Our Little Acre had a visitor today. Janice, a Master Gardener from Van Wert, drove out to see the gardens. She's part of the group sponsoring the garden tour on August 9th, in which we have been asked to participate. Though she will be seeing our gardens at that time, I always welcome anyone who wants to walk through my gardens with me, any time of the year.
Actually, the gardens probably look better right now than they will in August. By that time, much of what provides colorful beauty to the gardens will be past their prime. Some will even show signs of dying back, especially if we continue having this dry, dry summer. But no matter what time of the year, there's always something pretty and worthwhile seeing.
Janice will be participating in the garden tour this year as well. I remember seeing her gardens a couple of years ago when she was on that year's tour. She lives in town in a beautifully restored Victorian home with gorgeous gardens to go with it. We talked about how the garden changes over time due to loss of trees or growth of them. Certainly more or less sun or shade can make a difference and we as gardeners have to adjust our gardens to accommodate the changes.
Finally, after several weeks of no rain, we got .7 of an inch this morning, with lightning and thunder and everything! It was badly needed and a couple more rains like that in the next few days would be wonderful, but not likely to happen, so we'll continue to drag the hoses around with us. It's going to take a lot more rain than that to close up the cracks in the yard and the gardens.
There's lots of color in the garden right now. Most of it comes from the established perennials, as most of the annuals grown from seed are not yet blooming. If you visited my gardens right now, this is some of what you'd see:
Actually, the gardens probably look better right now than they will in August. By that time, much of what provides colorful beauty to the gardens will be past their prime. Some will even show signs of dying back, especially if we continue having this dry, dry summer. But no matter what time of the year, there's always something pretty and worthwhile seeing.Janice will be participating in the garden tour this year as well. I remember seeing her gardens a couple of years ago when she was on that year's tour. She lives in town in a beautifully restored Victorian home with gorgeous gardens to go with it. We talked about how the garden changes over time due to loss of trees or growth of them. Certainly more or less sun or shade can make a difference and we as gardeners have to adjust our gardens to accommodate the changes.
Finally, after several weeks of no rain, we got .7 of an inch this morning, with lightning and thunder and everything! It was badly needed and a couple more rains like that in the next few days would be wonderful, but not likely to happen, so we'll continue to drag the hoses around with us. It's going to take a lot more rain than that to close up the cracks in the yard and the gardens.
There's lots of color in the garden right now. Most of it comes from the established perennials, as most of the annuals grown from seed are not yet blooming. If you visited my gardens right now, this is some of what you'd see:
Endless Summer Hydrangeas - 'Bailmer' and 'Blushing Bride' (L-R)
Max's Garden
Willow Chair beside the garden pond
Max's Garden
Flower boxes on front porch railing
Veronica 'Icicles'
First Sunflower bloom (Helianthus 'Apricot Twist')EDIT: Though the seed packet says 'Apricot Twist', I don't believe that's what they are. They look more like 'Strawberry Blonde' to me!
"Bejeweled"
13 comments:
Love all the mixed colors, what lovely gardens. That Strawberry Blonde at the end is a dazzler!
Janet ~ Oh, I just found the seed packet and it's not 'Strawberry Blonde' although it looks like it. It's 'Apricot Twist.' I kind of thought SB was wrong when I typed it, but wasn't sure. I've grown both.
Thank you for a lovely tour. I really felt for all the colors i Max´s garden. Lovely.Silvery, blue and pink. Superb.
Any chance you'd let me know info. re August 9 garden walk? We live in Harlan IN. Plan to do Hicksville's this weekend. Do you live in Van Wert yourself? We did a house/garden walk there a couple of years ago. Do you know Barbara and John? Their corner (Victorian house) garden was on the walk that year? Just yesterday we went to Auburn garden walk. I posted briefly about it on this blog. I also blog garden at sceneinourgarden. Thanks for any info you can give me.
Just beautiful Kylee - everything. Apricot Twist is gorgeous.
Glad you got some needed rain!
Your garden is looking lovely, thank you for the virtual tour
Apricot Twist hellianthus is wonderful...such a delightful smiling face. Kylee, the garden is beautiful and I so wish I was walking around there with you. Max's garden is perfect. Glad you got rain; it's raining here now and I am in heaven. gail
You are quite right in welcoming people to your garden any time of year Kylee. It is just gorgeous. I can certainly attest that it is beautiful and well worth the drive out into the country.
Hi Kylee,
Where can I get more information about the Van Wert Garden Walk? If I have time, I'd love to attend.
Teresa O
Kylee, Am I just dreaming, or have your gardens changed A LOT during these past couple of years?? It's really beautiful over there (it always Has been, though!) :-) Have a great week.
Rebecca ~ Hi! Did you send me an e-mail awhile back? (That I forgot to answer? Sorry!) I sure can give you the details of the garden tour. It's Sunday, August 9, from noon to 5:30. There are eight gardens on the tour and tickets cost $5. You can buy a ticket at any of the eight gardens the day of the tour. Link for more info. If you do come over for the tour, PLEASE introduce yourself! I hope to meet you then! :-)
No, we don't live in Van Wert, but about 10 miles north. We're in Paulding County, but not very far. ;-)
What is Barbara's and John's last name? I've done a couple of tours in Van Wert in the last few years and may have toured their garden. I've blogged about a couple of the tours.
Oooh, I'll be the Auburn garden walk was fabulous. There are some nice homes over there, so I imagine there are some wonderful gardens, too. Do you know Ken Metzger? I'm pretty sure his gardens were in a tour a couple of years back. He was a former owner of the business where my husband works.
I'd love to do Hicksville's tour. Any info you can give me on that one would be great! I'm supposed to speak at their herb festival in September.
Linda ~ Thanks! Yes, 'Apricot Twist' IS gorgeous. It generally faces east, away from the garden, though and I have to go out into the wheat field to see it! LOL!
patientgardener ~ You're quite welcome! Thanks for virtually visiting! :-)
Gail ~ Maybe someday you CAN come and walk through my garden with me! :-)
I'm thrilled to have gotten rain, too. We just need a whole lot more of it though.
Lisa ~ You are always so kind with what you say about our gardens. Thank you.
There are some things yet to be done, such as lifting the rock borders. The rocks have a way of sinking down in the ground over time and some of them are now completely covered by soil. I've got some mulching to do yet, too. And some labels to make. And a couple of bench cushions to make. (I've had the fabric to do those for two years now. LOL) There's always more to do, isn't there?
Teresa ~ It would be great if you could do the walk! See my response to Rebecca above for more information. :-)
Shady Gardener ~ No, the gardens haven't changed all that much. Some things are larger, of course. Last year, we added a triangular section on each side of the entrance to Max's Garden, but that's it. I think maybe the reason you feel like things have changed a lot is because I don't post all that many pictures of the gardens in overall views. It's generally macro shots of everything. That being said, gardens are ALWAYS changing, aren't they? ;-)
Wow Kylee, your gardens are looking fantastic this year even with very little rain - please feel free to pop over here and have some of mine though! :)
August is always a difficult time in the garden flower-wise, but I'm sure there will still be much in your garden to delight your visitors.
Here we have had a lot of rain too after the heatwave we'd been experiencing. It did a world of good to the garden.
BTW wish I had a cat who could garden like that, heart Max's garden. ;-)
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