{festival grass}

it began unintentionally but the area in our front yard has kind of become the "purple zone". in this photo you can see that the phlox looked very pretty in april. a little later (probably early may), the purple dianthus were blooming nicely as well. this area is also where the purple irises are.

we always plant some type of purple decorative grass. this year matt purchased "festival grass", which looks similar to what we had last year, so it might be the same thing.

"Festival Grass is a compact, clump-forming Cordyline, with shiny ruby/burgundy strappy foliage that cascades into a round ball shape. It has large sprays of fragrant small, showy, star-shaped blush pink flowers in late spring and summer. Festival Grass is ideal planted either singly in pots or as a stunning color highlight with other plants in gardens and landscapes."

details: low water use, compact 3'x3', container or garden, easy to grow, full sun to part shade, grows well in most soil types, needs to be protected from severe frosts.

Details:

• full sun to part shade
• compact 3'x3'
• grows well in most soil types
• use slow release fertilizer in spring
• protect from severe frosts
• low water usage
• container or garden
• easy to grow

{new palms}

last year we had ferns in these urns and i was perfectly content with doing that again this year. however, matt got obsessed over finding some palms to use instead. i wasn't pleased with the hefty price tag ($30 each), but whatever! they are cute. i wish they were a little larger. they will supposedly live year after year as long as we bring them indoors (what?????). again...whatever. i guess this is matt's pet project :) they are called "palm king sago" or "cycas revoluta". they are very slow growing (and i'm not a patient person). take full sun and can take temperatures from 15 to 100 degrees (makes me wonder why we have to bring them indoors - it never gets below 15 degrees here).

{new japanese maple}

this japanese maple was actually a father's day gift last year, so it was planted in june of 2008. i just never posted it here. it's in our front yard. i was a bit worried about it for a while but it looks nice and healthy now (just small). photo was taken in april.

{iris update}

every year i say i'm going to separate the iris bulbs. and every year, i don't. anyway, they are still doing pretty well with some very pretty purple blooms in the spring. i'm sure they'd do much better if i actually did separate them.

{hanging baskets of petunias}

matt was making a trip to the nursery so i asked him to get me some hanging baskets with red flowers. he brought back two baskets full of red petunias. i transferred them to our iron hanging baskets. they were planted in late april or early may (??). they are doing well as long as they get plenty of water when it's super sunny.

{wildflower garden}

Since we've moved into this house, I've wanted to create a "wildflower garden". When we sodded the back yard, we even left this spot open. I purchased the border I wanted to use last year as well. Finally, in early June 2008, Matt brought in some soil for me and it began. I used a wide variety of seeds that I had on hand. The bulk was an annual variety and a butterfly/hummingbird variety, but I also planted some old seed packets (Coreopsis, Sunflower, Hollyhock, Jasione, Wild Flax, Asclepias, Columbine and a few wildflower mixes). Now, we just water and wait...

6.4.2008 - Scattered variety of seeds in soil. Raked & Watered.

9.17.2008 - Unfortunately this did not take at all. I had about 3 blooms. I give up :) I will just plant a regular garden here next year!

{phlox, dianthus, verbena, purple hearts

This picture contains several different plant/flowers...

Plant: Creeping Phlox - Emerald Blue (flox trepadora) front left of photo
Purchased at: Home Depot
Planted: March 25, 2007 - front yard
Photo Taken: June 6, 2008
Details given at purchase: Sun - Perennial - Height 4-6" - Spring Blooms - Width 12-18" - Hardy to -40

Notes:
9.2007 - both looked dead
6.8.2008 - two were planted in 2007, only came back this year. Was full of blooms but they have faded away with the high summer heat

Plant: Dianthus - Supra Purple
Planted: 2006 - originally in pot on front porch; moved to front yard
Photo Taken: June 6, 2008
Details given at purchase: Attracts Butterflies - Sun or Part Sun - Height 12"

Notes:
Spring 2006 - Flowers looked good and then all the blooms died
9.2006 - Blooms returned and has continued to do well
10.2006 - Began to die off with cooler weather
3.2007 - Left this outside all winter in a pot from 2006. It actually grew and has a few blooms
9.2007 - After a lot of blooming, the flowers weren't looking great. I planted them in the ground just to see what would happen. One actually bloomed.
6.8.2008 - Surprisingly, one of these plants surived (top right of photo - tall plant near irises). Earlier it was FULL of blooms and the plant got very large

Plant: Verbena - Ron Deal
Purchased at: Lowe's
Planted: Spring 2006 - front yard
Photo Taken: June 6, 2008
Details given at purchase: Full Sun - Blooms Summer to Fall - Spreading Habit - Hardy to 10 - Attracts Butterflies - Remove spent flowers - Fertilize in Summer -

Notes:
Summer 2006 - After purchasing, split into two. Neither did well and I threw one away. I planted the other in the ground and surprisingly it recovered. Bloomed again in June after a hardy rain.
9.2006 - Still blooming but not spreading much
3.2007 - green starting to peek through from last year
9.2007 - Got large, very pretty with a lot of purple blooms
6.8.2008 - Bloomed nicely earlier, but is starting to fade now


Plant: Purple Hearts
Planted: June 2006 - front yard
Photo Taken: June 6, 2008

Notes:
6.2006 - Doing well, saw first blooms
7.2006 - Growing and doing well
9.2006 - Doing great - large, but hidden by another plant
3.2007 - Just starting to peek through
9.2007 - Both came back and pretty well. Plant on the left got larger, possibly too much shade on the right plant from the irises
6.8.08 - Both came back once again. One plant is still larger than the other.