Tag: Friday Flowers
How to Grow Amazing Japanese Anemone in the Fall Shade Garden
Warm, sunny afternoon. But where is the color?
These days when we wonder if the craziness exists in the mind of a long gunman or our civilization, it’s good to ponder the wonder of the Japanese Anemone.
So far fall here at Bee Cottage is a dud. The falling leaves are dry, brown, desiccated. We’ve had no significant rain since early July. September was the sixth driest month on record.
The calendar may say October, but Mother Nature still thinks its fall!
Despite the drought, the Japanese Anemone bloom prolifically. These lovely Anemone came to my garden by accident.
When Prince Charming and I moved in, the yard looked like your typical suburban blank slate with a slab of concrete out the back door.
Bee Cottage’s back yard today
I envisioned turning this house into Bee Cottage. I beg, borrowed and stole (only occasionally) plants and seeds where ever I could get them.
Happy Spot
This is a tough spot to grow anything. There is lots of shade and it is a low spot in the yard, making it wet and mucky.
Bee Cottage’s yard and future garden faced challenges. This spot by the shed was awful. A patch of gooey mud where even the weeds refused to grow. Dense shade from Oaks, Maples and pines kept the sunlight out. It’s the lowest spot in the garden, making it a muddy, wet mess.
Our first fall here, I asked David, our occasional gardener, to plant Anemone in this awful muck.
In the spring the pretty petite alpine Anemone sprouted with their lovely pink and white flowers.
Spring Anemone. Photo Courtesy http://www.rosecottageplants.co.uk/anemone/c33
Pleased with the progress, I celebrated.
In late July, these big, burly guys showed up. What in the heck were they?
What are these?!
My gardening philosophy is to leave anything alone I don’t recognize until it declares itself friend or foe. I’ll admit it was hard to keep from pulling these big guys out. I left them alone to see what they would do.
And did they deliver?!
Japanese Anemone give a wonderful POP of color to the fall garden.
History
Anemone means wind flower in Greek. Derived from the Greek anemio or Greek wind gods.
Victorians considered anemone a symbol of forsaken love. Greek tales say Anemones are Aphrodite’s tears over the grave of her dead lover, Adonis. He was killed by the other jealous gods.
They look just like Aphrodites tears
For me this year, they are one bright spot in the garden. While our nation cries our own tears over the graves of so many innocents this week, let’s soak in the peace and beauty of the Japanese Anemone and pray for peace and healing for those suffering.
Some of the Maples are just beginning to turn color.
We've turned the page to October, but Mother Nature didn't get the memo
- Deep shade garden
From my home garden
This week’s Friday Flower is the hydrangea.
This one blooms in my front garden. It’s a happy accident that the rose bushes in front of the bush mingle with the cone shape of the hydrangea flowers. Lovely, no?
This is the small tree form of the hydrangea. I have loads of hydrangea bushes too.
Deep shade garden
These live in an area of the garden so deeply shaded and wet that before I planted these NOTHING grew here.
The hydrangea’s with over 70 varities means you can find just the right fit for almost any gardening condition from dry to wet and full sun to deep shade.
The hydrangea also sports a number of different flower shapes and sizes from the lacy,
from Marijo’s garden
to the mop head.
Mop head variety from Davids garden
Hydrangeas are typically white. But by playing with your soil’s ph you can get a range of color from blue, purple, and pink.
Hydrangea have the added benefit of blooming from June till frost, making them a great performer in your garden beds.
Have a fabulous weekend wonder ones!
- Deep shade garden
The Friday Flower this week are these lovely Dahlias. This is the first year that I’ve grown Dahlias. I didn’t know exactly what to expect. I planted a mix of forced bulbs and bare bulbs. The forced bulbs flowered all summer.
Here are the dahlia’s growing in the garden.
The bare bulbs just started blooming mid-August, normally a quite time in the garden. What a fabulous pop of color.
Our friend Barbara recently gifted me with a treasure trove of sweetly embrodiered hankies, scarf runners and hand towels. I’m using them to anchor my Friday flowers on the little kitchen table in the nook.
I’ve been putting my Friday Flowers on these sweet hand embroderied hankies, a gift from dear friend Barbara.
The Dahlia is related to sunflowers, zinnia, daisy and chrysanthemum. I love sunflowers, unfortunately so do the rabbits, after several tries I’ve given up on sunflowers. The good news is the rabbits ignore the dahlias!
The only downside to the dahlias is that they are annuals here. Which means either I have to dig up all those tubers in a couple of weeks, or let them rot and plant new next spring. My success rate in digging, drying and replanting tubers isn’t very good. So far I’ve failed every time. I’ll let you know in a couple of weeks if the angels of my better nature want to try again.
- Deep shade garden
Hello!
Embracing life and all of it’s experiences, this blog celebrates the daily wonders and absurdities of life.
I live in the Heartland with Prince Charming in a cottage on a winding, tree-shaded lane. It’s as close to happily ever-after as I ever thought possible.
And yet some days, unless I remind myself of all that I have to be grateful for, I can get a little crabby. This blog is a weekly gratitude journal. And hopefully reminds you too of all that is wonderful and worth at least a smile in your own life.
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