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These pictures are of my various gardens both out in front, in the way back and to the side in the back from early last week when I was feeling good. As I was thinking about what to write about today, I remembered these pictures and uploaded them to give me something to write about this afternoon. I then thought that I should take a look see to see if the gardens have deteriorated since I last took the pictures. I know that out front, everything is practically the same because I still walk the dogs even though I’m hacking up a lung. I couldn’t tell you about the back so I went to the many windows upstairs and saw that the back hasn’t changed all that much either. We haven’t had a frost yet, the lowest that it has been in 41. I haven’t even taken in the Bougainvillea or the Mandeville vine and they both are tropical plants, they will soon need to come in for the Winter. I just wanted to make sure that my post was current and that I wasn’t writing about something so last week, lol.
Looking through the slideshow I know that you won’t see it everywhere, but at least in the front and off to the side I have tried to achieve an every season color scheme. By that I mean that in both those gardens, I have Spring, Summer and Fall color. There are certain plants that allow you this and they are very accommodating especially for those who are beginners. An example of a great hardy perennial is the Black Eyed Susan that you can see in abundance in the side garden, it gets bigger with each year and eventually it will multiply. I chose this as an example because I didn’t start out with five different plants, all the Black Eyed Susans came from the one plant.
Another example of continuing color in the garden even into the Fall is the Chrysanthemum. Out in front I have two huge Chrysanthemums, one a burnt orange and the other a pale lavender. When I bought them they weren’t that big, it has been over the course of three or four years that they have easily tripled in size and now make fairly nice showpieces for the front.
Another Summer into Fall plant that I love is the Upright Phlox, they come in a variety of colors; purple, lavender, pink and white. They are hardy and they spread or self-propagate is the correct terminology. Another term that I love to see on a tag is naturalize, that also means spreads. The beautiful Cone Flower is another very strong Summer into Fall flower that naturalizes and comes in yellow, white and purple.
Roses if you pick wisely and do your homework in terms of pruning them can give you blooms until the first frost. There are also many Ground covers that will bloom from Spring until Fall, Vinca minor is one of them, I am still getting delicate purple flowers as we speak. We aren’t speaking, I am typing and hopefully you are reading but you get the idea.
I have to say that I feel much better today in terms of my outlook, no more dark doldrums. Still hacking up the lungs, still hurts but I am in a much better frame of mind, seeing my plants still happy is part of it and the other part of it is that I am naturally optimistic. The poor Impatiens are a little sad, they look chilled but everyone else still has some pep to them. So all in all I have had a good day.
laurieanichols 