Things are Popping Out All Over!

I love it when my plants start to bloom! Gives me a sense of accomplishment.

My first coreopsis (Coreopsis Grandiflora Tickseed "Early Sunrise"). This is my all-time favorite wildflower and it blooms repeatedly throughout the summer and into the fall. It's loaded with blooms so I'll be watching for a time when the whole plant is blooming and snap a pic.



Hosted on Fotki


This is my veronica from last year. It's getting ready to burst out in flower and I can't wait! I have a pink one and a blue one, but I'm not sure which is which and they have slightly different floiage. The little white dots are future flower buds on the spike.



Hosted on Fotki



My white Guara loaded with buds. This is such a graceful plant that blooms during the cooler times of the season, usually spring into early summer, then late summer into fall. Also planted in 2006.



Hosted on Fotki

New in My Flower Bed This Year

I started an almost perennial garden last summer. It's in the front of our house and gets TONS of HOT sun. New to this flower bed this year are the following:

May Night Salvia~Given to me by my neighbor who has tons growing in her backyard.



Hosted on Fotki


Pincushion Flower (pink)



Hosted on Fotki


Ice Plant (not in bloom)



Hosted on Fotki


Trailing Purple Lantana (now starting to bloom!!)



Hosted on Fotki


The May Night Salvia smells heavenly and attracts bees and hummingbirds. I'm hoping the trailing lantana will do well under my butterfly bush and keep the grass from getting out of hand near the corner.

Welcome to My Gardens

This is year two of organic gardening for us. I don't think my DH was totally on board at the outset, but he's a fan now. He's even getting more involved in the process, which is great cuz he's wonderful to have around to lift those heavy bags of compost and mulch! LOL Okay, maybe he's good to have around period!

Here's a picture of last year's garden taken in June. It got a lot fuller as the summer progressed.


Hosted on Fotki


I say that I'm a haphazard gardener because I don't really plan out my garden, I just plant stuff, as evidenced by the tall Mexican Petunias growing in the front of the garden!! LOL Those have been pulled up and relocated to other parts of the garden. I didn't know they were so invasive when I planted them, so I'm sure I'll be pulling runners and volunteers up for quite some time. Oh joy!!

Here's the same bed this year. In place of the Mexican Petunias, I've planted a May Night Salvia and a Pincushion plant. I also added 3 trailing lantanas in the corner in front of my butterfly bush, a rescue from Wal-Mart last year.



This year, we've expanded our landscaping efforts and now have a bed in front of our house, on the west side of the house by the driveway, and outside our back door. I'm also going to start a butterfly garden, which I'm really excited about!