Almost Wordless Wednesday

'Quick Fire' Hydrangea

'Elodie' Lily

'Wedding Bells' Campanula

more color in eastside garden

white tuberous begonia

Pansies on front step still blooming after a slow start

Bell flower

Lily 'Cancun'

front garden

another view

deck planter

another deck planter

planter with petunias and double minifamous bells with society garlic behind(will bloom later)

Hibiscus bud

dish garden

sunny planter by back door

moved water plants to a sunnier location- front barrel water too shady

Rudbeckia 'Cherokee Sunset'

hillside with Queen of the Prairie blooming, Liatris 'Kobold' almost ready, coneflowers starting and  'Lady Elsie May' Rose in foreground

Sun Impatien

Lilypads on the pond

My 40 year old fountain (from my parents home)

views from deck

Lily 'Cappuccino'

front garden

flowerheads on 'Invincibelle Spirit' Hydrangea- not huge but lots of them,   one year old and about 4 feet tall this year

Even though it was getting dark, there was no wind a little earlier tonight so I went out and snapped some more new blooms (a few pics ended up being over 100).

Blooms This Week and a few Random Thoughts

Dianthus  'Spooky'

unnamed pink lily that my mom bought and gave me about 2 or 3 years ago

white Astilbe

one of the many daylilies that came from her gardens 30 years ago- first to bloom every  year

east side of house- oldest garden in yard

Lily 'Cappuccino'

bagged Honeycrisp apple

bagged apples

Veronica 'Red Fox'- new late last year

2 year old Hosta 'Dream Weaver'

Lily 'Lollypop'

Lily 'Denia' hiding

Hill starting to get some color

Poppy Mallow- Winecups

Rose 'Fushcia Meidiland'

Rose 'Fiesta'

tiny rose 'Pink Gnome'

one of many unnamed pink lilies I add to gardens every spring at Eastertime

Lily 'Pink Pixie'

Mr and Mrs Robin busy taking care of their two babies

I haven't made it outside for a few days to take pictures of new blooms. It's been either too wet, too windy or too hot. I finally bagged some of the apples and even with the storm we had last night most of the bags are still in place. I haven't done much weeding lately so will be heading out to the gardens this weekend to catch up. I have a few half price Linders garden mart closeouts to plant. Had an impromptu pool party yesterday with some of my son in law's relatives who were visiting from Ohio. It kept us cool in the upper nineties heat we had here for a couple of days.
The vegetable garden is doing okay other than needing weeding desperately. My separate squash and pumpkin patch is growing well. Tomatoes seem to be slow growing this year with the cool temps. Hopefully the warmer days will help them to do a little more. The first pepper is about ready to pick and enjoy and the second one growing too.
I like this time of year when I can enjoy the benefits of all the work done earlier with planting and weeding and such. The daylilies and other perennials are budding so we will soon have more blooms to enjoy. It's quite peaceful in our backyard during the daytime when neighbors are at work. I like to sit on the swing or on the deck chair and be still and just listen to the birds and the fountain.I love to take in the beauty of it all that the good Lord created for us.

Blooms This Week

Peony 'Kansas'

Rose 'Fiesta'

new Peony 'Sorbet'

new planter for daughter's home- she picked the flowers on one of our shopping trips with grandma

Peony 'Nick Shaylor'

planter by back door- added 'Papaya' petunia and more orange diascia when first ones didn't make it this spring

daughter's blue planter- it has been delivered to her townhome

what's not blooming- yard full of branches to pick up after stormy week

Astrantia

Gaillardia growing in rocks on timber steps

another self seeded patch of Gaillardia-a variety of color and forms all from a few starter plants

Phlox 'Spring Delight' and Heuchera 'Hercules' 

Penstemon 'Dark Towers'

Rose 'Henry Kelsey'

Rose 'Hansa'

Calla Lilies-kept in pots over the winter in basement to grow again in the spring

unnamed small Dahlia

Petunia 'Pretty Much Picasso' - this one doing better than ones I tried last year

Heuchera flowers growing up through Ninebark 'Centerglow'

Heuchera 'Rave On' and Ninebark

After working so hard last week and because of stormy weather I haven't done much outside this week. I still have some things to do when the sun comes back out. First priority is getting the new apple trees planted before they get blown over again.
 Next is another apple related task-bagging the apples not yet touched by bugs to keep them bug free. Others swear by this method. I was going to try it last year but was too late. This year it looks like there are still several good young fruits. My damaged trees are still doing okay so I'm going to bag the apples and let them keep growing. By bagging apples I mean you put ziploc bags over the young fruit, cut a small hole in bottom for drainage and let them mature bug free without pesticides. Have resisted spraying my apple trees but would like to enjoy the fruits of my labor.
My vegetable garden is asking to be weeded again also. I can say I am done planting now that I finished daughter's planter but never said done completely when there's a lot of summer left and there's end of the season sales to come. I always end up with a few more things as time goes on. I still have bags of mulch to add to hillside garden soon.
In this summer that seems will never come even when the calendar says it's here, we have only swam in our pool 2 days(when we had 100 degree plus temps). The husband ordered some solar sun rings to replace our heavy old solar blanket which fell apart by the end of last year. They're big round rings that are slightly inflated and have magnets to keep them together in water but come apart easily for removal. Hopefully they will work well to help increase the water temp so it's comfortable for swimming. I like looking at the clear blue water even in the cold but would like to enjoy it from the inside. The weather people keep promising warmer days but it's only 59 degrees outside right now on the second day of summer(and raining again).