Salvia and A Dog In My Garden

I have to shut Strider out of my Garden to water the plants.  He goes nuts trying to play in the spray from the hose.  He will jump into my flowers and flower pots to get to the water.  He is in big trouble right now from doing just that.

I could never pass up a plant called "Victorian" anything.  I love blue.

Salvia makes great garden fillers.  It's wonderful.

My pink Salvia.  

It has replanted itself.  A good thing.  I love the pink and it grows  best in my garden.

Funny little Bumble Bee came along as I was taking pictures. It is funny to watch them.  They weigh more than the flowers and you can watch as one flower after another falls off the plant until they find a flower which can support their weight.  Then they feast.

I am going to have to prune this pink Salvia.  I have never seen it so big and it is squashing my poor yellow rose in the middle.

This red Salvia fell over from  the weight of the rain collecting on the leaves.  It just started growing toward the sun before I ever found a steak to put it back upright.

I am going to hook up with Outdoor Wednesday today. Join me.

Morning Glories

Such a happy flower!

It was a fine welcome to me this morning.

A natural Pick Me Up!

It grows along my little garden fence.

I used to tell my visiting Granddaughter when she was little and eager to start the day early.."don't wake me up until the Morning Glory is open".

The Bees love them.

So do I!

This Morning Glory comes from a Tuber.

Does anyone know the name of it?

Such a pretty flower shape.

All that beauty just for a few hours.

I was joined by a Dragon Fly.

Join me as I visit gardens at Tootsies on Flaunt Your Flowers Friday.

Abraham Darby

Another David Austin Rose!!

Love this Rose.  It has that Old Rose look and the amazing smell to go with it.

Abraham Darby when it is fully open.

I always collect the Rose petals to dry.  Such a smell!

Abraham Darby when it is beginning to open.

It can look like different Roses from bud to full bloom.

All from the same bush.

Abraham Darby where it lives in my garden.  Facing west.  This picture was taken in May and it was not very big but now is at least 5' tall.  I am about to cut it back.  It flowers prettiest when it is not so huge.

I had problems with thrips in the spring but they seem to be mostly gone but not entirely.

Beautiful Heritage Roses

This Photo was taken last Month in May.

The Rose on the far left is Abraham Darby.  The Two Roses on the right are Heritage.  Both are David Austin Roses.  Everyone should have a Heritage Rose in their garden!

Planted in the corner facing the back yard. 

This is a picture taken this month.  They are growing leaps and bounds.  The tall fence is a six foot fence.  The only problem with letting them grow so tall is that the roses tend to be smaller on the long canes. 

Frog and Toad play in the Rose Petals under the Heritage Bush.

Heritage is the classic rose as it begins to open.

When fully open, it has the old cabbage rose look and the smell is divine!!

The petals fall off pretty quickly though.  Still, I love to cut them and have them in my house.

Spray of Heritage Roses.

I am going along on a garden tour with Tootsie on her Flaunt your Flowers Friday!  Come with us! 

Three Things I Love

I like to drink my coffee and read the paper, then tend to my Roses.

I Love sitting on my back porch early in the morning!

Coffee gone, paper read and Roses tended to!

I Love to collect the loose Rose petals, cut some Roses and then dead head them.

I Love a cute vase with my Roses in it!

I Love My Maggie Rose!

Isn't Maggie splended?

It is blooming again wonderfully.

This is where my Maggie Rose lives.  

The Verbena has reseeded from last year and is growing wild!  

I love Verbena too.  Very old fashioned!

Compare from my last post about Maggie!

My Visit to The American Rose Garden

On my trip last week to Texas, I passed The American Rose Gardens in Shreveport Louisiana.

On my return, I stopped! 

I took pictures of Roses I wanted to remember.

So I took a picture of the Rose name after taking a picture of the Rose.  Clever, huh?

No surprise that I love this Rose!

My Granddaughter was my traveling companion.  Not only did she visit the garden with absolutely NO Complaining.... she enjoyed it!  A girl after my own heart!

I wanted to remember how this Trellis was made.  I love it and it looks pretty simple to make.  

We were told that we had "Missed" it!! Meaning the Grand Bloom.  

But there was plenty to make me happy!

Love this White Rose.

My Granddaughter was pleased that one of my favorite Roses at the garden is named after her!!  

Beautiful Rose on my list.

No Surprise it is a David Austin Rose!

Isn't this such a delicate rose?

All of them smelled so sweet!

We did a fair amount of walking around but we didn't arrive until noon and it was just too hot to see it all.  I hear October is another good time to see the fall Grand Bloom, so maybe I will see the rest then.

Thanks for coming along with me!

I can check this off my to do/see/experiance someday  - "List of Dreams"!!

Returning To My Garden

New Dawn is blooming again!

It is always thrilling to return to your garden after you have been gone a few days.  I am always amazed to see the huge changes a few days can make.

My Crepe Myrtle was in bloom.

The Passion Flower was blooming.

And the vines had grown by leaps and bounds.

The pink salvia that replanted itself is now a  gigantic size!! 

 The yellow rose bush just behind them had tons of blooms.

Abraham Darby (left) and Heritage on the right have lots of new growth and so many flowers!

And Jump For Joy!!  The thrips are gone!!

My Agapanthus was blooming all over the place.

It is also known as Lilly of the Nile.

Change!  

That is one reason I love my garden. 

 Every morning I go out to see what my plants have been doing while I slept.  They always please me!

For more wonderful flowers visit Tootsie for Flaunt your Flowers Friday

Yard of the Month!!

I was Yard of the Month for May!

I thought I better get this picture before they removed the sign.  I am pleased to get it and feel like it really goes to Claire!  I met Claire  a  little more than a year ago after I seriously broke my foot.   She usually comes once a month now to help me out and catch me up on the weeding.  She really does the hard stuff and I play.

The right side of my sidewalk.  The Agapanthus are in bloom.  I have blue and white.

Claire is part of the reason I got the sign.  I suspect there is another.  Nice people call my garden "A Cottage Garden".   Some people call it a jungle.  I like the wild abandoned look. I don't want a groomed garden.  If there is dirt showing, I like to pop something that blooms in it.  Because of that philosophy and my ignorance of plant growth, my garden was overgrown with plants that no longer fit in it.

This spring, we dug up, moved and replanted.

They quickly gave me the award before my garden could grow too out of control for polite company!