old suziebeezieland

boo!

i bet the gentleman who mows our lawn thinks we're nuts

Did I tell you we have a shower in our backyard now?

An early Christmas present from my always very fun Uncle Keith and Aunt Lucy.

new rug in claire's room

 These are the new FLOR tiles in Claire's room. They're called Fluffy Fuchsia Toy Poodle. :)

garden journal 2007

What's Working Well This Year

 

The agastache purple has and trailing verbena, both purchased in spring from White Flower Farm, have both done really well and are happy out front. I'd like to plant some more of this in the bed under the bay window next spring.  If I were doing it again I wouldn't plant this agastache so close to the sidewalk, because it's getting big.  The trailing verbena has also done well in both hanging baskets.

The phlox David's Lavender from Whiteflower Farms is just now starting to bloom.  I planted it bareroot in the spring. If the flowers hold up in the heat, I'd like to get some more for out front.  It's nice and tall.

The cosmos Claire started from seed indoors have just been superstars. I will plant these in abundance next year. They've been great for cutting, and can withstand the driveway heat.

As long as I keep them pinched and watered, the impatiens are no-fail no brainers under the pergola. I'm wondering what all white would look like next year.

The geraniums in the window boxes are really more work than I expected. I think I picked these all up at San Gabriel Nursery.  I have to pinch them every single day to keep them from looking scraggly. But boy, do I love the red.  I will keep these going forever, but wish they would clean themselves better.  The ivy geranium don't get the brown dead bits as frequently, but need pinching to remove the faded flowers. Both seem to rebloom wonderfully.  The ivy geranium is not as heat-tolerant as what I've got going in the windowboxes.

I planted two bareroot Rosa Moondance this year, too late in the spring to bloom much this year, and both are doing well. The one closest to Claire's room was mailorder from Whiteflower, and the other I bought here at Armstrong Nursery.  I've got some powdery mildew problems from the sprinklers hitting the bottom leaves I need to deal with.  If the climbing Antique Sombreuil don't work out, I may rip them out and replace them all with this floribunda.  We'll see how it does next year.

Man, the hydrangeas have turned out to be the total rockstars of the garden, and I don't do a thing to them. It's that drippy faucet and all the shade.  I'd like to try these in the corner if we get rid of the peach tree.

What's Not Working Well This Year

The individual blooms on the antique sombreuil are gorgeous, and this is the closest thing to a peony I'll ever grow in this climate, but the blooms are few and far between, and so fragile that they only last a couple days.  These plants are only on their second summer, so I need to see what happens next year, but so far they aren't earning their keep.  If they don't produce a better spring bloom next April, I'll rip them out and replace them with good old icebergs or maybe moondances.

The trees in the back are all making me nuts. The peach tree is a mess, the whatever-it-is tree in the middle is a mess, the two fruit trees are messes, and the camellia trees are the biggest mess of all. The whatever tree and the camellias are big leaf-droppers all summer.  I'd love to pull out the peach tree and plant hydrangeas back there and make a bird sanctuary with some tall birdhouses and feeders. (Rat feeders.)(I had almost forgotten.)

the crazy rose

Can you see what those crazy roses are doing right now? I made Bob promise not to cut it back until it finished this round of blooms. I think it wants to climb onto the roof of the house. :)

one flower, three birdies, and a {doomed} tree

We have our first sunflower! It is very exciting.

About seven years ago, I received these birdy wind chimes for Christmas, and put them away because I never knew where to hang them.  This year, I ordered this hook that looks like a branch, because I liked it. But I put it away because I wasn't sure what to do with it. Tonight at dinner, I went "uhhh!" and jumped up and dug out the hook and the birdies. It's a match made in heaven, I think.

And finally, the news that is breaking my heart. See the view out our living room window? If you sit on the sofa, you just see all the green, and it's so lovely, especially at dusk. The green on the right is our tulip tree, close to the house.  See all the green on the left?  That is the big tree across the street. 

I sit on the porch at night and watch the moon go from the right of this tree to the left of this tree, and then I know it's time to go to bed.  It is my Moon Watching Tree. 

It's Katie's tree. Katie is the girl across the street. Katie is the one who is paying $2,000 to get this tree chopped down next week, because it is making her driveway buckle, and is messing up her plumbing, and is causing trouble. 

Goodbye, my Moon Watching Tree. Goodbye.

things we're excited about in our june garden

Remember the seedlings? We're excited that they have turned into flowers (marigolds & cosmos).

We're excited that peaches are coming.

We're excited about color, and new seeds (coreopsis & columbine) just planted.

We're excited about the sunflowers (planted from seed) that are grow-grow-grow-GROWING along the fence.

We're excited because this is the first year the hydrangeas have really taken off.

We're excited because we're going to try to wind a vine around the telephone pole to disguise it.

We're excited that the impatiens are so happy this year under the shady pergola.

We're excited to have found sweet plump succulents that can survive in tiny pots on the driveway during the blast of afternoon heat.

And Sally is excited about the birds.

 

the roses

Good golly, I have to show you the roses. Every year, it's a miracle.  

When I am despairing in March about how icky everything looks, I never seem to remember what May is like. What is my major problem?

These roses to me are another opportunity to praise an amazing God.

I really cannot recommend your basic Iceberg roses (these are the climbing variety, but the regular old bushes do just as spectacularly) enough.  They do not have a strong scent, but they are blooming powerhouses.

Note: I dream that the world will go wireless and the phone company will remove the pole from our backyard. 

=

thoughts from the great outdoors

Did I tell you our butterfly hatched last week?  Her name was "Squirmy" when she was a caterpillar, but became "Fluttery" after metamorphosis. Kind of a Saul/Paul thing.

It was very exciting.  In this photo, you'll see a remnant of the caterpillar skin, and then the crysallis, and then the Painted Lady butterfly.  The pink stuff is meconium.

She was ceremoniously taken outside after Bob got home from work. 

And then we released her into the backyard. 

She flew right away as soon as we let her out of the box -- two huge big circles over our house and up in the sky -- and then flopped down on top of our pergola for awhile to dry off and, I'm sure, catch her little butterfly breath.  Then she was off again. 

Fare thee well, Painted Lady.

Then, because we missed the butterfly, we got that Target bunny weathervane for the porch, because (as previously mentioned) we love bunnies.

And all kinds of things are growing around here.

homer & the birdbath

Here is my cousin, Homer, who also has a birdbath.