My Tennessee Garden in July

July is here and in full force. The weather is back to hot and humid with a slight change, we have had rain! The rain is a good thing! Here are some pictures from my garden. The above flower is a flower from the evergreen dogwood 'Empress of China'. This dogwood is outstanding! It has grown about 3 feet in less than two years and is loaded with flowers that have been in bloom for more than six weeks. An outstanding tree any way you slice it.

In the same garden as the evergreen dogwood we find some daylilies hanging out. This area rarely gets sun and is quite dry due to tree roots but is stays fairly green throughout the year.

'Stargazer' lilies are making their presence known. No one can walk to the front door without smelling their heady fragrance.

'Annabelle' hydrangeas are starting to go by now but their show was quite a show due to all of the moisture.

This shot is from my favorite garden. This garden is only about three years old but has filled in nicely. The contrast between the cannas, Joe Pye weed, 'Limelight' hydrangeas and Doublefile viburnums is awesome! I plan to move all of these to the new garden and will keep the set up since the contrasting foliages work so well for me.

This is a new bee balm added last year. Its purple is really a vivid color that works nicely for summer. I need to put some orange or yellow daylilies near by to really make it shine.

Yellow cannas bloom alongside wood sunflowers (Helianthus divaricatus). These sunflowers are just coming into bloom and have made a nice groundcover weed barrier in this small garden which is mostly in the shade all day.

Skullcap (Scutellaria incana)  is blooming quite prolifically. The blue is calming in the summer garden.


This is a longer view of my Greenhouse garden (the same one that has the cannas and Joe Pye weed. I planted  solely for texture and heights, and it really worked out even better than I had hoped for. Here you have: grasses (blades), sedum (frilly & roundy), peonies (in between) lilies (frilly), cannas (bold), hydrangeas (frilly) all along with some color from the coneflowers. There is a blank area on the right that used to house daylilies. Those daylilies are part of a group of about 150 clumps that I have moved to our new garden.

Here's hoping your July garden is green and growing wonderfully this year....

in the garden....

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Bicycle Flower Basket

BY SKEETER

 Last year I added a bit of Whimsy to my GEORGIA GARDENS. Click HERE to see how this bicycle came to be...

 I notice the wicker basket is starting to warp and break down after a year of Summer heat and Winter cold. Time to make an adjustment.

 Not happy with having to water this basket practically every day during the heat of summer, I may have come up with a solution.

A new ($2.00) piece of Coco Liner.

 A new ($3.00) Railing Basket.

 A new ($.60) Plastic Tray.

 And a Pot of Mixed Plants found on the Bargain Bin for a mere $3.00.

 I cut to size and put the Coco Liner into the Basket. The Liner should hide the pot of Flowers.  

I secured the Liner with Black Pipe-Cleaners.

  I placed the Tray inside. The plan is for the tray to keep moisture on the Plants for less watering this summer.

 I set the entire pot of plants into its new home.

 Lastly, I attached the Basket of Flowers to the Bicycle. Easy, inexpensive solution to the failing basket. Which now sits by the bike until the Pansy and Viola within perish. The Basket on the back of the Bicycle has a Red Geranium, Yellow Pansy and a hanging plant which are doing fine for now.   

Under $8.00 for this BICYCLE FLOWER BASKET, In the Garden... 

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

Whimsy

BY SKEETER I have a bit of Whimsy here in my Georgia Gardens. This is my latest bit of fun. I have lost 2 Azalea's in the Driveway Island. I cut down the mostly dead one yesterday and decided to do something unique to take the eye off the empty spot. Flowers are my solution to keep the eye busy while looking at this Island. Bicycle baskets were too expensive to purchase. I remembered an old wicker basket in my storage closet. Can we say recycling? Ta-da... I hope these two containers of flowers fill in really well in time. I have a vision of full baskets draping over the sides. This bicycle once belonged to the Saints parents. They purchased it at Sears back in time when Sears was the place to buy most things. Remember when Sears had a Catalog and even sold house's? Wow, that was many moons ago. I knew when I saw a bicycle in Tina's Tiger Gardens, (Click HERE to see) that I had to have one of my own. Plus our next door neighbor is really into biking. I mean REALLY into biking as he has biked cross country. He is a biking fanatic and I got his thumbs up approval for this display. Thanks Mom B for keeping this bike out of the land fill and passing it along to us. No you cannot have it back either. Hee hee. In the past 3 days, I have seen 4 snakes in our yard. I fear it is going to be a bad year for snakes seeing so many this soon. I am hoping that maybe with this abnormal hot weather, that many critters are waking from winters naps sooner and they are on the move for food.


This Rat/Chicken Snake was doing a dance for me. It was the neatest behavior I have ever seen with raising his head like a King Cobra. I believe it was looking for food. It was funny as I went out to snap pictures and then it took off into the woods. I came back inside and no sooner had I sat down at the computer and I spotted it back in the same spot. As if that critter knew exactly where it was going. I watched it for a while then lost track of it. Sheba kitty had her eye on it the entire time and so wanted for me to let her out to play with it. My indoor only kitty wanted to have some WHIMSY, In the Garden...

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team, In the Garden

David's Bicycle In the Garden

From In the Garden

Who remembers Montgomery Ward? It used to be one of the two dream stores for thousands, if not millions, of people a few decades ago. The other half of the dream store pair was of course that venerable old standby we still know as Sears. My 'new' bike gracing my garden came from Montgomery Ward. It was a dream for one eightish year old boy from Maine back in 1953 or 1954. Takes you back huh? This little boy's Uncle Walter purchased the bike for him from Montgomery Ward before the little boy even knew how to ride a bike. Can you just imagine being eight and learning to ride a big bike like this?

The little boy is now, ahem, sixty something years old and is my mother's husband. His name is David and he still lives in Maine. In spite of traveling the world as a Navy man many decades ago, even having served in the Old Guard, David still lives in his hometown in Maine. Actually, he and my mother live just across a field from where David grew up. The uncle who so kindly made a little boy's dream come true is gone now, but the memories of this first bike remain with the boy. That is why my 'new' bike for my garden is all the more special.

How did I come upon this treasure you might ask? Well, I have a surprise saved for next Friday's post explaining it a bit but let us just say my oldest daughter Christine moved this bike and another down here from Maine during her recent move from Maine into her new home. The two bikes were very dissimilar though I liked them both. When I saw David's bike, not knowing it was his bike, I said "Wow! I am not dismantling that one it is going directly in the garden." That is when my daughter said, "Papa will be most happy because it was his bike." That comment sealed the deal and enter one special bike for Tiger Gardens. I had been hoping to find just such a special bike and the fact it came from family makes it even more so. While it took me a few weeks to find the perfect spot for my new/old bike I love it here. It sure takes me back to those dream days when the Montgomery Ward and Sears catalogs were the best darn reading....

in the garden....

Many thanks to my family and a special thanks to David for parting with two of their bicycles! This parting may be a bit tough for Pack Rat Mimi but I can assure you all in Maine that the bikes are in good hands and will live on in the garden.

Words and Photos Property of In the Garden Blog Team,

In the Garden