Color for the Weekend

Oakleaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) in our Shade Path Garden this week.

The summer flowers are really coming out this week in our garden: asiatic lilies, daylilies (Hemerocallis) and now the oakleaf hydrangeas. This one is planted by some white streaked hosta, which work as supporting cast for the hydrangea blooms. We have several other white-variegated plants in this garden (see a few here).

Clematis 'Henryetta'

Clematis 'Henryetta' on a trellis in the Driveway Garden this week.

Clematis 'Henryetta' is really blooming this week on a trellis in the Driveway Garden. And it only took a couple of years to get to this point. My experience with clematis is that they often take a few years to get settled and really start blooming.

This clematis is a not a great climber... in fact it is more of a mound-maker. I imagine it crawling slowly over old stumps in its native habitat. That meant that it took a a little more persistence to make sure that it was tied into the small trellis in this tightly planted bed, instead of flopped over somewhere underneath everything. But it was worth the effort! I love its pendulous flowers.

Color for the Weekend: Blue

Dreamy blue Delphinium in our Driveway Garden this weekend.

This pretty Delphinium is special for its true blue color, but also because it is the first one that I have been able to grow from seed! (Finally!) After a few attempts, over several years, this one finally is blooming in my garden.

Climbing Rose and Clematis Combination

Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' blooming with our pink climbing rose.

It is rose season at our house!

The pink climbing rose is blooming this week and oh, so fragrant. Last year I added a clematis to it, and this is the first year they have bloomed together. Clematis 'Madam Julia Correvon' is a beautiful red climber that we also have on a trellis by our Circle Lawn (see it last week).

Ornithogalum magnum... and studying for the RHS!

Ornithogalum magnum

Ornithogalum magnum is a new flower bulb to me. I decided to try some from John Scheepers after seeing a similar variety at Phipps Conservatory for their Spring Show 2011.

Gardening in Pennsylvania ~ GBBD June 2013

Our Shade Path Garden full of yellow perennial foxgloves, Digitalis grandiflora.

Welcome to Pennsylvania for Garden Blogger Bloom Day!
There are lots of flowers to see this weekend around our small, town garden. Come take a walk around...

Pink Rose and Purple Clematis Combination for June

In our Driveway garden, an old pink rose bush makes a wonderful host for purple Clematis 'Etoile Violette'.

June is underway and the roses are blooming here in Pennsylvania. Our Driveway Garden is covered in pink and blue this week, with a bit of white thrown in to lighten the color palette.

When we bought our home, we inherited an old rose bush by the back corner of our house... and one to match it across the driveway. It blooms its socks off once and year, and then needs quite a bit of pruning to keep it in line. A newer rose would give more for repeat bloom, but the light fragrance and pink color make it worth keeping. And even better yet is the combination that happens when Clematis 'Etoile Violette' blooms along with it. The clematis it is planted at the roses feet and it appreciates the cool shade the rose provides. It easily grabs a hold on to the rose brambles and pulls itself to the sun.

Around the perimeter of this rose, which is 5 feet high and 6 feet wide (1.6 m x 2m), there is ground cover of variegated deadnettle (Lamium maculatum), evergreen moss phlox (Phlox subulata), and yellow-blooming Sedum 'Acre'.

Yellow foxgloves in the Shade Path Garden

Digitalis grandiflora and Clematis 'William Kennett' in our garden this week.

Along the Shade Path garden this week, the perennial yellow foxgloves (Digitalis grandiflora) are in bloom. They are a favorite every year, and seed themselves happily around our dry shade garden.  After they have bloomed for about a month, I trim back their spent blooms to the first set of leaves. This deadheading helps them to re-bloom again in September, which is a real treat!

The Shade Path succession planting started out in January with snowdrops and a few Hellebores in February. It was a really cold spring, so things did not really get going until the Iris reticulata 'Katherine Hodgkin' covered the path in April, followed by many more Hellebores orientalis. Then, the shade garden was covered in blue and white for May. Oh, and there was quite a display of pink columbine in there too.

Color for the Weekend: Pink

Pink flower of Geranium macrorrhizum 'Bevan's Variety' scattered in the Shade Path Garden. White variegated Sedum 'Frosty Morn' stands out among the blue Hosta and palmated Geranium foliage.

 A few combinations from around our garden this weekend, all with a little pink...

Curb Strip Plantings with Nepeta, Sedum and Iris

Catmint (Nepeta 'Walker's Low') grows low mounds in our curb strip over ground cover Sedum 'Acre'.

The garden is pulling into summer, which make it time for many of my favorite perennials. In our curb strips (known also as parkways, hell strips, etc), we have removed all of our turf and planted beautiful, low-maintenance plants instead. These areas have required some weeding in spring, but with that little time investment (as compared to spending 20 minutes mowing them every week!) we get something that is even nicer to look at, draws pollinators and help make this outlining area part of our garden. Now, we can walk down the sidewalk and enjoy the changing scene every day.

Oriental Poppies, Allium and Nepeta in the Front Walk Garden

Blinding Papaver orientalis, round Allium 'Purple Sensation' and delicate Nepeta 'Walker's Low'. 

This week in the Front Walk, the electric orange Oriental Poppies (Papaver orientalis) are just starting to bloom.  My plants have really bulked up in the past few years and there promised to be a grand display in the next two weeks. Complementary colors are provided by Allium 'Purple Sensation' and the blue flowers of Nepeta 'Walker's Low'. 

Color for the Weekend... all along our fence!

The colorful, clematis-filled scene in our Fence Garden today.

Red Clematis 'Earnest Markham' and blue Clematis 'William Kennett' hover over the pink flowers of Geranium 'Bevan's Variety'. Pink columbine (Aquilegia) bloom in the distance in the Shade Path Garden.

Hope you have a restful weekend in your own garden!

~Julie