Flowers!

[cairistiona]

One good thing about incessant rain, it makes for lovely flowers. My deck is definitely bedecked (and in sore need of sealing again, so ignore the weathered wood planking):


I actually put fewer plants in each planter this year and they're still crowding each other out. This grouping below has red salvia, yellow marigolds, purple sage, pink begonias and the big leafy plant in the middle front is chocolate mint, which really does smell like chocolate mint and makes me crave Girl Scout Thin Mints so bad. XD  The statue is what I call my "Little Lady." Not a statue of Ste. Mary nor Diana... not really sure who she might be, but I spotted her in the "seconds" section of a local garden center and fell in love. There's a few flaws on the back of the statue but none in front. I think I've had her for about as long as we've been married (32 years). She reminds me of something Anne might have found in one of her adventures in Anne of Green Gables.


This is the first year I've had truly good results with New Guinea impatiens. I think what's been missing all the years they only poked along is a LOT of rain. Next year I'll be sure to have hubby put in an extra emitter or two in the drip irrigation system I use to keep all the pots watered. For scale, each bloom is nearly as big as my palm.


And the wildflowers love this weather, too:

This is a black-eyed susan blooming with Queen Anne's lace along our driveway. Nature puts together far prettier arrangements than I ever could! Also, I think I've mildly complained about my sweet neighbor, in his enthusiasm to be helpful, mowing down all the wildflowers on "our" side of our joined driveways... well, we've had to redo the drainage ditch on our side and he could no longer get his mower over to our patch and now all the wildflowers have come back. Yay, I have black-eyed susans, white Queen Anne's lace, ox-eye daisies, pink sweet pea and orange daylilies again!

Not sure how long these flowers will look as vibrant as they do now. Usually when the summer heat hits, they start getting leggy and blooming isn't as profuse. Nothing for it but to enjoy them while they're at their peak.

Comments

[shirebound]

Thank you for sharing your lovely flowers and Little Lady. What a glorious burst of color!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

You're welcome and thank you! I keep thinking each year that I'll do a more dignified color scheme, but I always end up doing the "riot of color" one. *g*

[mrowe.livejournal.com]

They're looking lovely!

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I'm keeping my fingers crossed the heat that's coming today and this weekend won't fry them too badly. *wibbles*

[lindahoyland.livejournal.com]

Your flowers are lovely.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[curiouswombat.livejournal.com]

Beautiful! Such a lovely mix of colour - it would make me smile every time I look at it.

I do like the way in which one country's wild flowers are another countries cultivated garden flower - I am thinking of your Black-eyed Susan and the orange day lilies.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I do seem to lean toward "riot of color" as my go-to palette!

The orange daylilies are so ubiquitous in the wild here that most people sniff at them and dismiss them as "ditch lilies," but I really do like their toughness, and they're about the only thing except annuals that blooms in the harsh midsummer heat. Garden centers here sell "tame" versions of black-eyed susans here as well, but I like the value of the free, wild version best. *g*

[elwenlj.livejournal.com]

I wonder if pruning works with wild flowers as it does with cultivated ones. Maybe not, as they are predominantly annuals. I love the weathered wood of your decking, but I have always preferred places that look lived in.

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

I think with wildflowers like black-eyed susans, picking them might produce more blooms for a while, though as they don't bloom all the way to frost like annual wildflowers, I'm betting they wouldn't branch out with new blooms for very long. The annual wildflowers bloom more after cutting, though.

I like the look of weathered wood, but it does get a bit splintery and starts to degrade if we don't keep up with sealing it. This deck, which is attached to the house, is holding up well, but it's made with the old version of weather-treated wood. The government changed the regulations a few years back and we built another deck, by our pool, out of the "new" weather-treated wood and despite sealing it, the boards rot after just a few years. I think if we were planning to keep the pool long-term, we'd have to look into the deck planks made from recycled plastic, or carefully invest in responsibly-harvested ipe wood from Brazil, which, like teak, is extremely weather-proof. But since we'll likely only keep the pool a few more years and then tear down thr deck, we'll just replace the occasional rotten pieces as we come across them. It's still an aggravating expense. :/

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

So many gorgeous flowers!! It's nice that you were able to get the wildflowers thriving in your yard again, too. Always great to see the "surprise" arrangements as well as the more cultivated ones. :D

[cairistiona7.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

Honestly, I think subconsciously one of the reasons I don't go for a strict theme is that it would look out of place against the natural setting of our house. Our yard is less than a half-acre, carved out of the woods, and all the edges are just random "stuff you see at the edges of the woods" plants, placed higgledy-piggledy by nature itself. I think the deck arrangements kind of reflect that, although their colors are more vibrant.

Then again, there's also an attraction in putting in something very formal to play against the wildness around the house. It's a conundrum every year. XD

[claudia603.livejournal.com]

So pretty!!!

We have been surrounded by rain, but we have hardly gotten enough rain lately! And while we have a severe thunderstorm watch for this afternoon, somehow I guess we'll be missed again. It's sooo hot, too.

[layne67.livejournal.com]

That's a lovely deck for sure and your flowers are simply gorgeous!