Feathery Plumes of Astilbe

Astilbe is one of those plants I have really become fond of over the years. The fern-like foliage looks so handsome in the garden and suddenly, spires of feathery plumes arise above in an array of colors. 

Below, Astilbe 'Bressingham Beauty' enjoys the dappled sunlight in my backyard.

These shade loving plants can certainly brighten up a darkened section of the garden or even along a garden path to do the same. In colder climates, they can tolerate full sun, but they really thrive in the shade/dappled shade of my zone 7b garden on Long Island, NY.

This red variety doesn't get much "fuzzier" than this and also does well in some sun (most it gets is 2 hrs direct sun a day). But it's tall spires look like soldiers above the lush foliage below.

Here is a row of white astilbe I saw while on a local garden tour. I love how whimsical they look along the border. Such a great plant!

What's Blooming in June?

The early spring pastels are starting to be replaced by richer yellows, deep purples and warm pinks. Summer is nearly here on Long Island, NY (zone 7b).  Here's a look at some of the things blooming in my garden this month:

The pink Astilbe is the show stopper in this garden bed, but the yellow Evening Primrose seem quite content to be sandwiched amongst the pink plumes.

Endless Summer Hydrangea are nearly in full bloom. These are the mop-head style hydrangeas and will alter their color based on the pH of the soil - pink blooms in alkaline and blue blooms in acidic. 

A few of the hostas are starting to bloom. I love how this variety has the flowering stems floating just above the stems.

It took a few years to establish, but now the Foxglove (Digitalis) is ready to bloom! It's a welcome addition to this shady spot in my garden.

The flowers in my new, full sun, cutting garden are starting to bloom - Erygnium (Sea Holly, above), Snapdragon and Digiplexis (below, respectively).

Along the sidewalk, the Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns' (daylily) is making a lovely border above the stones. Daisy, Yarrow and Salvia fill in behind.

And over in the shade garden, the ferns, hostas, solomon seal and astilble are blending together beautifully in form and texture. 

June is really a special time in the garden - so many things blooming week to week. Keep up with me on Instagram and Facebook to continue to see what's blooming and making me smile these days!

Leave a comment below, then head on over to May Dreams Gardens blog for a look at what's blooming around the country today. 

What's Blooming: June 2014

Things here have been, well, hectic, to say the least. I took these photos of the garden in mid June and today I see it is July 1! Nevertheless, I want to put these up anyway, because June is my favorite month in the garden. All the pinks, blues, purples and yellows making their way into view. The air smells delicious, the birds are chirping continuously throughout the day and the trees are still a lovely shade of bright green.

Here's what my garden in June looks like this year:

The pink astilbe look fabulous against the wall and their sweet, subtle fragrance is a treat if you catch a whiff of it. Along the edges, I'm so happy to see the "Pretty Polly" Heuchera (coral bells) starting to fill in and produce their delicate wispy blooms.

Many varieties of hydrangea won't bloom this summer because of the brutal winter we had, which killed off all the over-wintering buds. But these Endless Summer varieties are just beginning to bloom and I'm so happy to see the lush foliage and blue flower heads.

This mountain laurel was salvaged during the backyard renovation project a few years ago and I'm so happy I kept it. It's in the perfect spot now and it's soft pink blooms are such a welcome sight in June.

This spot along the back fence gets a good deal of morning shade but enjoys some afternoon sun. Because of this, the blue hostas, viburnum and variegated red twig dogwood all get along swimmingly here.

 And of course, the carpet rose. Carefree, abundant and repeat bloomer. I just love this plant.

In the front yard, the pink lychnis (rose campion) is in full swing and mimics the color of the Salvia involucrata 'Mulberry Jam', to the right.

Along the sidewalk, the purple salvias are still putting on quite a show, the yellow daylilies (Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns') are starting to bloom and in the back, the blue tradescantia and white daisies are making their presences known.

Ah. And my much beloved shade garden that I created last summer. Look how everything is really filling in and growing so lush and healthy. I just love watching this garden unfold and morph into itself.

And so that's what my garden in June looks like! Let's hope next month is just as lovely!

What's Blooming This Month? May 2014

May is bursting with spring flowers, trees are a bright yellow-green and the grass is looking fuller each day. After such a long winter, it's wonderful to see everything coming into bloom. In addition, a few things I planted later in the year last year are finally pushing forth fuller growth now. Here's what's blooming around my Long Island garden this month. 

 Beautiful columbines in full bloom. I love the pink outside and the white flower inside.

 Variegated red-twig dogwood looks stunning in front of the blooming viburnum in the background.

Heuchera 'Miracle' is one of the beautifully leaved coral bells. The new growth is really coming out now and its dainty little flowers shouldn't be far behind.

In the shade garden, the Kwansan cherry tree flowers are falling to the ground, creating a pink carpet. But through that, Phlox 'Home Fires', bleeding hearts, ferns, astillbe and anemone are living quite happily.

 Here is a close up of the white anemone behind one of the bleeding heart plants.

The azalea in the front yard is in full bloom, with new growth on the weeping spruce behind it. In the foreground, alliums are starting to open.

If it's May, it must be time for iris! These purple beauties look stunning in front of the purple lilacs behind them.

And my favorite tree - the Japanese Maple. These leaves just opened up and the color is simply show stopping!

And that's what's going on in my part of the world! Be sure to check out what else is growing around the country this month over at May Dreams Gardens "Garden Blogger Bloom Day" list.

New Shade Garden - 2 month update

As you may remember reading, in May 2013, I cleared out an overgrown area full of English Ivy to make room for a new shade garden in my front yard. (You can re-read that post here.). By now, it's the middle of July and things are growing well, filling out and blooming. So far, they seem happy in their new spot. Have a look at the progression below:  

May 8

The Kwanzan cherry tree above began to drop its petals, creating a beautiful pink carpet on the shade garden. Little plants were still getting settled in their new homes. 

May 28

By the end of the month, the Phlox 'Home Fires' and Aquilegia 'Biedermeier' were blooming!

June 15

A month later, the plants were really starting to take shape. 

In the far end, I have Tricyrtis 'Tojen', Ghost Fern, Astilbe 'Peach Blossom', and Hosta 'June'. Towards the middle, I planted Hercherella x Rosalie, Japanese Painted Fern, Phlox 'Home Fires', Polygonatum Varigatum and Hosta 'Great Expectations'. Continuing forward, I planted Brunnera 'Jack Frost', Dicentra rosa, Hosta 'Mouse Ears', Aquilegia 'Biedermeier', Anenome sylvestris, and Heuchera 'Obsidian'.  

June 23

The cute, little Hosta 'Mouse Ears' is in in bloom with lovely purple blossoms. 

July 17

Really filling in now. The Brunnera finished blooming and the foliage was doing well, but suddenly the leaves died off. Thankfully there are new ones coming up, so I'm hoping it will come back and thrive. 

I'm so happy it is doing well and really excited to see it flourish next year. 

What's Blooming: June 2013

June is my favorite month in the garden. Everything is bursting with color and new growth, the birds are chirping in the trees and the weather is still comfortable enough to enjoy the outdoors all day long.

Here are a few things blooming in my garden this month:

Ah, beautiful pink carpet roses. They stay low to the ground, are disease resistant and keep flowering without the need to deadhead. When in full bloom, it really does look like I have a pink rose carpet in my garden.

I have grown quite fond of Astilbe over the years. These in particular are wonderful. They look like fluffy pink feathers and have a wonderful sweet aroma that I catch every time I walk by. These used to be in mostly shade, but now, after the backyard renovation last year, they are in mostly full sun and seem to be tolerating it really well (thankfully!)

Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla normalis) is so beautiful, unique and elegant (in my opinion, of course!). The bees love the blue "landing pads" and the cute white flowers that surround it make it look as dainty as a doily.

And of course, it wouldn't be June in the shade if I didn't have the Mophead Hydrangeas (Hydrangea macrophylla) to enjoy. The deep blue is simply stunning. I have 4 of these shrubs under the oak tree and only one is more pink/purple than the rest. I'm guessing the soil pH in that spot is slightly more alkaline (above pH 7) than the rest of the area (which is probably neutral to acidic since these flowers are blue).

The previous owners of our house had so many hostas on the property. I keep finding them in random places and moving them to the garden. I love this blue one with it's textured, slightly cupped leaf and the bright white flowers on the erect stems above the leaves.

And of course, my favorite flower of all time, the daisy (Leucanthemum). It's bright, white petals with golden yellow center is so cheery and makes me smile every time I see them. 

The Cardinals have been particularly happy with our backyard. They come visit nearly every day, whether the bird feeder is stocked or not. We spotted this one high up in the tree this morning, chirping away. 

Things are growing so quickly here and more blooms each week. Stay tuned for July's "What's Blooming" in a few weeks!

New Shade Garden

I have always admired shade gardens. Varying shades of green, different textures and even a few delicate blossoms to enhance the woodland effect of such a garden always intrigued me. After we did the renovations last year, I suddenly had mostly sunny areas to plant. I wondered if I'd be able to find a spot to grow my lush woodland garden. But then, I noticed a rather boring spot along the side of my front yard that was covered with English Ivy. It is shaded by a Kwanzan cherry tree on one side and a Forsythia hedge on the other. I knew it was the perfect spot for my long awaited shade garden.

The first task was to remove the ivy. Judging by the spread and depth of the vine, I'm guessing it was here for a long time. Their roots are not very deep, so its relatively easy to pull out, but it was still a big job, given the amount of it.

The ivy was removed and the area was raked clean. The soil beneath had not seen the sun in many years and was quite compacted. I laid a nice layer of compost on top and then enlisted my husband to turn over the soil in order to loosen it and mix in the compost.

Ah... a nice clean, prepared bed. just waiting for plants now.

Back in February, when I started day dreaming about this shade garden, I ordered a bunch of plants from a mail-order catalog called Bluestone Perennials. They arrived nice and neat in a box just waiting to go into the garden. I was so excited when my shipment arrived. My kids thought I was a weirdo. 

I had drawn up a plan on homemade graph paper, plotting out complimentary and contrasting textures, colors and mature size of the plants. So after giving the shipped plants a good watering and some dappled sunlight, I placed the plants into the garden and modified the layout a bit. I have hostas, heucheras, ferns, columbine, bleeding hearts, tricyrtis (toad lily), solomon seal and anenome to name a few. The great thing about the plants from Bluestone is that they arrive in biodegradable plantable pots made from coconut husk fibers (coir). Because of this, you can plant the pot directly into the ground causing little to no transplant shock and the fibers naturally break down in the soil on their own.

After planting them in the ground, I edged the bed with some rocks I found on the property that match the edgings of the other garden beds.

After two weeks, the little plants are still growing. I can see a few new leaf sprouts and flower buds on a few of the plants which is encouraging. Parts of the garden get some morning sun and a little evening sun. Some parts are very shady. I can't wait to see how each plant grows as I continue to learn... after all, that's what gardening is all about, right?

Shade garden under a blanket of cherry petals.