color – Wellyssa's Womb

Early Summer Flowers

Early summer is for Lavender! The Lavender/purple aliums self seeded themselves into the day lily garden. They were a wonderful surprise the first year they sprang up. I had planted the aliums along the hedge of the day lily garden, next to the hedge, several years ago in an attempt to fill up a blank space there. Over time the day lilies took over the whole space and the lilies threw their seed out into the day lily garden. I love the result! And the best part: I didn’t have to dig in those huge lily bulbs.

The lavender blooms of the Korean dwarf lilac hide the interior of the front porch giving privacy throughout the summer, and their fragrance is very strong. You can smell them from the driveway as you approach the front door. Wonderful greeting!

Early summer brings Iris and flowering shrubs to the Willow garden. Pink blooming Red Sand cherry, white blooming leather leaf Viburnum, and pink blooming Black lace viburnum (not in bloom here – it blooms later in the summer).

The gold mound Spirea puts on a brilliant show with just the leaves, in bright yellow and chartreuse. Later it will flower in a delicate pink as the yellow leaves mature to a slightly darker green.

The willows themselves, which grow in the middle of this garden, also flower, but their flowers are

insignificant if you aren’t up close. They look like little yellow bottle brushes, 2″ long and about 1/4″ around.

South Noodle Garden – Rust and Orange iris and Ohio Buckeye Tree

These rust and orange mixed Iris are filling in wonderfully in the street-side noodle gardens. The baby buckeye trees is struggling – but I’ve been babying him along – time will tell.

Butterfly garden – Iris (??, Hello darkness, Sharp Dressed Man)

I love the combination of purples in this Iris grouping.

The witches hat cupola looks wonderful with the purple aliums dancing in front.

Pom Poms! There are actually 4 shrubs here. I planted 2 on each side of the drive river bed. I had planned on putting an arched trellis between the shrubs to created a walkway to the stone patio which is behind them, but they have grown together now, so I’m not sure if I have the heart to cut them back.

The yellow leafed ninebark is striking with the red barberry.

Spring Colors – 2019

More viburnum and Sand cherry on the interior side of the willow garden

The street side view of the Willow garden: Sand cherry, viburnum, Golden spirea and black lace Elderberry.

Red and yellow – south/east shoulder garden

I love all the different shades of green on the interior south berm

Stage God, enjoying his mushrooms! Daylilies have burst out of the ground!

The Russian Olive, and behind that, the Locust tree. Both were pruned hard in January. I’m keeping them in a dwarf size.

The oldest apple tree in the orchard. Leafing out after a hard prune in January.

First year transplanted shrubs on the new mid-west berm. this berm was installed to cup around the shape of what will eventually be a pond.

these are white tulips with light lavender blushing. the color doesn’t show as well as I would have like in the pic. but they are in the garden next to the water dragon.

My outside kitty sits calmly on the back of the dragon.

Fall Color

Finally, the fall color I’ve been waiting for!

THIS! This is the fall/winter color I’ve been waiting for!

Spring Color

The tulips by the cupola have multiplied nicely, time to divide and spread them out a little this coming fall

I love the orange and purple tulips under the Linden. (I added some Ostara eggs to the Linden, since I no longer have a big enough tree in the front yard.)

The giant alium came up beautifully. They’re about 24″ tall and 6″diameter

This spring is really beautiful. There is more color year by year, not enough yet, but it’s getting there!

I planted some new Iris on the berm surrounding the Fire Circle, in colors of red, gold, yellow and burnt orange. They’re sparse this first year, but they’ll spread.

The Dragons be gettin all fancy

Last fall I decided to add some bulbs to the Dragon Garden. I planted about 150 bulbs in each of the four elemental dragon beds. After the big pampas grass gets cut back in the early spring, nothing is growing out back, and the Dragons look so stark. Each bed has a different variety of short, early blooming bulbs like snow drops or winter aconite. Then the hyacinth should come up next, followed by daffodils, tulips and lastly the Asiatic lilies. I tried to color coordinate the bulbs with the elemental representation of each dragon. Air should be white and yellows. Fire, yellow, orange and reds. Water, white, blues and lavenders. And Earth, a mix of color.

I planted bulbs that would bloom early spring through mid summer. The mid summer lilies did not come up well, maybe they need another year in the ground, we’ll see.

As fate would have it, some of the bulbs I ordered did not look like their picture, or maybe they were mislabeled. Of course, I’m not going to dig them out and send them back – I think the bulb companies are banking on that.

I used a different on-line company than I have used before, because Breck’s didn’t have all the colors I wanted. Never the less, I think they turned out beautiful.