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| From In the Garden |
I am not generally a pink type of person because I much prefer the bright and hot colors. The more saturated the color the better in my humble opinion. The one time pinks really are a pleasure is during the spring. After the hots of the tulips and daffodils have passed by I kind of want to give my eyes a rest and let the soft blues and pinks of spring come into play. However; I have one area at the western most point of my sword shaped vegetable garden that is full of pinks. This section of the garden that is less than five feet square has the hot bright pinks in the form of cleomes, soft and subtle pinks in the from of gladiolus, coneflowers, and Chinese indigo, and the somewhat fluorescent pink of an old fashioned phlox. The colors rock my world! I did not in any way plan this color scheme because, as regular readers of this blog know, I am a mix 'em up and shake 'em up kind of gardener and like gardens full of tons of different colors. Now I'm beginning to think a white border, a blue border, a yellow border....well, you get the idea.
Pictured above is the Chinese indigo (the tall airy shrub in the background), the cleomes in the center, and the phlox (the first time it has bloomed) in the foreground. The glads and coneflowers (barely visible in the back of the photo) are nearby but I could not fit them into the picture. If you'd like to see them check out July's Bloom Day post....
in the garden....
Do you have borders or gardens with shades of only one color in your garden?
A late addition to this post is a picture of one of my very first monarch caterpillars munching away on the Mexican/Tropical butterfly weed. It's not a pink in my garden but you'll forgive me if I cannot resist posting a picture of it. I found three cats and am just thrilled! If you don't grow this tropical milkweed run out and get some now if you want monarch caterpillars. It is easy to grow and looks awesome with no help from me-and comes back each year too...
in the garden...
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| From In the Garden |
Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,
In the Garden
Pinks are pretty, I love cleome too and it self seeds so nicely. I am so ready to see monarchs around here. Plenty of milkweed awaiting their arrival!
ReplyDeleteI have cleome come back each year also. I love the different flower forms in pink.
ReplyDeleteA pretty section of the garden, with pink the focus. It softens the fiery heart.... ~bangchik
ReplyDeleteI would have a bed with all one color if I did not check myself every now and then. I seem to be attracted to anything orange.
ReplyDeleteI'm a "pink" girl, so I love this border, Tina! My cleomes have done really well this year; I've always liked this airy-looking plant.
ReplyDeleteAnd congratulations on the Monarch caterpillar! I found the first tiny Swallowtail catt on my fennel yesterday, but no sign of the Monarchs. There have been a few Monarch butterflies around this summer, so I still have my fingers crossed they'll lay some eggs.
I like your pinks very much. They look very pretty together.
ReplyDeleteThe caterpillar is awesome. We get monarchs but I don't have the milkweed the caterpillars need--must plant some!!
The pinks are so pretty! And how lucky with the cats. Both kids in 1st grade went hunting for these and lucked out but the classroom had them.
ReplyDeleteHi Tina, pink is my favorite so of course I just love this garden. I tried an all white area this year and it would work well if I'd put more time, thought and money into it. I had white cosmos, white supertunias and white annual dianthas. All are summer bloomers and have bloomed well for a long period. It needs taller plants, more variety and a larger area. If I did it again I'd move the white phlox, white cleome and white swan coneflowers into that garden plus more.
ReplyDeleteMarnie
I do have an area that changes color tones from season to season (from pastels like pink, white & lavender - hot colors like orange, yellow and dark purple). Congrats on the caterpillar!! :)
ReplyDeletei like pink flowers. I have to work hard to pick flowers with other colours.
ReplyDeletewow, Tina. That first photo is my idea of perfection. It's just gorgeous. I'm not familiar at all with Chinese Indigo but I love how it towers in the background. (Also love that yellow gate as you well know).
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finding the Monarch caterpillars and for the info on the host plant. I was just thinking I needed to research host plants in order to draw more butterflies to my garden. I seem to have plenty of flowers that attract them once they transform but nothing to lay eggs on....
So spring is my favorite season, I love this kind of flowers :) ... unfortunately, I live in a flat.
ReplyDeleteI like that Chinese indigo. Is that invasive at all? It's pretty neat the way it floats above the cleome. Very cool on the cats!
ReplyDeleteDave, I've been growing the amblyantha for more than five years and for the first time ever I noticed about three seedlings. They are about 2 feet tall now. I am MOST excited because a few of my garden friends would like one of these-including Naomi. If I have any leftover some lucky person at the plant sale will get one. This is a keeper here for its long bloom, ease of care and very faint shadow pattern on the veggies.
ReplyDeleteI love the pinks, especially this time of year when summer is taking its toil. It is so dry here that my garden has given up on me, or maybe I have given up on it...anyway- Have a wonderful weekend. Carla
ReplyDeleteI think that cat is just a awesome as the butterfly it becomes.
ReplyDeleteI love pinks in the garden. I seem to have pink blooming almost year round. I love the Cleome, mine never came up this year, but they seem to look good mixed with almost anything.
ReplyDeleteHow cool to have the Monarch caterpillars, I think they are almost as pretty as the butterfly. I hope you'll be able to find their chrysalises and watch as they turn into butterflies.
I use Mother Nature's paint pallet--mishmash! I never think I like pink flowers either, until I realize how many of them I love, lol. Centranthus ruber is one of my faves.
ReplyDeleteI love that caterpillar, even though it's not pink. I almost never wear pink, but I have lots of it in the garden, though nothing as serious as an all-pink border. It's a color that really plays well with many others and can be a peace-maker between nearby screaming colors.
ReplyDeleteGreat that you have a caterpillar!
ReplyDeleteI do love pinks and most of the front garden and cottage garden is based on it -- from light to deep pink.
I just cannot get cleome going here. I don't know the problem with it as everyone else eventually has too much. I'm going to try winter sowing for next year as direct sowing isn't doing the job.
That caterpillar is amazing. Pretty amazing, you just plant the right stuff and they show up. I might have to try attracting some in my yard.
ReplyDeleteNo, I don't have any gardens with only one color dominating. I subscribe to the clown pants school of gardening. More color is always better! Did you ever try chocolate cosmos? It smells and looks like chocolate. But it's not winter hardy.
ReplyDeleteYipee, the cats are there just as you planned on your recent posting about them!
ReplyDelete