Wednesday, July 22, 2015

My little slice of paradise

Not much progress has been made on Sherlock. I've been far too distracted by the little 25 square feet of heaven I have outside my back door.
I am at war with the Japanese beetles. Despite that, the roses are doing okay. They never seem to bloom all together. Chicago will bloom and die, then it's QE, then Tourney, then Bluey. But it does mean a steady stream of blooms.
The Black-Eyed Susans are reaching for the sky. Seriously, these things are tall! Almost to the top of the fence. (Definitely have to do a revamp on the way things are laid out next year.). And look....
The Echinacea has bloomed. I am especially pleased with this picture - all three of those plants were started from seed last year. I thought it was a bit of a failed experiment, as last year, none of it bloomed except for one mutant Susan. But look at them now. I guess starting from seed just takes a little patience.

There's one other plant that was started from seed, and while it's growing, no blooms...
The poor Columbine. It just got completely shaded by the daisies. I've moved things a bit so it can get some more sun. Hopefully I'll get a bloom or two before summer is over.

In other seed news
 The sweet peas are looking great
And the Nasturtiums are sprouting!

Around the corner at the side garden...
The Gladiolus are starting to bloom! I thought each plant would only get one flower, but it looks like they have five or six...
 And so darn pretty. Glad I bought these bulbs. 

And just a few feet away, in the front garden I got a little surprise in amongst the lilies
This is Epipactis Helleborine. A native orchid. According to google, some people consider it a weed orchid but I think it's just gorgeous. I hope it sticks around. The neighbour found some in his garden too, so we are guess it's a gift from the birds.

And speaking of gifts from the birds
That is not one of the sunflowers I planted. Mine all got squished or stolen.  This one was growing under the bird feeder so I transplanted it and now it's thriving. It's probably a black oil sunflower... but I'll take it. I love seeing those big flowers bobbing away late in the season.

And last but not least...
 Definitely not cherry tomatoes....

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

That orchid is very interesting. In my opinion...no orchid is a weed orchid.

Your flowers certainly do cheer things up!

Araignee said...

I've got one black-eyed Susan blooming in the front. I transplanted it from Daddio's yard to see if it would do anything in all this shade. It is tall. I didn't expect that.
Those orchids are crazy looking. Like alien plants. I'd be afraid of them. Feed me, Seymour.

elns said...

Ah your garden is lovely. That first photo is really beautiful. Seems like you are going to continue to have lots of surprises and entertainment in this lovely space for a bit. I'm excited for your sweet peas, they remind me of my childhood and my mother's garden.

Unknown said...

The garden is looking GOOD!! You planned well if you are continuing to get new blooms throughout the season!