Autumn Joy Sedum

Autumn Joy can show a different hue almost every day.

As the flowers mature, they evolve from the palest pink to a deep maroon.

Very showy and easy care.

Since deer will nibble freely, it lives behind a fence.

It has multiplied and been divided, so now I can share with a friend.

The flowers are not finished, yet.  I was just eager to post and share.

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Colorful Asters

The original plant is this color, but the camera captures a different color than my eye sees.  I looked at a number of photos I took, and kept seeing the same hue.  In person, these flowers look more purple / blue.  I suppose there is a perfectly logical camera explanation for the color difference :-)* * * * *

I do like this light pink color, perhaps because there are so few plants with flowers this color.  Can you see the purple asters on the far left of the photo?  The camera was fooled into showing those flowers their true color!

I am inundated with aster seedlings in the garden, since it is extremely time-consuming to dead head these plants.  New blossoms open and others die everyday, from the top of branches going down.

My latest plan is to mark the bottom of the plants with pink blooms, so I will know them after the tops have been cut off.
When they are dug up in winter, I can say decisively, what color flower comes from which plant.
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The one plant with white flowers was the last to bloom.

Rose & Heather

These pastel pink blossoms cover the entire Rose of Sharon shrub.
I was looking for a late summer bloomer, and this one really paid off.
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This heather bush is just beneath Sharon’s Rose.
Unplanned by me (I can only wish!), the flowers are the same hue.

Germander (I’m pretty sure, but how can I be positive?)

How can one not love a drought-resistant, deer-proof, reliable blooming plant?
This one has lived here long enough for me to move babies to other places around the house.  It makes itself at home wherever it goes.  Does not take over, may make a baby if encouraged, takes pruning at most any time of year.

The bumble bees love these flowers.  While I am smart enough not to test them, they are so engrossed in the blossoms they barely notice people around.  Bumbles are not the only bees who savor this nectar.

Home Again

We came home to thigh-high grass in the fields and the back yard.  I am so looking forward to planting my vegetable garden.  So much to do . . . .

The flowers are blooming, it is always interesting to see which ones are doing great, and who is faltering.  In the top photo, small, pink Armeria fronts pale pink chive blossoms, yellow day-lilies in the back.  Dark purple Dutch iris on the side.  Bottom shot is a Foxglove with bearded iris, and a California poppy in the background.
We arrived home in a slight drizzle, but the ground is hard, so it is time for the irrigation to be set up.

The alliums have multiplied, look great and will keep the deer from this bed (for awhile, at least).
I don’t know if it is the weather, or the fact I finally weeded around these iris, but this is the best they have looked ever!

On another positive note, our sugar maple tree leafed out while we were gone.  We really thought it had given up the ghost and was a goner, it should have come back to life before we left.  We must be getting old and totally mis-judged when it springs back to life.

Bursting Buds

My rhododendrons always bloom in the same order, and this one is always first.  I so look forward to seeing the first rhody flowers.  When the blossoms open, they will be a pretty pink and white.  Those are bluebells in front and a tulip bud.  Barring anything unforeseen, I will be able to show photos soon.

This is the only azalea here.  For some reason, the branches through the slats on the deck are blooming before the main plant.  Perhaps they get more all day sunshine.  In full bloom, the entire plant will look red.

I got excited to see the first lilac bloom.  White-flowered shrubs bloom before the purple-flowered ones every year.  In the photo, the purple buds are very full, and the white flowers are beginning to bloom on the very top of the bush.

Pastel Tulips under Japanese Maple

This particular green-leafed Japanese maple tree is leafing out, just as the tulips below begin to flower.  A bag of pastel tulips planted a few years ago is reaching maturity, and will need to be divided this year.  The yellow and pink flowers are so pretty, and the timing couldn’t be better as the tree is coming to life at the same time.

I have been photographing this tree for a few days trying to get desirable light and a background on which the tree’s new leaves would show up.  This morning’s photo was taken after the sun rose over the hills to the east;  tulips are shadowed by the house.

Pink Viola

This is a little plant and a very small flower.  It appears to me, to be a member of the viola family, but I am not able to determine exactly which one.  An alpine viola is my best guess.
In the upper right corner of the photo is a ‘normal’ violet leaf, which looks relatively large, but is not really.

A gardening friend warned me this cute little flower can be invasive.  So far, I still see it as a welcome addition to my haphazard flower garden.  Although, it is moving in freely, I have no objections as it fills space and can bloom through the summer.  I know I should be wary, as I spend too much time pulling out a plant I liked at first, but then became overwhelming.

Pink Creeping Phlox

Just a small pot started this ground cover of phlox many years ago.  Without any care, it has spread down a small hill.  It is easy to forget until spring when many small pink flowers bloom.  Deer and other animals ignore its presence.  It gets walked on and treated shabbily, but keeps coming back.

Heather

Heather flowers are so teeny, they are difficult to photograph.

When we first moved here, some of the first plant groupings in the ground was two sets of 2 white-flowered and 2 pink-flowerd heathers around a few daffodil bulbs.
Today, those daffodils are totally engulfed by the surviving heathers.  Those particular daffodils have not multiplied, but have endured.

When I see the white-flowered specimen in full bloom, it makes me think it is sprinkled with snow.