I am linking this week to the sites whose badges are pictured on the right
including Fertilizer Friday and Fishtail Cottage's weekly party, as
well as Maydreams Garden's "Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day".
This is a busy time of the year for me... I no longer can afford the luxury of spending entire days in the gardens as I try to accomplish a number of other summer projects. The weather has changed with temperatures generally in the 70's during the day and cooling to the low 50's at night. We are still short on rain, but there has been enough to invigorate many of the plantings here at Oak Lawn. My miniature water lily had seven blooms last evening and I ran for the camera... unfortunately they partially closed by the time I returned.
The view from the deck off our bedroom is colorful with the arbor and the 'Big' series of begonias. In back you can just make out the latest garden project as I create what I refer to as an 'althea walk'...
Seen from beneath the arbor, this path is really an extension of the passageway under the arbor...space was found by eliminating the 24 foot skirt from a Black Hills spruce tree.
Pictured below are a couple of double altheas that have inhabited this area of the gardens for some time... both have numerous smaller blooms. A number of the new additions will carry much larger blossoms...
One of the perhaps oddities of this project is this rustic arbor I've created, supported mainly by living trees. I now have seven clematis planted on the back side and will add several more to the front. For lack of a better name, I 'm referring to this as the "clematis tower"...
I am hoping that some of the clematis will be in bloom during tree peony season, since most of the tree peonies are adjacent to the tower. Once the clematis take on some size, the entire trellis should be softened considerably.
Elsewhere in the gardens this year's phlox and delphinium additions are provided some fresh color...
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| Phlox 'Junior Prom' and 'Junior Dance' with 1st season New Millenium delphiniums |
Color along the 'Birch Walk' is provided by impatiens, hostas, and Japanese Forest Grass this time of year...
One of my goals this season was to skirt up this area of evergreens and create a shade garden... I am pleased with the results thus far...
The following photos were taken on the west end of the property not far from the gazebo. Much of this area can get quite dry and is a bit far from the reach of the hoses. With that in mind, I am changing some of the areas out to handle the situation better... this includes adding many hellebores and boxwood (around the gazebo) and foregoing the use of annuals in the future.
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| 'The Swan' hydrangea with 'Skylands' oriental spruce |
As far as annuals are concerned...
Brugsmansias are finally beginning to bloom...
Oleanders are forming new buds...
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| Japanese Anemone |
While color in the August garden depends a lot on annuals, texture is also an important element. We become more aware of it when plants are out of bloom... here are a few examples...
From the gardens at Oak Lawn Cheese Factory...
Take care, Larry
p.s. it's Tuesday evening and I finished the 'althea walk' fences today... here's what they look like... among other things, they will also make it much simpler to move hoses into this part of the gardens... after a summer such as we've had, you think of things like that! L
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