How does my garden…

How does my garden grow?

With hardy little perennials against the fence...

Gallardia (spectacular, no? unusually dramatic for a perennial) and delphinium. Sadly, the delphinium isn't likely to actually act like a perennial in my zone, especially in a pot. S'okay -- I love them so much that I'll cheerfully buy one again next year. Such a tall and striking blue!

Most of friends seem to like this part of the garden best, in what I think of as classic desi colors. The million bells (in yellow and oranges) are insanely exuberant. Hard to believe that all that orange was originally a $4 plant with maybe half a dozen blooms. Above them are red petunias, yellow pansies, red dianthus.

The honeysuckle is going pretty crazy too, reaching past the top of the trellis. I'm a little annoyed that I somehow got confused and didn't buy the variety I meant to buy, the mandarin honeysuckle, more of an orange. Maybe next year I'll change it out, or even try the scarlet.

For now, though, I'm mostly just happy that it's grown so much, so fast, and has tons of sweet-smelling blossoms.

My climbing rose has finally put out its first flower! I'm so excited; I've been waiting impatiently. This is "Joseph's Coat", a color-changing rose that should have a very dramatic display. It may take a year or two for it to really spread over the trellis, so we're crossing our fingers that it survives the winter. The little pansy is called "Whiskers" and is just adorable, no?

Lantana is my current favorite discovery -- I'm not sure I've ever seen them before this year, and I love how the colors radiate out on this little flower. They come in different colors too, but the gold-orange-red is my favorite. Apparently, it's a great flower for attracting butterflies. We can hope!

Dahlia is another flower I didn't really appreciate before this year. Sturdy, cheerful, spreading nicely to fill a space.

I'm not positive what rose this is, sadly -- I try to keep track, but sometimes I forget, and I can't seem to find a tag on this one. It may be "Feisty," a miniature rose. But I only say that because I found a "Feisty" tag on the ground near it. I think that's actually probably left over from the miniature roses I had last year; this seems too big for a miniature. Just not sure.

I admit, I got "Just Joey" because Jed has it in his garden. Yes, I am a big sap. Interestingly, the blooms seem more towards the yellow side here, rather than the pink-apricot-orange Jed gets. I'm guessing that's a climate thing?

My garden is dominated by bright flowers with intense color saturation, but I'm starting to experiment with foliage plants too, and I quite like sweet potato vine. It's a bit bushier than I expected (and less vine-like), but I like the dark-green foliage and the purple underside.

Hooray -- my clematis didn't die! Last year, I planted one and it just shriveled up and blew away. This one seems quite happy and its blossoms are oh, so intensely gorgeous.

Begonias and fuschias in the shade garden.

I have no idea what this flower is. For now, I'm calling it "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream."

2 thoughts on “How does my garden…”

  1. Mary Anne Mohanraj

    Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 My main regret about my garden is that I wish more people could enjoy it; it’s so pretty, it seems a shame that it’s mostly just me and Kev spending time in it.

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