Friday, May 26, 2006

My Garden, Memorial Day Weekend

Here are some views around the garden at the end of May, taken between rain showers:

A hanging basket that I put together in a self-watering pot, featuring salmon-pink and lavender impatiens.

I decided to actually use the concrete pad this year. No sense in wasting one of the few sunny spots I have. I bought some giant pots cheaply at Big Lots and filled them with homegrown seedlings: tomatoes, peppers, melons, squash, cucumber, and petunias.

A blossom of the Lincoln Constance rose, blooming high in the crabapple tree.

Under the pine tree in front, perennial lupines and blue columbine are busy blooming. Some of those columbine are going to be moved under the crabapple.

Orange "Thai Silk" and pale lavender California Poppies, with their petals furled against the rain. Though they're annuals, they self-seed readily.

Another view of the front of the house with yellow "Moonshine" yarrow, some barely visible native orange columbine, the sage in bloom, and a cluster of Red Hot Pokers. The hummingbirds have been happy here.


Compare the asparagus and peas now to what they looked like back in April (Happy Earth Day! My Garden, My Kitties)! The asparagus is done, but the peas are just coming on.

The big ceanothus bush in the backyard is a haven for honeybees, bumblebees, and hoverflies. They've been having a field day, swarming all over, and they come away coated in pollen.

The lettuce patch, showing that the vegetable garden can be as pretty as the flower garden.

A Nelly Moser clematis, just coming into bloom in the backyard.

A sort of Georgia O'Keefe look at an oriental poppy. My grandmother grew these in her garden, and these are the descendants of the seeds I got from her.

The flowering head of Centranthus ruber, or Jupiter's beard, a lovely xerophytic plant growing at the bottom of the driveway in back.

Our first two strawberries from the new planting of Seascape berries that I got from Nichols. These are everbearing, so there should be more to come.

A Belle of Woking clematis, in silvery mauve and pale green, looking like an exotic water lily.

2 comments:

Carol Michel said...

Very pretty flowers, I am especially intrigued by the ceanothus bush. What zone are you growing that in?

Anonymous said...

I'm in zone 8, up in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. Ceanothus seems to do very well around here, and over on the coast. A little too well -- that bush needs some serious trimming! But there are smaller varieties as well.