A Visit to Munsinger Clemens Garden

These gardens are very impressive.

Bill and Virginia Clemens donated the land for the gardens.

A few of the many fountains.

A walk through an arbor.

I love all of the ironwork.

The brick walkways lead from one garden to another.

The "red garden".

The "yellow garden".

The "white garden".

I love this small tree.

How do they mow such a perfect lawn?

Who would think a grass could be so interesting?

This is why the gardens look so picture perfect,

lots of volunteer weeders!

Dog Days of Summer

It has been unbelievably hot and humid this past week.  It has been so bad that Lilly wants to come in!

 This is where Lilly spends most of her time, laying out on the sidewalk waiting for something exciting to happen, like the mailman, a jogger, who knows.

Or she's out in the water trying to catch a fish.  She will do this for hours and not catch a thing!

It's been so hot and humid that she has been making these little nests around the house in the landscape mulch.  The picture is a little unclear because my camera lense became foggy with the high humidity.

Sophie is smarter, she does her business and comes right back into the house.

Poor Lilly!

Favorite Perennials and Annuals

Here are some of my favorites.

I plant all of my annuals in large pots.  Less watering.

"Jackmani" clematis growing up the dog kennel.

"Rasberry" petunia, annual

One of the few lillies friends have shared with me.

Shasta Daisy

One of the few annuals that I do buy, cosmos.

Nice flowers for flower arrangements.

One of the many sedums I have, "Chocolate".  Sedums are so easy to propogate with cuttings.  Just pinch off a piece, put it in the ground, keep it watered and next year you will have a plant like this! 

To keep them from getting too leggy, when they are about 8 inches tall, I pinch off the top so it's flower head doubles and the plant is shorter.  There are many kinds of sedums.  Some are short ground covers and others are almost like little bushes, like this one.  Colors range from green/white veriegated to this deep burgandy.  One cannot have too many sedums in the garden!

July Garden

Welcome to my garden in July.

It's been warm and things are really growing in the heat.

This is the walkway to my front door.

Mostly sedums, daylillies, hostas.

This corner flower bed is up by the hot gravel road. It's a long way to bring a hose, so what ever gets planted here, has to be pretty hardy.  I'm proud to say that I have finally gotten to the point where I do not have to buy any annuals for this bed.  William Baffin climbing rose, Russian sage, lily, Shasta daisy, and two kinds of sedums.  I'm trying to grow a front border alternating the two kinds of sedums.

My sedum collection.

Not sure if I like this layout.

One of the few annuals that I do buy are red geraniums.

I always put them in large containers since I don't like to water too often.

Can't have too many Stella D'oro daylillies.

Starting to get some color in the big flower bed.

Achillea "The Pearl" is becoming invasive.

Next year I am going to sink it into a pot to control if from spreading so much.

Two of my favorites in the background, "Carl Forrester" reed grass and "Marshall's Delight" monarda.

The back of this bed is pretty much a row of "Autumn Joy" sedum.  I find using this large sedum across the back of the bed helps to keep the bed upright and makes a nice line of repetition in the background.  The dark perennial in front is a new one, "Black Scallop" bugleweed.  Again, the petunia is in a big barrel.  I don't like to water!

Across the center is one of my favorite sedums, "Matrona".

You cannot have too many sedums!

Around the patio is "Dragon's Blood" sedum.  Right now it is blooming bright pink.

Another great perennial, coral bells or heuchera.  These come in many colors, from lime green to this deep burgandy color.  Like most of my perennials, I don't know it's exact name because I probably got it as a little plant from another gardener.  That is what makes gardening so much fun, sharing extra plants with others and collecting new plants from my garden friends.  Enjoy!