WELCOME

This is a record of my journey in our garden.

Friday, February 18, 2011

Question mark?

Here are pictures of my center bed or island bed. When we bought this house 7 years ago the island bed was there. It was filled with daffodils, astilbe, one tulip a shrub and various other plants. Its a full sun bed on the west side of the house, a little to much sun for astilbe. Pretty much every thing in that bed was moved. No there is still a white cone flower that is slotted to be moved this spring. I now have a clematis (The President), a Peace rose, Ella rose, The Fairy rose bush, two single peonies (Terrific Gal & Virginia Dare) a unknown iris(maybe Blue Flag?) and the Crown Princess Margareta is out there by itself climbing on a trellis. So one of the many garden projects in planning is expanding the island bed. Last spring I wanted to move the Crown Princess Margareta into the center bed so I would take the hose and outline a new shape for the expansion. Every day my husband John came home from work to find the hose in a different shape. Then I worked my 3 day 12hr weekend shifts and came home on Sunday to find the hose in a new shape, a giant QUESTION MARK? Such a funny guy. Well I still have not figured out the new shape of the bed. John moved the Crown Princess Margareta rose and said "we will figure it out next year.  Any suggestions?
A view of the center bed

My husbands humor

Those are daffodils around the iris, they will most likely be moved this year. I absolutely love daffodils but prefer them tucked between perennials. The foliage just lasts to long.
Virginia Dare Peony added last summer. Isn't she pretty
The Fairy Rose is next to the clematis closer to the house. This shrub rose has not done well there, I am thinking of moving it to the other side of the bed. It will get more sun there.

The Crown Princess Margareta
The bed will expand out from here. what shape? U shape, no it would be facing the wrong way. there are limits to what John will move or let me move. So a large circle ? Definitely open to suggestions. I originally wanted a the pergola connecting to the dinning room window (the one on the left) with a three sided bed surrounding it, covered in climbers. But the phone/electric wires attach to the house right there. John won on that one, oh well can't win them all.
The Crown Princess Margareta I love the color and very fragrant.
The rock is a gift from my husband.  He was in North Carolina visiting his dad last year on Mothers Day. He called me from the Blue Ridge Parkway to tell me he had just gotten my Mothers Day present. I had asked for the biggest rock he could bring me. I was very happy with the rock and have no idea how he pick it up alone. Its much heaver than it looks. I think it adds something to the roses. 

The roses blooming. The last two years have not been good years for roses in the suburbs of chicago. Very warm in april, cool and wet May & June.
A different angle, the small shrub to the right of the clematis is The Fairy. The plant on the far side to the left is the white cone to be moved to the border bed in the distance. The Fairy will then be moved to the far side on the left but farther out, kind of between the center bed and the tower where The Crown Princess Margareta is climbing thus connecting it to the center bed.
The summer before last the iris & clematis seemed much closer in color, oh well. Also in the background in front of the screened porch is a miniature lilac Miss Kim. I wanted the fragrance while sitting on the porch. I'm afraid its pretty stringy looking, the house shading it a little to much. So it might also end up in the center bed.
Terrific Gal Peony added last summer.
To the right of the rock is the Peace rose and Ella rose is to the left.
Virginia Dare Peony
Little Mischief shrub 
Little Mischief shrub will be added this summer between the center bed & the tower on the left outer side with the Fairy next to it on the right inner side.

Little Mischief shrub two years ago. They look lovely there, but do not bloom when the peonies bloom. Also there was a lot of black spot this year. I think they need more air circulation in a more open bed. I hate when John is right.

16 comments:

  1. Loved my walk through your beautiful gardens this morning. Sounds like you have some good ideas and a bit of work to do this Spring... but isn't that what we love about gardening?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw your comment on Betsy's blog so I thought I would come check you out! Love your garden...I'll bet you can't wait till we can see that lovely foliage again. I live in Indiana and we had Ice which I whined about for 2 weeks.. It is finally gone now and two days ago we actually had 60s degrees and I noticed people sitting out on the restaurant patios eating dinner amidst the snow and ice mounds. haha. I'll be back.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am sorry I don't have any suggestions for your bed, but you do have some lovely plants. Your clematis is gorgeous, and so are your peonies. It is great to see so many roses, too. Your pictures are very pretty and full of color. I am looking forward to finding out how your bed turns out.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Fawne ~ I also came from Betsy's blog. Your home and garden and flowers are just amazing. Love your cats, and dog too, and your husband's sense of humor is just to cute!! Was he asking you a question??
    Glad you commented on Betsy's blog, so I can get to know you too.

    I tried to become a follower, but my computer wouldn't cooperate...will try again later.

    Wanda from Brushstrokes

    ReplyDelete
  5. What a lovely blog. I so enjoyed it. I came to follow but I can't promise that I'll be here every day. So if that's okay with you I will be popping in from time to tome.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gorgeous, gorgeous! :)

    That Crown Princess Margareta is stunning!

    Thanks for commenting on my blog!! xo

    ReplyDelete
  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Kim, thanks for stopping by. I just love Betsy's blog. I heard about the ice you had in Indiana, snow is always better than ice. Most of the snow here has melted now. Today was cold and rainy and spring fever is setting in. I check out garden blogs in warmer climates but sometimes that make it worse. Garden weather is a ways away for us, it is only February after all. So I spent the day curled up with the cats and garden books, not a bad way to spend a Sunday off.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Marsh, thanks for your comments. I am in awe of both your talent with your roses/garden and your talent with your camera. I am so glad to find your blog, its an inspiration to me.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Carolyn, thanks I'm so glad you enjoyed my garden pictures. A lot of work is an understatement.... And yes that is what we love about gardening.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Welcome Wanda, thanks for your kind comments. It's nice to meet another Betsy fan. John can always makes me smile. He said he spent well over an hour making the QUESTION MARK and I love the dog's water dish as the DOT. Hope to talk to you again soon.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Bee, so glad you pop in. Come back when ever you find the time and i'll try to pop over to visit you when I can.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Betsy Your such a doll, I already have to new visitors from your blog Kim and Wanda. I'm so excited this is so much fun.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Fawne - I stopped by to say 'hi' and thank you for following my garden blog! Your current post is near & dear to my heart. Good luck with your designing.

    One way to 'test drive' expanding your garden without excavating, is printing out a picture of your existing garden on regular print paper. Put a piece of trace paper over the picture, and play with shapes & sizes.

    It's as cheap as a pad of trace paper and you don't have to be Van Gogh to sketch! I always have a BIG eraser, 1st & foremost. I put one up on a recent post. (Let me know what you think?) :)

    ReplyDelete
  15. BTW - GLAD to see you on Blotanical! It will open up a whole new world, with amazing gardeners, landscapers and garden enthusiasts - of all shapes & sizes! (I've gotten some of my best inspiration in the past year!)

    ReplyDelete
  16. Shyrlene nice to meet you and thanks for the tip, sorry this is a little delayed I have not been home for about 5 days. I'm a little slow on figuring this hole blog thing out, computers are not my strong point but I am crazed about gardening so I'm determent to try.

    ReplyDelete

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...