I took this picture from the front porch yesterday afternoon. The ground was too wet for traipsing through the garden.

The tiger lilies are from DH’s family farm, which is about ten miles north of where we live. We’ve brought a lot of plants from there to our own garden. Tiger lilies, several varieties of daffodils, shrubs, old roses, Bouncing Bet, peonies, irises…

The goldfinches are beginning to check out the purple cone flowers. The seeds are a favorite food for them. From now through autumn, as we turn into our driveway, we will see swarms of these beautiful little yellow and black birds fly up from the cone flowers.

Yesterday, we enjoyed a break in the rain during the early afternoon. DH collected the mail, checked a few daylilies, and then went on a 27 mile bike ride. Next weekend, he will take his bicycle across Indiana, 160 miles, in one long day.

The rain has certainly given the gardens a lush full look! So lush that it hides the garden bench in front of the phlox in the fenced garden. At least from this view point.

The garden phlox was a gift from a local gardening friend, who found it too invasive for his garden. We have so much room in our yard that plants that spread are quite welcome. There is always a good place for them.

~~Rhonda

I did get some pictures this evening, just as the sun was going down. Thanks to my nice camera and the great lens DH gave me for my birthday.

The purple cone flowers look great right now.

Daylily ‘American Revolution’

Variegated ribbon grass ~ Phalaris arundinacea

We don’t know the real name of this daylily, so call it “Paprika” as it is the color of dark rich paprika.

Miscanthus sinensis ‘Morning Light’ and the daylily ‘Arctic Snow.’

I don’t know the name of this lovely lily. To tell you the truth, I don’t even remember the plant! It’s one of those “did I plant this here??” plants.

The little daylily ‘Eenie Allegro’ is blooming happily, even though it’s in too much shade. We need to move these this year.

Looking across the east front yard.

The garden is in full flower and so beautiful right now. We enjoy every minute we can be in it. Tomorrow we are having a plant sale and the weather is supposed to be great…high of 84*. Wonderful after the triple digits of the past few weeks.

If you want to enjoy other gardens and their blooms, visit Jean’s Bloomin’ Tuesday. You never know what kind of inspiration you might find!

~~Rhonda

‘Monterrey Jack’

Coreopsis, daisies and purple cone flowers are adding to the riot of color.

The elderberries are blooming, too.

The new bed in the middle is waiting for the daylilies we plan to buy when we go nursery hopping to celebrate our 32nd anniversary.

I need to do something about those upstairs windows. Ever since we cut the two trees down in front of the house, the shades have bothered me. I guess they weren’t noticeable while the pines were covering the view.

The weather has been very hot and extremely humid which makes going out into the garden uncomfortable. But when it looks like it does now, I hate to miss it! Online is an easy way to tour the garden. You can tour more gardens at Jean’s Bloomin’ Tuesday. Check it out!

~~Rhonda

Here are a few pics I took while mowing today. I love my “big” camera (takes wonderful pics!), but DH’s little Canon is great for tucking in my pocket for times when I don’t want to lug the heavier camera around. Like when I’m mowing in the heat/humidity. In case you’re wondering, the building in the background is an office building across the street from our house.

You can click on these pictures to see them on my flickr site, where they can be viewed larger for more detail. When you get to flickr, there should be an “All Sizes” button above the picture. These smaller pics don’t do the flowers much justice!

This shot looks toward the north west corner of our front yard. The red car is on the street in front of our house. People often tell us they drive by our house just to look at the flowers. And a lot of joggers/walkers in town tell us their routes are planned so they can come by the yard when the flowers are blooming.

We have some UNK (unknown) daylilies around the yard and this is one of them. Not our fault for losing a label or failing to map the flower bed this time. The lady from whom we bought this daylily couldn’t remember the name of it. We stopped by her house when we saw the “plants for sale” sign in the yard. She was 80 some years old and the yard was a mass of daylilies tangled with grass. She insisted on digging them herself. It was hot and I felt guilty about that, but she said “no one digs in my garden but me.” We brought six daylilies home from her place and three of them were “unknowns.”

The flower is large, must be 6 or 7 inches across. And a beautiful melon-y orange blending into a bright yellow throat. Gorgeous!

Another one of those orange daylilies I had to have, even though I swore “no more orange ones.” Ha. Can’t resist!!

~~Rhonda

‘Mary Todd’ is one of my favorite golden yellow daylilies.

The Russian sage is beginning to bloom. I love the light and airy look of this plant. Did you know you can lay a branch of this (still attached to the main plant) on the ground and cover it with a brick to get a new plant? In a couple of months there will be roots on the branch where it contacts the ground. Cut it from the parent plant and you’ve got another Russian sage. You can do the same thing with hydrangeas.

In the fenced garden, some of my favorite daylilies are beginning to bloom.

Between the back yard and the little woods at the back of our property, the “ditch lilies” are blooming…in the ditch.

At the back door, the ‘Moonbeam’ coreopsis blossoms look like stars sprinkled around the bird bath.

Currently, we have 337 different daylilies in our yard. Tomorrow, when we check the garden, there will probably be 25 or 30 more “first flower out” blossoms to document. I’ll keep you posted.

In the mean time, take a look at the Outdoor Wednesday posts to view what others are doing outside this week.

~~Rhonda

The birdbath in the front yard is almost swallowed up by the flowers.

The hydrangeas by the front porch are pink to lavender. Just around the corner of the house, the hydrangeas in front of the addition are blue. Go figure!

We planted the hosta ‘Squash Casserole’ in front of the Japanese maple which sits just to the side of the hydrangea. The hosta will receive more sun in this space and should brighten up quite a bit, turning more yellow. I’m hoping that will be a nice contrast to the maple.

In the back yard, the bird bath bed by the kitchen has a pretty lavender plant coming into bloom. I need to check the lavender plant in the fenced garden to see if it’s blooming, too.

We’re having a plant sale tomorrow. All proceeds from plant sales go to the mission fund at church. We’ll do it again the first of July.

It’s always fun to have visitors in the garden. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. If you’re in the area, stop by! And if you can’t visit our garden, do stop by Jean’s Bloomin’ Tuesday to visit the gardens there!

~~Rhonda

A long bed stretches across the front of the yard, near the sidewalk. This picture actually shows both beds…the one along the sidewalk in the background and the long bed in the lawn. It is just on the brink of an explosion of color. The daisies, daylilies, and coreopsis are going to look spectacular in a few days.

Walking back toward the house from the front yard takes us past quite a few beds. Right now, they are sporting lots of orange and melon yellows…the ditch lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) and the Stellas…bright and cheerful, a foretaste of what’s to come.

I don’t think the front birdbath bed can hold one more plant. Unless it’s a weed, of course. There always seems to be room for one more weed.

Our front yard used to be all grass. A big, blank, boring expanse of grass. Now it’s a maze of flower beds. One by one, they added up!

Volunteer hollyhocks come up here and there. These are along the east edge of the yard.

We’ve planted a lot of redbud trees in the yard. The small trees make pools of shade in the yard, adding interest and structure without blocking all the sun. They make great spots for hostas.

We’ve also placed quite a few benches throughout the yard. Perfect spots to stop and enjoy different corners of the garden.

Our garden is always open to visitors. Come over, claim a bench, and enjoy. And then, stroll over to Share a Garden Sunday and visit the gardens there. Enjoy!

~~Rhonda

The front yard looks so lush. Must be all that rain we’ve been having. Every one of DD’s softball games has been cancelled so far, due to all the rain. The field is just too wet for games.

I like this clump of zebra grass. We’ve sold quite a bit of it at plant sales, so I guess others like it, too.

The purple coneflowers are starting to show up well.

The Southern Magnolia makes a great screen between us and the parking lot next door. At least the school buses are quiet neighbors. And now that the magnolia is blooming, the sweet lemony scent of the blossoms makes that side of the yard smell SO good!

Here’s a rundown of the first flowers out (FFO) on our daylilies yesterday.

‘Wine Delight’

Dee Dee [GN] was sold to us as ‘Daring Deception.’ Not.

‘Yellow Lollipop’ was a Wal-Mart purchase that actually seems to have been labeled correctly!

‘Children’s Laughter’

Sold to us as ‘La Cucuracha,’ I have never been able to find any references to this plant.

‘Rose Mark, TN’

‘Siloam Double Classic’

‘Dominic’

It’s been a long day and I haven’t been able to get outside yet. Am looking forward to seeing what’s in bloom today! I’ll let you know…

~~Rhonda

The rainfall filled the birdbaths.

The cats like to drink from the birdbath at the kitchen door. Perhaps they like bird-flavored water? Zilli looks like she expects lunch to fly in.

By the front porch, the hydrangeas are turning pinky purple.

I don’t remember where these lilies came from, but they are a lovely shade of red.

Here are a few daylilies…

‘Little Heavenly Angel’

‘Chorus Line’

‘Lady Emily’

I wish the sun had been shining when I took this picture. The catalpa tree is in full bloom and, in the sunlight, it gleams.

Hollyhocks have popped up here and there. They have a way of wandering around the yard. This one showed up in the front birdbath bed this year.

The ‘Paprika’ achillea needs to be divided. A candidate for the plant sale we’ll have in a few weeks, for sure.

With all the rain we had, yard work will be a bit slow for a few days. We’ll probably work on potting things for the plant sale. The damp ground IS good for digging.

Enjoy more garden tours at Jean’s Bloomin’ Tuesdays. Take time for a walk in someone else’s garden. It’s fun to see what others are doing.

~~Rhonda

Hydrangeas are easy to propagate and we should make more of the ones along the front of the house. The east side of the porch needs a few. The front of the house would look more balanced.

The east side has a nice rhododendron, but no other shrubs to give it structure. Nice hostas, though. And some pretty astilbe blooming right now.

The birdbath bed in the front yard is getting most of its current color from the coreopsis, but the daylilies are loaded with buds. More color to come in the very near future.

Common white achillea is an aggressive plant in our garden. I guess it’s happy here, even though we try to irradiate it. But doesn’t it look pretty while it blooms?

Oreo found the little volunteer patch of ‘Zebrina’ a nice place to stop for a rest. And just look at that wonderful mulch pile in the background. Fellow gardeners, feeling some envy here? We are grateful to our friend Paul who brings more when we need it.

‘Zebrina’ close up and personal.

The hollyhocks in the fenced garden come up where ever they like. And in any color they like. We’ve moved some to the fence on the west side of the yard in past years and they continue to come up there as well.

The hosta ‘Pineapple Upside Down Cake’ is a nice bright spot on the east side of the house.

In the back yard, we always leave a few Queen Anne’s Lace to encourage the swallowtail butterflies to lay their eggs in our garden.

We have a few Louisiana and Japanese irises in the back yard. I used both ‘Imperial Magic’ and ‘Black Gamecock’ in the bouquet for church today.

Tomorrow will be a busy day around here, providing I feel up to it. But you can bet I’ll be in the garden to see if any daylilies have bloomed. I’ll let you know.

Take a break, visit Share a Garden Sunday, and enjoy more garden tours.

~~Rhonda