Daylily Bed turned Memory Bed

OK...so here we have a before and after picture of the bed. I tell ya when I get something in my head that I am gonna do, it WILL be done :0) I first scraped up all the grass, then began laying out stones. Then I put up a sort of barrier under the fence so that all of my soil would not go under, and to keep it looking nice. The soil in place was already pretty good...but because it is so hard to dig in our yard (only a few inches), I added some so that I would not have to dig down quite so deep making it easier. Last week I went around and labeled all the flowering daylilies in thy yard so that I would know what color they all were. This week, when I was ready to begin planting, all I had to do was look at the tags for the ones not blooming to be able to place them in the bed where I wanted them to go. I started with some red cana lilies in the back that I just bought off ebay (thery are bulbs, but beginning to sprout) to give the bed some height in the back you can not see right now....try to picture it ...........are you trying..........ok....well I know that it is hard right now but they will be taller than the daylilies and have deep red tones with banana type green leaves. I read in my new Souhern Living Garden Book that cana lilies and daylilies are a perfect pair because of the types of leaves they have. I really was not thinking about that, but hummmm...pretty good! I was really thinkning about the bright colors. I placed the red with orange center daylilies next, and then a double orange ruffle, then yellows in the middle, and lastly some pinks and whites on the sides. The yellows have already bloomed, but I still have lots of orange tones blooming and some pinks that have to bloom yet. I added a double blooming knockout rose in the middle towards the front (I bought from Wessingers back in April). I then placed double wave petunias in purple and purple heart beind the knockout rose.....wow what a color combo! I looove the oranges and the purples together.....they really set each other off. I added some peonies on the very far right and left, making this an ecclectic bed in the end. And now to the reason I call this the memory bed.....and this really gives me an idea as I write this.....most of the flowers in that bed are from my grandmothers old gardens. The daylilies, Easter lilies, and the peonies are what make up the majority of the bed and so therfore I want to refer to it as the memory bed. I bought a kit that you can make stone with words on them. I might put my little bird bath in there and under it put a stone that would dedicate the garden to her. What should I write...."In memory of Arlene Lake " ? I feel like I am leaving out papa though...even though he didn't really get into plants...well besides his forced relationship with the magnolia tree....umm....ok...how bout "In memory of J. & A. Lake" yeah....that could work. :0)

I have added the way the garden looks now...it gre like crazy this season!

First E-Bay purchase!

Daylily Red Ribbons 2 fans 8" Red Spider


Sugar Candy 2 fans 5" Dark Orchid/Orange throat

Last night I was on E-Bay looking around like I sometimes do, and decided to bid on something! I saw some really pretty daylilies and thought I would give it a try...I missed the first four I bid on because I didn't know what I was doing, but then won two! My husband was looking this way for a while, and then right when there was 45 seconds left on the auction he came over here to see what I was doing. GREAT! I was trying to do this without him knowing....he thinks I spend too much money on flowers :0) Needless to say I missed that particular auction because we were arguing about I didn't need it, and I didn't know how to bid on it right...oh well! Next time I will have to flower shop when he isn't at home :0) Here are the two I won!

Daylilies! A New Day, A New Bed!

Wow the daylilies are beautiful right now. My grandmother had a large collection of daylilies when we moved into the house, and I am seeing all the colors and styles now as they are beginning to bloom. There are a lot of dark red with an orange center, and there are some orange ones. There is a really pretty peach, yellow, and just last night I found a yellow trimmed in purple with a purple center behind the AC unit. I dug it up, because it is desperate need of some TLC. It had two blooms on it, but had very little green leaves. It is so ot and dry on that side of the house, so I am going to see if I can transplant it and "Miracle Grow" it to make it look better. I am going to start a daylily bed in front of the well house....I have to go around and dig them all up right now, now that I know what they are. I am going to tr and space them out to make a pretty pattern...I let you know how it goes....I will take some pictures of the blooms now, and where they are now, andthen a picture of where I plan to put them. A before and after! Get Excited (while I get sunburned and a heat stroke!)

There is a pink getting ready to bloom I think....if I remeber correctly from last year....and there was a really ruffly double orange one last night too that is not blooming this morning...maybe it will open up later in the day and I can get a shot of that one too....

New Flooring...

Bryon and I put this flooring down in the open part of the well house....this part used to be completely open, like a breezeway, and we closed it in on three sides making it another room in the well house. We put these pavers down as a flooring, and plan to continue to run them under the pergola that we just built. It looks great!

Garden Dishes

I got started on a project back around mother's day by one of my teaching assistants Deborah. She was gluing objects onto copper piping such as plates, bowls, tiki huts, whatever she liked! I got hooked too, and began making some of my own. Here lately I began gluing them on spindles which I think I like better. You can customize them much more by painting the post any color you want, and you also have a bigger base to secure the item to. Here are some examples of some of the ones I have done. I have also gotten really excited about using vintage enamel ware. I paid a few dollars for all of the items you see here, and have really had a fun time making all of these! I plan to make more...and will post when they are done!

Which do you like better..the copper poles, or the wooden spindels?

Well House to "La Casa de Flores"

We have done so much to the well house since my last post! I don't know where to start! We have since added an arbor/pergola...not sure which one to call it because it is not really big like a pergola, but it is larger than an arbor....hummmm....what do you think?

I loooovvveee it! I plan to paint it white this afternoon...stay tuned for updates! I think it looks so good with the flowers hanging from the front corners....I am going to stencil "la Casa de Flores" on the front...and that will be it's new name. I can't wait to see what it will look like....but that's the thing about outdoor flower gardens, they are never finished! I will probably be still adding on to it when I am 80! I plan to plant a Yellow Banks Rose on the corner nearest the house, and also plant a vine that will hopefully cover most of it one day. I am researching on the Internet exactly what I want I want to plant on it.....A Clematis in red, a Chinese Trumpet Creeper, a variety of morning glory, there are too many choices! I definitely want a shade of red, or perhaps yellow! Well, since I plan to plant the Yellow Banks Rose on the corner, there is my splash of yellow. Red will probably be the winner!

I always have a habit of looking at other people's flowers when I visit their house. I went to Brandon and Taylor's house this weekend and was talking to their neighbor Mary and Joe. They have a beautiful back yard and so many flowers including hibiscus, crepe myrtles, Mexican petunia, bougainvillea, variations of ivy, verbena, lantana, and so many other things. One plant in particular caught my eye: the Oleander. I loves the look of the leaves being long and slender, and the beautiful vibrant colors of the blooms, and really wanted to get me some. I took a small sampling home to root, only to find on the Internet through a Google search that it is highly poisonous to animals! OH NO! I have two adorable dogs and would be DEVASTATED if my love of gardening, but lack of plant knowledge killed them! I have it sitting in a glass jar on the window sill, but am seriously considering throwing it away. I am going to ask the vet if they know much about this plant. I would love to add it to my collection, but it is not worth the risk of my precious baby girls lives! I will update with more info...