Calif_Sue's blog: Window Box and blooms

 Within two weeks the shed's window box planter already looks pretty good.

On the veggie planter trellis, I planted one of my favorite climbing roses, Autumn Sunset, along with a new clematis, Ashva, that I had hoped would bloom at the same time. I am happy to see that it seems to have worked out quite well so far!

This rose always reminds me of a bridal bouquet, one stem contains a full cluster of these luchious blooms. This is Pompon Flower Circus.

Another new rose that is really impressing me is Adobe Sunrise with these full bright orange blooms.

This is a favorite scabiosa, easy care, not too fussy and once they start blooming in May, they keep cranking out blooms for months and they are great for cut flower arrangements.

This was a small self seeded plant (Lychnis coronaria, aka Crown Pink or Rose Campion) that showed up in one of my pots from our move last year. I dug it out, planted it last fall and it's now a nice 2 x 2 ft. perennial that gives a vibrant pop of color with those hot magenta blooms and looks nice with it's soft fuzzy gray foliage. It also self seeds so you have additional plants the following year. Bonus!  I also have a newly planted one called 'Gardener's World' with double blooms the same color, looking like mini carnations. It's reported to be an improvement on the species with a larger flower, better color and sterility so I guess it won't self seed everywhere.

I love penstemon as do the hummingbirds and bees. I have been collecting a few but many are known to be short lived. 'Midnight' seems to be one of the exceptions and will now be a reliable staple in my new garden. This tough plant blooms spring through fall with regular deadheading and it can even take some drought although looks better with summer watering. In the winter, it gets cut back to just a few inches and by summer, it is one again a nice 3 x 3 ft. plant. The gold shrub to the right is a buddleja 'Santana'.

Another new penstemon for me is 'Husker's Red'. I love the dark foliage and stems and the bloom stalks are about 3 ft. tall, making a nice display in the bed. I may have to move it against something lighter or something in the lime green coloring to make those dark leaves and stems stand out.

I bought a six pack of larkspur and one is this pretty dusky pink and another is blooming this rich vibrant bluish purple, keeping company with 'Megabucks' iris.

Not sure what variety of arctotis this is but it's a great dought tolerant plant about a foot tall with a real long bloom time, I just snap off the old flowers. Silvery foliage is always a nice addition to any garden.

On one of the front poles of the satellite pergola I had planted a honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens 'Blanche Sandman') and it's shot up about 3 ft. and is finally blooming. I need to start winding it around the pole and get it going toward the top.

I said I would do better with spacing for this years veggie bed, nope, still didn't get it right. A small 6 pk. of mixed lettuce from a local nursery looks so odd with lots of space around each tiny seedling when you first plant it but that doesn't last.  Same thing with the 6 pk. of a purple cauliflower which now has these huge blue-gray leaves overflowing the planter and still no sign of any cauliflower.

Little baby lemons are appearing. :-)

Penny enjoys exploring the garden.

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