Kaseys Korner

4th of July specials

I don't really know that I've ever stopped at a greenhouse or nursery over the 4th of July holiday before this year but boy am I ever glad I changed that precedent.  Quite accidently (sure you say) I ended up at one I rarely visit and everything was 50% off!  Look what I found for $12.50:

 

Abraham Darby!  OMG!!  This has been quite a lucky year for me with garden finds and this one ranks right up at the top of my list.  It was quite an impressive size bush too.  Check it out in my back yard getting ready to be planted:

 

I'm not sure why it's so floppy?  But I'm not complaining.  I had the perfect spot in mind (next to a pink shrub rose I already had) so I made adjustments for the floppiness by surrounding it with the green tuteur (moved over from the 3'X3' raised veggie bed):

 

Hopefully it will get established this year and maybe not need the tuteur next season?  Or maybe I'll just like the look of it growing in and up and around the tuteur and leave it??  Either way it was a banner find for me and something I've had on my list for quite a while.  I also picked up one more clematis for $9.00:

 

You can always find room for another vine right?  Good thing the greenhouse was such a bonanza because the 4th was sort of a bust.  Our cookout was rained out and it was the first year that I can remember that it was sketchy whether the fireworks would go off or not.  Ultimately they did but we watched them from the window instead of going to view them at our normal spot.  Hope your 4th was a good one.

Filipendula 'Rubra Venusta'

more commonly known as "Queen of the Prairie," is without a doubt, the majestic beauty in my front terrace garden right now.  It's taller than anything else, towering over the still growing Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium maculatum purpureum) whose purple stems are very visible on the left side of the photo below:

 

Filipendula is in the center back of the above photo, topped off by tight pink buds and standing about 5 ft tall.  Red-birds-in-a-tree (Scrophularia macrantha) is the red in bloom in the foreground.  Now that this much color is showing in the buds: 

it won't take long for them to bloom.  Once the buds open, the bloom is a fuzzy, "angora-sweater-looking" flower.  I'll be sure to photograph them for you, in case you don't have this wonderful native growing in your garden already.  Last year I posted a mini scrapbook page I had created with filipendula partially in bloom.  Here's that same layout, to tide you over, until the blooms pop this year:

 

Remember that??  It really is a noteworthy perennial to have.  Even the spring foliage is attractive since it emerges red:

 

Now that is veritable "royalty" wouldn't you agree?!! 

bumblebee birthday

Remember this photo from when I brought the Penstemon palmeri home?

 

I liked it so much I decided to use it on a card for my friend Jill:

 

It was her birthday yesterday ~ I hope she had a happy day.

 

It always makes me feel good to share a piece of my garden with someone special, whether it be plants, photos or seeds.  The pleasure I have received from planting, photographing, viewing, tending, cultivating, etc., is passed on in some small way.  It's also a funny way of immortalizing the garden ~ is that crazy or not?!!  Happy Birthday my friend ~ one day late ~ but I hope our card wasn't?

the "grounds" at Paper Posey Cottage

Ha.  That sounds impressive doesn't it?  I'm just trying to fool myself because the word "grounds" implies acreage, doesn't it??   I certainly don't have that.  Just a small, pie shaped plot with the largest section of the pie being along the front yard, coming to a point in the corner of the backyard.  I took these photos last night since there has been interest in seeing long views of my garden.  Many of you have seen angles of it before so bear with me.  Along the entire front of my property runs a terraced garden bed that hides a terrific flagstone patio beyond it. 

We spend many, many hours on our front patio which is relatively private in the summer months due to all the growth in the terraced garden.  Let's look at that terraced bed from the opposite angle ~ toward the driveway:

 

You can see how the garden snakes & curves along the front of my property with just a small strip of grass in front.  This bed extends quite a bit to the left of the oak tree with a line of junipers ending in a point where I have a small heat lovers bed full of perennials that don't need any extra attention:

Clear as mud, right?  And because of the shadows, you can't see the maintenance free bed.  Nice photography!  Oh well, you're getting the idea right?  Going back to the driveway, if you should visit my house, this would be the scene that greets you as you get out of your car and round the corner to ring my doorbell:

 

Our retreat.  It's so relaxing and peaceful to sit in those chairs.  I think my favorite spot in the garden.  Before I get too caught up in that scene and want to abandon my post in favor of said chairs, let's get back to the tour.  If you forego walking up the front steps to my entryway, and choose instead to follow the flagstone patio around to the side gate, this is the view that greets you:

 

This image is from last year, before I put the arbor over the gate, but it looks much the same today.  You can see the flagstones carrying you along the way, like a bread crumb trail, to the back yard.  I have plantings tucked into every nook & corner of my yard.  Here's the nook that you'd see to the right of the gate:

You remember that tuteur, right?  Once you open the gate and enter the back yard (and properly greet the waiting guard dog!!!) you continue to follow the pathway to the back patio area.  Along the left side of the path is a hedge of viburnums and along the right another garden area:

 

This side garden is narrow but holds my cimicifuga, rodgersia, and a plethora of other valuable plants.  Once you reach the back patio:

 

you can turn around and see another nook, this one shady, hosting ferns, hosta, chelone, monkshood, thalictrum, etc.:

  

And that my blogging friends, about tells the story.  The only part of my garden left for you to explore is the backyard, seen beyond the arbor:

 

I have an assortment of shrubs, roses, and shade perennials around the perimeter (and tucked into more crannies) with a spot of grass in the center for my best gardening companion.  All the macros you see are taken in one of these beds or another at various times of the season.  The "grounds" are small but enough to keep me as busy as I want to be.   Now that we've completed our tour, you're no doubt thirsty, it's certainly warm out today.   You are welcome to come in for tea or maybe you'd like to have tea in the garden (I know that's where I like to be)??

current favorites

many in my favorite color, (no secret what that is) pink.  A pale, pale shade is brightening up the back corner shade bed on this beautiful delphinium:

 

Out in the sunny front terrace garden, my favorite poppy of all time is blooming ~ the pink peony poppy:

 

I love everything about them, the blooms the most, but even the unopened poppy heads:

 

are very attractive to me.  The seed pods are great too, as you all know.  I used to cut them for dried arrangements but now I leave every single one in hopes of a giant show the following year.  I never get it.  Only a few sprinkle themselves about but as long as they continue to keep a presence, I'll be happy.  Also back in the corner shade bed, the thalictrum is almost over (this photo was taken a week ago):

 

It was magnificent this year ~ I think it really flourished in our wet, cool June weather.  Here are a couple macros I also took a while ago.  First the buds:

 

You almost have to look at them from an intimate distance to appreciate the tiny, airy blooms.

 

Otherwise they just look like a mass of pink fluff.  A pretty mass of fluff tho:

I wish I remembered the full latin name but I've been hauling this plant around from garden to garden since 1996.  The lone non-pink bloom I'm enjoying in this grouping is Eremurus 'Cleopatra' (foxtail lily) that I planted last fall:

 

Out of the three plants I received, only one lone bud stalk emerged and bloomed.  Hopefully, next year I'll get a better showing.  There's been a request for more long shots of my garden so I am going to try and accommodate that in the next few days.  Today, I ran out of time to take any garden photos so you just get the compilation of blooms.  I know you all know how that goes ~ thank goodness. 

grape jelly

If anyone tracks consumer grocery purchases and looked at mine in the last month and a half, they'd think I'd suddenly developed an obsession with grape jelly.  I don't just buy it by the single jar, I have to buy it in multiples.  I never knew what an attraction it would be in my garden when I purchased that "high end" feeder last winter for the orioles.  It has turned out to be the "go-to" place for many more birds than just them.  Here's a sampling of the birds I caught visiting/indulging during my thirty minute lunch break yesterday (making me the worst dining companion in history, I might add, since I did little conversating and mostly clicking).  A house finch:

They have loved both the oranges & the jelly whenever they can squeeze in line behind the bigger birds that visit.  One of those being the Blue Jays who first checked out the feeder when they were nesting.

 

Now that the young have fledged, they still visit daily to check for peanuts & sample a couple bites of jelly.  The most surprising visitor to the jelly jars are the Robins:

 

I've never had a Robin visit any feeder in my yard before so I was certainly surprised to discover them on this one.  But you can see (by the telltale traces of jelly on his beak) that they are also enjoying the sweet treat.  Of course, the feeder was designed primarily for Orioles and now that the Blue Jays have left, they are back in droves.  It's really amusing to watch them make their way onto the jelly cups.  They never fly directly to them.  They land in the Aspen trees, hop onto the arbor then thread their way thru the honeysuckle vines until they are positioned just so:

 

After going thru all those acrobatics, they waste no time eating upon arrival.  I loved this photo of the male Bullock's oriole, beak open, ready to dive in for a big bite:

 

The feeder is in such high demand, there is often a line.  Here's an example taken mostly for my father who found it amazing that they wouldn't be territorial:

 

I haven't observed that, it's like they've had a few lessons in manners.  One will eat while the others wait.  But as soon as one is finished and takes flight:

 

The second moves in.  And so it goes.  I could have sat there all afternoon snapping pictures.  I have to enjoy it while I can tho ~ the Orioles will start to head south in July and that will be it until next season.  I can't believe it's almost over already....

butterfly display case

Last summer, while shopping at one of my local greenhouses, I saw a dead swallowtail butterfly laying among the container plants for sale.  I asked the sales lady if I could take him home with me since he was so perfectly preserved.  She obliged and added him to my box at check out.  At the time, I had no idea what I would do with him so I tucked him carefully away after arriving home.   Last fall it came to me ~ I decided to mount him in a display case with a coordinating photo. 

Like many of you, I enjoy the challenge taking a great butterfly photo presents.  The end of summer always produces the best photos for me.  They seem much less skittish by then or maybe they're just languid because of the heat??  Either way, butterflies and flowers are the essence of summer, hence the title of the display case. I thought the photo and the specimen were perfect companions although I'd rather see the butterfly alive rather than dead.

 

This project is now the property of Crafts 'N Things magazine and I am enjoying it only thru the photos I took or by looking at a current copy of the magazine (where it can be found).  It was fun to create tho and I'm happy I could provide the Swallowtail with a beautiful resting place.

Bur Oak Acorns

Yes, I know I'm a little "out of season" here but I feel like shouting ~ I've found an old acorn cap.  So yes, Virginia Gail, there is are a Santa Claus acorns on my Bur Oak afterall.  Maybe I should back up.  Last fall, Gail showed some beautiful acorns she had collected from the Bur Oak in her garden.  They were gorgeous, giant, furry specimens and it perplexed me even more as to why I haven't had any on mine.  It was planted about 12 years ago and my only theory was it had to be a certain size/age to produce them??  Anyway, yesterday, during another one of our (frequent this year) severe storms, which produced wind gusts up to 80 mph, look what blew down:

 

It's an old acorn cap!  That means there must have been at least a few acorns last year that I wasn't aware of.  Maybe this year will be the year for the first real crop??  Here's what they look like on the tree so far:

 

Something seems different about them but I don't know what??  I'm hoping it's a difference that means they will develop into full blown acorns.  In previous years, they get about this big, then turn brown and dry up:

Certainly these are not the beautiful acorns I know they have the potential to be.  All of the sudden, I'm excited for fall.  I am crossing my fingers/toes and everything in-between that my Oak tree will bear fruit this year. 

PS  I know this isn't as exciting for most of you as it is for me.  I hope you'll humor me for posting about it ~ I've been waiting a long time for this to happen! 

time for the garden at last

Seems strange to say that but I've been so busy lately I haven't had much time to actually work in the garden.  Ten minutes here or there with the camera and I have to go in.  This morning I was up early, the soil was moist from our rain last night and I was energized.  The perfect recipe for accomplishing garden tasks.  I have been meaning to cut the oriental poppies back (they have long since been done blooming) and fill the void around them with the 'Antiquity' Cosmos seedlings I started in April.  Check that off the list. 

 

The poor seedlings were about a foot high, blooming & desperate to get in some actual soil.  I'm so glad I could finally accommodate them.  While I was out there, I found the most wonderful surprise.  The poppies heads (about to open):

that I thought were all pink peony poppies, were NOT!  Look what greeted me: 

 

A 'Lauren's Grape' carnation poppy (papaver somninifera), named after Lauren Springer Ogden for those of you acquainted with her.  I have no idea if this poppy is available worldwide or only regionally??  I know our local greenhouse grows and sells it annually.  I bought a few last year and obviously, it reseeded.  Hooray for happy moments like these.  Another surprise that might make you pause is:

 

Yes, a Hellebore bloom!  Crazy, huh?  I added a few to my garden earlier this year (after seeing so many gorgeous ones on your blogs) and I guess it likes where I planted it because I never expected a bloom this year.  This one is 'Red Lady' but the bloom is anything but red.  I hope it wasn't mismarked although I'm sure it will be beautiful no matter the color.  I would say my day is off to a good start!  I hope yours is too. 

ten minutes

was about all the time I had in the garden yesterday.  But ten minutes can be very revealing ~ you can see the Asiatic lilies have begun to bloom.  'Dolly Madison:'

 

is looking great (and the perfect color for the upcoming 4th of July holiday).  A little more subtle is 'Lollipop:'

 

I actually happened to "catch" 'Lollipop' the other morning when she was just a bud.  Look how fun the morning light makes this photo:

 

I added several varieties of lilies to the garden this spring.  I'm not sure why I was on such a lily kick?  I don't see any bees or butterflies landing on the blooms??  I have been trying not to plant anything that doesn't benefit wildlife but maybe I was just in a plant "pretty" phase?  Ten minutes, if you're willing to look closely, will also reveal a lady bug searching for a meal:

 

He's on the tip of a way-past-its-peak Black & Blue Salvia bloom above and below, he stopped long enough to clean his face:

 

When you get such an intimate distance to them, you see their faces/heads are really warrioresque.  Complete with pincers, etc., ~ no wonder they can demolish so many aphids.  In ten minutes time you will also see:

 

Echium Amoenum is in full bloom.  What a beauty she is.  Going about the business of life, a baby bunny accompanied me around the garden:

 

They have eaten a few flowers and leaves of plants in the beds but mostly they are in the lawn.  My philosphy in regards to bunnies (especially the babies) is "I have enough to share."  Maybe easy to say because I'm not overrun with them???  The last photo taken in the last minute is of a cowslip bloom (Primula veris) that seemed to be the center of activity:

 

A spider (or is it two ~ maybe one is a victim??) both found their way to this particular bloom.  I was never quite sure what was going on ~ all I know is ten minutes can be quite enough to enrich anyones day.