Happy Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day!
My blogging time is scarce these days but I’ve been pushing to get a Wordless Wednesday post out since their quick and easy and keep me in the game. I really love GBBD and always feel inspired to try to post something, even if it looks like the exact same post from the year before. I’m planting some bulbs this month and some new perennials too, with the hope that we’ll have some fresh, new things happening here next year. I’m already excited for 2015 and as I do every year, I’m having some difficulty saying goodbye to this year’s garden. I should really do a proper garden update but here are some snapshots of what’s blooming today.
Looking down, there’s lots of orange, quite a bit of green and some not yet dealt with veggies that need to be removed. 
The lemon zest petunias are still blooming, just a little, but this was a long run for petunias in my book!
We have lavender blossoms that still smell beautiful.
Giant zinnias, actually they weren’t so giant, but that’s okay.
The candy cane zinnias kind of grew on me..
We have garden mums scattered here and there.
I like this pretty daisy like variety of chrysanthemum.
The last roses of summer…
These are giant marigolds, grown from seed.
They deterred bugs and added a lot of cheer.
I’m excited about this stevia flower that’s about to bloom. Stevia is an herb with very sweet leaves that make a nice alternative to sugar in teas and things. I’d like to add more of these less common herbs where I have space.
The foliage hasn’t quite peaked here in Salem but it’s going to be beautiful in a few days!
Be sure to check out the other garden blogger’s Bloom Day posts on May Dreams Gardens by clicking here.
Gosh it feels good to blog!
Hope to be back soon!
Enjoy Everything!
Michele
And in worse case scenarios, like this… Yikes!
Last fall we scattered knockout roses across the front and side yards and while their very common, they have added a nice bit of color. I’ve been reading about rosa rosetta virus and worrying so I pruned all red canes and branches back to the ground a few weeks ago. I’m pretty sure that mine have it and there’s not a lot you can do to stop it other than try to cut it out before the mites make their way to the roots. We’ll see what happens.
I like the way the reddish pink flowers look against the worn fence.
The scarlet runner bean is taking off. I enjoy this plant because it’s pretty while it grows and it produces beautiful purple beans at the end of the season. It’s just a great, easy vine for filling in tall, long spaces.
It’s starting to creep up the bird feeder pole. I should have provided strings or a trellis.
We have lots of lilies. These were all planted in the years before I would have saved the packaging and made note of varieties. I like this pretty pale pink..
Deep orange…I don’t think it’s a ditch lily? Betsey, what do you say?
And a beautiful deep red…
Volunteer sunflowers are scattered around.
This is my favorite deck planter. It’s about three feet high.
I bury the base of the plant where the borers work their evil and the plant reroots almost immediately and keeps right on growing and producing. If you cut open the stalk you will clearly see the wormy little borers eating away. Not everyone handles that well. I think it’s kind of interesting.
There’s basil everywhere too. The flowers on this plant should have been cut back at the beginning of the bud stage. The photo that I took after I cut it was blurry, but you get the idea. You’ll have beautiful basil for a long time this summer if you cut it back!
The red onions look just about ready. I planted them close to the surface as I think I was supposed to and now their very high in the soil? Should I have covered them with soil as they grew or is this okay? It seems like they would have gotten bigger if they had stayed submerged a little bit longer.
The asparagus is gone for the year. It needs to be weeded and fertilized to shore it up for next spring.
The cucumbers are incredible this year! I guess the rain helped, along with researching the variety. I’ve harvested many and there’s lots more coming!
Okay, so, this is kind of a problem. I clearly wasn’t thinking when I put watermelon, cantaloupe and pumpkin in the same row.
The good news is that we have some fruit.
The bad news is that there appears to be some cross pollination happening. This is a very watermelon like cantaloupe.
Just across from the melon patch is a huge horseradish patch. I still have some in the freezer from last year.
The blueberries, covered with bird netting, are happily producing.
However, these brown dying branches on one of the two plants is a concern. Anyone know what’s happening here?
We have potatoes in the cat pot again… I mixed tons of compost in so I’m hoping for great tuber development.
We made a little goldfish pond on the deck this year. It’s just a plastic barrel filled with water, pond plants and fish. It’s so easy and a nice addition to our sitting area where we enjoy our view.
The larkspur adds pops of color everywhere.
The shagbark hickory tree has grown and become the focal point in the last few years…
with good reason.
Elephant’s ear winters over in Delaware, imagine that?
Echinacea
I love this little clay birdhouse/feeder and I’m wondering what that tall plant to the left might be?
Looking out toward the back yard…
Michael’s mom is an avid garage sale and thrift shop hunter so the ornaments are always changing.
The hear no evil statue is a new addition. I thought it was funny that
This guy continues to keep watch from the deck.
He has help now.
This…
produced this.
The Salem Garden 