June garden morning and giveaway win!

Color in the cottage garden - June 15, 2012

I'm loving the looks of the cottage garden this summer. It's full of color and lushness.

I raise my vegetables in raised beds; top to bottom: tomatoes, Chinese miniature gourds (aka 'Jack Be Little' or 'Munchkin'), zucchini

Zucchini blossom - did you know you can bread,  fry , and eat these? I tried them last summer, but have to admit my preference for zucchini vs. squash blossoms.

Like everything this year, the tomatoes are ahead of schedule.

I love, love, love coneflowers and have many throughout my gardens.

Echinacea Big Sky series 'Sundown'

This photo does not do it justice. Its' orangeness positively glows!  

Purple in the garden:

Clematis, unknown, possibly 'The President'

A small stand of lavender 

Surfinia petunias in the window box on the garden shed

Allium 'Giganteum' 

 An Endless Summer hydrangea framed by a snowy astilbe

On the same bush, pink AND blue on this particular bloom

Also on the same bush, pretty in pink

Did you know that our gardens take up a very large amount of our backyard? Nonetheless, there is always room for more plants. Just sayin'

Beebalm and white shrub roses look nice together.

Speaking of shrub roses, look at this rambling Knockout. 'Spose I could prune it, but it's just so pretty as is...

 Kitty in the garden: he comes for the Meow Mix!
We do name "our" strays. This is Oreo 2.0 (pronounced "Oreo Two Point Oh"). He resembles a prior Oreo, hence the name.



Speaking of cats, this is my sweet Gracie.

I am blessed to have won Snap's Summer Curiosities giveaway. I received lots of fun items: a novel, a lovely photo, fish candle holder with candles, fish plaque, mermaid tree ornament, pretty stationery, and a duck teapot! I'm enjoying them so much. You can visit Snap at Tales From Twisty Lane.  Thanks, Snap!

"Coffee. Garden. Coffee. Does a good morning need anything else?" ~ Betsy Canas Garmon

Thanks for visiting!
Beth

Linking to Fertilizer Friday

Harvest, plus bloomers

The harvest has begun here in my midwestern garden.

Lavender in bloom

I've had lots of snow peas to eat and share.

The blueberries are just beginning to come on. I saw a robin land in one of the bushes to feed; he can have a few I guess...



Many blooms are present in the garden as well. Come along with me and I'll show you a few.

Pricky pear cactus in bloom

'Bishop's Castle' David Austin English rose

 Mr. Frog peeks out above the heuchera.

Filled with blooms! 

'Carefree Beauty'

Coreopsis

Shrub rose

Larkspur is abundant in my gardens.

Vignette on my front porch

"When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant."  Author unknown

Thanks for visiting!

Beth

Linking to Fertilizer Friday

It's All About the Pinks

Thanks for stopping by Beyond The Garden Gate, where I blog about my garden, my table (especially tea), and my life. I'm so glad you came; be sure to leave a comment so I can stop by and visit you too. Welcome to my new followers as well.

It's like summer has begun already in my midwestern garden, and today I'd like to focus on a color that is now predominant there:  pink!

This is Buck Rose 'Carefree Beauty.' Buck roses were developed at Iowa State University by Dr. Griffith Buck, and are extremely hardy.

Here I'm showing clematis 'Princess Diana.' This is her second year in the garden. It's been said of clematis that the first year they sleep, the second they creep, and the third they leap. I can say she's probably doing a little more than just creeping! And I love her!

 Did I ever tell you that foxglove is my favorite flower? Well, foxglove along with lupine, echinacea, hemerocallis and nigella.

Most foxglove are biennial, meaning they die after the second year. In another area of my garden, I shook seed from two existing plants last fall (Camelot series) and I have over a dozen new plants coming up. It remains to be seen whether they will bloom this year or not. Some foxglove are green only the first year, bloom the second, and then die.

There are other foxglove that are longer-lived, such as the yellow one shown in this post.

These foxglove may be of the Camelot series; I'm not certain.

I've had success growing foxglove in part sun as well as full sun.

An insect has taken a liking to my foxglove too. Speaking of insects and other things creepy crawly, there seem to be more of them at this time than ever. I've had untold numbers of anthills in the yard and garden, ticks on the outside cat (and me), and yesterday I came upon an Eastern tent caterpillar in the lupines. We've had a lot of trouble with rose slugs too, something I'd never seen before. Mosquitos are bad too, although our record dry conditions (17 straight May days without rain so far) should decrease mosquito populations. No Japanese beetles yet, but I'm prepared with my trusty garden gloves and a bucket of dish soap.

Would anyone care for tea in the garden? lol
This is yard art!

Pink Nigella

Do you like repetition in the garden? I do. I think it unifies your space. I have a lot of coneflowers, mainly purple coneflowers but a few others as well.

This is the end of today's pinks in the garden, but I have a few other things to show you too.

Daisies - an example of repetition in my gardens

Love this color contrast: Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'

Larkspur, a self-seeding annual with a definite cottage garden flower look

Primula - Danova mix

 White rose in the Moon garden

Achillea 'Paprika'

 Loosestrife

Every little flower here will someday be a blackberry! Mmmmmm...

"Why try to explain miracles to your kids when you can just have them plant a garden?" ~Robert Brault


Thanks for visiting!
Beth

Linking to Fertilizer Friday