It’s Doctor Moms last day here. I’m so sad, she’s been a great roomie and we’ve had a lot of fun visiting with each other. I’m hoping that all of my visitors have gone over to visit with her too. You can still vote for the Idiot of the week. Look over her last few posts to rate the Idiot selection and then select one to vote for. She’ll announce the winner on Monday. Go on, go vote.
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I thought that I’d show you a couple of the flowering plants that I grow in my front garden bed, and in our planted boulevard.
The flowerbeds at the front of our house were more of an after thought after we finished putting in raised flower beds with interlocking easy stone, and installed a patio in the backyard. We used some of the left over stones to create raised beds in the front.
The backyard garden was supposed to be our delightfully special garden, but the front has become a rival to it as it’s matured.
Here’s a photo of Autumn Joy Sedum.
This plant starts out looking like a green succulent, but usually by the end of July the flower stalks begin to grow. As the flower buds develop the heads of the flower stalks are green at first, then they become a whitish colour. Personally I think they look a bit like cauliflower at this point. By the end of August the blossoms to be are turning a nice pink and the bees are starting to notice them. In fact they are often covered in bees.
By mid-September all of the tiny flower buds begin to open and they go from pink to this very pretty magenta colour. This colour will darken as the days get cooler. By the end of October the flowers will be finished and will have dried out. I think that they look sort of ornamental around this time when they are dried out, sort of like dried flowers – beige in colour but still interesting.
A few of the sunflowers that I grow in my front Boulevard Garden bed:
Mr. Fab seems to think I’m freakishly tall (I’m not, I’m only 5′ 10 1/2″), but if he saw my sunflowers he’d realize that they are the ones that are freakishly tall. Some of them must be 14 or more feet tall.
We planted our front boulevard flower bed with Siberian Iris’, Salvia, marigolds, alysium, dahlia’s, daylilies, delphinium, malva, cosmos, peonies, spring bulbs, four types of sunflowers, and we have a Morning Glory vine growing on the “No Parking Sign” that’s in the boulevard flower bed.
From April until at least the end of October there is always something blooming in that flower bed. We planted it more for our neighbors enjoyment than our own, and they all seem to love it. Plus, we are the only ones with a planted boulevard for several blocks, so our house is very easy to find if a friend or relative is trying to find it.
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I have some similar shots of some similar sedums, aren’t the flowers superb!? And the sunflower… just classic! Well done.
That sounds absultely fabulous too. I love sunflowers. The good thing with them is that they’ll feed the birds too 🙂
Awww… April-October, how I envy you on that part! OVer here it’s more like May-September. 2 months shorter at least and 2 months is a long time…
When we plant our garden next year (we didn’t have time this year) I’m going to plant sunflowers in it, too.
Our blooming season is about the same as yours – April – October. I have bulbs to plant today hoping for a big bloom in the Spring :=)
Tricia–
Absolutely Beautifuil! And so peaceful!
I brought coffee, but left the bakery goods for The Fab… you wouldn’t want them anymore anyway….
Ummmm… you might want to stop by Cul-de-Sac, Fab is threatening to do something rather repulsive with your cats.
I would like to publicly thank you for your hospitality, for providing shelter from the cold, for the peaceful walks through the garden, and for joining our Cul-de-Sac guest book.
You have more than made the graph this week, you are a strong contender for the week. I usually post stats sometime between Sunday and Tuesday announcing the Prestigous First Place Guest.
To anyone considering renting a BlogSpace here… You will be thrilled with the results!
Merci’ Beaucoup!
The first one I have 4 large beds of all blooming right now! They are so pretty! The second is one I love to grow but haven’t in the past few years due to moving! Nice shots!
Very nice shots…. Love the sunflowers. My bloom season is a bit longer…. I’d say Jan- Dec…. I had hibiscus blooms last year on Christmas…
Dang it… i keep forgetting to change which blog i came from… (though there is a nice shot of my hummingbirds on the first one)
OK… It’s not me… my PC changed it and I didn’t notice till I clicked publish
Nice plants. Our neighbour across the road has had their sencond year of the freakishly tall sunflowers. They are very straight stalked too, I noticed.
I have purple sedum. I have split mine at least 10 times in the past 15 yrs.
One of those, like the bleeding heart that you can split till the cows come home.
Nice stuff!
mine is up
I love sedums — but they sure need to be divided almost every year. Mine are about finished (colorwise).
Your inspiring me to try some new things — i have some periods during the different season where the garden lacks color. I best get busy.
Cool pix! I’m living vicariously through you as I don’t have plants cuz I forget to water them.