I’m joining The Propagator and his entourage of Six On Saturday gardeners for a little six-photo tour of what’s going on in the garden. It’s a fun little adventure. So put on your boots, come along with me, and let’s take a peek at what’s going on in my garden!
Continue reading “Six on Saturday: Awaiting Spring”Tag: garden chairs
Quiet Beauty
My garden has taken on its quiet winter beauty.
A frost-covered clematis vine and its trellis make for a different kind of beauty in my curbside mailbox garden.
I left a little bit of my Joe Pye Weed for winter interest. I love how it’s wearing a gorgeous frosty coat. Folklore says that Joe Pye Weed was once used as a medicinal cure for fevers. As much as I love its winter beauty, I’m already looking forward to summer’s purple flowers and the bees which will undoubtedly visit.
A few summers ago this chair was a roadside treasure that my daughter rescued from someone’s curb. My granddaughters gave it a fresh coat of paint and gave it a few sweet embellishments like this adorable butterfly. This is one of several chairs I have in the garden which serves both as whimsical art and support for lanky flowers.
Covered in tiny ice crystals, I thought this dried hydrangea blossom looked like a crown of crystalline beauty.
An old mailbox took on new life as a tiny shed for a set of garden handtools that I keep in the backyard. Perched on a new post, all it took was a coat of purple paint and embellishing with acrylic paint and clear-coat. The purple chair (also painted by my grandgirls) and purple mailbox are pictured here keeping a winter vigil over a daylily and iris flowerbed.
Well, that’s it for my little wintery #SixOnSaturday thing for this week! (Yes, I’m late again!) Thank you to Jon the Propagator for hosting this fun little weekly photo sharing gathering of gardeners around the world. You’re invited to join in on the fun and give us a peek at what’s goin’ on in your little corner of the world.
Daylilies like it hot
It’s going to be downright toasty today with temps expected to reach 90 degrees – factor in the humidity and we will have a “feels like” temperature of 102. Definitely not my idea of ideal gardening weather. I think it will be a wonderful day to chill out indoors and catch up on laundry and a bit of housework, finish reading a great book (that’s due to be returned to the library), work on a sewing project and (of course) write about gardening.
It’s a perfect day to post my blogging contribution to Six on Saturday: six things in the garden on a Saturday. The “six” can be anything – a flower, a success or failure, a weed you’re hoping the worldwide community of gardeners recognizes (and knows what to do to get rid of it), a project you’re working on, a gardening book you recommend, anything at all. Join in!
My six this week will focus a bit on daylilies (again), as that’s what’s in full swing in my garden. I thought I’d show off a few of the beautiful oranges and reds.
My garden is a riot of color, but does tend to lean toward yellows, pinks and purples. I have added oranges and reds over the past few seasons to heat things up a bit. Here’s a little collage of some of my favorites this week.
I never turn down an offer of help in my garden. This week’s help was exceptionally great. First, my wonderful hubby devised a way to feature a birdhouse my grandson painted for our garden last week. Charlie seems to have inherited the artsy gene, evidenced by the sweet autumnal birch trees he chose to paint on all four sides. Hubby sunk a post near our crabapple tree, added a sturdy scrolly hanger, then later topped the post with a solar lit cap (sorry, I don’t have a photo with the light on it). Perfect!
Over the past several summers, my grandgirls have helped me paint discarded chairs to serve as artsy flower rings and decor in my flowerbeds. My friend Anne Marie recently gifted me with two old chairs which once belonged to her grandmother. Yesterday, my granddaughter Noelle spent time helping me prep one of those chairs for painting. We have a color picked out (and it’s not purple this time!), but you’ll have to stay tuned to see what it is.
I didn’t get a photo of Noelle’s daddy (our son Matt) helping me with an especially weedy flowerbed. He pulled in an hour or two what would have taken me several days to accomplish. I am most grateful! One thing he uncovered was this bit of Phlox paniculata ‘Glamour Girl’ which apparently needed more air space and less moisture, judging by its heavy coating of mildew. So, I need a bit of advice from you, my gardening friends. Is there some way I can salvage this otherwise beautiful plant? (please offer your advice in the comments section below)
I have a few red daylilies strutting their stuff this week. For the past few summers, I have been dividing some of my red Stella D’Oro daylilies and planting them here and there in the borders of my garden. Next year I plan to add some purple Stellas. I love the Stellas because they are generally loaded with blooms from early summer through killing frost. Other than cutting back the spent scapes to encourage more scapes and blossoms, it’s such an easy plant with lots of pluses.
I have three other red daylilies that I especially like. One is a very deep burgundy red, teetering on black in certain lighting. The other two are more of a cardinal red. I have been dividing and transplanting bits of these plants for a few years now and am happy with the splashes of red in the riotous palette of color that comprises my mid-summer garden.
Well, that my six (okay, I know I cheated by adding the collages). One highlight of my Saturdays is joining up with blogging gardeners from all around the world for a virtual garden tour. This group called Six on Saturday is hosted by The Propagator, who provides the inspiration and forum for a weekly, six photos at a time show ‘n tell. If you’d like to take a peek at the gardens too, just click on the Propagator’s site and give his weekly post a read, then scroll on down to the comments section where you’ll find loads of links to explore.
Six on Saturday: Daylily Magic
It’s been a busy week in the garden – lots of weeding, tree and bush trimming, moving a few plants around, and snapping photos. Lots of photos. How do I choose just six for this week’s installment of ‘Six on Saturday’? Well, I guess I’ll start with an updated photo of one of my (new this summer) purple garden chairs.
The purple chair’s seat is filling in nicely with this show-stopper of a daylily (I’m pretty sure it’s ‘Elegant Candy’).
My granddaughter spent time with me last week helping me with a great deal of weeding. It was the push that I needed to continue making progress. Yesterday was spent weeding (a 55g bin filled to overflowing) and trimming overgrown bushes. My gardening muscles ached when I went to bed, but I slept well.
I have a hard time answering the question, “So, what’s your favorite color flower?” It pretty much depends on what is blooming at the time, but I know that I do love to plant splashes of yellow throughout my gardens. I’m really loving this little stand of yellow daylilies happily thriving under the dappled shade provided by our locust tree.
This deep fuchsia pink daylily and blue-green hosta combo nearly took my breath away with its beauty.
But I’ve been adding some hot colors to the garden in the past few years. This orange daylily ‘Tuscawilla Tigress’ is a new favorite.
Then again, there’s this coral beauty (forgot the name).
Ooooh! But, then there are so many charming pink daylilies too!
I go by the blogger name of ‘Barefoot Lily Lady’ and I think you can guess why. I find it fun to participate with gardeners from all around the world who invite people to virtual tours of their gardens every Saturday. The group is called Six on Saturday and is hosted by The Propagator, who provides the inspiration and forum for a weekly, six photos at a time show ‘n tell. If you’d like to take a peek at the gardens too, just click on the Propagator’s site and give his weekly post a read, then scroll on down to the comments section where you’ll find loads of links to explore.
Wordless Wednesday: The Garden Chair
Barefoot Lily Lady 