My garden has been neglected even more than usual this year, as we have plans to renovate it a bit, and make it more desert-friendly (or, not as expensive to water!) It doesn't seem to matter. It continues to bloom, in spite of the neglect. My lilacs gave in to a late freeze, so I did miss their wonderful scent this year, but the lilies of the valley have made up for their loss, filling the air with their sweetness.
They are such a subtle plant, people will stand on my porch and look around to see what smells so good, and are amazed when I tell them it is these tiny plants.
My peonies are blooming now, as well. I have several colors, and I have decided to keep them, even though they are not a desert plant. Some things are just worth what they demand.
On the side of our house we have two old-fashioned rose bushes. They are the kind that are called 'wild roses' here. Several weeks ago, they were in a riot of bloom, totally covered with roses. It just takes one big wind, though, and the blooms fly away. The strange thing about these bushes though, is that, although one of them is a yellow rose and the other is a bright red-orange bush, a week or two after those roses are gone, the past few years the red bush has put on a few dozen pink blooms. The pink ones are on the same branches that have previously held red blooms, so I am not quite sure where these pink ones come from! And, though the rose bushes were here long before we moved into the house, it has just been the past few years (3, maybe) that the bush has bloomed in pink, as well as red.
My clematis is doing well this year, too. It has bloomed several times before now, and it is climbing up the old iron bed headboard I have put in the garden for it.
In addition to blooms, the garden is filled with winged visitors, as well. The hummingbirds arrived just after our big April snow storm, which gave me hope that the winter was truly over at last.
And there is something in our garden or yard that yellow swallowtails just love. I do have a butterfly bush, but it is just beginning to bloom. I think they might like the peonies. We have a lot of them flitting through the yard and garden, at any rate.
We also have a lot of bees. The bees love the flowering crabtree when it is in bloom. It absolutely buzzes with their presence. That tree bloomed about a month ago, though, so they have also moved on to the peonies, or whatever else they can find to fill up on.
I don't know what this little moth is, but she was flitting around in the strawberry bed, just begging me to take her photo when I was out there with the camera a little while ago! I am hoping she will be content with strawberry leaves. We do not seem to have yarn-eating moths here, and I would like it to stay that way!
I will be having a weaving marathon for the next four-five days. My husband will be otherwise occupied, so I intend to get the October tapestry finished and off the loom. (More garden neglect time.) I'll let you know when that happens!
3 comments:
Beautiful garden photos. We redid our garden a few years ago when we renovated our 50 year old house, getting rid of black linoleum, acoustic tile ceilings, and opening up the small rooms, but I digress.
I planted mainly natives, with a few hardy non-natives thrown in. My philosophy is water the first year, and from then on they are on their own. For the most part, I have been lucky enough to have most of them survive, but there are definitely plants that go by the wayside. I love lavender, but it just doesn't do well here, so after years of looking ragged, I will be getting rid of most of them, luckily blueberries do well here, so I keep planting more and more of them. I love my new grasses.
Good luck finding things. It is a fun process. Look at native grasses, mostly carefree and lovely to look at.
Love the pictures, especially the hummingbird! Our hummingbirds leave in May and come back again in the winter in Florida
Your hummingbirds must come here for the summer, Loree! We have just a few here at home, but there are hundreds up on the mountain at our cabin!
Since we live in the Colorado desert, native plants means xeriscaping. But we will still have to water some, as we only get about 9" of moisture per year here. My lavender actually does well, so I'll keep it. And I'd like to keep my peace rose and my peonies, but don't mind losing the rest. I do have to admit, though, that I have a hard time killing a living plant of any sort. Too soft hearted, by far, I guess. So I'm giving them awhile to die a natural death on their own, but they seem to be hardier than I thought!
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