Summer Flowers

   

A well landscaped yard



Recently I visited my brother.  He had some of his yard professionally landscaped.  The ornamentals in his yard are a succession of blooms all summer long.  There are a few non blooming ornamentals.  During my visit there was a wonderful aroma from the Idaho state flower, the syringa.  The bushes were 5 to 6 feet tall and in full bloom.  I would recommend syringa for anybody who lives in a location that can grow them. 

Poppies in the corner garden

                                           

 One of my great nostalgic memories is going to my Grandparents house and seeing the big beautiful poppies like the ones in the picture.  They are short lived but very colorful.  I have a nice bed with both orange and mostly red flowers.  The flowers are four inches wide.  Bees love the poppies.

Dames rocket.  These grow wild along Ohio backroads

Along the back of the lawn are some perennials that have a selection of blooms throughout the spring and summer.  The first to flower to bloom are dames rocket (Hesperis), then Monarda and purple coneflowers (Echinacea), then the last is goldenrod.  There are some others that I don’t know if they are weeds or just someone else’s idea of a flower.  Either way, I just pulled a bunch of aster like weeds out. 

The corners of my back yard have different flowers with the most common being day lilies. There are daisies, poppies, some different irises a few hostas, and some catnip.



I have never looked this flower up to see what it is.


The one item I would change is to have more flowers in the front yard.  I have added some through the years.  The big addition is some azaleas in one bed and some daffodils and tulips.  I like roses but they struggle in the sandy soil, probably due to lack of moisture.  The big addition I have made is two beautiful lilacs to the side of the front yard.  They were a gift from a friend who had too much shade so they never bloomed.   

 

These are sure beautiful.  Notice the water droplets on the leaves.
I wish I knew the variety.
 Again, I haven't taken the time to look up the variety.



 

One of the weeds with a small white flower. 
I believe this to be a member of the mustard family. 
I haven't looked it up.



The hydrangeas are in the front yard.  Some flowers are bigger than my hand.  They get so heavy they fall over.  These flowers last for well over a month and are lightly grazed by deer .



For the most part all of my flowers are perennials and return with their beautiful foliage year in and year out.  The two items of maintenance are removing the old stems every year and trying to keep the weeds out.  Last year I removed the old stems by mowing over the whole perennial bed after the killing frost and the foliage had dried up.  This year I just did it by hand.   For weed control I use a Crabgrass Killer with Dimension that will last up to four months.  Last year I used Green Light’s Amaze.  I have been amazed at how effective both products have been.

The Garden Doc