A Rainbow of Color for Bloom Day

I went to a gardening seminar several weeks ago.  The speaker said she was going to reveal how to design a garden and look like you know what you're doing, whether you do or not.  My ears perked up!  Really?  I wanted to know the secret!  

She went on to say that the easiest way to make your garden look good was to stick to only two different colors, and eight different types of plants.

My heart sank.  There is no way I could ever do that.  

I tried to put in a white garden.  I had all kinds of plans to use only cream and white roses, intermixed with other white perennials, and a little purple thrown in.  Sounds like it might fit her plan!

Unfortunately, one of the first plants I bought for this new garden was red.  

Red!

So much for my white garden.  Guess I don't have much self-control.  Now, instead of it being "the white bed", I call it "the new bed". 

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and I realized that my garden has an entire rainbow of color in it.  Want to see?

White:

Lion's Fairy Tale rose (in the new bed - actually white!)

Pink:

Cupcake miniature rose (in the new bed, too)

Red:

A lot of reds:  canna foliage, Home Run rose, Hot Lips sage, Knock Out rose in back  (not the new bed - whew!)

Orange:

Pat Austin rose (uh, yep, in the new bed)

Yellow:

Charles Darwin rose - I am in love with these beautifully shaped blooms!
(Yes, this is part of the new bed.)

Green:

Luna Moth  (Goes with any color of garden!)

Blue:

Black and Blue salvia
I've read these could become invasive.  Oops!
(Not the new bed.)

Purple:

Unknown - but I love this color!
(Not the new bed, either.  But if I can find it's tag, I'm going to get some for it!)

Hope you enjoyed my garden's rainbow of color!  Do you have more than two colors in your garden?

Bliss

Spring has arrived, and I am loving every minute of it.

I have blisters on my feet.

My arms and legs have scratches all over them.

My nose and cheeks have a touch of sunburn.

My muscles are sore.

My house won't be clean again until next winter.

We have been eating very, very late.  And very simply prepared dishes.

It's wonderful!

What's blooming in my garden for Garden Bloomers Bloom Day?

Carnation, dianthus, iris, daffodil, crocus, salvia, muscari, scabiosa, gaillardia, 

camellia, pansy, various ground covers, and an occasional rose bloom.

This gardener is happy!

I Made It!

I made it!  Well, it wasn't because of anything I did, really, it was the weather.  But I'm going to celebrate anyway!

Irises are beginning to bloom

This month last year, I had no blooms to show for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day except a pitiful little frozen camellia bud.  I decided I wanted to work on having blooms in my garden all year round.  And so, I purchased more camellias and added some plants I felt might bloom in the winter months.

Gaillardia (blanketflower)

And I have blooms!

Just a few muscari (grape hyacinth)

Of course, it's not my doing, really.  We have had a couple of freezing nights, but no extended freezing weather this year.  If we had, this would be an entirely different story.

Loropetalum

Still, it's fun to say I've had blooms every month this year.  We'll have to wait and see if I'll be as lucky in February of next year!

Some kind of violet - I've had these for years!

And that's not all my blooms, either!  Wahoo!  Bring on March!  I'm ready!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another note, I have to brag just a bit on my sweet husband and his Valentine's day present to me.  It was a picnic he had put together himself.  What a lovely, romantic Valentine's day present!  I know some women would prefer going to a five-star restaurant, but not this gal! 

Thanks, honey, I loved it, and I love you!

Anything Blooming Now?

We've had a night or two of freezes!  The top of the fish pond has been iced over for the last couple of mornings.   Is anything blooming for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day?  Does any plant bloom in winter?

To my surprise, the answer is yes!

Scabiosa is still blooming beautifully.  No damage whatsoever.

Blanketflower is still blooming, but barely.  Most of the blooms were lost to the freezing temperatures.

Salvias still look beautiful.

And do you see what's behind that salvia bloom?

That's right!  An iris is sending up its spring shoots!

This particular camellia is located in a protected area, and still looks good.

And not really a bloom, but the hollies have more berries on them than I've ever seen!

Of course, the pansies are blooming.  Showoffs!

That's all that's blooming today in my garden, so maybe not a lot, but I am quite pleased that my garden still has blooms at all.  Will my garden have blooms all year?  I don't know that answer yet.  Last year February was the hardest month for my garden, which is typical of Texas.  So, we'll just have to wait and see what February brings!

Bloom Day Revelation

It's Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - for December!  Bloom Day is usually a time of joy, pride, and abundance, but December strikes fear into the gardener's heart.  Will anything be blooming?  Most of the time, that answer depends entirely upon your gardening zone.

I live in Texas, zone 8.  We get freezing temperatures.  But I still think that (most years) here, a garden planned well should be able to have blooms throughout most of the year.

Busy preparing for Christmas company, I haven't been out in the garden much.  So, I didn't know what, or if, anything was blooming when I ventured outside to take photos for Bloom Day.

I was relieved to see that there were quite a few blooms.

But then I realized - Something was wrong!

Sure, there were blooms here and there, but these blooms were spaced too far apart for any real impact.  

I thought about this for some time.  I've heard of gardeners that have "a spring garden", "a summer garden", "a fall garden", and "a winter garden", each in different areas of the garden.  But that concept has never been particularly appealing to me.

But I'm beginning to reconsider  - at least for winter.  These blooms would look so much better if they were placed near each other.  Now I see that, with just a little tweaking, my garden could have an entire area that was truly beautiful in the winter.

I have one part of the garden that is fairly empty.  Finding enough winter blooming plants to fill in and have a true "winter garden" would not be too difficult.  And it could still look beautiful in summer.

I'm going to work on that concept.

Thanks, Bloom Day.

Because of you, I quit cooking, cleaning, decorating, painting, shopping, wrapping, and baking long enough to go outside and really see my garden, and how it could be even better.

My Bloom Day revelation?  I live in a great zone.  I should have a true garden in winter (or at least one area), not just a few scattered blooms!

Bloom Day in Photos

It's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!  Is anything blooming in my garden?

Oh, yeah!

Hope you enjoyed the look around!

The Heat is On!

There's a fight brewing.  A fight between me and Mother Nature.  It starts this month, and will last all winter.  What's the fight over?  Blooms!

You see, Mother Nature tries hard to make all the blooms go away in the winter.  And sometimes she succeeds.  A hard freeze here, a snowfall there.  But I'm fighting for an ever-blooming garden.

As I live in zone 8, it's possible, but not always easy.  Who will win this year?  Not sure.

She's doing her best to lull me into a state of bliss.  All the roses are blooming right now, and she thinks I'm not thinking about winter.  Actually, I am pretty blissful right now.  But I know winter's not very far away.  And no one (not even the weathermen, obviously!) knows what weather conditions winter will bring.  So, it will be an interesting year.

Right now, the garden is blooming profusely.  Roses everywhere.  But it's Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and I'm not going to talk about the roses.  I'm going to concentrate today on the companions that are blooming right now:

Asters

Firebush

Catmint - no, wait!  That's just a cat!

Here's catmint!  With a hummingbird moth!

Pavonia

Salvia

Of course, the fall staple - chrysantemums.  I admit to these being a new purchase.  It'll be interesting to see how many years they survive.

And another fall staple - sedum.

And that's just a small sampling of what's blooming in my garden!  Yes, Mother Nature is trying to lull me into a false sense of security that these blooms will stay.  I know that it's not true.  So, I'm going to enjoy them while they're here.  And hope for the best in the months to come through the winter.  And I do have hope!

Because I have something in my garden that just may beat Mother Nature at her own game.  The camellias are budding!

And those are better than any bloom.  Because this is a promise.  A promise of blooms to come.