garden update - the front part 2

monkeyflower - the monkeyflower was one of those whim purchases (of course i bought it because of the name!). it has grown quite big since i planted it and right now it is busting with blooms. success!




hydreangea(s) - we have 3 & all of them came with the house. one is blue, one is hot pink and one is white. the blue one is HUGE and blooms like crazy every year. the pink one is always kind of scraggly and this is the first year that it has truly bloomed & its still kinda raggedy. the white one i transplanted from the north side of the house & it is finally staring to come back to life. all 3 seem to need a lot of water and easily wilt and get leaf burn when the weather is super warm. i like them but the seem like kind of a lot of trouble, mostly because they are so thirsty. i feel like the were ill placed. perhaps instead of moving the white one to the front i should have moved the other 2 to the shady north side! i harvestd them heavily over the weekend hoping that if they were relieved of most of their flowers they wouldn't be so thirsty. bonus: huge vases full of hydrangeas!

love in a mist (nigella) - we have a ton of love in a mist around here! my mom gave me some seeds, and i bought some that sounded super extra pretty. tons of seeds came up. so many, that i ended up tranplanting many of them in 3 other spots and they have ALL suvived and they ALL have buds. i planted the ones form my mom under our andromeda tree and they are doing well too, they are mosty in the shade there, but they are budded up! they are going to start blooming any minute now!

borage - the borgage has been really fun, it got huge and the flowers are really cool. i have done many flower cuttings and brought them inside to enjoy. you are supposed to be able to eat the leaves as well, but we tried tasting them and weren't impressed.

euphorbea(s) - i planted our potted from last year under the lilac tree and bought another one of a different variety to go on the other side of the lilac. euphoribias are cool! they bloom in the late winter and they get nice & big & they have the crazy coolest wacky flowers. the new one i bought appears to be flowering either again or for the first time, right now.

lavender(s) - in the front yard we have 4! one is purple and came with the house, one is yellow, one is white & blue, and one is white. i crowded them a little too close together (because i LOVE lavender and i think i would be happy if my entire garden was one huge lavender farm, except for the spit bugs that also LOVE lavender in the early summer) and they are starting to get too big to be so close, so i transplanted the white one to another location in the front.

mt airy fothergilla - it bloomed and is now done. it's starting to leaf out now though. i am excited to see what it does in the fall & i can't wait for it to get big!


speedwell/veronica - i fell in love with this one, i planted the same time as the catmint & it seems to be doing well in the heat.


cat mint - i planted 2 different varieties of this last month. getting settled in and then getting hit with the heat made it a bit of a rough start, but they are recovering nicely and have lots of new growth.

pussytoes - i bought this one because of the name :) and because it is supposed to do well in all kinds of soil, wet or dry, hot or cold. GO PUSSYTOES! note: i like it so much, i just bought some MORE!

the orange thing - that's how i think about it, because i am not familiar with it. i was buying some things (like the cat mint & stuff) based on a mixed border idea that i read about. it's actual various and assorted names are: agastache aurantiaca "apricot sunrise" & hyssop. i guess the apricot & the sunrise are why i keep thinking of it as the orange thing. whatever it is, it's getting ready to bloom, then maybe it will make more of an impression on me.

nasturtiums - these baby's are going like gangbusters! i planted them from seeds from my mom. they are the perfect little, last thing you see when leaving the house, right by the front gate.


crocosmia - this is another one of my new favorites. i got the start from my mom's garden. it has grown exponentially since i planted it! it was one of the first things to start blooming, and it hasn't stopped! i will definitely be investing in some more of these, they come in different varieties & colors.