There's nothing like flowers to put a smile on my face. So here's a walk through some of the blossoms from my garden this year...
Every time I look at my peonies I am reminded of my good friend, Lisa. When they she and her husband sold their house in Lowell, she dug them up and sent them home with me.
I nabbed this astilbe, along with a few others, from the clearance bin at Wal-Mart. I love picking things up after they've flowered from the cheap shelf at the big box stores. It is a great way to try out new plants to see how they'll do without spending an arm and a leg.
The Asiatic lilies were from the clearance bin as well. Lowe's I think - $2.00 each. Tho hostas in the background came from my friend Margaret. When she initially sold her house, the new owner planned to tear it down so she invited friends to come over and dig up everything. Just about every hosta I have came from her house. I love how they are almost impossible to kill.
The daisies came from Karen's house. Her husband brought them over when he finalized the sale of their Island home after she died. He knew a we'd take good care of them and little piece of her Mackinac garden was sure to continue...
Every tulip I have came from the compost piles at Mission Point and Grand Hotel. Each fall they plant hundreds of tulips, only to rip them out once they have bloomed. After that, they all get tossed onto the hotels' compost piles. The only downside is, the flowers have usually been cut off by the time the plants are pulled up, so you don't know what color you have until they flower the next year.
I picked this yellow rose up for $5.00 in the clearance bin. I'd planned to have it in a pot for the summer, and then toss it, but something told me to drop it into the ground in the fall - so I did. I've done that every fall since and it keeps coming back, year after year. I've picked up a few clearance roses over the years and they seem do do fine as long as I plant them in the ground for the winter. I've not tried leaving them in their pots.
The irises came from Dwight and Jeff's garden downtown. (They have the I Spy Garden near the corner of French Lane and Market street.) When they divided their plants a few came up to our place - along with quite a few ferns. D & J are wonderful about sharing things.
This rose campion was a gift from my friend Kelaine. She had a bumper crop one summer and brought me a few plants when she visited. (I think she first got them from her grandma's house.) I've shared cuttings with a few folks, so they've spread out around the neighborhood.
My mother-in-law gave us a few black-eyed Susans when we first built our house. We hadn't budgeted for flowers so when she came for her first visit, she brought some that she'd dug out of her garden. They've grown like gangbusters, and now I have them all over our property. They look amazing in August.
Lots of trillium grows wild on Mackinac - including on our lot before we built the house. Several plants decided to keep growing after we built, and I've just them go.
Very nice to have the memories along with the flowers and don't those Asiatic lilies smell so strongly. A bonus.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Peonies are my very favorite.
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