Growing Season of 2012, you confuse me!

Here we are at the end of June and all the fall flowers are blooming. This has been a very strange year, and as we drive around PA, NY, and through all states between here and WI, I wonder about all the farmers. How are they getting crops through this crazy summer?

I don't know what these are called. They have amazing red flowers. After they bloom, they dry out and turn brown. They usually bloom in August, I believe. Here you can see that it is late June, blooming and dying all in one. :-(


The hanging basket.
I took this photo before we went away over the weekend. I knew 100 degrees was coming, and I wanted one last photo before it died.


and the inhabitants of the basket were hungry...


They had fledged by the time we got back.

Sweet peas blooming and dying.


The rose is losing all its leaves, and the second bloom is not as grand as it usually is.

Still Life

I made these a long time ago. I just found them on my computer, and decided to "store" them here. I find them very peaceful.











(that is a beautiful granite, and my favorite backsplash. Too bad you can't move architecture with you)

Garden - mid June

It got hot.

I don't like watching things burn.
I know I have been overwatering, and so I'm trying to avoid wetting everything every night. I need to accept the life-cycle.

So here are some new things - 25 June.
Wildflowers.
I have NO idea what they are!
...but there are 3 different colors right together.
[edited to add... my mom figured it out, they are balsam, a relative of impatiens]


Attempting a closeup:


Front garden with the Liatris.


Liatris, Rudbeckia, Yarrow


Early blooming phlox and the echinacea


Something new... a wildflower?

Garden - Blooming

Hostas are blooming...




Buddleia reaching high, and kinda leaning thanks to the rain.
This is just what I wanted it to do, reach up above the kitchen window.


Front bed alive.


Some things on spikes that are about to become something.


Side bed.
Love how the nasturtiums are starting to climb up the retaining wall.


This is my favorite; and I probably need to be better about photography to do it justice.
Lilac sage, purple echinacea, yellow coreopsis, and that peach colored rose.


The sweet peas are all the way over the top of the tower. They still haven't bloomed, and I am now worried that they will get fried in the summer son before they do.

Garden - Planning for Fall

6/7/2012
Thanks to my Mom's gift of a certificate for White Flower Farm, I have purchased two of my wish list items. Since they ship at the right time for planting, I don't have to pretend I know :-)
















This pink foxglove will go here:

















This echinacea will go between the yellows:


6/12/2012
Edited to add...
Just bought this Clematis.
I'm going to put it on the lamp post.
It blooms from May to September!!
Now I have to make a bed and figure out what to use for a support to get it going.

Max

"Thanks for the chair, but seriously... Who said leather was comfortable?"

Garden - Beginning of June

Here is an early morning, no sun, look at the beds.





Purple sage is starting to bloom, as is the echinacea.


More of the dark purple lily.


Sweet Peas are nearly at the top of the tower. I cannot wait for them to start blooming! Seems crazy to be expecting sweet peas (early spring flower) in JUNE!


Could this be some wildflower seeds coming up?
I really hope some of them get to flowers and seeds so that they can come back next year.


Hanging pot looking good! Feeling worried that the pot itself is too shallow to support a big bubble of flowers. I also don't like how light it is in color. Next year going for a bigger one, in green. Which also means I may have to make a new holder...


Hostas are blooming!
This clump HAS to be divided.


View down the side. One of my favorite things we bought with this house.


AND! some eggs in the nest.
I looked in to see if they were still living here because things had gotten quiet.
I won't look in again.