Knock Out Roses

i've decided to make it easier to get 9 months of color in the garden, and have put in two red knock out rose bushes in the front. They are supposed to have double the petals but since they are new to my ground, they are testing the air with just single rows of petals right now.

I've just added mushroom compost and will later add fertilizer granules to entice them to develop double petals. If they do well before the frost in November (?), I may just get a couple more for the other side of the yard next year.

No hassle roses, they say, not heirloom, but then who wants roses in the front that passersby will be tempted to pick? Knock Outs - the crysanthemums of the rose world! Easy to grow and blooming every time. I just hope they do all they promise!

A Bunny for Harvey

Thanks to all of you who expressed your sympathy when we lost our bichon frise, Harvey. This cheerful bunny somehow is a nice reminder of our little dog.



We bought this statue of an angel hugging a bunny to adorn one of Harvey's favorite corners in the garden.

For pictures of Harvey, visit my book blog, http://www.bookbirddog.blogspot.com/

Money Plant

 

I stuck a small branch of Money Plant in a pot with a small Kaffir lime tree and they both em to be thriving out in the sun. The money plant is said to bring good fortune to its owner.

The leaf of the lime tree (the one with the thorns) is used in Thai and Southeast Asian cooking, especially in spicy coconut milk curries.

Contrast of Colors

 

These climbing roses usually bloom profusely only in the spring. This year I pruned them back heavily, watered and fertilized, and lo and behold, a fair amount of blooms well into summer.

 

The contrast in the garden comes from the yellowing leaves of this red Japanese maple. It's still summer in my mind, but these leaves seems to announce fall!

Miracle Come-back

 

Note the thin dry stem directly underneath the spray of green on this climbing vine. My significant other takes the credit for making the dry vine of this clematis "miraculously" start sprouting green again. In other words, he applied fertilizer.

Decorative Banana

This banana tree will most likely not develop blossoms or fruit. A nice tropical touch for a container garden. I'll move it indoors as soon as it gets cooler, some time before fall, just in case...

I lost a lovely 6-ficus tree when we left it out too long and the first fall frost got to it overnight. It didn't survive that one night of cold temperatures.

Green and Black-Eyed Susans

 
This flower is called Gloriosa Daisy Prairie Sun. I planted it to add its bright yellow to the garden.
 




I love the deep purple-brown velvet of the daisy's "eye" which makes it a kind of cone flower black-eyed susan. It's technical name - Rudbeckia hirta "Toto, a perennial flower.
 




A few more views of green-eyed Rudbeckia daisies.
 

Couldn't resist putting some yellow among the pink and red flowers in the back yard. Now if I could only find some blue and lavender...