In the meantime, I had plenty of time to enjoy and appreciate the surrounding garden. To atone for my crankiness with it yesterday, I'm going to show a few highlights from the back garden today. First, I really like the area where this tiny sedum hispanicum resides in the shallowest end of the dry loch garden, surrounded by stones and overlapped by cabbage leaves:
These curly onions (allium senescens) are fun in foliage and in flower... my 'Caradonna' salvia picks up the purple in their pinkish blooms:
This hosta--which is probably 'Sum and Substance' but is a division from an unlabeled plant in the garden at work--lives partly under the grape arbor and I love seeing it backlit:
A much more Kim-friendly pink, the almost-red blooms of 'Purple Emporer' sedum, hovering over variegated oregano:
A tiny but bold-colored portulaca, which somehow seeded itself at the edge of my 'Yellow Pear' tomato pot:
Now here's some pizazz! Russian sage, 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth, and miscanthus zebrinus:
And this lonicera sempervirens may just qualify as fireworks, especially with more of the purple-leaf 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth in the background:
Quieter beauty, this little vignette reminds me of the Pacific Northwest (okay, I can dream, can't I?! lol) with Japanese bloodgrass, 'Othello' ligularia, hellebores, 'Chocolate Chip' ajuga, and 'All Gold' hakonechloa:
Another shady spot, this one looking a little worse for the wear due to our drought but still interesting with pulmonaria, 'Hillside Black Beauty' actaea (nee cimicifuga) and a gold-variegated toad lily:
One last Saturday picture, this one of a spot that always seems cool and refreshing, even throughout our drought. Silver-streaked sansevieria in a blue pot, with 'Jack Frost' brunnera nestled at its feet:
As for the "to do" list, well... although the mirror says I might have gotten more stain on me than I did on any wooden structures, I did finish up the arbor tonight! However, I did it as the sun was setting and the mosquitoes started to bite.... so pictures of that will come tomorrow. (Or maybe Monday, as I'm set to hang out with friends at a campground all day tomorrow.) But in any case, I'm very satisfied to report that I'm a much less crabby gardener today!
**edited Sunday morning to add this picture of the painted arbor before I head out to the campgrounds:**
12 comments:
Congratulations! There's nothing like actually doing something in the garden to perk up even the crabbiest of gardeners!
You've got some beautiful plants, they ought to make you smile, too.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Hi Kim, I find being in the garden can cure even my crankiest mood. Perhaps, I'll get out in mine today. August is a very cranky garden month.~~Dee
What a difference a day makes in our moods and views. Arbor looks great.
A grape arbor--with real grapes? I WANT ONE NOW! Mommy, buy me one NOW! And, lookee see here, Kim, don't knock the matrona sedum. As you point out, the bees and butterflies go (gr)ape over it--I'm working on propagating some cuttings of it, and other sedum, as I type. More sedum the better. Anyway, you want a gaudy pink sedum but whose foliage you love? Try this cultivar I have, Sedum spectabile ‘Pink Chablis.' Lovely variegated leaves, grandma's-garden-colored blooms. Barf. The thing sticks out like a sore thumb--and I mean that literally aka the coloration. Ah well.
Well I didn't see any bloodgrass last time I was in Oregon, but I did see a bunch of those droopy red flowers... which ones are those? Love the silver leaves on the second to last picture.
You have some beautiful foilage color combos Kim. The arbor looks grand with its new stain job. You will be so proud of yourself when you get that grape vine up and running so to speak.
Kim,
You've a few combinations that I want to try. I do love the jack frost and the sansevieria looks wonderful paired with him. AND you have many plants that I have been wishing to get!
Hoping the drought ends soon! Looking forward to grapes happily growing on the newly stained arbor!
Gail
I'm glad to hear you conquered the crankies - gives me hope! My couch still beckons even though it couldn't be more beautiful outside today and my garden more needy. Your garden (especially in contrast to mine) is looking plenty spectacular - I love the silvers of the still thriving pulmonaria and the sansevaria/brunnera combo. V. cool!
It is that time of year when the garden ceases to excite. My garden is actually pretty decent looking but I am lacking the motivation to even look at it. It seems to happen every year... and then the excitement of putting it all to bed in the fall and dreaming of the next spring......
It's gotta be tough to stay cranky with such lovely color combo's! I'm glad you were able to snap out of it, and get a task/chore done besides...way to rally! (Heh, my word verif. is "ohoto", which sounds like a greeting of some sort. So Ohoto Kim! ;-)
Carol, that's so true. A day of working on the trellis, followed by a day of camping and then a day of playing volleyball has done wonders for my attitude! :)
Dee, I agree: August IS Cranky Garden Month! It doesn't even matter where you are in the northern hemisphere, it seems... from Ohio to Oklahoma and beyond...
flydragon, thanks! Yeah, I think my attitude just needed an adjustment.
Benjamin Vogt, I bet that you could grow grapes there... there are several varieties hardy to zone 4, some of which were developed in Minnesota. The arbor, well, I can't help you there. I wanted one of those NOW, too, but it took me a while to actually get there. lol.
Oooh... I just googled 'Pink Chablis.' Wow. I might have nightmares about that one showing up in my garden--but you're right, the foliage is cool with that white edge on the leaves!
Meagan, there are quite a few droopy red flowers of all kinds... I wonder if you mean fucshias? Or maybe a red begonia? Or... hmm. I should've had you take a couple of pictures while you were home!
Greenbow Lisa, thanks! I am pretty proud of myself, I admit. And I really think that I heard the grapevine give a huge sigh of relief when I lifted it up onto the arbor this weekend... lol.
Gail, I really like that brunnera and sansevieria combo, too. They're both so silver, but the difference in the plant habit really makes it interesting. :)
Kris, silvers save me, I swear. They manage to look so fresh when other things just look ratty--even when the brunnera leaves get a little ratty, the plant still overall looks great!
SMC, yeah, I hear you. I actually love the fall garden, because I have planned for lots of color in mine--with autumn being my favorite season, I couldn't resist doing that. But the late summer garden... blah!
Lisa, Ohoto to you, too! lol. It does sound like something you should say when greeting someone... preferably with a fruity vodka drink topped by an umbrella in one hand. lol. I swear that I heard Cher's voice when I read "snap out of it!" in your comment, too, btw. :)
The arbor looks terrific! It's making me rethink this whole "let the wood weather naturally" approach of mine. I'm so disgusted with Sedum 'Black Jack' & its nasty foliage. I think I'll have to replace it with 'Purple Emporer.' Yours looks wonderful.
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