Friday, May 18, 2012

There is no such thing.................


Those of us with a patch of earth available be it acreage, a good sized lot, a raised bed, or a row of pretty terracotta pots, have all done a little landscaping.
It's not until we become avid gardeners, sometimes even garden snobs, that we suddenly realize this.........................


Yes most definitely!  A job forever.......or at least for as long as you have that patch of dirt requiring attention, and your knees still fold, and your back still bends without too much pain.


I'm growing lots of old fashioned cottage garden flowers for Spring and Summer. Here's a few blooming already during these rainy days before the real heat sets in here in the south. 


Nicotiana - flowering tobacco. I'm growing them in a large pot with petunias, creeping thyme, and morning glories, the latter hopefully will clamber up the fence in the background. Nicotiana attracts hummingbirds and has a sweet evening fragrance.


Foxgloves.......the ultimate cottage border flower and loved by big bumble bees.


 Bright and always beautiful, verbena spreads color through the garden beds. This is one of three shades of purple I'm growing..........they are perennial so flourish for many years if the weather is not too severe in Winter.


These petunias are in the kitchen window box. It just wouldn't be Summer without this simple but delightful flower. Old fashioned white and 'The Wave Petunia' in a deep purple which hopefully will tumble over the edge in a few more weeks.


.............as I was about to say in my header today, there really is no such thing as a low maintenance garden. It is a lot of work and to have blooms one must just get down and play in the dirt. It is worth the effort and you will love having flowers you have grown yourself.

So do tell me about the flowers you are growing this season.  
What is your favorite Summer garden flower?


9 comments:

  1. Your flowers are beautiful Mary. I am not growing any in my rental. I do have a geranium in a hanging basket. I opted not to even have container flowers this year.

    My favorite summer flowers are sunflowers, lavender, geraniums and roses..
    Hugs,
    Penny

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  2. Your garden is just gorgeous Mary! I really don't have any flowers growing this year, I'm in an apartment while our house is being built. I think this weekend I'm going to get a hanging basket though. I do have hostas on my little porch and they are flowering now!

    My favorite summer flowers are: lavendar, roses, larkspur, foxglove. I really do love all kinds of flowers, but for now these are my favs!!

    Have a really awesome weekend!

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  3. I haven't planted annuals yet, no pots or seeds in the ground, but I will. I love impatiens as we have a lot of shade, petunias, lobelia and geraniums. My favorite perennial flower is the daisy. You probably know we have them at the lake and just mother them as they do so nicely. I have lots of lilies and many plants that I don't know the name of. It seems that when I was a young mother, I tended to my garden with more zeal...maybe it was my escape! Now I have what I can manage, although a trip to the nursery always has me bringing more home!! :)

    XO,
    Jane

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  4. I am growing absolutely nothing. I don't miss getting out in my yard and pulling weeds every day-or looking for snails. I do miss the beauty of flowers, just not the labor.

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  5. Mary, your flowers are stunning, you should be at RHS Chelsea next week!
    It's still too cold here to be planting out annuals maybe next month, but my white clematis is in flower so I know summer isn't too far off!

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  6. Que fotografias tan lindas!!!!!!
    Un abrazo muy cariƱoso.

    Manoli

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  7. How true about a garden being a job forever:) 1/4 of an acre seems much bigger now than it did 10 years ago! I don't grown annuals, my garden is filled with perennials and shrubs and trees and is a cottage garden in style. Thanks to the awful weather this spring I'm way behind with all the work I should have done and I suspect I'm never quite going to catch up with the weeds now as they are hidden by the growth of the perennials.

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  8. I love nicotianas, and there is nothing like having lots of petunias yet sometimes they are hard to find where I purchase my flowers. Love the sign!
    Take Care,
    Ulrike

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