Tor Spirea

 

My Tor Spireas look amazing this fall! They just seem to glow -

Pond Patio

 My plan is to add a stone border to this new garden area. In this picture, I haven't started planting and as you can see, I don't have the path quite done. I hope to have enough stone to add a border to the edge of the garden. We are supposed to have a nice weekend, so I hope to add some bulbs and finish up my planting.

Fall Color

 Russian sage, fireworks goldenrod and mums are blooming in this picture, taken on October 7.

 

West Side of Pond

 

 

 

On the west side of the pond, I've planted a redbud clump. It is an understory tree - meant to grow under the canopy of the birches around the pond. I also planted some shrubs - while they are in full sun right now, eventually, they will be in shade for at least half of the day, so I chose ruby spice clethra and autumn magic chokeberry. Both of these types of shrubs will sucker and will eventually form a nice colony.  I've been moving shrubs and perennials from other areas of the yard to this area, too. I've also added small paths - eventually the stone edge you see in the bottom picture will be one side of a larger path that goes around the entire pond.

Water Lily bloom

My water lilies are doing much better since I added fertilizer - next summer, I will add one tablet to the soil each month.

Sunset on the Pond

Beautiful cloud formation reflected in the pond.

What a nice evening! (September 2)

Robins in the Pond

One of the fun things about our pond is that it attracts birds - three robins are enjoying the water in this picture.  One day I watched about ten baby robins hop in and out of the stream. 

Dew Drops

 

The dew drops caught the early morning sun and sparkled and danced in the breeze, entertaining me as I pulled weeds....

Deck Cleaning

Our composite deck was looking pretty dirty, so last week I had the fun job of cleaning it up. Here is what it looked like when I started.

 

And this is what it looked like after using Corte*Clean. Amazing! I did quite a bit of research to find this cleaner and found that there was only one lumberyard in our area that carried it.  I will be using it again next summer - it is environmentally friendly and the grass around the deck was not harmed.

Building a bog

The moisture-loving plants that I had planted near the edge of the pond were not doing so well. They needed more moisture - the way the liner comes up at the edge of the pond was preventing them from getting moisture from the pond. So I created a bog area on the west side of the pond. First I dug a hole that was about a foot deep, then I lined it with plastic. I used a sharp rake to poke some holes in the sides and then filled the hole with a mixture of peat moss, black dirt and sand.  After just a couple of days, some of the plants are already looking happier. I planted chocolate Joe Pye, two different types of lysimachia, a swamp milkweed, a carex, an umbrella plant, two red lobelias, a Northern Sea Oat grass, and a rodgersia. I am hoping that the taller Joe Pye plant will provide a bit of shade for the carex and umbrella plant. The umbrella plant is supposed to get quite large, but the leaves on mine are only about 4 to 5 inches across, rather than the 12 to 18 inches they should be. Hoping the additional moisture will help!

Pond steps

As I have been building the paths around the pond, I added places where I can step into the pond.  I added three entry spots on the north side, which is the shallow bog area.  A couple of weekends ago, I was on the Minnesota Water Garden Society tour and I realized that I also need paths that exit the pond area. This will help with traffic flow - if you get a group of people who are wanting to look at the pond and the person in the front stops, because the paths are narrow, there isn't room to get around. Now you are stuck!  But if there is an exit path, you can take it and move around to a different spot.  And last summer when I took my granddaughter on the pond tour, she wanted to explore all the paths, even if they lead to nowhere!  So for ease of movement and more fun - more paths!

Pond paths and patio

 

This path is on the north side of the pond. Where the path heads towards the stream there are rocks that were placed so that you can step across the stream.

The patio is still in progress - I've worked on it a bit more since I took this picture.

Little critters

I enjoy seeing who is visiting my gardens.... except for when the frog jumps unexpectedly and scares me!

Sidewalk garden

 

 

Now that this border has filled in a bit, what do you think of the firecracker gomphera?  (Pink flowers)  It's a bit wild, but I like it. 

 

Pond Patio

 

I have been busy building a small patio on the south side of the pond. In the first picture, I have rolled away the large boulders that had edged the pond. you can see the black liner and the wire for our underwater low-voltage lights. In the second picture, I have gotten some flagstone in place and in the bottom picture, you can see what the patio looks like from the west edge of the pond.

Garage garden

The oriental lilies in this garden are in full bloom. When they are done, there are turtleheads that will begin to bud. Just love the variegated fleece flower in the bottom picture. I used to have two, lost one two winters ago and haven't been able to find another.

Front border

The border on the east side is really looking good. The Walker's Low catmint (purple flowers) have been blooming since May. 

Pond Path

Slow work, but progress being made.

Water Lily

A surprise when I went out to work around the pond - one of my water lilies is blooming!

Fish

I just love watching my little goldfish in the pond! And I found the "Big-Eyed Fish" statue at a nearby garden center and had to add it to the pond for fun!

Bed with funky birds

This little bed is near the pond - Color Guard Yucca (first time I've tried to grow yuccas) and Moonshine Yarrow. 

Pond Path

 Just started working on the flagstone path around the pond. I try to get a few stones laid at a time - quite the process!

Side garden

Finally got this big raised bed mulched! That's 100 bags of mulch down and 10 more to go! The middle picture includes my masterwort plants. Not last winter, but the year before, my plants didn't make it - all dead. But as I was cleaning out this garden last fall, I found all sorts of new seedlings. This year they are big enough to bloom! Hope they continue to seed - they are a great plant that does well in part-shade and doesn't need a lot of moisture.

Not shown - two of the three hibiscus that I planted last fall made it through the winter. That is a first for me, as every other one I planted never made it through the winter.

Late blooming

I don't think it is normal to have peonies (Sara Bernhardt), roses (Sven) and catmint (Walker Low) blooming at the same time, but I'll take it!

Fairy Garden

Additions to my fairy garden! The name of the tiny hosta is Limey Lisa - planted in honor of my niece! And the plant on the right in front is a tiny goatsbeard. Can't wait to see my grand-daughters' reaction. 

New Flowers

This pretty peony was a gift from a neighbor. First time it has bloomed - love it!

This is a Thunder & Lightening Knautia - just planted this spring & I really like it!

Pond update

This is water forget me not.  I added goldfish to the pond and after hiding for a couple of weeks, they are finally beginning to come out and dart around the pond. They love when I go in and stir things up, because there are interesting bits of algae to explore! Today when I emptied the skimmers, there were a few baby tree frogs - no bigger than my thumbnail! - and they hopped away.  Some of my pond plants are sending up new growth. I just realized that they have been looking a little sad because they moved from a shaded greenhouse to my unshaded back yard - a bit of a shock! So it was good to see that new growth. I moved a couple to new spots - hope it helps!

Arbor Rose - William Baffin

It's up to the top of the arbor! Soon it will work its way down the other side. No dead branches after our very cold winter - that's one tough rose!

What's blooming?

 

Irises, salvia and peonies, oh my! And don't forget the perennial geranium!

Climbing Rose

This is a reminder for me - while this is supposed to be a red rose, it looks more pink! Next year, try the hot pink annuals!

Hosta Garden

This project was the only one that I worked on last summer - taking out all the hosta and dividing them and replanting this bed. Now I am working on getting it mulched and am about half done.