I know we are officially into summer...can I get a Hallelujah?!....but I have yet to show you my Mid and Late Spring Garden pictures. As I put together this post, I could not believe how much has grown in my garden since my first gardening post of the season I did just a few weeks ago HERE. And, since these pictures are already several weeks old, how much has grown since! Wow! We may have to wait a long winter to see flowers in Wisconsin, but once things start popping up through the ground, they grow fast! And unfortunately, so do the weeds. I've been spending so much time in my garden weeding existing beds, I've hardly had time for any new garden renovations projects, which has been really discouraging to me. But let's get on with my Mid-Spring Garden Tour shall we?
The Viburnum or "Snowball Bushes" were real show stoppers this year. I have at least a half dozen of these bushes on my property, several different varieties. I absolutely love them. They make a great mid-level plant in a garden. And if you're wondering what I mean by that, in any great garden first you must have TREES. They are the tall bones of the garden. Next, you need a mid-level element which are small trees like crab apples, magnolias, or Viburnums. Then you want to layer with smaller growing bushes, followed by spring bulbs, perennials, then annuals for all season color.
The purple globe flowers are Allium or flowering onion. I love this bulb. The animals don't eat them, they multiple immensely so you can dig them up, divide them, and easily create new plantings, and the flowers are so dramatic. And I didn't plan this, it was Mother Nature's gift to me, but I love that the Honey Locust blooms at the same time as the Flowering Onion. The purple of the flowers with the background of the golden Honey Locust is breath-taking.
It was a really good year for Iris this season. In the past, I haven't had much bloom so I dug up and divided my iris. It took about another three years, but I got a lot of Iris blooming this year! The blue ones are my favorite. I love how they look with the pink Marguerite daisies.
This purple Iris looks great with the white blossoms of the Snowball Bush behind it.
The lilac bushes did exceptionally well this year too. Many years, I barely have any blossoms, but this year every single bush was covered in blooms. I was in lilac heaven! I would walk outside, and I could just smell the perfume in the air!
This feathery plume plant is called "Goats Beard". I really need to get more of this plant! I say that every year, but I never do. It's hard to find and very expensive. I just love it, because it's such a large, dramatic plant for the shade. It looks good all summer, even after the blooms have faded. It's totally non-invasive. It doesn't re-seed or spread by sending out crazy roots everywhere. A very low-maintenance, beautiful shade plant.
Another view of the Snow Ball Bush with a lighter purple Iris in the foreground. Also in bloom in this photo is Creeping Phlox and Catmint.
The perennial version of Bachelor's Buttons are in bloom and the ants and bees are loving it!
One of my favorite heirloom peonies...grows in shade! I have a lot of shade in my yard so I'm always happy to find things that grow in shade. I love it's large single blooms and yellow centers.
This enormous lilac bush is called "Little Princess" if you can believe that. It's suppose to be a dwarf lilac bush but I would say it's more the size of a small tree. The scent from this bush is amazing. You can smell it the second you step out of the house, and it's no where near the house! It's my favorite lilac bush in my yard.
Out of all my Iris plants, the blue ones are my absolute favorite!
A gorgeous single bright pink peony.
A close up of the Allium Bulbs flower head.
I grew about a half dozen Lupines from seed last year, and I only got one to bloom this year. Lupines are very finicky plants in Wisconsin. I know some states, like Colorado, have them blooming in the wild like crazy. I was happy I just got one Lupine to live and bloom in my garden.
Dames Rocket is a wildflower you often see growing on the sides of roads in Wisconsin. I grew a few from seed years ago and put them along my fence line and they have reseeded nicely. I don't recommend them for a traditional garden bed as they are biennials and reseed anywhere and everywhere they want to (usually where you don't want them). But they are nice for wildflower gardens or fence lines, and they bloom in the early spring when not much else is in bloom.
This is the entire bush of the close up of the pink single peony I showed earlier in the post. It was filled with blossoms this year!
A close up of the Viburnum Bush flower.
I do have wild ferns growing on my hillside. They do very well in my shady, moist yard. They are at least three feet tall. Here they provide a nice border to a walking path between gardens.
A close up of flowering chive. I love this herb. It's so pretty, and just about the only herb I can actually grow in my yard.
And finally, a close up of a yellow Iris. This iris is no where near as lovely as the double bearded blue and purple Iris I have, but I love the color.
I hope you enjoyed my little garden tour. Hopefully I'll be back next Sunday with pictures of my Late Spring Garden. My daughter's baby is due any day now, so if I disappear from Blog Land for awhile...that's why! We will have to run down to Illinois to meet our new grandson and take care of our granddaughter while our daughter is in the hospital.
Have A Great Day! Amy
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