Monday, May 18, 2009

A few May flowers from our yard

The month of May has given us some lush looking blossoms in our front and side yards. Even though our front yard is still lacking ground cover for the second year, the plants are still putting out some really nice colors and plenty of blossoms on each plant. For the past two years my husband has cleaned out the rock/gravel we used to have as ground cover in the front yard. It was so blah looking. And we would prefer something a little more contrasting for all the color we get. We have been wanting to put bark down for ground cover/mulch. Our front yard is landscaped with a drip system. Knowing that water is a precious commodity around here, we have opted for no lawn, unlike most everyone else around here. Instead, we have color, a much more appealing look than just green grass and green shrubs.
These first two photos give you two views of the front yard. The photo above shows the miniature roses on the right edge of the pathway to the patio and front door. I'll post close-ups of these and our other roses in a separate post. The photo below shows how badly we need the bark around the plants. This looks as blah, if not worse, than when we had the rocks covering the ground. The purple plants in the foreground are lavender. The green plant in the center is nandina, aka heavenly bamboo. If you'd like a larger view just click on the photo.
Below are some close-ups of the plants that are producing some beautiful colors. First, here are a few of the lavender plants.
Here is our pink azalea.
This dianthus (pinks) is in a planter that sits by the garage door.
This is a shot of our side yard (east side of the house), with the photo taken from our back yard. Against the fence are our roses, pink in the foreground, a miniature white behind it, and a tall red rose bush in the background. Off to the right are flowers (annuals) that reseeded themselves from last year. The tall yellow plants are what I call marguerite daisies. The leaves have a chrysanthemum look to them, so I'm not really sure if I've named them correctly. Close-up photos of the flowers are below.
This was the first red poppy to bloom a couple weeks ago. These poppies are hidden amongst the marguerite daisies.
And these next three photos are close-ups of what I am presently calling marguerite daisies.


This nemesia is growing in a planter I have placed between our front patio and the west side of our house. This is the prettiest I have ever seen it.
And last but certainly not least is a close-up of our flowering maple, also located on the west side of our house. I have quite a few cannas growing there, too. But they won't bloom for another month or two yet. I'll be sure to post those when they bloom.

9 comments:

Ruth's Photo Blog said...

The variety and color in your yard is amazing.What a great idea to have colorful flowers instead of grass.Sounds like my idea a a perfect yard.
Blessings,Ruth

Linda in Erie said...

Your flowers are beautiful! I'm hoping my flowers will finally be blooming when we get back from NC. The wild azaleas are blooming on the mountains and there are some red poppies blooming along the roadsides here near Asheville. (I'm not sure if they are wild or planted.) I bet your lavender smells wonderful!

Mary C said...

Ruth and Linda - thank you! Yes, I prefer flowers over grass any day. Besides, I am very allergic to grass. Linda, how nice to see azaleas and poppies growing in the "wild." I would love to see both of those some day. I hope your trip is going well. And GO PITTSBURGH PENGUINS!!

Lynne at Hasty Brook said...

Beautiful Mary!
I bought a teensy little lavender plant to try. Our growing season is so short though so I doubt it'll ever look a gorgeous as yours.

Heidi said...

The top picture is nice small :) Can't see how badly we need mulch!

Mary C said...

Hi Lynne - it really must be difficult to choose hardy plants/flowers when you live so far north. It seems you are quite limited. I hope your little lavender plant will bring you joy and delight, and hopefully you will enjoy its aroma.

Mary C said...

Yes, Red. It's only a small portion of the front yard where it doesn't seem to need the "fill-in" as badly. I know our photos would look so much nicer if we had mulch/bark on the bare spots.

Ruth said...

You have a very lovely garden indeed! I have hardy Pinks and Lavender here but not the others.

D-Wing said...

Great photo of poppy

 

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