So many different and beautiful flowers and plants, Oakleyok! Boy-oh-boy, you must have a long growing season for those plants to thrive like that!

Our flowers are mostly past their prime, but here are some pics I took during the summer months. We've planted many perennials since we moved in in 2003, but last year my neighbor phoned and offered me some plants that she was thinning out of her gardens. OMG, she must have given us the equivalent of $200 of perennials if we'd gotten them at a green house.

Here are a few of my growing things:

Peonies in the bathroom:
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Coneflowers:
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Our gardener:
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Turk's Caps:
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folkvictorian! Your little gardener is precious! I too, love periennels and I see you another container gardener. I love doing a *garden in a pot*. LOL

No pics but things are thriving here since we have - FOR ONCE - had plenty of rain over the summer. Also, cooler than average temps for August, I think we only had 3 or 4 days of 90 degree temps. That is unheard of here.

One of my clematis is blooming (white) along with the sweet autumn clematis that has started blooming. My gardenia is full of blooms again and the roses are still going strong. Also two mandevillas, geraniums and begonias. My salvia and sweet williams (both periennel) have done great this year, as has the ivy and creeping jenny. The crape myrtles are still in bloom as is my pink lemonaide honeysuckle (another vine). Petunias in planters - I did the peppermint striped ones this year. I use all pink, blue/purple and white flowers.

Our veggies have done WONDERFUL this year - we're still getting tomatoes. Probably had the last of the cukes last night.

tina

I love your Coneflowers! Mine did good then got attacked by a black bug. lol. Now they're coming back to life.

Our growing season is from April through September. We get all 4 seasons here in Oklahoma.

My secret was buying easy to grow plants. :)

In the front of the flowerbed are Carpet Roses I bought from QVC, and they are growing like weeds and really blooming!

That's a darling picture of your little helper. You should frame it!

You've got a gorgeous cottage garden goin' on there, Oakley! I love it! My new front bed has been a bit stifled by our terrible heat this summer, but I'm hoping it will really bounce back and things will start growing nicely when cooler Fall temps finally roll around.

OakleyOK - tell me about the topiary on your porch. I haven't been brave enough to put a shrub in a container yet, b/c I'm afraid that I would kill it. But I really like that look. I'd like to try some on the back patio.

I've started a tradition (2 years now - does that make it a tradition?) of taking a day off work each spring to work on a landscaping project. The first year I created a new bed on the north side of the house. It is doing great. This year, after much inner conflict, I decided to use my day to make a vegetable/herb bed. I actually made two beds. I spent my day off and several weekends digging up bermuda and amending the soil. I do think in the long run, it will be nice, but my garden was a bust this year. I'm a little bummed b/c I used so much of my (teeny amount of) free time and so much energy for practically no return. The weather is so nice right now, I'm anxious to go outside and plant a few shrubs to make myself feel like I made progress this year!

Somewhere I have a few photos, but we have switched computers and I never seem to have anything where I need it!

Yes, Oakley - tell us about your topiary! How did you get them to be so perfect????

Oakley, what are those purple and white globe flowers?

Folkvictorian, I did a double-take when I saw the name on your Turk's Caps. I grow the other turk's cap (Malvaviscus arboreus var. Drummondii) for the hummers.

The Sweet Autumn clematis I planted on the kitchen garden arbor at the end of February is in almost full bloom.

I'm LOL about my "topiary." They're artificial boxwoods I bought from Home Depot!

Natal, they're Globe Amaranth. They bloom all summer long, loves the heat and sun, and really start to take off around late July. When I planted them they didn't do much but never lost their blooms, then they started growing like crazy in July. I'll definitely get them again because they're so easy and add a nice touch to the garden.

Like you and Jen, Oakleyok, our summer heat was hard on my gardens. But, it's been raining pretty much every day or two for the past two weeks here . . . on and off, this is New Mexico, after all! So, with our Autumn lower temps now in the high 70s, my garden is looking like it's on steroids! I was sitting out there yesterday and had to run back in for my camera. Not so much to show you all, but so that *I* can remember NEXT July, just what it will eventually look like once our monsoon rains arrive again ;^D
Lynn
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