Happy Birthday Frances

 Tuesday May 17th is my Mama's birthday. She was born in 1927, and is 84 years old. We had a big party when she turned 80, so this so just a small get-together.

Mama's baby sister Joanne came with her son James.

My dad's brother Thomas came with his girl friend, Mary Ann.

    

We all met at a small restaurant downtown, The Talk-of-the-Town.

 The art teacher at my school makes cakes. She fixed this basket of flowers for me, as a surprise for my mom.

 Chicken Casserole, green beans, broccoli salad, cucumber salad.

It looks like she is enjoying herself.

She looks pretty good for 84 don't you think?

Happy Birthday Mama!

Sunny Sunday

 The Sunny Front Border mid-May. I forgot I had moved that one odd Day Lily to make room for the sea-holly. I like it right there in front. It shows up better. The Stella-de-Oro day lilies are in full bloom. The knock-out roses are in between bloomings.

 A nice arrangement.

 The is the unnamed day lily, more to come.

 Enchinaceia Green Envy ready to bloom. Last year it looked like any other old plant so they may have shipped the wrong thing.

 Stella-de-Oro - it just gets better with age.

 The mandevilla are almost to the tops of the string. They are doing great after being over-wintered in the basement.

 This fern just came up several years ago. It seems to like the full sun - so i say 'you go girl.'

 The yarrow is beautiful in person but it look SO bad in pictures. The ivy globe that the little boy carried last fall seems to have come undone.

The guara is off and running. It really does like the hot sun.
We got a lot that. Have a great week.
David

Sunny Border in early May

The Sunny Front Border has really come to life in the last week or so. The weather has been hot and dry - no rain for at least 2 weeks and temps in the low 90's, which is hot for us during May. 

The Mandevilla are reaching up the wall, by June they will be there. 

The Sea Holly - blue glitter - is really coming into its own this year. The photo doesn't do it justice - it shines in a metallic blue color. i like it - I'm going to have to buy some more from Wayside Gardens. At the bottom you can see my Y shaped stick used to prop up the leaning tower of Sea Holly. Plant supports need to be added to my list of things needed at Lowe's. 

The heat has not made the Shasta Daisies mad. They are just busting at the seams to get started. It is sprinkling this morning, so things are happy.

Presents for myself

     I am still working on the White Garden. I found Bluestone Perennials while reading one of your followers post. I was impressed with the website and ordered several white baptisia and two white clematis. Sorry to say the baptisia was back ordered to the Fall - but the little clematis came and are growing already.

     They look so little I am afraid to throw them out in the ground already. What do you do when you have such a little transplant? I am thinking about potting them so I can protect them a little while.

Sunny Border and Rose ID

     The Easter Bunny left me some pinestraw in the front Sunny Border. A teacher friend told me that some of the Shanta Daisies that we shared with her are coming back! She was so surprised. I am glad to share the love of the perennials I have collected here. 

     The other day my neighbor came across the street and asked me to show him how to air layer his tea olive bushes. He wants to have them placed at all four corners of his yard - so that he can catch the smell no matter where he is in the yard. I was proud that he remembered me airlayering some things from his yard. Passing the torch, so to speak.

     One day I hope to take the Master Gardener Certification - and I think I know what my emphasis will be - air layering for success in propagating plants. I already have an idea what public service project I will take on, but that will need to be discussed later.

    In the backyard around the parking pad we have what I think are New Dawn roses. They only bloom once, but are prolific when it's their time. They have a light scent, and are powder pink. The canes grow really long, and are loaded with thorns. I prune this one back hard twice a year.

     Anybody have any thoughts? I got these roses from my wife's grandfather's garden - they moved here in 1930. So I think it could be a New Dawn rose but i don't know enough about roses to be sure. 

Let me know what you think this rose is. Have a great week! David

It Happened During Spring Break!

 Monday - this is where we started.

Tuesday - the room is primed and the trim is happenning... s    l   o   w   l   y   ...

Tuesday night - the rolling begins.

Wednesday - the second coat of paint really did the trick .

Wednesday afternoon - curtains are ironed and hung on the new rods. Thanks jcpenny.com!

Thursday evening - floors scrubbed, rugs placed, time to get the furniture.

Friday - thanks to grandmother for the bedroom set - this 15 year olds bedroom had a super makeover!

Hope she likes it!

Sunny Border on Friday

 From the sidewalk this is the view of the Sunny Border to the right of the house. There are several things I'd like to highlight for you.

The sea holly is really taking off this year. Last year it must have been settling in, because it just sat there all summer - never grew an inch. This year it promises to look a lot more like the pictures and description I read in the catalog.

It's already taller than the knockout rose.

The knockout roses are blooming all over. This is the redder one near the street.

This is the lighter pink - there are two on either side of the Italian Cypress.

the mandevilla vines are freshly planted, trussed up, aimed toward the framework, and over-dressed with black-cow. On your mark, get set, go!

This hosta is near the shady back part of the border. This area is under the magnolia tree branches and is shaded most of the day. Seems happy.

 Here is the left side of the entrance into the White Garden. From bottom to top are: the white peony, the Camellia - man sized, and in the planter guara, which Darla says will need to be cut back by mid-Summer - i believe her. Last year it was 5 ft tall easily.

I hope you guys have a great weekend - and thanks for stopping by.

New Water Feature

I love a good freebee. One morning a month ago I saw a sign in the copy room at school - free to a good home. The librarian had a wall mounted water feature to give away. She had envisioned a quiet reading corner on the patio behind her house. Secretly said that she couldn't read with the thing tinkling behind her - "it sounded like two boys peeing." She knows that sound, she has two boys. I have had the fountain stored away during pollen season trying to figure out where to put it. Yesterday i decided, in the front yard at the end of the porch near the dining set. I like it.

Wordless Wednesday ... from the kitchen window

Primary Colors and what's happenning in the Backyard

At the front of the Sunny Border I have an area that is turning into a study in primary colors. Below is a sea holly which has thistle-like blue grey flowers. I have it sitting with a rosey red knockout rose and stella-de-oro daylilies. If the sea holly blooms this summer I could have red, yellow, and blue.

Here' s the real name for the

sea holly, blue glitter - Eryngium planum

Here's the knock out rose - lots of promising buds.

This is the view from the sidewalk, at the bottom of the picture you can see the stella-de-oros, the knockout, and the sea holly named blue glitter. I am hopeful.

This is the left side bed going into the white garden. This is the spot I have chosen for the Camellia - Man Sized. This area gets shade until noon, afternoon sun until about 5 then the ground is shaded by the HUGE boxwoods. I think the camellia will do fine here.

Here is the view from the boxwoods looking into the entrance of the white garden. To the right you can see the peonies, daddy's concrete boy with his ivy topiary ball, and in the back you can see the new hardy ferns that I brought from the water garden out here in front of the mahoneia. I think it is looking better all the time. What do you think?

Now to the backyard - and some messier business.

This area is what I call my nursery. It gets soft morning sun and then shade the rest of the day. This photo was taken about 8 a.m.

The snowdrops have grown up through the pots - but from last year's air layering I got 14 out of 18 camellias and 2 out of 3 red maples. Which I think is pretty good for one afternoon of work.

Below you see the plants that were overwintered in the basement, they were dragged out into the rain and sun every chance we got. There are three asparagus ferns in front, three mandevilla plants for the sunny border, and 5 rabbit-foot ferns which were divisions from a seriously over-grown pot.

Here's a close up of the mandevilla's growth. I am proud of these - this is the third year I have had them, and one of them I grew from a clipping that I took late in the summer, which is apparently hard to do successfully.

Finally here is the Carolina Wren who greets visitors to the front steps. This Spring put the sun at your face, the wind at your back, and enjoy your time in the garden.

Thanks for stopping by.

David