The Last May Flowers

Today I have more scenes from around the garden to share.  These photos are from the end of May as it's hard to keep up with all the flowers this time of the year.  Above is a 'Coral Supreme' peony in full bloom.  The light in this photo makes it look more pink than coral, but normally the coral color is pronounced.

Here is the west garden as the 'Walker's Low' catmint (lavender flowers) and 'May Night' salvia (violet flowers) reach their peak bloom.  A few 'Pure as Gold' and 'Evening Tidings' bearded iris are also in view.

From this angle you can see the iris more clearly.  They smelled delicious, but by today they are all done blooming.  Many plants will fly through their bloom cycle this week, as we are in the middle of a heat wave with temperatures reaching 96 F today.  My kids are at school without any air conditioning, poor things.

'The President' clematis is spectacular in full bloom.  I hadn't noticed before this year, but its flowers have a pleasant scent.

To the east of the house in the backyard, an unknown Itoh peony blooms magenta above 'Clementine Blue' columbine.  My other Itoh peonies fade quickly, but this one holds its color perfectly well until the petals drop.

This 'Rotlaub' Rodgersia has taken a few years to really get going, but this year is leaves are large and striking.  They are cinnamon-colored when they first appear, then mature to green.  In the background of this shady bed are white bleeding hearts (Dicentra spectablilis alba).  

This is the same bed as the photo above but from the opposite side.  White Lenten roses (Hellebores) have matured to green at front while maidenhair fern (Adiantum pedatum) sways delicately above.  

After attending a graduation party last weekend in a friend's backyard, I had the delightful thought that in coming years (starting six years from now) we can have four graduation parties in our yard, right at the peak of June bloom.  Gardeners love nothing more than visitors when the garden is looking good! 

Bouquet of English Roses, Hydrangea, Snowberry and Honeysuckle

This vase from early September makes use of my two workhorse English roses, creamy 'Crocus Rose' and mauve 'Charles Rennie Mackintosh.'  Both of these roses last well when cut, and they're both planted in less prominent positions so I don't mind stripping them of their flowers for arrangements.

I put this bouquet together with one hand holding the arrangement and the other pressing more flowers into the mix, then slipped the whole thing into a carafe.

Inflorescences from 'Little Lime' hydrangea shrubs made great fillers around the roses.  Earlier in the season the hydrangeas were completely green, but by this point they had started turning rosy-pink around the edges.

Bouquets look best when I can find and include both fully and partially opened blooms, plus some tight buds. 

I love how the contrasting shapes of English roses work together. 

Frilly leaves from 'Flore Pleno' Filipendula hexapetala (a.k.a. dropwort, but I love saying Filipendula so I use that term) add deep notes of green.  Stems of snowberries (Symphoricarpos) add another touch of interest. 

Finally, curvy stems of 'Hall's Purple' honeysuckle soften the tight bouquet as they flow gracefully downward.

Roses, Hydrangeas and Snowberries in a Vase

 'Scarlet Pearl' snowberries are ripe in the garden and are making a valuable contribution to recent arrangements, though they aren't the lavender-pink color that I expected.

 

'Princess Alexandra of Kent' English roses provided the most color to this vase, while buds of 'Abraham Darby' promise to open over the next few days.

Curving stems of 'Hall's Purple' honeysuckle and variegated pineapple mint drape down from the main cluster of flowers.

 

The soft pinkish color of the berries looks well with many of my English roses.

I have four types of mint (peppermint, spearmint, strawberry and pineapple mint) growing in pots on the back porch, and the leaves on the pineapple mint look the best right now.  The others have all flowered and let their leaves fade. 

Stems of 'Limelight' hydrangea fill out the vase.  I often pull off some of the lower flower clusters on the hydrangea stems to fit them into small arrangements.  This vase is definitely one of my favorites from the season, and it went to one of my favorite friends.

August Backyard Tour - One Year Old Landscape

 

It has been just over a year since we landscaped the backyard.  The trees and a few shrubs were planted several years before that time, but everything else was newly planted or transplanted in spring 2013.  For a comparison of how things looked last August, click here.  In the photo above, you can see that this part is not maturing very quickly.  This area has been the hardest part of the backyard to get working, but I have made a few adjustments and just need to be patient.

This is a view of the area right inside the gate.  The contorted filbert on the bottom left hasn't made much obvious growth.  I'm hoping that its roots have been growing vigorously and the top growth will follow in a year or two.  With the trees and shrubs in place, now I need to work on filling in the edges of the path with masses of small perennials.

Here is another view of the northwest corner garden.  Obviously my trio of 'William Shakespeare 2000' English roses have not yet grown into one dramatically large shrub.  Four Russian sages (Peroskvia) are planted along the top of the mound and should be large and pretty by this time next year.  I plan to move some perennials and add four more 'Soft Touch' Compact Holly shrubs to the two already planted on this mound.  Their leaves have a similar appearance to the various boxwoods that form the skeleton of my landscape, but the hollies have a low dome shape that should work well on the mound. 

 

This is the view from the path looking west.  You can see my vigorous willow shrub on the right behind an Itoh peony and a false spirea (Sorbaria 'Sem').  I have had a few moments this year when I felt panicked that I had made a big, expensive mess of the backyard.  Not everything is working well together, so I'm making adjustments here and there.  Removing some plants, dividing and replanting others.  By this point I can see that the basic structure is going to work, so I just need to keep fine tuning.



The honeysuckle is making its way up the sides of the swing set, and the 'Shademaster' honey locust trees have put on nearly two feet of growth this year.  To see the growth that has occurred since spring, check out this post.  I like to come out and sit on this bench in the morning to consider what looks good in the yard and what needs to be reworked.

This is the same northeast corner when viewed from the path.  When taking these photos, I didn't have to squat so low to avoid filling each shot with bare ground and stark white fence, because plants are spreading and growing taller

Here is a third view of that corner looking north from around the corner on the path.  When the Korean spice viburnum at bottom center reaches its full size of six feet, you won't be able to see the back corner from this angle.  Often visitors step through the gate, look around with one sweeping glance, and don't feel the need to go any father since they've already seen it all.  A landscape is more interesting when you can't see everything at first and need to explore a bit.

This is the white garden near the southeast corner of the yard.  Last year this area looked very washed out with a bunch of pale leaves.  This year many of the perennials are better established and are a healthier, darker green.  It also helped to add a black bird bath and a 'Scallywag' holly shrub (bottom left), which has dark green leaves all year.

This is a view from southeast corner looking north.  Even though gardens mature more slowly in Spokane than in areas with longer growing seasons, the amount of growth the plants have made in just one year is exciting to me.

This is a final photo of the southeast part of the yard.  Even though I get most excited about flowers, I am trying to pay attention to the big picture.  Flowers in a garden don't look so good without a green backdrop of shrubs.  If you want a garden that feels great and looks pretty, then large shrubs and trees are an important part of the plan.

Clematis In Bloom

 

Most of my clematis vines are blooming right now.  I don't have much room for more shrubs in the garden, but I managed to squeeze in a few more clematis this spring.  Above is 'The President,' which is darker and bluer than this photo shows.  It's hard to capture the color correctly.

I planted two of these lavender 'Ramona' clematis where they'll screen the glare off the back fence.  This photo shows the flowers after they've faded over several days.  They are a more vivid color when they first open.

 

'Mrs. Cholmondeley' is growing among a yellow 'Teasing Georgia' climbing rose.  I also have a 'Will Goodwin' that is about this color, but it isn't blooming yet.

 

The flowers of 'Duchess of Edinburgh' are giant - about 8.5 inches across.  This one is growing up into a crabapple tree.

I am guessing that this one is 'Miss Bateman,' as it was mislabeled when I brought it home.  I prefer the yellow center instead of this dark one, but the vine is so happy that I'll just let it be.

'Asao' was the first to bloom and is now finished, so this is a photo from a few weeks ago.
 

Now that the petals have dropped from 'Asao,' these sweet wisps have formed from the centers.  A 'Francine Austin' climbing rose blooms around it.

'Comtesse de Bouchard' is another new plant for me.  The color is very similar to 'Asao,' though Comtesse doesn't have a white center to the petals.  I also have a tiny 'Sweet Summer Love' Clematis paniculata to plant, though I don't know if I'll get any blooms from it this year.  If not, it will be something to look forward to for next year.