Friday, August 16, 2013

Back Yard in August

The backyard is getting a bit dried out now, and we're not expected to get any rain for another week yet.  The grass is becoming a bit worn looking, but the flowers seem to be doing great.  I have a walled garden around my patio, and the flowers in there are always changing.  My springtime columbines start here, and now the late summer bloomers are coming out.


I love the balloon flower.  The colour isn't showing up so great in these photos, but in the evening light they almost appear to glow a periwinkle blue.

 
The bees crawl right inside the flowers.
 

 
 
These balloon flowers never fully open, and just 'deflate' as the flowers die.  I keep deadheading them and they continue to bloom into September.  I saw some in the gardening store last year, but the petals of their plants were all opened up and looked like stars.  Not sure why mine keep closed, but it like that they do ... adds to their interest.
 
 
I grew some zinnias from seed for my husband this year.  It took a while for the plants to get going (because I left the planting so late), but they look great now ... so tall!
 
 
I'll definitely plant these seeds again, but maybe with a variety of colour (I think they come in different colours).
 
 
If you just stand on your tippy toes and peak over the zinnias and tall grass, you'll catch a glimpse of my son's new fish in his pond.
 

One of the neighbours on my son's paper route has a larger pond in his front yard, and my son and this guy have been discussing ponds for a while now.  We took a couple of peoples' advice and installed a UV light to kill bacteria in the pond, and it is the best suggestion.  The water has been crystal clear since we installed it.  A couple of weeks ago, the same neighbour offered my son some fish from his pond.  He said they're a cross between goldfish and coy.  My son jumped at the chance.  So now we have two shubunkins and four mini coy. 
 
 
 
Last summer I planted love-lies-bleeding around the pond, and it grew to a great height, and all the fancy flower "tails" hung over the little pond.  It looked so cool that I planted the seeds again this year.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a seed packet in the gardening store, so I used the leftover seeds from last year.  Only one plant grew to maturity.  Oddly enough, I got two tomato plants growing in the pots with the love-lies-bleeding.  I've never planted tomatoes before (allergic to them), so I don't know where they came from.  My son isn't too pleased that one of the tomato plants has grown huge and hangs over his waterfall.


Love-lies-bleeding one week ago


 The same flower today.


 The grasses around the pond that we planted this summer are doing so well, that I may not plant any flowers on the patio side of the pond next year.

I really like that purple fountain grass on the right :) 
 
 
I love this little space, and with the bench beside the pond, it's a great place to have my morning tea, listen to the gurgling waterfall and admire the fish flitting through the sun's rays.
 
This is the view of my patio as you come out the back door ...  (the pond is on the other side of the garden (where you can see the fence) ...
 
 
 Two weeks ago I left the umbrella open during a windy day.  The wind caught the umbrella and lifted the table up and when it landed, the entire glass top smashed on the patio in a perfect rectangle.  The table you see here is a temporary replacement (our other table was larger and taller).  Hopefully we'll be able to find one on sale in the next week or two as I had picked up this green table for my daughter to take to her rental house for university (I got it for free on the roadside!).
 
Off the back of the patio to the right, there is a little step to the back gate.
 
 
There used to be cedars struggling to survive in this shady spot where the lattice is now.  My son and I chopped down the trees two years ago, laid bark nuggets on the bare dirt (not even grass will grow under the bush hanging over the step), and lined the patio stones with rocks collected here there and everywhere.   The shade is so dense here, that I've had trouble finding a plant that does well.  I had begonias in the pots last year and they did well, but this year all of them got some sort of mold on them and I pulled out most of them.  I'd like to get some light-weight vine covering that lattice, but can't think what would do well.
 
 
We transplanted ferns (above) from my mom's garden along the far side of the bark nuggets, and laid down stepping stones that we had made for my parents years ago.  It looks so nice in the morning when the sun is shining through the ferns.  The ferns have taken off in this spot, and my son and I are so pleased with the results (removing the trees and putting the bark down also cut down on mosquitoes).
 
Earlier this summer I planted some morning glory seeds along this fence.  The rascally rabbit got into them once, but after I painted the leaves with "Skoot", they were left alone.  Look at these luscious vines that I've been rewarded with!
 

 
I also thought this handy reptile might keep the rabbit out of the garden too ....
 
 
The Deadly Dollar Store Rubber Snake :)  I hate snakes, so this made me fairly jump out of my skin the first few times I walked back there when I forgot I had put it there myself!  Did it fool you?
 
I have another vine growing up the bird feeder.   I usually don't feed birds in the summer following my mom's example.  However, I don't see many of the nice birds in my yard when the feeder is empty all summer.  The birds will be starting their migrations this month, so I think I'll fill them up to help my feathered friends on their long journey.  The birdbath is filled daily, and the birds do come to use that every day, they just don't linger as long as I would like.
 
 
And now the morning glories are starting to bloom!  These are "Heavenly Blue" and they are a big favourite of mine :)
 
Look!  They really are the same colour as the heavens!
 

Another of my favourite late summer flowers are the black-eyed Susans.  I have a good supply of them, and try to spread them around a bit more every year.
 
 
They look great with the purple butterfly bush.
 
 
Another late bloomer are the turtlehead flowers.  Their buds have been developing and will be blooming before the end of the month.  They do really well here too, and don't seem to suffer from disease, so I should really transplant some to new locations in the yard as they're getting a bit crowded here.


The butterfly bush is having a fabulous year, and with deadheading the blossoms every day, I've had non-stop blooms since it started in early summer!

 
The butterflies have been coming to it, along with the hummingbirds.  Haven't been able to capture the hummingbirds on camera yet however.


Two butterflies in this shot.


 
The hens and chicks are still surviving on the rock in the garden :)


And that's about it.  I've had quite a lot mold through some of my flowers this year, which I've never had before.  And my lovely garden phlox never came fully into bloom when they did so well last year.  I lost all my impatients to something that made them disintegrate, and wonder if the abundant hostas are playing host to some snails or grubs.  I think I'll be cutting hostas well back next year and see if that helps.
 
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Wendy
 
Linking up with:
 
newparty
 
 
 


22 comments:

  1. Ha ha ha... you were tricked by your own snake!!! That would happen to me too!! Those morning glories are beautiful! You have some lovely shots of butterflies. Love the new fish in the pond too. Hope you have a good weekend, Wendy!

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    1. Crazy snake!! (crazy me) I'm glad you enjoyed the butterfly shots. I haven't seen too many of them out there this year. I'll tell my son you like the fish ;) Enjoy your weekend too Stacy!

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  2. I'm such a twit! Before I got to the part where you said the snake was fake, I was trying to identify it...you got me!!
    I love your garden and I'm rather taken with the balloon flower,I've not seen those before.
    Jane x

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    1. You can't see it, but his mouth is open wide with FANGS! So threatening! I'm glad you like the garden ... I'd never seen balloon flowers before I picked these up. We have a good gardening store near us (Vandermere's), which stocks lots of uncommon perennials.

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  3. You got me to Wendy..I thought that snake was real at first and I was thinking of how big it was!!! You sure have a beautiful garden!!

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    1. I'm so glad we don't have snakes around my yard. I grew up with garter snakes being a regular thing, and we'd have to fetch them out of the deep window wells around the house (my mom refused!), but they make me jump!

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  4. Everything looks gorgeous, Wendy! I did think the snake was real at first! Very clever. :) The same thing happened to a deck table my parents had when I was a kid, we never expected that. You should be able to find a replacement soon. Do you shop at Costco? They often have them there too.

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    1. Thanks Jennifer! I tried the snake after I saw a guy keep them around his pool to keep birds away. I'm not sure if that's why the rabbit has gone, or if he just left on his own (or with help from a cat). Yeah, the table was a disappointment ... I loved that table because it was a good size (seats 3 on each side). We'll find one eventually.

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  5. Hey Wendy! Your garden is gorgeous!!! Just gorgeous! I love your balloon flowers!!! And who cares if they don't open...I love them for their whimsy just like that! And oh my are your Zinnias and butterfly bush just stunning! It is just outstanding that you captured those butterflies! I wonder if you have that was fungus on your impatients,,,,I read an article that talked about how a fungus is affecting a wide variety of them...I had some issues with some of mine as well. You take care...wish you lived closer...we could talk garden talk!!!

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    1. Hi Nicole, thanks for all your kind garden praise :) The impatients were weird because the flowers just faded pink to white and then disappeared, and then the same thing happened to the stalks ... no blackened stuff on them at all. I had fungus growing up on other things that usually are quite hardy, so that was disappointing. I just can't help but wonder if the air flow down low to the ground is being hampered by all these hostas that I've scattered around. I too wish we lived closer ... when we were recently in Michigan we passed under a sign "Chicago / Detroit" and I thought of you! ;) Enjoy your weekend! Wendy x

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  6. Wow your garden is beautiful, how lovely to have a garden like that. I love the balloon flowers, I don't think I've seen any like that before, I have always loved morning glory but it doesn't grow too well here. I thought the snake was real too! :)

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    1. Thanks Linda, always nice to hear from you :) My mom used to tell me that her mother always grew morning glories too (the same blues), and just loved them. So I feel a bit of gardening connection through the flowers with my mom & grandma :)

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  7. You have so many pretty flowers in your yard! I've never seen balloon flowers before. Those are really cool! I've also never seen the love-lies-bleeding plants. I like them too. But, those morning glories...wow! They're so pretty! The color is gorgeous! I just saw some of those butterfly flowers on our vacation this week and took photos. I was wondering what they were. They sure are pretty! They are very well named as I see the butterflies seem to like them a lot! It must be wonderful to walk around or sit in your yard and enjoy all the pretty flowers and butterflies. :-) Have a wonderful weekend!

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    1. The love-lies-bleeding is a sort of old-fashioned flower, which is part of the appeal to me :) My brother just told me in Victoria they have morning glories growing as weeds out there, and they cover everything. Funny how we view them so differently! Hope you had a nice weekend!

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  8. Hi Wendy,

    I love the balloon flowers, they remind me of Chinese Lanterns, only blue ones! The zinnias are very pretty, love the little stars in the centre.

    Enjoy your garden, it's so pretty and the new fish look very settled!

    Love Claire xxx

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    1. Thanks Claire! They do look like Chinese lanterns, I wonder if they're related in the plant family. I actually planted some lanterns from seeds, but they didn't get any taller than about 4". I love those little fish ... particularly the original Shebunkins with their long flowing fins. Have a great week!

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  9. I thought the snake was real too :-)
    Your garden is stunning. I love the balloon flowers, have never seen them before, and the morning glory is beautiful. Great butterfly photos!

    Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. Enjoy your garden :)

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    1. I hope I'm fooling the rabbit with that snake as much as I've fooled everyone here ;) I did have a great weekend, but didn't get to sit down in the garden once! Here's to another sunny week :)

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  10. Your garden is looking fab, mine is a little sorry now, I must get more late flowering plants. Those ballon flowers are striking, you've some loving blues there! :) x

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    1. Thanks Ada ... and my garden has some VERY sorry spots that I just didn't show ;) Love blue in the flowers too. Have a great week!

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  11. Your garden is stunning Wendy ... so much beautiful colour :)

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Thanks so much for leaving a comment, it's nice to know when you've stopped by! :)

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