Summer's push..plus a walk through a garden center...

We've been working to get our yard projects done and feeling the affect of Summer's push!

Summer came in with a bang, we hit 94 degrees on June 20th.   Fortunately it dropped back into the 70's so we started to push ourselves to get our biggest job done before another heat wave came (which looks to be this week)!

We live by a county road that gets a fair amount of traffic.  We had two spruce trees flanking the end of the driveway and I decided to incorporate one into an island.  I used to have 5 blue oat plants until a few weeks ago.  I took four of them away and put them in a new area by the turnaround of our driveway with some shrubs that we just planted.

Dan weed-whipped the edge of the island with the whip sideways to re-establish the border and to knock down the plant life to the roots.  We saw a lot of black mulch used when we were visiting our son in Pennsylvania so we decided to give it a try.

As you can see the Stella d'Oro lilies are blooming .  Mine are a more yellow/orange tone but there are some that are more lemon yellow in color that are available too.  These bloom for an extended period of time.  They say they will bloom again in the early fall.  Mine have bloomed in the past but with just a few flowers.

I cleaned this end up.  I had some rocks piled along the curve that I removed and there are two Spireas planted at the end that I had to trim up quite a bit.  They were flopped over on the lawn quite a bit and growing into the Limelight hydrangea a little too much.

To the other side of the driveway we created a whole new bed that I'm liking a lot. Up until this point it was grassed and difficult to keep looking nice.  I'm trying to not trim the bottom of the spruce trees because I like the boughs laying low.  It's made it difficult to mow so I hope this will make things easier.

I took all of the pictures with my iPhone.  It's handy to have in my pocket and doesn't do too bad of a job.  These Alliums are still blooming.  The tulips I showed a while back had all died back so I removed all of the old plant.  Now that I see the Alliums I realized it would have bee nicer if I had planted them with other plants that would have offered some filler around them, and to hide their leaves (which aren't too exciting to look at). They would also look good with a rock garden and sedum- don't you agree!

I have three lilacs planted at the corner which I did on purpose so they would create a wall as they mature. We've also added some maple trees so many years down the road there will be even more privacy and shade.

(There is a new fire station that was put up kiddie-corner to us that I'm still unhappy about- so I'm building a natural wall to help with privacy)

A scene I shot from my living room window.  It's a real nice building but they also house ambulances so we have departures throughout the day with sirens going. 

Let's just say my backyard is my sanctuary and I am grateful we have it to enjoy.

 I took a big chance and dug my lilies that are in full bloom and moved them over here by the driveway.

I took care to dig a generous area around them so when I lifted them they stayed together.  I wanted to make this move before the landscape mulch was put down.  So far they look just fine and it's been 3 days.  I'm keeping 

them well watered.  I also added a new plant for me called Crocosmia- Lucifer.  I've seen them blooming before and always thought they were so interesting... so when I ran across them I had to buy a couple.

Dan also dug a trench around this whole area that we hope will create enough of barrier to keep the grass from moving into the area.  We filled it with the mulch and are hoping for the best!

Time out for me!

Last Friday I visited a locally owned garden center

called Pine Hill Nursery. I'm very lucky in that I have 

at least 6 garden centers not too far from me that I

can visit.  What I like most about them is all the variety

they offer and the support from their staff.  They know 

the plants and can answer questions which admittedly 

the large box stores cannot do.  

At the entrance they have a roses along a stone wall they built to create a framework to their garden center.

Out back is where all their flowers and plants are and I tell you it's a field day for a gardener!  There were lots of varieties of Cone Flowers, Coreopsis, Daisies and so much more

I did buy some of these. It's called Spigelia, Indian Pink

 In the shade garden area

Lots of hostas! I've bought my 

fair share from here.

Lots of Hydrangeas

These are from the series called

Forever and Ever

I wish I had more room to add more

hydrangeas.

Isn't this a neat planter!

My favorite piece.  I hope to acquire this!

I left a big hint to hubby!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for
Metamorphosis Monday

How's your summer going?