heat and no rain...they never wilt, they continue to bloom, and they haven't complained one time about the hot sun bearing down on them. In my book, that makes them a keeper!

First Day of Summer....really??

As I was watering last night...
again, I found myself grumbling about my
"summer
disappoint-
ments." Then I realized, it was not really summer yet. Today is officially the first day of summer. However, for those of us in Texas, it seems like the middle of summer. Our temperatures have already reached 100..more than once, and in my area we haven't had rain in over a month. But, back to the subject at hand-summer disappointments. Here is my biggest one (other than worms in my coneflowers!)--the flower bed around the new tree in the backyard.

Do you remember how pretty the bluebonnets were in the spring? After I pulled them up I planted 7 types of zinnias seeds. I was going to have a bed full of beautiful, colorful zinnias, and I was going to cut them and have vases full of flowers all summer. Well..it didn't happen!
Out of all those seeds I planted, there is one little group that germinated and looks like it is about to bloom. I was so frustrated last weekend, I went to the garden center and bought some red verbena, white angelonia, and some type of little yellow flower. I needed some color in that bed! What in the world happened to all those seeds? I used Burpee seeds. Hubby thinks that is the problem. He had trouble with Burpee seeds germinating in his vegetable garden a few years ago. I'm not sure what happened, but next year I am going to develop a new plan for this bed after I pull the bluebonnets.

The view from the patio is not too bad..
but when you get closer, the bed is just bare. I miss all those flowers I was going to have!
Oh well, the new tree looks pretty good. And, although you can't see them in the pictures, the bluebonnets have re-seeded and I have cute little plants starting to pop up all over that bed!
As I continued to grumble and water, I turned around and saw the bed under the breakfast room window. The window boxes are certainly not as pretty as last year--they can't handle all the west sun we are getting now--but look at the purple heart. This picture doesn't do them justice. They are really spectacular, and they have not complained one time about the heat! Summer will be hot and dry I am afraid, and plants will suffer. And as a gardener I will have disappointments, but also as a gardener I know I need to find the beauty in the summer heat. I know it's there--I just need to look.

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere."
Vincent Van Gogh

Wildflower Excitement!!

I am so excited--I had to share my excitement with you! You all know wildflowers are my passion. When we travel, I carry a field guide with me and try to spot and identify as many wildflowers as I can. My dream would be to have my own meadow and have it full of wildflowers nodding their heads in the breeze. As it is, I have no meadow, so I devote a corner of my little backyard to wildflowers. And they have started to bloom. (you never know what will happen when you scatter seeds in fall!)
The clasping coneflowers are starting to..um.."develop."

They don't just bud, then open. They start with a center, then the petals begin to develop until you actually have flowers. So interesting!
When I ordered seeds from the Wildseed Farm, they sent me a free package of mixed seeds, which I just threw out in this bed last fall. I didn't even look closely at what it contained, so I was surprised to see this gaillardia (blanket flower) blooming in this bed! I also see blue cornflowers and I think phlox. Love these kinds of surprises!
But my big exciting moment this week: I was watching this plant grow and grow. Looking at the fern like leaves, I was afraid it was just another cosmos (well, you know how prolific they are!) I scattered seeds for Plains Coreopsis in fall, and was so in hopes that's what it was..and, I was not disappointed! Ohhhh, I was so excited to go out Thursday night and find the buds had opened and it was the cute, cute coreopsis I had been hoping for!
They are tall too, and their heads definitely nod in the breeze. I just love them! Now, this wildflower bed is..well..
wild! It is certainly not a structured showy bed, but it is exactly what I was hoping for. There are still green things coming up too, so I have to be careful not to pull anything up. You never know, you could be pulling up a wildflower beauty!

"May all YOUR weeds be wildflowers!"

Weekend Gardening Notes

Every year, for Mother's Day weekend, I take my Mother plant shopping. Since I was in DC last weekend, this Saturday was our day to shop and plant. And we loaded up my SUV! Do ya think we have room for anything else? I worked Saturday morning in Mother's garden, and we were both pleased with the results.
I only bought a few things, as I wanted to have room for all the things Mother wanted, but I am happy to say I am now the proud owner of a Knock-out rose! Thank you Tina for encouraging me to get one. I think the blooms are beautiful. The tag says they are double blooms, which I think makes them look more like the old roses I remember when I was a little girl. I have no idea where I will put it, and I am wondering....is there anyway I can put it in a large container and grow it as a container plant? It sure looks good right at the start of this path, but I'm not sure if it would be safe in the ground here.
When I got home, I decided to take a stroll through my garden to check my blooms. Come walk along with me and let's see what we can find. The Hollyhocks are just now starting to bloom. I love this pretty pink color.
I have 2 of these growing around stones. I bought them last year. They are really a pretty yellow and perfect for a rock garden. But..uh, I cannot remember the name of this plant! Help!
The Gerber Daisies have been so happy this spring. I think they have enjoyed all the rain.
This is a new plant,
"Blanket Flower Torch." I bought this red one, and a yellow one. Both have produced many flowers.
My Nasturtiums are finally blooming. I have enjoyed the pretty, fragrant little flowers. I know they will not last much longer.
This is my favorite of all--Blackfoot Daisy. Isn't it gorgeous! It is in one of my old galvanized buckets. And, it came back from last year! Yes, I did baby it during that cold weather we had, but it was well worth it. That honey smell and those cute flowers just make my day! Love, love them!
The Marigolds are really doing well--so far no spider mites!
And here are the Red Geraniums I have had for so many years. I moved them from the front porch to a bed in back. They don't mind-they will bloom anywhere I put them I think.
I hope you enjoyed the walk with me looking at a few of my blooms. It has been such a pretty spring here at Meadow-
view Thymes, and I find such joy watching all these flowers grow.

I hope you found the time this weekend to enjoy the blooms in your garden.

Note: The french drain is about 2/3 of the way finished! Yea!

Yard work, tulips and sweet smells

What a beautiful weekend! It was sunny for a change, the temp-
erature was great, and we took advantage of the nice weather and worked in the yard. While hubby was mowing (goodbye dead grass!), I was out back trying to dig up roots in this flower bed behind the pond. This bed was full of wood fern and ground ivy. I don't want to completely get rid of the ivy (which is impossible anyway), but I did want to try and reduce the amount of ferns in this area. Now that the sun shines on this bed (because of losing the big tree), I would like to plant some type of flowers, and I am thinking cosmos. I can just imagine how pretty they would look gently nodding in the breeze. Sounds simple, huh? Not so! I spend all afternoon digging, pulling, and digging some more to clear out the roots. This was quite a job. But it's done. It's too early for seeds, but as soon as I know our freeze chances are over, those cosmos seeds will be scattered.

Tulips are up, and blooming! I ordered quite a few bulbs from Breck's in the fall, and have several coming up, but seems like I should have more plants. I am making a note to order and plant more next year. Some of the tulip bulbs are hybrids, so I am hoping they will come back .
This is my favorite tulip. I ordered a few bulbs called
Day-
dreams They start out as yellow, change to very light apricot..
..then gradually change to a deep orange.
During the day they open to the most beautiful flower. According to the specs on this variety,

"day-
dream blooms are long-lasting and reach up to 5 inches across.."
I am enjoying this tulip so much! It was such a joy to go out this weekend and see the large flower. And that orange color..wow! I will order more of these!

The sun shinning directly on this flower gives it a golden look. Just beautiful!

As I worked clearing, cleaning and pruning this weekend, I kept smelling the sweetest fragrance. I thought it was my violas, which it was to some degree, but then I remembered the 2 new little plants I bought at Home Depot last week. That's what the sweet smell was! This is a Nemesia-compact innocence. Nemesia is a pretty annual with little snapdragon-shape flowers.
I only bought 2 because Nemesia is a cool-season annual. These little plants will not last very long, but I think they add a bright touch to this early spring garden, and I sure will enjoy that sweet smell as I work and relax out in the yard.

It has been such a good weekend, and..it's Spring Break for me, and...we are off to the Hill Country later this week! Spring is almost here!

Saturday things..

Do you see this..it is sun!! Today is the first time I have seen the sun in a month. We are so grateful for all the rain, but cloudy and dreary every day really gets to a gardener. I was ready to get out in the garden today when I saw the bright sun!
This pretty yellow daisy is one of my favorites. I bought it last spring to put in a red ceramic container (you know me with my red and yellow in the garden!) It has bloomed continually all summer. I did have to water it twice a day during the hot summer days, but that was not a problem.
Have you noticed I keep calling this pretty little thing an "it?" Well, it's because I forgot what it was! Is it an Englemann Daisy? I always keep the plant tag that comes with plants when I buy them, but guess I lost this one. Look closely at the petals--does this look like a cutleaf to you?
Remember this? I didn't know exactly what it was-and I still don't know. Some of you thought asparagus, Robin thought it looked like her sea shell cosmos, and Cindy thought it was probably just a weed. Well-I didn't know..and decided I didn't care. This plant was taking up too much room in my wildflower bed. So, today it was cut down. I still needed height in that bed, so--I did what all good gardeners do, I went shopping!
And this is what I found at Lowes. It is just a plain wooden trellis, but I think it was just what I needed. The green looks really good against the fence.

The trellis looks pretty lonely right now, but what you can't see is that this bed is full of little seedings. Bluebonnets Mexican Hat Coreopsis, Coneflower rosettes and who know what else.

Winter may find this bed rather dull, but I am hoping spring will put on a beautiful show of blooms to make this new trellis happy.

What did you do this Saturday? Hope it was a good one for you too!

What IS this???

Does anyone recognize this?? It started growing in the wildflower bed last spring. I thought it was pretty, so I just let it go. It adds quite a bit of texture and interest to that bed, but over the summer it has gotten way out of hand.
It has very fine, fern like branches. I promise-I did not plant it. Hubby thinks I must have just forgotten that I planted it, but I think I would remember..wouldn't I? It's not like I have anything else on my mind, right? :)

I will be ready to plant wildflower seeds in about a week, so I will need to cut this back. We are thinking we might try and move it to the corner of the bed this winter, but before I do, I sure would like to know what it is!

Can somebody out there please help me??

A Good Plant

Our little backyard has become quite a challenge after losing the Bradford Pear. The sun hits the back around noon, and doesn't leave until it sets in the western sky. Knowing some plants just cannot survive the intense heat of that west sun, we are just trying to keep as many things alive as we can. (I could not do this without the help, understanding, and compassion of the most wonderful husband in the world!)
One plant that has not suffered from all of these changes is Angelonia, Serena Purple. It has tolerated dry conditions, wet conditions, and now additional sun. I bought 2 of these plants in spring. This one is planted in the east bed that runs along the fence. It is under a wax myrtle. It gets good sun, but is somewhat protected from the hot west sun.
This Angelonia is planted in the bed that runs beside the flagstone walkway. It gets sun almost all day. This bed goes from dry, to wet, back to dry. And the Angelonia not only survives, but thrives. According to the Internet:
"The Angelonia 'Purple' provides masses of 3/4-inch blooms that open along plentiful long, elegant stems all summer long. A fine plant for hot, dry, humid, and even wet garden spots. This super-easy sun-lover is grown like Salvia and just as beautiful! 10 to 12 inches high, 12 to 14 inches wide."
And to top it off--you do not need to deadhead!
Fresh flowering stems simply arise to replace the old ones! Not only is it heat tolerant, it is humidity tolerant as well. The Serena series of Angelonia comes in this purple color, plus pink and white. I cannot recommend this Angelonia enough. If we can grow it this well in our conditions, it is a keeper!