The Garden Worm blog Digging up the best dirt on gardening!

December 6, 2014

Outdoor Decorations

Filed under: Decorating,Fall,Flowers,Grasses,Winter — Judy @ 2:32 pm

One of the fun things that we get to do is to decorate for the season. As you saw in the last post, we often get an early snow before Thanksgiving which essentially kills off the less hardy flowers in the containers. Planning ahead to put in a few faux flower or colorful leaf stems really ups the staying power of the container and we can get through until it is time to decorate for Christmas.

Once Thanksgiving has come and gone, we can pull out the plant carcasses and clean up the containers. Then out come the garlands and the wreaths and the bows and the lights and ALL.THE.SPARKLY.THINGS!

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Do you go all out with seasonal decorating?

November 1, 2014

Best of Fall 2014

Filed under: Decorating,Fall,Flowers,Miscellaneous,Our gardens,Veggies — Judy @ 2:09 pm

A few fall images from around these parts!

Gaura

Gaura ‘Belleza Dark Pink’

Oakleaf hydrangea

Oakleaf hydrangea ‘Snow Queen’

Fall decorations

Fall decorations

Fall trees

Random road scene

Lettuce

‘Red Fire’ lettuce

Artichoke

Artichoke blossom and sweet potato vine

Fuchsia 'Gartenmeister'

Fuchsia ‘Gartenmeister’

Japanese maple

Japanese maple ‘Viridis’ and ‘Hameln’ grass

September 30, 2014

Falling for Fall

Filed under: Fall,Flowers,Grasses,Our gardens — Judy @ 4:41 pm

We really don’t have much in the way of excessive summer heat here, but when fall rolls around, you do notice the difference. The air is softer, the sky seems bluer, and sweaters and jeans become the fashion choice. Leaves start changing their colors, becoming more intense like this blueberry bush before littering the ground.

Blueberry leaves in fall

The frantic growing pace in the garden slows down and time seems to be suspended for a bit as the landscape prepares for its winter nap. That is not to say that nothing of any interest is blooming or showing off its stuff in the autumn though! Daisy-like flowers like asters, chrysanthemums, and rudbeckia are familiar stalwarts. Here is Boltonia ‘Snowbank’ covered with a flurry of little daisies.

Boltonia 'Snowbank'

How about tall Japanese anemones or cimicifuga waving in the breezes?

Cimicuga 'Brunette'

Flowering sedums like the ‘Autumn Joy’ cultivar are wonderful paired with ornamental grasses and rudbeckias. The pennisetums like ‘Hameln’

Pennisetum 'Hameln'

are beginning to throw their flower/seed stalks. Swaying easily in the wind, ornamental grasses add a rustling sound and the appeal of (more…)

August 30, 2014

Best of summer 2014

Filed under: Birdwatching,Creatures,Flowers,Grasses,Our gardens,Summer — Judy @ 3:47 pm

A photo essay of some wonderful plants this summer.

The first one is of my ‘fried egg’ peony – a single type of herbaceous peony. The lighting sort of makes it look like a Georgia O’Keeffe painting, doesn’t it?

White peony

An unknown variety of clematis with huge purple blue flowers. Could be a ‘Jackmanii’ with the reddish ribs, but the anthers are also red. Similar to ‘Ramona’ but darker.

Purple clematis

This is Liatris ‘Kobold’ with mauve flowers blooming from the top down. Bees love it!

Liatris 'Kobold'

The daylilies were floriferous this year. The red one is ‘Chicago Apache’ and the dusky pink one is ‘Catherine Woodbury.’

Hemerocallis 'Chicago Apache'

Hemerocallis 'Catherine Woodbury'

We had lots of hummingbirds flitting around all summer long, but this one decided he wanted to stop and rest for a bit. Lucky me!

Hummingbird

Red bee balm sparklers!

Bee balm

Ornamental grasses are a great addition to the garden, and this brown grass, Carex ‘Toffee Twist,’ goes with everything.

Carex 'Toffee Twist'

We had lots of these little guys running around – we call them all ‘Harvey!’ They love to perch on the rock wall or on top of the stair railing where they can survey everything.

chipmunk

Roses, of course! These are dark pink ‘Cuyahoga’ and red ‘Double Knock-out.’

Roses

More wildlife – notice the big green-eyed fly on the bright yellow-gold coneflower? It’s a type of horse/deer fly called Stonemyia isabellina, a flower feeding non-biting species.

Coneflower

Heading into fall now. Time to clean up the gardens a bit.

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