"One of the most delightful things about a garden is the anticipation it brings."

Monday, August 1, 2011

Pond, path and side garden tour.

 I've been enjoying the front garden so much lately that I've hardly taken time to enjoy the rest of the garden this summer.  Our front yard is the sunniest and warmest place to spend the day, and with the lack of sun we'd been having for most of the summer, I chose not to spend the sunny days in the shady backyard.  After lots of sunny days in a row, and more predicted to come, I took some time to clean out the pond and enjoy how pretty it looks in the backyard now.  There are still plants that are behind in their blooming, but I'm hoping they'll just bloom longer into August and September.

 A fairy sitting in a mass of Geranium 'Rozanne' flowers enjoying the view.  I have to echo what everyone else is saying about 'Rozanne', my longest and best blooming perennial in the garden.

 The red Fuchsia magellanica by the waterfall has been spreading and so huge and wide I actually had to cut it back quite a bit.  I had no idea they spread like that, but it must love where it is.  Agastache, Daylilies, Hostas, Oakleaf hydrangea, Hollyhocks, Coneflowers and Clematis are all blooming behind the pond.

 The fish love when I fill the pond with new water, they can reach the edges and find lots of bugs to eat.  There have been fewer waterlilies this year and lots more algae than usual.

 Clematis 'Ville de Lyon' is finally starting to bloom, but the flowers are much smaller than usual.

 This time of year the path garden has pretty much finished blooming and isn't at it's best.

Oakleaf Hydrangea 'Snow Queen' is just beginning to bloom.  It's finally starting to get tall.

 Halfway down the path things are a little greener.

 I finally found some plants that like this wine barrel planter.  Lamium, Japanese Forest Grass, Hosta, Cardinal flower and Astillbes are all doing great.

 The corner under the big cedar tree usually looks fuller, but I found that Sawfly larvae have just about completely defoliated the currant bush.  I've never had that happen before and didn't notice until it was too late.

 The side garden was a bit neglected this summer.  The Sunflowers coming up are from a package that spilled there.  Of course the ones I planted did not come up.  Clematis 'Etoille Violette' is blooming on the fence.  The blueberry bushes are loaded and very late in ripening.  We've just started picking them in the last week.

 Most are still green.

 In one of the raised beds the Littlest Gardener and I sprinkled in a Fairy Mix packet of seeds.  Unfortunately all that came up was lots of Candytuft and this one beautiful pink Poppy.  From looking at the seed list on the packet, I think this is a Corn Poppy (Papaver rhoeas).  I will be saving seeds and if I have enough I'll share with whoever else wants some.

Hope everyone is having a beautiful summer and there has been some letup in the heat.  We are finally enjoying some consistent sun here in the Pacific Northwest, and it's amazing how quickly I forgot about the rainy cool weather we'd been having.  Gorgeous blue skies and temperatures in the mid 70's are our reward for months of rain and gray skies and cold temperatures.  It was worth waiting for!
All words and photos in this post are property of A Gardener in Progress. Pin It

35 comments:

  1. Your gardens are gorgeous. How did you survive them thru the heat?! Ours are in dire straits.

    Have a lovely week ~
    TTFN ~
    Marydon

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  2. Piękny zadbany ogród ,podoba mi się kolor maku ...pozdrawiam

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  3. Catherine, your garden is looking great as always I might say. In today's post I especially love the pond area, being so lush and full. I am a big fan of hardy geranium 'Rozanne', too, but mine is not as vigorous as yours. Do you fertilize it? The clematis 'Ville de Lyon' is incredible pretty. thanks for this great blog post! I am glad for you that summer has finally reached your area!
    Christina

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  4. Mid 70's sounds heavenly right now... not anytime soon for Florida. I have always loved seeing your gorgeous pond. It is looking especially inviting. Funny, my Oakleaf Hydrangea blooms in April... yours is looking great! Glad you're warming up and your garden looks fantastic.
    Meems

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  5. What beautiful poppes!!!! Looks great as always

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  6. Your garden looks wonderful! I am so enjoying the sun we are having now. What a bummer about your currant bush, I'll have to keep an eye out for bugs on mine, I'd hate to lose them. My blueberries are much smaller than I thought they would be, and are also taking their time ripening, like yours. How funny that the sunflowers were an accident, isn't that the way it is with gardens so often?

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  7. Catherine, you know how I love that pond! I have Ville D'Lyon also and it was quite small this year and bloomed very early. I have every insect known to man this summer, chewing, sucking, destroying.

    Eileen

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  8. Everything looks so pretty! I am living vicariously through those of you with gardens that have not burned up with the high temperatures.

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  9. Beautiful, just beautiful! All your hard work has paid off and your garden is stunning.

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  10. Catherine, what beautiful pictures! I bet your Littlest Gardener had fun sprinkling that Fairy Mix!! What a beautiful Corn Poppy. Its fun to see what comes up when you have planted one of those packets! Your pond garden is beautiful! Thank you for visiting my blog and giving ideas for shade perennials! I have written them down and will do some investigating! Thanks again and Happy Gardening! Mindy

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  11. Hi Catherine, I'm sorry about your Current. You know, I've never been able to keep one in my garden for more than a few years and I never really knew why. I wonder if sawfly was the culprit with mine too. I hope you can get yours to recover. ... I know what you mean about the blueberries. Most of mine are still green too. ... I love your wine barrel planter. Isn't Lamium gorgeous? Great photos as always. Aren't you just loving this sunshine? :)

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  12. A lovely garden tour. Your plants seem to be thriving. The clematis are super. I love the colour of blue your house is, very striking.

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  13. lovely garden! i'm in awe.

    -ANGEL

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  14. Hi Catherine, Everything looks pretty and how nice to see the bright sunshine finally! I love the Littlest Gardener's poppy - such a sweet color. You and the girls might enjoy a bird bottle like I have pictured on my blog. Wishing you a great day.

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  15. Your garden is relishing your sunshine and it shows! Your Littlest Gardener must be thrilled with her poppy. What a treat when she will get to sow seeds from the flower and see them grow!

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  16. I have Rozanne in my garden and it is doing quite well! I love that pretty poppy, what a sweet color. Hope you got your sawfly answer. What a shame to have the current stripped.

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  17. Hi Catherine. Your clematis blooms may be smaller but they are still so pretty. I love the Lamium in the barrel.Your blueberry bush is loaded!

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  18. Your gardens are looking great! The house color sets them off so nicely too.

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  19. Your gardens and pond are so lovely! I agree about 'Rozanne' but I'm struggling to keep mine going in day-after-day of 100 degrees. It's convection heat, even in part shade areas.

    I'll bet your fish are happy living is such luxuriant gardens and pond! :-)

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  20. Wonderful tour! I love Oakleaf Hydrangea. I've had to move mine two years in a row and it's not very happy with me. I hope it forgives me. I've had many, many bugs this year - much more so than usual. You have such a wonderful variety of Clematis - and all so very happy!

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  21. Hi Catherine, I had to chuckle at your comment about the sunflowers not growing where you had intended :) Yeah, I can relate! See, this of year we work for and it finally came. So nice that you and your family are outside enjoying your beautiful yard!

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  22. I love looking in your yard and gardens Catherine. I love the little paths you have in the back especially leading to the pond. The pond is beautiful this time of year. The clematis bloom is so pretty. Oh and I love the beautiful corn poppy. I have shared more seeds from the poppies you sent me 2 years ago. Lots of people are growing your poppies Catherine.

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  23. Rainy and cool, huh? What a concept! I was even thinking it was unusual to see such sunny pictures from you! Enjoy!

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  24. I love visiting your pond, I miss having one here. Your pond area is looking very lush, despite the cool weather this summer. Our blueberries set a lot of fruit this year too, but sadly the birds seem to have stolen most of them. Next year, I think we need some nets!

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  25. Beautiful garden! That's what heaven may look like.

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  26. Catherine, What a great payoff for all your hard work to be able to sit out in your newly-fenced front garden -- and then being able to revisit the back is like icing on the cake. I found this view of your pond enchanting; and even if your path is not at its best right now, it still beckons a visitor to enter. -Jean

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  27. This was a really nice tour of your gardens. I like your pond a lot and it looks like all the fish do too.

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  28. I enjoyed the tour, Catherine. I'm glad to see lamium will grow in a pot. I gave that and octopus bellflower to a non-gardening co-worker who requested some perennials to put in pots on her patio. Her lamium didn't survive, and the other one hasn't bloomed. I figured it was something on her end, and not the choice of the plant for her.

    Your gardens look great to me. I'd like to try oakleaf hydrangea again. The one year I grew it, it was in a spot that was not ideal for it. Your blueberries are loaded! I hope they ripen well and don't get consumed by critters.

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  29. Yours is one of the loveliest gardens in Blogland and my heart jumps for joy each time I see a new post pop up. I missed this the day you published it, but am SO pleased to be able to take this tour with you now. Your pond leaves me speechless, truly! It gets more beautiful each year and the amazing thing to me is that it dies back so completely during your long, harsh winters. All that new growth and exuberance occurs in such a short space of time. It is quite miraculous to me!

    Your path garden is equally legendary. We all come here to share in its beauty. You truly ARE a master gardener in every sense of the word!

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  30. Hi, I havent blogged much as of late, but looking at your beautiful path and trellis arch, has insired me.
    I havent been brave enough to put an arch in, due to the fact that my, "muscle," will give me a hard time.
    My veggie garden is right next to a path on the side of my house and can be seen from the street. I think a flowering arch, would be a good way to obscure it a bit. Thanks for the inspiration. :-)

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  31. Hi Catherine,
    I just happened across your blog today and I'm sure I'll spend many more hours browsing through it. How lovely to find someone who clearly loves gardening as much as I do, and who shares her gardening experiences so generously. Your garden is truly inspiring, and I look forward to finding out more as I look through previous entries...

    I really love cottage and woodland gardens too, although it seems that here in Melbourne, Australia, we have to contend with some different climatic problems - we (thankfully) seem to be emerging from a 12-year drought, and our growing season is long but often extremely hot and dry.

    I am developing a very small inner-city garden which sadly doesn't have tall, mature trees (yet!), but we ave fruit, veggies and flowers and I really love creating habitat & food for all manner of insects and birds as well as for my family. Now, through your blog, I can also enjoy the delights of a North American garden in the opposite season - thank you!

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  32. I am always impressed in how much you have in your backyard and how great it looks.

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  33. Lovely and inspiring. I absolutely LOVE the photo of the clematis, it's stunning!

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  34. I love this blog. No more words.

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