Thursday, May 13, 2010

Thursday Thirteen: Flowers

Find more Thursday Thirteen participants here


Today I'm talking about thirteen flowers I currently have blooming in my yard.

13. Chives! My SIL laughs at me for using chives as decoration, but I think they're really quite pretty and very colorful.

12. Creeping Phlox. I have lots and lots and lots of this... in two shades of pink, lavender, and this pink & white striped. I love it -- it's my favorite ground cover and makes spring really POP.

11. Thrift aka "Sea Pink". Quite hardy, but lovely and makes nice green clumps after it blooms. Last year, for some reason, the center of my large clump died and I now have a bunch of small clumps instead of one large one, and plan on moving some of it around where I need spring color.

10. Lily of the Valley. Not my favorite flower, because you can't really see anything but green. The flowers are tiny and white, so don't "POP" ... but they really thrive and they smell lovely.

9. Lilac! My lilac bush is finally really blooming. It has a couple dozen blooms on it, and I swear nothing smells as wonderful as lilacs.

8. Azalea. This actually started as an orange bush, but has slowly changed to pink. It's really quite lovely, and would have been much lovelier if my DH hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel of the lawnmower and driven over half the bush last year...

7. Forget-Me-Nots ... I love these flowers!! I can't kill the things and have them everywhere. They reseed like CRAZY, but they're just gorgeous. Blue flowers are one of my favorites.

6. Lambium. A shade-loving ground cover that has lovely foliage AND flowers and spreads like crazy. Right now, my shade garden is full of color from this, the Forget-Me-Nots and this next flower...

5. Saxifraga. This is a difficult to grow, slow-spreading ground cover that I've struggled with for years -- but I really love the flowers, so delicate and pink -- so I continue my struggles. It's worth it.

4. A red small-leafed rhododendron. Vivid and gorgeous. I really love this bush.

3. Violas aka Johnny Jump-ups. The first year we lived here, we planted these on purpose ... now we can't get rid of them. I weed them like crazy, but there are still hundreds and hundreds of them everywhere. They aren't horrible, but they frustrate me by getting into everything... lol... still they do add color.

2. Bachelor Buttons... this is actually the first of these that is blooming. I was surprised to see it opening up when I wandered around the yard taking pictures. Another blue flower. Yay! Unfortunately, the deer ate the rest of the buds, so this may be the only one I get this year...

1. Bleeding Heart -- so pretty and it's DEER RESISTANT (very important out here). The only thing I don't like about it is that it all dies back when it's done blooming, so not even the foliage sticks around. Makes it tough when it dominates an area unless you can plant late summer or fall blooming bulbs around it, which still doesn't always work.

And (not-so) honorable mention goes to:

My rhubarb, which has already gone to seed...

=======================




You Are Practical



You have your feet firmly planted on the ground, and you are very sensible.

You always seem to know what to do, and if not, you can sort things out on a long walk.

You are like comfort food for the soul. You set your friends (and even strangers) at ease.

You take extra good care of yourself, and because of this, you have a lot to give back to those you love.



About half right...

======================

10 comments:

Rims said...

Wow these flowers are so pretty.....I love them ...maybe someday when I have a house, I might have a garden too :)

Thanks for stopping by and yes me love the sheets when they are crisp dried by the sun :)

Cya next week

Dru said...

That was fun and they all look pretty.

Have a good Thursday.

Shelley Munro said...

Your garden is full of pretty flowers. Our garden is sort of in between as we head into winter. We have a lot of evergreen natives, Luckily we don't have the deer problem here!

Sonny said...

Lovely flowers.
Thanks for sharing!

Maria Zannini said...

I love the variety.

Ref: chives
The other day my husband mentioned that he kept smelling onions as he walked past a section of the yard where some weeds had taken over. I pointed to the purple flowers and told him it was because he was standing on the chives. LOL.

I am Harriet said...

My chives are just about to pop too. My lilacs were spectacular this year.

Have a great Thursday!
http://harrietandfriends.com/2010/05/my-mother-taught-me-the-circle-of-life-and-so-much-more/

Brandy said...

I'm thinking, after seeing your lovely flowers, that you need to come down here and make my yard pretty with flowers. *G*
Re quiz: You are a generous person who always has a million things going on. Yet, you still rarely say no.
You are a doer. Being active makes you feel good, especially when you're spending time with others.
You may have a packed schedule, but you always make sure to make time for your friends.
You don't seek out attention, but you still get lots of it. You are a very popular person.

A little of it's correct. But, me? Popular? Hahahahaha! No.

I hope you're having a great day!

Tori Lennox said...

Chives are a little on the stinky side, though. And ours never seem to have flowers!

I wish we'd plant some phlox. I love the look of it.

We did plant several azaleas last week (when I say "we" I mean my parents *g*).

Hootin Anni said...

Wow....so many pretties to choose from. My favorite is the Lilac. I can practically smell the aromatic breezes from your yard now!!!

Bleeding heart was my mother's favorite.

Wonderful post. Thanks for stopping by my Thursday blog today.

Divaa Divine said...

flowers get my blood flowing :D

Sexy is never Vulgar