Our Yard in June

Happy Sunday my friends!

Here at Plum Tree Cottage the gardens are in full bloom with daylilies (mostly), and if you follow this blog you know how very much I love them. So, this post will be heavier with photos than it is with words! Well, maybe not.

In the spring I bought this little stone snail at our

local garden center.

You can't see it on the photo,

but his antennae are made of nails.

In him I have planted some lemon thyme,

and he sits on our table on the deck...

The garden below is in the center of our yard, and you see

the garden shed behind it.

The original garden was a small circle of daylilies

that surrounded the birdbath that you see towards the left.

It gradually expanded to a larger one over the years,

much of which I posted about on this blog.

It is now filled with daylilies and iris,

the latter of which bloomed in the spring...

Since the birdbath breeds nothing more

than mosquitoes, and had a crack in it anyway,

I filled it with dirt and placed a flower

pot on top if it.

The daylily in the pot is one that I

rescued in the fall.

It wasn't doing well in one of the outer

perimeter gardens,

so it wintered over here and is doing

quite well.

I will transfer it to the garden below in

in the fall.

In the birdbath itself I have planted

mint, where it cannot take over the rest

of my garden.

Been there, done that!...

Here is the left side of that same garden,

and you are facing the back of the yard,

including the rear border,

also filled with iris and daylilies...

Here is a view from the back of the area you saw above,

this time facing the back of the house...

And here is a long view of that whole garden...

...which up until last year was actually two gardens.

I was running out of space to plant all of my babies,

so joined the two together,

with Hubby helping me reset the concrete edgers.

There is a path between the two sections,

and we bought a sweet black iron bench to put

at the rear of the path...

The right side of this garden started out as a small herb

garden, and the little cat, mouse and bird whirligig

still resides here.

Towards the front you can see parsley.

Sage grows behind it, and wintered over from last year.

How nice!

Not seen in these photos are other herbs,

including rosemary, basil and thyme.

I love the look of herbs mixed in with flowers,

and the willy-nilly effect it gives...

In front of the whirligig,

notice the bright orange-red

daylilies in front.

These represent the fruit of my labors

back in 2012,

as they were hybridized by moi,

by cross-pollinating "Fooled Me"

with "Red Volunteer".

Five years later it is blooming profusely

and right now the star of this garden!..

Below are cone flowers on the left growing

alongside the sage.

The cone flowers are ones I bough a few

years ago in a pot from Walmart

for fall decorating.

They continued to grow nicely in the pot

in the middle of the garden,

and finally I planted them in the garden

in the fall.

I guess they like it here!...

Because I love the kind of daylilies

(spiders and unusual form) that

you will never find in the big box garden

centers,

I love the one below.

I purchased it from a local hybridizer

about five years ago.

It is called Wiggle Worm...

And what would be a tour without seeing a

couple of hydrangea.

Lacecap...

...and Oakleaf, now at the end of its bloom period

and turning a dusky rose color...

Below is the path that divides the two sections of

the one garden.

In the fall we hope to decide what to pave it with...

Have a peaceful and relaxing day!

Blue Morning Glories

"Morning glory is the best name,

it always refreshes me to see it."

--HENRY DAVID THOREAU

I have always loved morning glories.

Some years back we planted seeds along the lattice

that surrounds the access to our septic system.

Who wants to look at an access point to a septic system, anyway?

They grew really well there,

and re-seeded for several years after that.

However, at the end of the summer we ended up with dead vines

covering the lattice, and they were very hard to remove.

As we changed the focus of our garden spaces,

we did away with the morning glories.

Fast forward to the present.

The arbor that we have on the side of the house needed some attention.

The two climbing roses that grew over it,

seen in this post no longer bloomed,

likely because of the lack of light over the past couple of years.

So, after deliberating for a year, we finally decided to dig them out.

They were loaded with thorns and grew very fast,

so walking under the arbor was a pain in the neck

(or should I say a thorn in my butt!),

and decided to replace them with the morning glories seen above.

I couldn't believe that we found some already grown in pots

(Lowes garden center),

and in such a beautiful shade of blue.

We have planted one on each side of the arbor.

I will let you know if they work out,

since there may not be enough sun for them either,

but if they don't, we'll try something else.

Have a great day, friends!

Decorating for the Summer: A Patriotic Theme (Part 2)

Hello, and welcome to our great room

and dining area!

Continuing with yesterday's post,

here is our dining space...

The towels on the primitive ladder

were purchased at Hobby Lobby last week,

and replaced the beige and black ticking stripe

ones that I usually keep there...

I also bought the runner at HobLob,

and love the stars on it...

On the sideboard is a wooden plate which

had been painted by the artist mom of one

of hubby's son's friends,

along with some old transferware that I had.

The twiggy garland is also from HobLob...

Mr. Billy the Goat stands watch over our

fireplace most of the year.

Since the background is black, I didn't want

to use any navy blue here, so a minimal dose

of red seemed right.

This is the second year that I have put out

the little jars with (fake) flowers in them...

I've had the silver-glittered stars since I-

don't-remember-when,

but they seemed right to dress up the

red ribbon that has white stars on it...

Well, I wish you could come over and see it in person.

We could have some sweet tea and cookies!

Have you done any summer or patriotic decorating this year?

Decorating for the Summer: A Patriotic Theme (Part 1)

Happy Monday friends!

This year I decided to decorate some of our spaces for the

summer in a patriotic theme.

It's been a while since I've dragged out

my red and blue stuff

so in light of some of the bizarre things going on

in the world (and in our own country),

I wanted a reminder of what we are supposed to be about.

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I love to decorate our small entryway

for the seasons...

You may recall that this is part of an old

fireplace surround that I purchased when

I lived in Florida.

It actually came from an old house in

North Carolina,

and here it is back in its rightful state!

The flag banner was a cheapy from

Walmart that I spotted a few weeks ago,

and the mantel is topped with old

architectural salvage and a pitcher,

all of which I have had for a while...

Though I don't decorate with a lot of primitives

anymore, they feel at home in a patriotic

theme, and these I have also had for a while.

They were purchased in a shop in

Micanopy, Florida and made

by a couple of different

artists.

They are standing on the galvanized

milk box that I stand our little

farmhouse Christmas tree on.

I love the tinsel "sparklers"

that the big guy is holding!

If I were a REAL artist,

I would want to create works

with facial details such as these...

I don't want this post to be too

picture heavy,

so tomorrow I'll bring you

part 2 of my summer decorating.

Until then...

An Almost-Black Tall Bearded Iris, and an Oddity!

Happy Sunday my friends!

This weekend finds us having some unseasonably cool weather, but since I am trying to cut back all the spent Iris plants in the garden to free up airspace for the getting-ready-to-bud daylilies, I won't knock the cool air that Mother Nature has provided!

I wanted to share this beautiful Iris that I purchased from Schreiner's (you can find them here) and planted in the fall. I am so attracted to almost-black flowers, and this is such a dark purple that it is almost black, even the insides. I did actually buy a few that were labelled as really being black, but they did not bloom yet. Perhaps they will not even bloom until next year, but that is OK.

 I took these photos earlier this morning

when the blooms were still covered

with droplets from the sprinkler...

It was pretty bright outside when I took these,

so you can see just how dark they are.

At a slightly different angle,

in this photo is takes on a bluish cast...

Another close-up, looking dark purple

again...

Sadly, my identifier stake states it is something

that I don't think it is.

Not sure if I mislabeled it, as there were 20

in my order (yes, 20!), including some freebies,

 so anything might have happened.

Who cares? I still love it!

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An speaking of something that is not what I thought it would be, the photos below are of something that has leaves that look like a daylily, but blooms that certainly don't.

This was a new daylily that I ordered last spring (2016).

The label is currently hiding underneath somewhere,

but I know that I planted it as a daylily.

It has such pretty flowers but I have no idea what it is.

Perhaps something was mixed in with the daylily

start when it arrived.

Again, a very pleasant surprise,

whatever it is!...

Here is a close-up.

It has been blooming for more than a week...

So, here's to the beauty of unknown and beautiful oddities.

May you flourish wherever you are!

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Thanks for coming by!

Beautiful Iris: What's In a Name Anyway?

Hello friends!

If you follow this blog, you know that I am pretty diligent about keeping up with tags that identify each plant in my gardens, particularly my daylilies and iris plants. However, every once in a while, I purchase a pretty addition to my garden that is a cutting from someone else's garden, sold to our local garden center, and was not identified. I can't resist buying these any more than one would refuse to adopt a cute puppy just because she didn't know his heritage. And sometimes the tags just disappear altogether.

This one was blooming at The Nest while we

were up there last week.

It wasn't doing well in our garden at home

last year,

so I divided it, left half home,

and moved a section to The Nest in

the fall.

How beautiful it turned out to be,

a pretty shade of yellow...

...with such pretty markings that are a

brownish plum...

I took this photo up close just because

the inside was so beautiful...

I bought the one below yesterday at the garden

center. It only had one bloom one it,

with a couple of buds,

but is just beautiful and very mature

with several fans on it...

...so I will likely divide it before putting it

in the ground this week,

and give a section to my sister-in-law

for her garden...

It is similar to the one below which

is already growing in the garden...

And, since I am partial to the blues,

I must share the one below,

also blooming in the garden here.

The identifier stake is somewhere

underneath it.

Iris tend to send their new growth outward

so often the markers tend to disappear,

and then resurface when I dig them out

to divide every three years or so...

With this kind of beauty,

unless you plan on hybridizing iris

it doesn't really matter what their names are,

now does it?!!

Have a beautiful day.

Garden cleanup, daisies, and SNOW?!

Hello dear friends! This is a little late in coming, but here is the March image from "The Nature Notes of an Edwardian Lady" once more showcasing the beautiful work of Edith Holden.

Her work was so lovely,

but spring must have come much earlier

where she lived...

Last week here it got to the

high 70s and even 80 one day,

so I mulched a large section of my newest garden.

I set out the rest of the bags of mulch and the

wheel barrow by the deck so I could continue working,

but the reality of March here is that the warm weather

didn't last.

It didn't seem fair that on the first official day

of Daylight Savings Time,

we woke up to this...

It has been cold and nasty ever since,

so I made my own garden fun by purchasing this lovely

bouquet in the grocery store.

White daisies...

...with greenish centers...

...for St. Patrick's Day...

On Sunday there wasn't much else to do but cook a nice

dinner, so Miss German Descent Girl here

made an early Corned Beef and Cabbage and invited my

sister-and-brother-in-law over for dinner.

I cook it in Guinness Stout and one of the leftover bottles

sure tasted good.

And I am not even a beer-drinker, per say!!