The Garden Worm blog Digging up the best dirt on gardening!

June 28, 2010

Garden Fireworks

Filed under: Flowers,Our gardens — Judy @ 10:23 pm

With the upcoming Fourth of July holiday, I thought it would be nice for you to see some of the fireworks going on in the garden now.

Pink Chinese Astilbe

Astilbe chinensis ‘Pumila’ just opening

Coral Bells and Lady's Mantle

Heuchera 'Amethyst Myst' and Alchemilla mollis

Avalanche astilbe

Astilbe japonica 'Avalanche'

Pink astilbes

Astilbe simplicifolia 'Sprite' and Astilbe arendsii ‘Rheinland’

Bee Balm

Monarda didyma 'Jacob Cline'

Ka pow!!! Have a good holiday!

June 6, 2010

Blooming Iris

Filed under: Creatures,Flowers,Our gardens — Judy @ 10:46 pm

In the midst of the craziness of planting 55 containers (part of which were half barrels, and not the small ones either) plus planting annuals to spiff up a multitude of gardens to meet the Memorial Day weekend deadline of my gardening clients, I managed to snap a few pictures of my iris. The early Spring warmth has made them really show off this year!

Iris in the garden

This dark purple iris was transplanted from my Mom’s garden and is one of my favorites.

Mom's iris

The next two (among others) were shared from my sister’s garden. She has a some gorgeous varieties and the soil to grow them big.

Maroon iris

Lavender iris

I rescued this one from a gardening job when dividing a horribly overgrown iris patch. It was supposed to be a sweet peach-colored variety, but the entire batch turned out to be yellow. Now how did that happen?

Yellow iris

Even the Siberian iris outdid themselves this year. ‘Caesar’s Brother’ and ‘Harbor Mist’ are shown. The ‘Harbor Mist’ and the ‘Butter and Sugar’ light up in the evening dimness.

Caesar's Brother Siberian Iris

Harbor Mist Siberian Iris

The peonies are next in line to come into their full glory. This beautiful one is my earliest, handed down from my grandmother.

Early peony

While I was gardening for a client, this big guy emerged from the deep to see what was going on. Do you have any wildlife that helps you out in the garden? Besides the deer and the woodchucks, of course!

Turtle

May 16, 2010

White Garden Phase

Filed under: Flowers,Our gardens,Spring — Judy @ 10:25 pm

We are moving into a period of brilliant white flowering here in the gardens. The doublefile viburnum is exceptionally floriferous this year and shines like a beacon at the end of berm above the pool.

Doublefile viburnum

Viburnum plicatum f. tomentosum 'Mariesii'

The cranberry viburnum is also blooming and its white blooms shine against the red-tinged new leaves. The birds will love the fall berries.

Cranberry Viburnum

Viburnum trilobum 'Compactum'

The Vanhoutte spirea is looking lovely in her cascading dress! Her arching branches are the ones you probably remember from your grandmother’s yard. Note: this is one shrub that absolutely looks best in a natural state. Pruning to a ball or a cylinder or topping it off is a definite no-no in my opinion!

Vanhoutte spirea

Spirea vanhouttei

And what a show the deutzia is putting on this year! Incredible!

Deutzia

Deutzia gracilis

And just so you don’t think everything is white in my garden, look at this pretty Jacob’s ladder. This is the first year for this variety ‘Stairway to Heaven’ and it definitely is a keeper, replacing the now-deceased ‘Brise d’Anjou’. This variety is hardier and I think has even prettier flowers and foliage. Gorgeous, isn’t it?

Jacob's Ladder

Polemonium reptans 'Stairway to Heaven'

What is shining in your garden now?

May 10, 2010

Crazy Spring

Filed under: Flowers,Our gardens,Spring — Judy @ 9:26 pm

After a beautiful weekend of almost 90 degree temperatures a week ago, the flowers on our fully loaded ‘Red Jade’ crabapple all came tumbling down after a huge rainstorm. In one day it went from this

'Red Jade' Crabapple

to all green with a few remaining white flowers. Good thing I took a picture beforehand!

This next picture shows a closer view of one of my favorite Spring plants, Euphorbia polychroma. This huge plant and its neighboring offshoots originally came from a plant my sister-in-law brought from Canada. We still call it the “Toronto” plant. Its very neatly-shaped, chartreuse-colored foliage gives the Spring garden such a jolt of color contrasting with the purples, blues, and pinks of the usual flowers. You can just see the airy blue flowers of the Brunnera ‘Jack Frost’ behind, and a lone red tulip planted by Harvey the Chipmunk makes everything zing.

Euphorbia polychroma

In one of the shade gardens, the blue-green of the Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum) and green ferns contrast with the red-tinged Viburnum trilobum (American Cranberrybush Viburnum or High Bush Cranberry). The starry flowers of the underlying sweet woodruff (Galium odoratum) light up this scene.

Shade garden

Even the clematis wanted to get in on the action – isn’t she pretty? Now she has about 25 blooms – crazy Spring!

Clematis viticella 'Venosa Violaceae' maybe

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