Up North, Take 1

We went up to the hunting camp for our "weekend" and Dan made a new friend. He picked this guy up in the middle of the road and brought him back to camp to meet me.

Unfortunately, he wasn't too happy to meet me.

And we got home in time to take some garden pictures. I had given up this cyclamen, but it's doing better with a little TLN (tender loving neglect).

They look droopy because it rained all day, but look how far up out of the windowbox these petunias are coming!

Dan's little crabapple trees look like they're doing well.

My Bordeaux petunias and tuberous begonias.

My precious little highlighter dahlias!

Mom, you asked for a picture of the flowers on my exotic geranium, so here you have it!

That's Vince, my birthday garden gnome, behind some lilies that look ready to bloom.

I think this is a lily. But it's weird-looking.

Kerry sedum, violas, peony, and lemon zest petunias.

Serrated sedum.

I was so surprised and excited to see that my Lysimachia is blooming!

I really don't know what this is.

This is either my Siloam Reds or my Little Italy sending up buds!

This is what I think are my dahlias. Though I don't remember planting any.

My Secret Rose, with a little new bloom and a bud in the foreground.

My Stellas are going to town!

This one is ready to roll.

Another Stella.

This is Happy Returns, getting ready to bloom.

That's Happy Returns in the front, and all three of my dianthus behind. :) Left to right, we have the Unnamed Picotee, Telstar Picotee, and Apple Spice.

My pink Oriental lilies.

My orange common roadside lilies (hemerocallis fulva).

We're making another bed in the corner, and I got three shade-tolerant plants.

Baptisia, called False Indigo.

Helleborus, called Blue Lady.

And my first Astilbe, called Deutschland.

And poor little Ginger couldn't decide what to be more afraid of, the thunder overhead or the meat slicer Dan was using.

Crazy intermittent showers

They're kind of wet from being watered, but you can see how much my Ultra Rose petunias have filled in the windowbox. :)

There are several different pictures, each from a different angle, of this bunch of Las Vegas irises, but it's because every one of them turned out well.

The Jacob's Ladder to the left and the hostas to the upper right look almost like mirror images of one another in this picture.

So many of them!

Look at all the Shastas!

Princesse Caroline is just too beautiful...

...not to be featured often and from every angle.

This little baby that's coming up behind the irises is a glad!

And about a foot away is what looks like a dahlia or two coming up? I don't remember planting any there, but they're definitely not weeds, and they look like dahlia foliage.

Three other glad shoots coming up through Firebreather's roots.

Look at Sarah Bernhardt!

Granny's dianthus. It's growing straight up a lot more than last year. The other dianthus, which is less than a foot away, grows out more than up.

I think I counted seven or eight simultaneous blooms on this baby. :)

The whole caboodle.

It's really blurry, but you can kind of see the buds coming up from the Stella d'Oro.

Again, kind of blurry, but the exotic geranium's shoot is starting to show some color!

Trop Jaloux!

Isn't she lovely?

I got up this morning and there were three open...

... and one wasn't even all the way! Isn't that cute?

I just love them.

And now, for some more comparison pictures...

Bordeaux yesterday, and...

... Bordeaux today. I didn't think it could get any crazier!

I think I snapped this picture on accident, but I actually really like it. That's the nemesia that's blurry in the foreground, and the exotic geranium in the background.

My Shastas are looking beautiful!

I might have to add some more creeping phlox next year, because this is unbelievable.

And you had to know there would be pictures of my bleeding hearts. :)

At the bottom left you can see some little white buds.

I don't think I've featured the hostas in a while, but they're filling out nicely.

Firebreather, False Bluebonnet, and Las Vegas!

I thought this picture was kind of cool. (And I can't get over the color of Firebreather...!)

My pink oriental lilies are still growing.

Las Vegas is really very pretty despite being brown. And look at all the buds in the background!

:)

I love it!

Only a little bit longer until it's completely blooming.

What a beauty! (You can see the hair clip very well in this one. hehe)

I can't believe that I didn't think I liked irises when we first moved in.

Lysimachia is going crazy! (And that little albino stalk is still at the bottom!)

Gaillardia and Russian sage from yesterday.

Look at all those little faces!

These are all the Las Vegas buds on the other side of the porch. Holy cow!

My little potted plants (and a nice view of the flag bracket.) Dahlia, tuberous begonia, and Bordeaux.

I thought this was really cool. Look at the light shining through the top left flower!

Looks like my exotic geranium is getting ready to bloom.

This is the little seed geranium that Dan bought me at Home Depot the other day as a surprise. :)

My windowbox petunias are flourishing.

Twist & Twirl is doing beautifully, but I don't think Merlin's Magic is very happy. :(

This one's for Anna!

It's yelling at me about having too many labels, so I'm going to have to continue on another post. haha

You know you're out of control when...