A Tour Of A Friends Gardens

Last week my neighbor asked if I would like to go with her to visit her friends
gardens and of course I jumped at the idea before she could change her mind. I
suspected if she was going to visit someones gardens they were probably going to
be spectacular! And I was right!

Just click on each picture for a larger view.

What a variety of trees, grasses, shrubs, colors and textures. The perfect
mix.

Look at this mix of colors.

They must have the oldest and biggest Weeping Cedar I've ever seen. It was massive.

Coming around to the side starts a showing of decidious Azaleas and some rhodies with a
few others mixed in. What a show they must put on earlier in the year when they
are all blooming. She said they are also beautiful when they change colors in
the fall.

Heading farther back for a better view of the Gazebo.

Can you see the vines on each corner of the Gazebo? They are climbing hydrangeas
and they really add to the look of it.

The pond is spectacular - it just keeps going and going. Part is a little creek
that heads up to another pond section.

It must be so much fun to choose everything to plant around it. Not to mention
the kick you'd

get putting flowers and fish in the pond.

Heuchera Plum Pudding was putting on a show with a brilliant pink back. Not to
mention it looks like she just got done blooming her heart out with all of those
stems I see.

Sorry it's a bit fuzzy but this is a varigated Ajuga that I found very
pretty.

A beautiful little pink Japanese Maple.

The Hosta blooms are really knocking themselves out. You know how normally they
hardly show? Well take a look at the size of these.

Here's another pretty one.

A lovely blue Hydrangea

I just fell in love with this path by passing everything and heading toward a
big double arbour.

Loaded with different Clematis, Monarda, Hollyhocks, Roses . . .

This Hollyhock is such a dark rich color.

Some yard art

And then there was this rose that just blew me away with all of the different
color varietions.

I couldn't quit snapping pictures of the different combinations.

From bright orange to delicate pink.

Another view of the pond.

A gorgeous Water Lily.

Some Astilbe and another Japanese Maple

Something every Grandma needs.

She said the hummingbirds are crazy about this water fall that hangs on the
wall.

I couldn't resist experimenting with this macro of a Coneflower.

Or this one . . .

A beautiful bunch of daisies.

One last look back as we leave.

She also has rose gardens that I can only imagine are beautiful but with the
horrible weather we've had this summer she said they weren't looking very good.
Same with the sweet peas I was dying to smell. O'well maybe next time.

New Flowers Make It All Better

Well thank goodness I had new flowers to plant and make it all better after the chomping machine went ripping through the property eating everything in sight.

This is my new Deutzia - I don't remember if they told me anything about it at the Farmer's Market except it gets 7 feet tall? Guess I'll run down there today and see if they have a name and double check on the size because I'd like to do it in a grouping with some of my next new pretties. She said this gets pinker as the season goes by and the picture she showed was very pink - so far mine is still white. Maybe because it's young. I have Spanish Lavender in the regular purple but didn't know they had different kinds. This is Boysenberry Ruffels and it is gorgeous with more of a pinkish tint to it. I thought it would look nice planted by the Deutzia.
Hosta Albomarginata. I'm going to replace those big honkers in front of my Callas that I'm unhappy with. Now they will be smaller and the same size and color - I hope!
I wanted some more Lambs ears because mine don't seem to be spreading - at least not that I can see anyway so I thought I'd just get more and put them somewhere else. I did that last year and they ended up being Lychness of some sort marked wrong. When I first got there I asked the lady at the nursery if they had any so I wouldn't forget. She picked one of 2 up and I asked her if they could set it aside for me while I looked around. I mentioned that it looked a little darker than mine and she said probably just where it was sitting in the light. I got home and was reading the tag and it's a dwarf. Hmmm do I want to keep it? I seem to have a hard time bringing Lambs Ears home - just plain old fashioned Lambs Ears. O'well, I didn't double check what she picked up so it's my fault and besides it might be nice to have a little one on a border somewhere. It is kinda cute! It will get 10" tall.
This is a Miss Kim Lilac - a dwarf that only gets about 5 feet tall I believe.
A Japanese Maple they were selling for an amount we couldn't afford to pass up.
I've wanted one of these for the last couple of years - ever since my girlfriend had a fellow employee bring some branches to her job and she said they had fuchsia (some are purple or lavendar) berries on them. After reading and finding out the birds also love them I have had it on my wish list. It will fit right in with the colors around here. It's called Callicarpa Bodinieri 'Profusion' or sometimes it's just called Beauty Berry. This one was in their discount section needing some TLC so I'm going to try and give it that. If the deer don't work against me!
And now for my biggest thrill of this buying spree - or would it be the summer? I saw these last summer when someone got one. I had been at the same little town celebration but didn't see this anywhere so I missed out. I call it my 'bad hair day' plant. It's a Japanese Willow but this one has been grafted on to another trunk (forgot to ask what kind) so it's taller than normal. A friend of mine has that kind and they are really pretty too with their pink foliage coming out on the ends but this little guy standing tall and kind of ruffled up is just so cute!!! I'll let the branches grow and just keep them trimmed above the ground so I guess it won't be a bad hair day tree when it grows up. There are actually 2 of them together in this picture since my girlfriend, and partner in crime, wanted one too and the guy lives out here by me so I just grabbed her one also. What a cutie pie this is - I absolutely love it.
I guess I'm a little late getting my annuals for the deck this year and the place I went to locally was sold out so I had to get something different. This big pink Sugar Daddy Petunia is one I always get but she only had a couple left.
So I had to buy some different ones. This is a Tidal Wave. I don't usually do waves but guess I will this year. The Tidal Wave is even bigger than the waves I guess.
Another Tidal Wave in a different color.
A pretty colorful Verbena. I love Verbenas but they were out of them too. Guess I'll have to pick some up somewhere else.