Gardening – Page 4 – Barefoot Lily Lady

A Week of Flowers – Day #2

I’m joining Cathy at Words and Herbs for her annual ‘A Week of Flowers’ meme. It’s Day #2 and I’m happy to take you on a little reminisce of some pretty spring and early summer days in my garden. Let me introduce you to a few of my favorite peonies.

A Week of Flowers – Day #1

I’m joining Cathy at Words and Herbs for her annual ‘A Week of Flowers’ meme, which takes place December 1-7. It’s my first year joining her, but what a fun way to bring a bit of colorful beauty to our December day. It’s December 1st–the sun is hiding today and fine flakes of snow are falling from the sky, so I thought I’d spend a little time looking forward to spring in Wisconsin by looking back at some photos from recent years.

Nothing beats the bright yellow of a daffodil in spring-time cheerfulness!

The demure pink and blue blossoms of Lungwort in an old crystal salt shaker

Raindrops on tulips just outside my front door

Paeonia ‘Gold Standard’ pretty as can be in my mailbox garden

Tulips and daffodils usher in the first hint of spring, followed by petite ‘Blue Denim’ irises playing with grape hyacinth muscari at the garden’s edges.

The flowers of the old-fashioned Bleeding Heart are a classic favorite. They make me smile because they remind me of when my grandson George called them “Blood Thirsty Hearts” when he was little.

A quick word of thanks for introducing me to Cathy’s meme goes out to my friend Páraig who blogs at The Three Hairs Garden. What sheer fun and enjoyment!

Gardens Teach

Gardens are sometimes one of life’s best teachers. Flower Roberts noticed an especially poignant lesson. I’d love to introduce you to her blog by sharing her little morning lesson with you.

My Morning Lesson

Still learning. In every season of life.

My Succulent Garden Chair

By August, the chair garden was looking very pretty.

I am amazed by how much the succulent plants in my “chair garden” grew over the summer months. During the first week of October, knowing we could potentially have a frost in the two weeks while we would be away on vacation, I moved the chair into the shelter of our 3-season porch. We’re back from our warm and wonderful vacation in Louisiana, so I’ve been busy moving the plants from the unheated porch into the house so that I can begin the next phase of over-wintering them.

Willy-Nilly Gardeners

Every year I find sunflowers growing in my garden in places where I wouldn’t have chosen — perhaps planted by the resident squirrels who are a bit willy-nilly in seed placement. Sometimes I pull the volunteer plants out—most of the time I just leave them to grow and enjoy whatever happens.

This beauty was one of my favorites–classic sunflower perfection.

Wordless Wednesday: Belladonna Lily

August’s Floral Show

It’s a busy day – no time to write. But here are a few pictures of what’s happening in my August garden.

We received a garden-refreshing rain last night. It’s probably my imagination, but I think a few of my flowers are smiling today.

Daylily Beauties

A New Full-Sun Flowerbed

One major item that has been near the top of my list for several years now has been to cut down two diseased and unsightly spruce trees in our front yard. I was out pulling weeds one day earlier this summer and noticed there were tree trimmers working in the neighborhood, so mentioned it to my hubby. He surprised me by immediately walking down the street and engaging in conversation with a young man on the crew–the son of the owner of the company. A few minutes later, they came for a look-see and before I knew it we had a contract and the trees were felled by the end of the day.

Now that the spruces are down, we have a brand new full-sun garden space, and I am enjoying choosing what to plant in that space. First order of business, however, was to deal with the weeds that had gotten a foothold underneath the spruces. We also needed to relocate some of the shade-loving hostas to a more wooded location in the backyard. For the most part, I’m able to divide some of my existing sun-lovers from other flowerbeds, so I moved in a few daylilies and a trio of Allium ‘Millenium,’ an ornamental flowering onion that literally blooms all summer long.

Even with this good start, this new flowerbed was the perfect excuse for a trip to our local garden center. I knew I wanted to add a flowering tree, so Monrovia’s Magnolia ‘Elizabeth’ now graces that flowerbed. I look forward to its giant, tulip-shaped, creamy yellow blossoms in the next year or two. I’m also quite in love with hydrangeas these days, so two of them hopped in my shopping cart and now anchor the front side of this flowerbed (I really wish I had bought a third).

Inspired by Butch and Pam over at Everyday Living, whose annual plethora of gorgeous zinnia photos caused great envy, I planted more than my usual packet or two of zinnia seeds this year. My husband bought a big canister of Renee’s Garden heirloom zinnia seeds for me while we were on vacation in June. I lost no time in scattering the seed when we returned home. Wowzers! They did not disappoint. Look at all that amazing color!

If you’ve read my blog for any length of time, you know that my sweet mother passed away in 2020 after a valiant battle with Alzheimer’s. You might spot two of her blue flowerpots in the photo above. Those flowerpots sat on the front porch of our family home for several years. When dementia took its toll, I moved her to live closer to me, bringing those blue flowerpots along as a connection point to her past. Oh, the stories she told about those pots! I planted some annual ‘Hawaiian Punch’ hibiscus in them this year and set them toward the front half of the new flowerbed. I think mom would have approved.

The Perks of Pulling Weeds

One hidden blessing of the never-ending task of pulling weeds is the beauty you see more clearly when you’re on your knees. The beauty of this daylily is just one of many colorful examples in my garden today.