Photo of the Day - Asiatic Lily after the rain

Photo of the Day - Juneberry aka Serviceberry or Amelanchier

Lupine in the Church Garden

Planted in May of 2013, the three lupine plants in the church garden came into their full glory in early June this year. Like over-sized exclamation points, they demand notice. Blooming simultaneously with the iris, they dominated the small annuals, planted the previous week and struggling to establish in the hot sun. The spectacular flowers of the lupines (or lupins) are not to be ignored, but sadly, they soon fade like most perennials. Their foliage usually remains interesting. I hope they survive the heat of summer in this sunny location and return another day.

The Perfect Pink Peony

Photo of the Day - Lupine

Photo of the Day - Branch of Coralburst Crabapple

Amaryllis Blooms for Hubby's Birthday

Okay. I'm actually getting bored with this photographing this amaryllis. I applied some Picassa magic--to hide the exercise bike in the background! However, this is the second stalk, and it also developed 4 flowers, this one opening a few weeks later, about the time of the husband's birthday. He could care less, but this bloom is a little hard to ignore on the dining room table. But 8 spectacular blooms this year! I am a proud mama.

Photo of the Day - Amaryllis Blooms for our Anniversary

So excited that the amaryllis has once again bloomed, this time with 4 blooms and a side shoot yet to open. It usually blooms for me at Easter (rather than Christmas) but Easter is late this year.

March Blooms in Michigan Found Only Indoors

My poinsettias are still holding up. But they represent WINTER.

 This week the sun was out and the massive Michigan snows are beginning to melt. I broke down and purchased a pot of tete-a-tete daffodils. For the first time in months it felt like winter's back had finally been broken.

The mini daffodils I planted last fall at the front of the church garden are buried under mounds of cold snow. Who knows when they will emerge this year?

It will take weeks to melt the near record snows of this winter, but a few sunny days near 30 degrees bring hope that March will indeed end with lambs and bunnies romping through green grass and daffodils.

In the parking lot of the store with the daffodils I found this Michigan snow mountain:

Snow mountain with footprints and melting edges

Photo of the Day - Dahlia

Many dahlias are blooming around the borders of Aunt V's vegetable garden

End of Summer - Stonecrop Sedum and more

Aunt V's Hibiscus

As the last blooms are fading on the hibiscus moscheutos, and the exuberant white hydrangea mopheads are turning fall-ish, the pluming fountain grasses and the stonecrop sedums are coming into their full glory.

The bees are very busy, moving now from the perovskia atriplicifolia to the pink sedum heads.

M's Sedum

The mums are still holding back, as they should, and a few of the hostas are still blooming white. Bold perennial color is a little elusive at this time of the year, but the cannas, the callas, the dahlia bulbs and other tropicals are stealing the glory yet for a little while. The reputedly psychotropic potted brugmansia plant at Aunt V's is in full bloom. The mandevillas are finally twining and full.

I just love the sun-kissed leaves on the canna I bought this year which blooms in yellow, tinged with red. It is growing gloriously tall, with some diamond frost euphorbia at its feet.

Photo of the Day - Canna

Photo of the Day - Last of the Lilies

My Casa Blanca Lily Today

Photo of the Day - 'Drums Along the Mohawk' (Last daylily!)

Hemerocallis 'Drums Along the Mohawk'

Photo of the Day - Just one more daylily

Hemerocallis 'Playing with Sharks'

Photo of the Day - Another Daylily!

Hemerocallis 'Woman at the Well'

Photos of the Day - Two Daylilies

Green Tarantula

El Desperado

Photo of the Day - Perennial in a Pot

When we did a plant shuffle this spring in my daughter's garden we had one plant left over. Not at all sure what it was or what color it would bloom, we potted it. Today it was blooming and it sure looks like a Stoke's Aster. Could this pretty potted perennial under the pergola be Peachie's Pick?

Photo of the Day - Trumpet Lily

This lilium regale is tied to a stake with pantyhose, but is still hanging--over Persicaria polymorpha, or Giant Fleeceflower.

Yucca at Sunset

Yuccas growing in the sand dunes of Lake Michigan

Photo of the Day - American Chestnut Tree Bloom

Photo of the Day - Container Garden in Orange

A Snap is Back

At the church garden all the annuals are removed in latter October. Dusty miller will come back, but it returns lanky and blooms yellow. But once in awhile there are surprises in the garden and it is often those which delight the most.

This tall snapdragon, hiding in the monstrous Asiatic lily patch has returned to bloom--something of an oddball. This year, short snaps have been used and so it will be the only tall snap in the garden. The placement and the color combo offends me a little, but as I took this photo at 9:00 PM, around the time of the summer solstice, with the sun glowing low in the west, it also pleases me.

Summertime...and the living is...

Sunset over Lake Michigan, with zoom.

This weekend, summer showed up--boldly hot and beastly humid. The garden plantings that have been a little timid this spring will be enjoying a growth spurt--as long as their nitrogen and moisture are holding up.

Gardeners will be glad to see the rapid expansion of their new pots and plantings. The perennials and shrubs are already over-sized, from the abundant spring rains--four inches last weekend!

 It is probably too late for most cutbacks on the perennials. I have hacked down tons of tall asters, pinched myriads of mums and even dared to snap off some autumn joy sedum by one-third this year. And I did battle with a giant forsythia.

This weekend, however, I resumed two things--spending time indoors as much as possible and worrying whether everything in my outdoor world is adequately watered. I am not at all sure that I am ready for this kind of heat (or insane sprinkling).

On this past Tuesday, just before summer broke, we had a perfectly cool and sunny day. I was lucky enough to have the time to drive with the husband to our beautiful Lake Michigan, viewing the "great flatness" from Grand Haven State Park. We breathed in the cool lake air, let the sand scrub our sandaled toes and waited for the (not-so-spectacular) sunset.

On the way home a hot fudge sundae from Mickey D's satisfied at $1.29--no longer on the dollar menu, but still a good treat.

 Summertime. Is your living easy?

Photo of the Day - Shock Wave Denim Petunias

New this year at the church garden--this purple petunia fades like a pair of denim jeans!