Happy Monday, I hope you had a good weekend! I’ve been busy puttering and planting around the Potting Shed.
The window boxes are filling in nicely and growing.
They were planted after our freeze date mid-April, with a combination of sun-loving summer annuals . . .Petunias, Hot Lobeila, Coleus and Sweet Potato Vine.
The window boxes are a challenge to photograph with hedge of Limelight Hydrangeas across from them. I have to stand on a ladder behind the hedge to get a full photo.
The Limelight Hydrangeas have grown into a nice 5 – 6 foot hedge since we planted them three years ago. I look forward to their blooms around the beginning of July.
Creeping Jenny took off from a pot it was planted in a couple of years ago. It’s providing a chartreuse colored carpet and is threatening to cover everything in its path!
Mother Nature has helped in the watering department with Subtropical Storm Alberto last week, and saved me from having to lug a hose around.
While not everything is happy with our abundance of rainfall, the hydrangeas are loving it!
Bees are buzzing around the salvia. The deep purple flower spikes attract butterflies and bees and is deer resistant. Deadheading and a little extra watering help ensure re-blooming.
Bee balm is blooming and attracting bees and butterflies.
I spied my first fritillary butterfly of the season yesterday and stalked it with my camera until I could identify it.
It’s a Great Spangled Fritillary!
Last but not least, the daylilies are blooming. . .
How’s your garden growing?
Thank you for your visit!
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Metamorphosis Monday
I really enjoy reading your Blog; I also have a precious Bichon, his name is Chester. Your flowers are beautiful and I am wondering if you have any secrets regarding your Sweet Potato Vine – mine is growing, but full of holes!
Hi Lynette! My sweet potato vine gets holes every year too. I just googled and read that the culprit most likely is the flea beetle. I’ve never sprayed or dusted with any insecticide for it but I’m sure you can find something at the garden center for it. Doggy kisses to Chester! 🐾🌸🐝🌱
Beautiful, so full, so lush! I’ve never seen that species of frittilary, and your wide variety of daylilies bring so much color! Was that a Mrs. Powers garden totem, or what?!
Better watch standing on ladders and focusing on anything other than balance – I’d hate to hear of you falling that way (or any way, honestly).
Thanks for the tour. Happy new week.
Absolutely beautiful. I wish I had the courage, patience and passion to maintain my garden that way.
Did you know there is a daylily variety named Lake Norman Sunset?
Hi Nancy! Yes! I planted one last fall and I’m anxiously waiting for it to bloom!🌸😀
I hope you’ll post the photos in your blog when they bloom!
Mary, your gardens are absolutely gorgeous!! Living with corn fields in the back and bean fields in the front is like living in the Mohave desert…wind, wind, arid, arid, dust, dust!! Therefore. we can get an inch of rain and by the next day, I’m lugging a hose around..but, I love gardening so that’s what I do..I’m a HOSE LUGGER!! LOL! Your blooming is about 3 weeks ahead of mine..my day lilies are green and I see a start of blooms..annuals are finally over the transplant shock and are starting their blooming..right now, my tomatoes and hubs corn & potatoes are doing great hope it stays that way..cool today and lots of sun..any day in the garden is a beautiful day!! 🌻🌤🌺🍄🌿🥔🌽🍅 I have developed a new passion the last few years and that’s Fairy Gardens..this year, with my hubs help, I did a rather large one with a tree stump!! I just love it!! Happy gardening!!
Ellen, can you share pictures of your tree stump fairy garden? I’m new to these gardens but love the idea. Thank you, would love to see what you’ve created.
Ellen, Your comments always make me smile! I bet your fairy garden in your stump is delightful! Happy Gardening❣️ 🌺🐝🌱🦋🌸🧚♀️
Everything looks so lush! Adore the bench photo with all your gorgeous colorations, perfection in the garden!
Absolutely beautiful! Thank you for sharing.
Mary, your window boxes are beautiful, lush, and healthy from all the rain. The purple salvia and bee balm give so much color and bees and butterflies love it. I can’t wait for limelights to bloom. We cut our ways back, and they are 5-6 feet already. Day lilies provide lots of pretty blooms. Happy gardening and thanks for joining Gardens Galore!
Mary, Your flowers are lush and beautiful. All the rain has been a great blessing!
I love your shot of the Great Spangled Fritillary. So pretty. I’ve already had caterpillars on my parsley and a pupa hidden on a nearby plant!
I am amazed at all your beautiful day lilies. They are stunning! Your photography is also exceptional.
Thanks for the deadheading tip on the salvia.
Please be careful on that ladder! Have a lovely week.
Oh my goodness, your photographs are stunning! I enjoy this blog so much. My sweet husband is putting the finishing touches on my She Shed this week. I can’t wait to get inside!
Good morning Mary-Love the potting shed and surrounding grounds full of lovely flowers and plants. It’s a lot of work and us hose luggers can appreciate the tremendous effort it takes to maintain a garden! Yours is gorgeous, full of pretty decorations including the beautiful bench, and is an inviting, relaxing place to sit and view nature. Have a great day! Clara 😃
Thank you so much Clara! A garden is a labor of love isn’t it? Happy Gardening and Hose Lugging❣️🌺🐝🌱🦋🌞
Your garden is so beautiful and lush. It’s a beautiful thing to behold.
My garden is way behind yours…upper peninsula of Michigan. Daffodils and lilacs just getting over. Seedlings of zinnias and cosmos just breaking soil. Enjoy seeing your lush garden and garden hut.
Your garden is beautiful! The only flower here doing extremely well is the hydrangeas,they are loving all the rain.
Thank Karen! Our hydrangeas haven’t looked this good in years…it has to be the rain! ☔️ 🌸🐝😀
So gorgeous, Mary! I’ve been excited to see your garden grow this summer. I’m a gardener at heart also. The cooler and less humid weather for our Charlotte area predicted this week should be delightful for us diggers in the dirt.
Do you happen to remember the name of that bee balm you planted? I love the color and those happy blooms.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful talents with us. I always look forward to your blog postings and many of your images linger with me a long long time!
Thank you Carol! I think the bee balm variety is Monarda ‘Bee-True’. It’s a compact variety that I like much better than another bee balm I planted that gets so leggy. I found it at Lowe’s a couple of years ago. Enjoy this lower humidity and thank you for visits! 🌺🌱🌸 🐝🦋🌞
Thank you, Mary! I’ll be on a mission to hopefully find this compact bee balm one day !
Beautiful! Your posts always make my day. Your flowers around the shed are beautiful! Thanks for sharing!
Mary, Your flower boxes are stunning! I’ve wanted flower boxes at our cottage for years and we still don’t have them. I keep telling myself “maybe next year”. LOL!
“Mary, Mary, who is NOT contrary, how your garden grows!” Lol That deep color of the bee balm is so pretty and I always enjoy the colorful daylillies. Everything you have planted is lush and lovely. We are a full month behind you. My Peonies are really growing, but still have tight buds, the purple Iris are blooming and smell like grape Kool Aid. 😊 My Bleeding Heart is starting to fade but lasted almost a full month. I just LOVE that plant with the little hearts dangling like jewels. Gardening is a lot of work, but so worth it as it gives us back so much joy! ♥️🌼🥀 Happy Gardening!
Thank you Cyndi! My hubby would disagree about the contrary part 😀 I envy you having peony season to look forward to! Happy Gardening to you❣️🌺🐝🌱🦋🌸🌞
Just curious, since you live by the lake how do you keep the snakes away?
We rarely see snakes but I’m sure they’re around. We have a lot large birds like osprey, herons and hawks so maybe they keep the population down.
❤️ the pictures of your garden! We had a very wet spring then my back went out so I have yet to get into my gardens. But my hostas and day lilies look great, Alas my Annabelle hydrangeas were dug out 2 years ago. They were 23 years old and overgrown. I’ve been searching out new varieties. Hopefully I can get SOMETHING in the ground this week. Your pictures are stunning and I enjoy them so much!
Thank you Loryl! You should consider adding Limelight Hydrangeas. They’re drought tolerant and also have beautiful white blooms! 🌸
Bonjour, Magnifique jardin….Je suppose qu’en plus d’être une bonne cuisinière et une sensationnelle décoratrice, vous êtes un jardinièr hors paire !!!! Belles photos de près avec papillon et abeilles…Superbe !
Merci Catherine! Tu es si gentil. Merci pour vos visites et commentaires❣️🌸🌱🐝🦋
Such a beautiful garden. Your window boxes are so full and beautiful and I do love your Monarda. Seeing yours reminded me of how much I miss it in the garden. I may just try to find a spot for it.
Happy gardening and have a lovely week!
Oh my, Mary, so many blooms to enjoy around your potting shed! I never heard of hot lobelia. I’ll have to check into that one. Also, the bee balm looks like something that I would love. Your window boxes are so lush and lovely!
What kind of fertilizer do you use on your plants? They are so healthy and full of bloom. Everything is just beautiful. Happy Summer and Happy Gardening!!
Do you fertilize your plants? Everything looks so beautiful! Lots of hard work I know but I wouldn’t have it any other way!
This is the most rewarding part of gardening. Seeing the planters fill out and the perennials come back looking better each year makes my heart swell with love! I’m giving up on my Endless Summer hydrangeas. They barely have leaves this year and they haven’t flowered well too often so I’m yanking them out. The limelights do well here and I have a bunch of those so I’ll just have to be happy with them. Your day lilies are so pretty- can’t wait for mine to bloom!
Wish I lived closer! Would love to see your blooms in person. Gorgeous flowers!!!!
Your garden is beautiful. The colors are gorgeous.
Marilyn,Joan and Marion
Your window boxes are always so beautiful Mary! When you mentioned the Limelight hydrangeas, I never realized how big they got…of course, the Limelight that I have is doing very well, just in time for me to leave them!…but hopefully I will enjoy them again in my next garden…Be careful on that ladder!!!!
~Mary~
Your garden and window boxes look wonderful !! The picture of the butterfly is amazing indeed.
My garden and boxes are looking pretty good so far. I was disappointed my Lilacs did not last but a day or so, and it was because we were having heat high 80s , low 90s just fired them !! I I love hydrangeas and need to plant many more!:)
Where did you find your garden ornament of the girl holding the water can?? She is adorable !!
Have a super week !!
Paula
IN
Mary, I thoroughly enjoyed that little tour around your potting shed. Thanks a bunch! Happy gardening.
Oh Mary, your gardening skills and knowledge always blows me away! Everything is lush, gorgeous and beautiful, not to mention the close ups of butterflies and bees…swoon…I especially love your helper with her watering can :)
Jenna
Beautiful,
Quel joli jardin ; plein de poésie !
Bonne journée
Merci Granny 35❣️🌸🌱🐝🌺🦋
Your shed has been loved by me for years! You had a “She Shed” before it was vogue! I enjoy your posts of your shed! Thanks always for sharing!
Our Pennsylvania LakeHouse gardens are doing wonderfully and I joined up with the Gardens Galore Party.
Enjoy your week!
Mary,
You always treat us to the most fabulous gardens, inspiration and ideas! You are my go to blog for gardening joy.
My 4 pink hydrangeas are blooming very well this year after our cold Texas Winter. It is not only challenging but very difficult to achieve the gardens that I envision in this State. So I’ll just get my gardening “fix,” by visiting you! Always a lovely and delightful experience here with you!
Jemma
Breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL, Mary!! So lucky that you can plant in April…we have to wait until after Memorial Day to be safe. Love that acid green from the potato vine & the Creeping Jenny. That is one of my favorite colors to wear, too!
I captured some photos of my spring flowers & might just get back to blogging again so that I might share them. You always inspire me SO MUCH!! ({{{HUGS}}}
Always love your blog! I especially love the photo of the Great Spangled Fritillary…..I know those shots can be hard to get. What a beautiful butterfly….but aren’t they all. Window boxes look great. I’ve been focusing on my vegetable garden and still have my window box to plant but seeing yours has inspired me. Happy Gardening!
Oh Mary, everything is so beautiful. It is good I don’t live closer or you would find me always sitting on your bench, just soaking up the tranquil beauty. I do have a question: I love hydrangeas, I have planted five bushes that I hope grow into a wonderful flowering hedge. I was told not to prune these bushes, so how do you get a few blooms for a bouquet, unless you prune? I do not want to do anything that would harm my bushes.
Nonie
Thank you Nonie! It depends on the type of hydrangeas you have as when to prune. I heavily prune my Limelights in early winter and cut blooms for arrangements all summer long. My Endless Summer Hydrangeas will rebloom, so cutting and deadheading help them put out another flush of blooms. I don’t do any pruning to them after they lose their leaves except to remove dead wood in the late spring, say late April or early May here. There is an article here about pruning for types of hydrangeas: https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/pruning-hydrangeas/8852.html Hope that helps. ♥
Beautiful gardens and window boxes!
Very pretty Mary! I think my day lilies are about 2-3 weeks behind yours. Enjoy the beauty:@)
So much beauty in that labour of love. Wonderful garden!
You always have the most gorgeous posts! Stunning!
Your gardens are just beautiful!! What a treat for the eyes, when our gardens here in South Dakota are not quite so full yet. Quick question, how do you keep the weeds out of your Creeping Jenny? I love it as a ground cover, but it gets full of little tiny weeds. My goal is for mine to look like yours! :) Happy gardening!
What kind of fertilizer do you use on your window boxes and containers?
Miracle-Gro Bloom Booster Flower Food 🌸🌱🌺🌞
anytime I need garden inspiration I know to come here. Especially about potting sheds! I’ll buy you a plane ticket, come do mine!
Absolutely Stunning. Love the colors of your shed.
Stunning…wonderful…Enchanted…Adorable…I fell in love with your garden!Hugs!
Your garden is overflowing with beauty, Mary! I’m glad you are able to garden where you are. Living in a non-traditional home sometimes makes it a challenge to be a gardener. Happy to be coming over from the Gardens Galore link party this time. :)
Happy summer to you,
Hugs,
Barb :)
We are not having a celebration this fourth due to a illness in our family. I got up in a very sad mood, because I guess the truth is I could have tried to do something. I turned on my computer and your pictures of the lake, the boat, the puppy, the red, white and blue and the tribute to our men who serve and protect us gave me such a giant mood change. I got up, went for a long walk, said my prayers and went back later and picked up the road trash (which I will never understand people doing this) and felt like I did something this fourth of July and you got me going. You never know what picture or words influence your readers.
Liz