The Sun Was Out - I Saw It!

In honor of our first glimpse of sun in many many moons today, I've decided to post a few pictures of what is flowering in my yard (or has flowered over the last couple of weeks). I'm actually amazed there are still flowers out there with all the rain we've had. And some things seem to love the rainy weather - i.e. the Heuchera (I've got pink coral bells that have been flowering for weeks, the purple/chocolate variety didn't flower nearly as long).

Here is a quick synopsis:

A new addition planted in Spring, Jacob's Ladder. I put it by our mailbox and it doesn't get much sun there, so I am surprised and pleased that it's flowering as much as it is.


Dianthus:


I planted some anemone bulbs this spring in my back bed and didn't expect to see any flowers until early next spring. Yet here is a rogue anemone amidst the lamium....maybe there are more to come?


And of course, some annuals. The crowning glory is a hanging petunia with licorice interspersed. I got an amazing deal on it at the wonderful Meadow View Farm in MA. Thanks Terry for bringing me up there, I'll be going back!


Some of the flat of impatiens I got from some local ladies who do all organic farming. This is the first time I've successfully started my own hanging container of anything - and impatiens is a favorite!


And finally, my calla lilies have begun flowering. Apparently only the white ones. I have pink and purple as well so hopefully I get a full show this year despite all the rain.

The New Haven Project

We bought a 1910 Victorian in downtown New Haven back in 2004 that was in pretty bad shape. In addition to doing major work on the interior and exterior of the house, the yard was pretty much nonexistant. Two monstrous shrubs flanked the front door, and the back yard was complete dirt, having been dug at for years by the numerous dogs living there. The only original plants to survive were a giant pear tree in the middle of the back yard, a hydrangea (that manages to live in a very shady spot) and some daffodils that had been obscured by the shrubs. And 2 very old grape vines growing on the back fence.

Here is what the yard looked like when we bought the house in the fall of 2004 (I can't even convey how many empty beer cans and how much garbage we found INSIDE the shrubs):


The back yard:

Some photos of the yard filling in and the gardens taking shape in 2005/2006 are below. I planted a lilac, a rose of sharon, a yellow floribunda rose bush and a pink rose hips bush (not sure of the correct names for these), black eyed susan , tulips, oriental lilies and 2 clematis on the sunny side of the house. On the smaller shade side (in addition to the hydrangea) I planted a mini alpine evergreen, some daffiodils, lilies, scilia, hyacinth and english ivy, which has really taken over as a ground cover.






Unfortunately the oriental lilies have multiplied tremendously and are completely out of control now. I need to get into the sunny garden and do some work, but I simply can't get to this house right now. Our tenants are maintaining the area, but the lilac also needs pruning and there are other issues. I also made the mistake of planting the lilies in front of the black eyed susans, so they need to be moved too. And they are also multiplying!

Here is the overgrown sunny side from May of this year:

The lilac in bloom :( the poor thing needs some pruning and proper feeding:
The pear tree in full bloom, a truly beautiful spectacle:
And a nice shot of the english ivy in the shade garden:

Happy Father's Day!

I took a couple of pictures of the pool bed this morning to show what's happening in late June.

The last of the Dutch irises are blooming and the lamium is still going strong. The Barberry bush is looking good too. In the center of this picture are the white daisies that came up in this bed 2 years in a row. They're a bit crushed from all the rain we've been getting, but still pretty.


An overview of the back bed. I took the rope off the bottom of the lilac and trimmed it last weekend and I think it looks pretty good. Especially since it was smooshed by evergreens for so many years! This picture also shows that all of my fall perennials from last year have come back, except for 1 of the 2 clumps of black eyed susans I planted. Those will multiply though, and I can eventually spread them out.

Project #1: Pool Bed

There was an existing bed next to our pool in the backyard that had some very serious problems. Several large evergreen shrubs had gotten so enormous they were choking an established lilac and what looked like a floundering azalea. We didn't like them very much and decided to pull them.

Here's what the bed looked like when we bought the house, in September 2007:



We ripped out the shrubs in July of 2008 and here is what we uncovered:


The lilac was in pretty bad shape. We also uncovered the falling over azalea which we later found out was a barberry. As well as some purple and white flowering lamium and a bunch of flowering daisies. Plus lots of huge but oddly placed moss covered rocks.

We did some cleanup and planted some late summer perennials including Black Eyed Susan, Purple Coneflower (Echinacea), Bee Balm, and Russian Sage. Here is what it looked like by August 2008:


In September I planted a bunch of spring bulbs, including some Dutch Irises I had separated and transplanted from the beds near the garage.

April 2009:

Not noticeable in this picture, but there are purple scillia in bloom in the front of the bed, near the rock border. Grape hyacinth are also up and near blooming.


May 2009:

Lilac is blooming. Barberry is a nice purple color. Allium is in full bloom.

June 2009:

Allium and lilac are still blooming. We also have peak flowers on the lamium in purple and white. The yellow buttercup looking flowers are a weed that I later ripped out as it was too invasive. There's also a pretty purple flowering weed in the middle of the lamium that I kept as it adds a nice splash of color.

Why I'm Here

I've been interested in gardening since we bought our first house and I was tasked with keeping up on the massive gardens there. The previous owner was a full-time gardener with no children, and she had some pretty extensive beds. I really liked her cottage-style designs, but it was all I could do to weed and feed the plants since I had a full-time job with a long commute.

Our next house was in the city and that was my first attempt at creating garden spaces. I'll post pictures of that project another time, and it's still a work in progress since we own the house and rent it out. Our tenants maintain the gardens so I don't really have a hand in how they look now, but that will change at some point.

We bought our current house in November of 2007. We are in a wooded setting with a pretty large lawn that we hope to reduce. The gardens here are overgrown and crowded, and many of the evergreens are way too big for the spaces they were planted in. We have been slowly plucking away at things, transplanting here and there, refining spaces and cleaning things up.

This fall's big project will be to create foundation beds in front of the house and do some work on the huge "island" garden in the middle of our front lawn. So I've been obsessively researching and sketching out ideas. I hope to write about the planning and progress here, and of course post lots of pictures.