The sound of running water

Here are some pictures of the first water feature I put in about three years ago. I burriesd a concrete planter, piled rockes behind it to hide the plumbing, surrounded it with rocks, added a bamboo pipe for the water to leak outof and voila! the sound of running water in the garden.



The water strikes this rock that I put in because it has a natural depression, and then runs into the tub. The bamboo pipe hides the hose that the water runs through.



Saint francis watches over the whole thing for me. When I have it turned on the goldfinches, sparrows and nuthatches like to shower under the running water.



I haven't had to refill the tub at all this year. The rain has kept it topped up since I first filled it in the spring.

Hollyhocks and roses

The delicate translucence of hollyhock blossoms is definitely the prime attraction. They look almost like the could have been made of crepe paper.




The second set of blossoms on the floribunda rose Nicole are as spectacular as the first were.

The same can't be said for the second wave on the grandiflora Pink Parfait. It looks like they are going to be only half the size of the first blossoms. Still, they do look impressive.

White, white, and white

I didn't have room for this one in the last post with the rest of the lilies, but it fits well with the theme of this post anyway. The petals are so heavy they almost look like they're made of plastic.



The clematic John Huxtable is finally blooming. That's three varieties in bloom and three to go. Since they are supposed to bloom from June to September they have plenty of time. I find the blossoms fascinating. When the Rhapsody 's first flower opened it was only about an inch across and I was worried that I hadn't fertilized it correctly. The next day that same flower was two inches across and it has now reached about three inches across. It seems that the blossoms continue to grow in size after they open. Impressive.

The flowers of the John Huxtable start out with a distinct greenish cast and become more whit e as they increase in size.

This hollyhock is not a true white. Its actually palest pink. I like the way the light appears to shine through the petals to the point where you can clearly distinguish the calyx.

Lots of luscious lilies

The lilies have come into their full bloom, and the damage from the lily beetles is not nearly as bad as I thought it was. I'd like to move them out of the vegetable garden. The reason I planted them there is because the bulbs arrived very late in the fall of 2006 as a gift (thank you again Susan and Claude), and I didn't have a bed ready for them at the time. They were pretty spectacular last year, and even more so this year, but they are competing with the wild strawberries that have invaded that part of the garden. I really don't want to get rid of the strawberries so the lilies will need a new home. I think I'm going to tag them according to color and move them into groups of all one color. Maybe I'll wait till spring to prepare separate beds for them and move them next fall.



You can see the cold frame behind the lilies in this photo. I think the lilies benefit from the heat reflected from the glass.

I especially like the color of this one. Its a deep pumpkin with rust colored freckles. There appear to be only four like this in the whole row, but I could be wrong since there are some buds that haven't matured enough to show their color yet, and some of the bulbs still won't produce bloom this year because they were a little too small when they were planted.

There appears to be only a single one of this color, and it only has one bloom. I've never seen one quite like it. The center is a true black rather than just being a deep purple. I quite like it, and I hope there are more like it among the younger plants. If not I'll have to nurse it along untill it multiplies on its own.

Apples and others

Between the two trees I'm only going to get about five apples, and that's only if the blackbirds don't get them first. These are Jonagolds. The tree only had five blooms and looks to be having a total of three fruit. That's a much better rate than the Spartan that was covered with bloom and looks to have two lonely little fruit. Oh well, next year.



The perennial lavatera is beginning to bloom. It's a little later than last year, probably because we haven't had as much sun as last year. I got the garden in the weekend after May long, and I haven't had to water yet because we've had rain nearly every day. There are masses of buds just waiting to open anyway, so it will put on a good show as the summer progresses.

The clematis Rhapsody produces more blossoms every day with many buds in various stages of development and the old ones seem to last forever. I'm hoping to see some seeds this year so that I can try planting some.

The clematis Jackmani superba blooming now too. The picture on the tag showed a much darker purple, more like the color of the Rhapsody. The true color is more of a royal purple which I like alot. There are a few buds starting to show on the white and the pink as well which I will post as they begin to open in a few days.

Amazing Astilbe

OK, I realize the alliteration is getting a bit strained and I'm trying to cure myself of the habit. Still, astilbe is pretty amazing. It starts in the spring with a mostly insignificant clump of leaves, then it puts up these amazingly delicate fronds in the most striking colors. This red is visible across the yard.

This pink that I put in last year is the most delicate of the four that I have.

I got this whit e from the neighbor when I helped her move some bedding plants this spring. I can see that I'm going to have to move it to a larger space for next year.

This red was put in last year at the same time as the pink, but it appears to be slower growing.

Good Doggies

This is as close together as I've managed to get them. Prince keeps salivating as if he sees Spook as a potential meal, and Babe is just above it all. Babe and Prince did seem to enjoy the trip outside at 4:00 am for a potty break. None of them wanted to come back inside.


Awwwwwwwwwwww! Isn't that cute.

Say Hello to the newest member of our family

Introducing Spook, the newest member of our family. I stopped at the pet store yesterday and saw this little girl. She is a mini collie and dalmation cross. I thought about her all night long, and this morning went to bring her home. They say she's eight weeks old, but I think she's actually a bit younger than that. She appears to be a bit underweight, but she's a happy little thing.



The Prince of Val Belaire is not sure about our new little girl. He's been the baby of the family for a year and a half now and is just a bit jealous of the attention being given to Spook. I'm sure he'll get over it in good time.

La Grand Dame of the house, Babe, is doing her best to simply ignore her new sibling. She pretends she's above all the puppy play, but it won't be long before she's playing with Spook. She was the same way when Prince arrived, but he won her over and I'm sure that as long as she gets her share of attention she'll be fine with Spook as well.

Loving those lilies

The blossoms on these lilies appear to have missed the worst of the attack of the lily beetles. The colors are so rich and luscious, they always make me think of velvet draperies held back with satin cords in rooms filled with gilt trimmed furniture with heavy brocade upholstery. Welll, that's my fantasy anyway. This pumpkin colored one was one of the first to open. It's slightly misshapen because the beetles damaged the bud before it opened.



This red one has a hole in one petal. Next year I'll know to start picking the beetles off when they first appear. That way they won't produce the larva that do the damage. The larva themselves are truly disgusting (yet interesting0 critters. They cover themselves with their own feces so the birds won't pick them off. This means that they look like little blobs of dirt on the leaves, but they don't wash off as easily. The adults are bright red and quite beautiful, but way too prolific.

Love the color of this one, a sort of peachy cream with freckles.

This red one is a new color. Not all of the bulbs I had planted were mature enough to produce flowers last year. This one took an extra year, but it was well worth the wait. Thank you Claude and Susan for the bulbs.

Fishes and flowers

The fish in the pond have been acting very strangely the last few days. I normally go out and feed them as soon as I get up in the morning. Generally, as soon as my shadow falls on the water they disappear. This morning, however, they were too busy to notice my shadow. Apparently, they were too busy to even eat. What were they busy doing? I'm not sure if it was an elaborately choreographed dance, a game of follow the leader, a pursuit of some sort or what it was. They raced in elaborate patterns around the pond, then gathered in spinning circles and generally played at being dervishes of some sort. The picture isn't very clear, but here are five of the seven spinning in a circle.


The zucchini are beginning to bloom. They appear to have only female flowers so far. That doesn't bode well for a crop, but the blooms there are are quite beautiful. The pattipan squash, the pumpkin squash and the pumpkins all have buds too.

Put in a new variety of Shasta daisy (Silver Princess) this spring, and its just beginning to bloom. The flowers on this one have a more ragged appearance than the Alaska variety. I'm hoping they become as prolific as the Alaskas have been.

The tickseed also are beginning to bloom. Their petals are not as densly packed as the heliopsis I posted a few days ago, and their centers are more defined. They bonus with these is that when they are dried the hold their color and shape really well. They look almost the same in January as they do when they are freshly cut in July. They add a real splash of summer color in the dreary mid witer days.

The hollyhocks showed their first blooms today. There aren't very many in the garden. They seem to be having a hard time getting established. Of course each year there are a few more plants and in a couple of more years when they take over the flower beds I'll probably be regretting my words, but they do make a cheerful addition.

Around the water

You can see in these pics how tall the delphiniums have grown. The spider plants seem to be happy to be out of the house for the season.

Petal power

The first of the true Lilies are blooming. This isn't actually the first lily, but its the first one that opened without being devastated by lily beetles which are a real problem this year. I caught on to them too late, so I probably won't see many untouched blooms this year. Next year I'll be prepared for them and carry the battle to them before they can do much damage. At least the damage isn't permanent as it doesn't effect the bulbs at all.

The first clematis is blooming. This is Rhapsody. I have five other varieties and all are covered with buds. I allowed a wild vine of some sort to grow up with them (I'm hoping its some form of wild morning glory). I'm also overrun with a tiny golden beetle that appears to love almost all plants in a dinner kind of way. The clematis, however, has been spared because the insect seems to prefer the wild vine and has not touched a single leaf of the clematis since the wild vine has grown up. Bonus! And the wild vine just puts out two new leaves for every one that the bugs eat. Double bonus!!



This Anthemis by the fish pond is growing like mad. Its a bit straggly, but is covered with bloom.

I put in this Heliopsis this spring. I kind of wish I'd planted more of them, but I'm sure to get a good bunch of seed, and if they're anything like the tickseed that they resemble, they'll soon be trying to take over the flower bed.

I started with a two inch pot of Shasta Alaska four years ago, and now have six sizeable patches of it and I've given some away. No matter, I can always make room for more of it. They bloom from early July till hard frost and are surprisingly free of disease. Another bonus is that they don't seem to be too bothered by the insects that ravage some of the other plants. They also seem keep on keeping on whether it is dry or rainy. They seem to tolerate a bit of drought as easily as they do heavy rains.

Larkspur and Lupines

I seeded delphiniums (aka Larkspur) last spring in the cold frame. The seeds that managed to germinate produced plants that didn't look like much and I was more than a little dissapointed that none of them managed even a single bloom. Nonetheless, in late fall I moved them into the flower beds around the fish pond. This spring they began to grow and grow and grow. . .I dug some up and gave them to the neighbor because they were massively overcrowded. . .and they continued to grow and bloom. Some of them are now over six feet tall and producing masses of bloom in shades from white to a dark blue violet.



The Shasta Alaska doesn't seem to mind sharing space with the sky blue delphiniums.


The delicate white delphinium dances with the wind.

This is the last lupine of the season. Its the only survivor of the ones I seeded in the cold frame last spring. The seeds from the blue ones that I collected from my own plant had a far more successful germination. I'm going to save some seed from this one and seed them to the cold frame in the fall and see what I get next spring.