My Mystery Garden

Well it's not much of a mystery anymore but that's what I've been calling this little garden.

Ron dug up this area sometime last summer. My kitchen table sits by the double windows that overlook the area. I love water features and thought how wonderful it would be to have a garden with a fountain below the window. I could relax at the table and enjoy the flowers along with the sound of trickling water (last summer I made Apple crazy with my hunt for just the right fountain but I digress...) Unfortunately things got busy and I didn't have many extra plants so the area sat there for awhile but the weeds were happy.

I found my fountain and it makes the nicest little trickle sound as a fountain should. Apple gave me a yellow lily and some liatrice from her garden. A friend gave me a hosta and some Giant Solomon's Seal. I found the blue salvia at the farmers market and had to try it after seeing it at Cornell Plantations. I also bought some Russian sage and a pink coreopsis that is now blooming.

I had seven plants I could identify. The rest were mysteries by the time I planted the garden. Apple and I went to visit Kerri of Colors of the Garden last year and she sent me home with some treasures. We also had a plant swap at the Garden Club at the end of the year and I am always getting pass-a-longs from friends. Life was crazy so everything ended up in this area which was really a holding bed, not a garden. I of course didn't label anything and couldn't remember what I had been given. This spring I dug everything up and rearranged it. Apple suggested I mark my path BEFORE planting which worked out well. Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious for some of us. LOL. I'm so glad I have a sister with good advice! Since I couldn't remember what was what, I just plunked things here and there and figured I would move things as they bloomed if they didn't fit.

Now some of the mysteries are solved. There are shasta daisies and gloriosa daisies from Kerri - Thank you again Kerri! Some phlox, two iris', coral bells, and I suppose, a few more mysteries yet to be revealed....

I'm sure I will add to this space and move things over time. I also want to add a chair so I can sit and enjoy the sound of the fountain and read a book. I'm not sure about the "stepping stones". Maybe it's because I know they are old tiles a friend gave me but they will work for now.

Heirloom Blooms

We always had peonies in the back yard while we were growing up. After they were done blooming Mom would mow right over them and every year they'd come back. Two years ago she was no longer interested in keeping the one remaining bush and let me dig it out. I divided it into three and last year got just one bloom. I'm thrilled that all three have bloomed this year.

This one is near the back door where I walk by several times daily.

This one is not as happy looking but still blooming.

The third one only has one bloom so far. The foxglove in front just started blooming yesterday. The foxglove I found growing at the edge of the woods and moved to the garden.

BJ and Angie decided they wanted to rip out everything the previous owner had planted along their front porch and start from scratch. So of course I helped myself. I was quite surprised by this bloom yesterday.

The columbine that Country Girl gave me last year is still full of blooms.

I'm loving this little patch of salvia, tickseed and dianthus right now.

Delphinium started from seed last year.

A huge patch of daisies. Another gift from Country Girl.

Blanket flower started from seed last year. I moved this to the new bed at the back of the house and now every bloom is facing towards the house.

St. John's wort shrub. I just bought this last weekend. It's supposed to get 5' tall and wide, covered with this little flowers.

Also blooming:
Iris
Bleeding heart
Pincushion flower
Fushia
Stella D'oro lilies
Lupine
other day lilies
chives

Tanks to Carol for hosting the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!

May Blooms

I actually have a few blooms for this edition of Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Still blooming are trillium, a daffodil, spurge and forsythia.

I have no idea what this tiny wild flower is.

Violets

Wild strawberries

This weed takes over local lawns so that right now they are a sea of light blue.

I just bought this azalea so it doesn't know that it's too early to bloom here yet.

Dianthus - this was marked as an annual so I was thrilled when all three plants came back and shocked that they are blooming already.

Grape hyacinths

The tulips are done. Salvia recently planted.

Periwinkle