Busy, but very HOT week…
We are seeing a lot of sunshine this week, expecting to see higher 90’s for the next couple days. With warmer weather here, I have a lot less to share with you. but it doesn’t mean the garden isn’t working for me…or the other way around meaning, I’m working for the garden. lol
Because we had such a wet spring and early summer, many of my roses had to be cut way back and stripped to almost being naked to bring them back to life. it was almost embarrassing what they were looking like. Filled with moldy blooms and aphids and covered in black spot or yellowed leaves. So I have yet to really share what they ought to look like. But here is the walkway up to my front door. The Polar Joy Tree Roses are starting to show their blooms again (from a distance). I have Blush Noisette growing on one side of the archway and Zéphirine Drouhin on the other, neither has really put on any ‘show’ this year worth sharing.
I've been sharing a week by week visual of the progress of the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas…as you can see they are more pink this week.
Another project I took on is pulling out a beautiful Red Twig Dogwood that has overcrowded my Red Coral Bark Maple. I hate to do it, but it’s gotta go…you can see from this photo that the side of the maple tree is beginning to grow upwards instead of outward. I cut the dogwood down to a ‘stump’ before I start digging, I figure it will be much easier to work with this way. I would love to see this Coral Bark spread it’s branches and grow upward to give our patio the shade tree I am looking for. 
Coming into bloom this week is as follows…Rose of Sharon has popped out on two of my shrubs, but I still await a third. I believe it’s behind schedule due to that red twigged dogwood that I mentioned earlier. Hibiscus is beginning to bloom as well, such a beautiful bloom and pop of color anywhere it’s placed in the gardens. Echinacea continues to show its beauty along with the hydrangeas. Gladiolas are blooming, but for some reason, out of the 100’s that I planted a few years ago, only a few still remain…I’m assuming overcrowding could be the culprit? need to put it on the list to plant more next spring, they are so beautiful to see this time of year.
Because we had such a wet spring and early summer, many of my roses had to be cut way back and stripped to almost being naked to bring them back to life. it was almost embarrassing what they were looking like. Filled with moldy blooms and aphids and covered in black spot or yellowed leaves. So I have yet to really share what they ought to look like. But here is the walkway up to my front door. The Polar Joy Tree Roses are starting to show their blooms again (from a distance). I have Blush Noisette growing on one side of the archway and Zéphirine Drouhin on the other, neither has really put on any ‘show’ this year worth sharing.
I've been sharing a week by week visual of the progress of the Vanilla Strawberry Hydrangeas…as you can see they are more pink this week.
Like I mentioned, I’ve been busy in the garden this week…we picked up three more Bradford Pear Trees to plant along side the fence to give us some privacy. We will wait until fall to plant them though…so for now, they will just sit and wait. The other six we planted in Spring of 2011 are looking fantastic and hope to see many, many blooms next year since they have had at least one full year to get established (we only saw a few blooms in Spring of 2012).
Another project I took on is pulling out a beautiful Red Twig Dogwood that has overcrowded my Red Coral Bark Maple. I hate to do it, but it’s gotta go…you can see from this photo that the side of the maple tree is beginning to grow upwards instead of outward. I cut the dogwood down to a ‘stump’ before I start digging, I figure it will be much easier to work with this way. I would love to see this Coral Bark spread it’s branches and grow upward to give our patio the shade tree I am looking for. 
Coming into bloom this week is as follows…Rose of Sharon has popped out on two of my shrubs, but I still await a third. I believe it’s behind schedule due to that red twigged dogwood that I mentioned earlier. Hibiscus is beginning to bloom as well, such a beautiful bloom and pop of color anywhere it’s placed in the gardens. Echinacea continues to show its beauty along with the hydrangeas. Gladiolas are blooming, but for some reason, out of the 100’s that I planted a few years ago, only a few still remain…I’m assuming overcrowding could be the culprit? need to put it on the list to plant more next spring, they are so beautiful to see this time of year.
Please link up your gardening posts to the Cottage Garden Party. To see where else I am linking to this week – please check my “Cottage Links” label…xoxo, tracie
Comments
Have a wonderful week,
Hugs,
Donna
My garden is all green right now - it seems like everything has shut down early due to the extremely early start we had, a drought that wouldn't end and now, suddenly, cool nights. No pictures this week unfortunately.
love the landscaping and the photos are wonderful :)
Hugs,
Jann
Thanks so much for joining us at Rural Thursday this week. Nice to see you!