Purple overload

My new delphinium plant is already blooming, and isn't it lovely? If it does well, it will definitely need friends next year.

I am worried that something is eating the echinacea petals, or maybe the blooms just haven't fully formed yet? It is supposed to be deer-resistant, but I guess if they just eat the petals? Or maybe a bug?

View from the tree stump. Did I mention that the oak from this vantage point was removed a few weeks ago? It was dying. Sad to cut it down, and EXPENSIVE, but inevitable.

I am worried that there may be too much purple in some spots in the garden. I love the geraniums, but they are taking over. This is fine, but they make the balloon flower (middle of the frame below) irrelevant. Perhaps I should remove the balloon flowers and give them away, since they attract the deer anyway.

Hydrangea. Still no pink. The creamy white is pretty, though.

Finally my Larkspur is starting to bloom! And it is lovely. And, of course, purple. 

I went to drop off garden debris at the dump yesterday, and was pulling away, when I saw them: tomato cages that someone had dumped. Don't do it, I told myself, but I got out of the car and grabbed three. So here they are, a harbinger of my impending heartbreak when the squirrels eventually eat my accidental tomatoes that I foolishly let myself nurture.

Also: the zinnias are unstoppable!

Garden happenings

Emma and I just returned from a week in England, and the garden has gone into overdrive. Pat said it has not rained much but it has been cool at night so the ground probably hasn't been too dry.

Anenomes! They are even blooming, shortly after being planted, go anenones! Oh dear me, I only just realized now (thanks to spell check) that I have been incorrectly saying "anenome" rather than "anemone" my WHOLE LIFE. This is mortifying. It does remind me of the scene in "Finding Nemo" when Nemo can't pronounce anemone. I had no idea I had this in common with a cartoon clownfish.

I'm going to need a moment to process this, so why don't you go ahead and enjoy these photos.

Balloon flower!

Echinacea!

Hi there, I'm back. Here we have Emma measuring her zinnias.

But I am still reeling from this whole anemone business. Anemone. ANEMONE.

When we transplanted the zinnias, we didn't pay attention to which types were going where, so it is a fun exercise to match them to the picture now that they are blooming.

I didn't think I would like these green ones ("Raspberry Limeade") but I find that I do like them a lot.

The hydrangea in front is starting to bloom, but it was supposed to be a combination of pink and white, and so far I see only white.

Everyone else's Larkspur has already bloomed, so why has mine not bloomed?

The sweet peas on the pole closest to the street are going gangbusters! The ones on the upper pole are barely still alive. I think they don't get enough light with that monster peony in front of them.

Garden happenings

This unnecessarily large katydid was perched on the sun umbrella on our back patio a few days ago. By morning it was gone, much to my relief. Bugs....I don't love them.

Emma and I did some weeding, pruning, and deadheading today.

The salvia is having some secondary flowers so I deadheaded them to see whether that helps encourage more blooms. The dead heads had a ton of seeds - note for next year in case I want to save them.

This is the house on the east side of Wyoming Ave., just south of South Orange Ave., that has a lovely overflowing garden in front. I thought the pink flowers in the back were pretty and would look great in my garden. They're quite tall.

They had some echinacea leaning up against these unobtrusive little fences, which I thought was a good solution to the plants falling down as mine are.

This moth was on the outside of our solarium window a week or so ago, and I photographed its underside from inside the house. Pretty! Now go away, you creepy insect.

Finally, I spotted a purple finch outside the solarium this past week. No photo.

Garden happenings

Despite earlier attack by what might have been a deer, the echinacea is now blooming beautifully.

And this is a balloon flower, which also got chomped on a while back but has likewise recovered. It is pretty but it looks way too much like the perennial geraniums that cover a lot of the bottom of the hill. Side note: this is one of the many species that did not appear on the list of things Birch Hill was going to plant, but here they are! 

Below some views of the front yard.

Verbena in front.

Again verbena. Portulaca on left. Lavendar and peony as you move back.

Artemesia, brachyscome, basil. The basil has been great. Lots of pesto!

Brachyscome and portulaca.

Portulaca.

Remember the late-blooming rhododendrons? Well hold onto your hat when you look at THIS: the magnolia tree is now blooming. IN JULY. It's the end of the world as we know it.

Forgive the photo taken through the window screen.