Happy Heucheras

Tags

butterfly, coral bells, garden, heuchera, hummingbird, landscape, perennial, perennial gardening

AKA Cheerful Coral Bells

Whether used as an accent plant for your garden borders or as filler plant, heucheras (commonly know as coral bells) are a must have perennial for your landscape.

This morning, I was busy dividing three existing plants into 11 new plants. Let me share a few reasons why I love heucheras so much…

Happy Heucheras ♥ Young Wifey’s Blog

10 Reasons to Grow Heuchera

10. Heucheras are available in a plethora or colors. Since many of my other plants are green, I prefer bronze purple and red purple varieties.

9.  They are extremely easy to propagate.

8.  They can tolerate a variety of soil conditions.

7.   The foliage and flowers both make excellent cuttings for floral arrangements.

6.  Depending on the variety you choose and your climate, they can tolerate full shade or full sun.

5.  These plants are essentially low maintenance.

4.  Heucheras look great with a variety of other plants.

3.  They are deer- and pest-resistant.

2.  Butterflies are attracted to the little flowers.

1.  Hummingbirds also love the blossoms.

XOXO,
Young Wifey

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Burgundy Glow Ajuga

Tags

ajuga, alternative medicine, bugleweed, burgundy glow ajuga, erosion, flowering spikes, flowers, full sun, gardening, ground cover, landscaping, low allergen, perennial, perennial gardening, shade plant

I planted my burgundy glow Ajuga last year during the fall. What first attracted me to this semi-evergreen ground-cover was its colorful foliage.  I had shades of green, cream and purple all winter in my perennial garden.  There was the added benefit, that it’s a low allergen plant.

Ajuga Flowering Spikes

This spring was the first time I got to see the beautiful purple flowering spikes (about 8″-10″ tall) and the runners of foliage reaching out. Ajuga is versatile enough to be planted in full sun or full shade. The Ajuga that is in full sun has more flowers, while the Ajuga in the shade is slower growing and has larger leaves. The flowers are supposed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds, while the foliage deters deer (three more pros to this plant).

Ajuga Runners

To prune Ajuga you can trim or even mow, it’s really hardy. If you want a more controlled look, thin out runners as needed. This is a great ground cover for banks and to prevent erosion.

Some forms of Ajuga are even used in alternative medicines for heart problems.

What do you think about this plant?

Early May Garden

Tags

ajuga, alliums, Azaleas, burgundy glow ajuga, carpet rose, chicks and hens, faerie wands, fairy wand, garden, gardening, landscaping, oaks, perennial, rose, sedum, silver mound, trumpet vine

Happy Mother’s Day! Flowers are the most common present to give this day; whether fresh floral arrangements, hanging baskets/planters or potted for the garden. Let’s check out what I have in my garden this week.

This Week In My Garden…

Lush pillows of silver mound awoke.

Lush Silver Mound

Sedum is sweeping across my perennial garden, just behind my rock border.

Sedum

Trumpet vines are timidly showing their leaves.

Trumpet Vine

Abundant Alliums (fairy wands) are beautiful full purple globes dancing is the wind.

Alliums

The first rose of the year  opened, welcoming the new deck.

First Rose of the Year

The small chicks of last year, fill out to be adult hens.

Chicks become Hens

Burgundy Glow Ajuga races towards the sky.

Burgundy Glow Ajuga

The white azalea joins the party of pink, lavender and red azaleas.

White Azalea joins the Party

The oaks are stretching out and showcasing their new foliage and hugging my shade garden.

Three Oaks

Of course this isn’t all… The bleeding heart is still wear its heart on its sleeve. The Japanese Maple waves hello and goodbye by the lane. The long blooming grape hyacinths are the welcoming committee to all the returning perennials…

What’s arriving and in bloom this week where you are? What are your Mother’s Day plans?

This Week in My Garden: Azaleas & Alliums

Tags

allium, azalea, blooming, faerie wands, fairy wands, flowers, garden, gardening, landscaping, perennial

May Day Gardening
This week in my garden… three out of my eight Azaleas have begun to bloom, two red, one light pink.

Red Azaleas

Azalea Bloom

Blooming Beauty

The Allium are budding. Theses are some of my favorite summer blooms. Riotflower, these are the “fairy wands” you like!

Allium Bud

My last tulips are in bloom. The magic carpet roses are already branching out and forming buds. My perennial garden needs some work, lot’s to thin out and transplant into new gardens. Silver mound and yarrow are starting to fill out. I’m looking forward to this gardening season…

My shade garden is really filling out this year. Some hostas are already full, ferns are awaking and stretching out their arms. A few red coral bells have already begun to bloom. The bleeding heart is still blooming in the center of my garden.

My urn planters and container gardening are green and lush. Some Salvia has already begun to bloom, I can’t wait until it calls in the butterflies. I haven’t planted in my hanging baskets yet, one has become home for a bird’s nest. I enjoy watching the birds just outside my door.

What’s blooming this week in your garden?

Spring Bulbs in Autumn

Tags

alliums, autumn planting, daffodils, fall planting, grape hyacinths, hyacinths, perennial, perennial gardening, snow drops, spring bulbs, tulips

Fall into a Frosty Sleep then Spring Up Next Year
Daffodils, tulips, alliums, crocuses, hyacinths, grape hyacinths, snowdrops… They all spell spring “a-u-t-u-m-n…”. It sounds a little backwards, planting spring bulbs in autumn. However, many bulbs need to go through the freeze in order to bloom in the spring. Bulbs are a great pop of color in your perennial garden, border, rockery and some even naturalized in your lawn. The bulbs in my perennial garden are well established and naturalizing well. It dawned on me one morning in the spring, why can’t I have daffodils in my shade garden? I needed the extra pop of color there and they’ll get plenty of sunlight before the leaves fill out on my might oaks. In August, I talked about which bulbs I would be purchasing for this season’s planting. I placed my order and waited for my box of joy to arrive! Now that it’s arrived I have a busy week ahead of me…

When it comes to bulbs, I don’t follow placement when it comes to height. So what if I place some crocuses in the back of my garden? When they bloom, there’s nothing in front of them to block their color! Follow the planting instructions on the package in which you received the bulbs. In the spring, remember to let the foliage brown before you remove it from the bulbs.

Happy Planting!

July Blooms

Tags

blue chip campanula, coral bells, garden books, gardening, gladiolas, heather, hostas, landscaping, perennial, sedum, silver mound, toad, trumpet vine, virginia creeper, yarrow

Plant Desires Inspired by my Holiday
My holiday created some new plant desires as well as furthered some plant desires I already had. I would love to find some maidenhair spleenwort (I saw it growing everywhere in Scotland) for my rock wall and a future rockery I’d like to build. Astilbes were everywhere, I’ve thought about planting them before, but they weren’t at the top of my wish list when planting my shade garden. Now they’ve definitely gone up a few rankings, maybe my  mother will be able to propagate some for me (hint, hint). At the garden shop at Broddick Castle (Isle of Arran, Scotland) I saw a lovely chocolate tinted sedum. There was also a really cool fern whose fronds were taller than me (I think it is from New Zealand)! More irises! Wishing my foxgloves came in, but not yet giving up hope.  A Hubster even added something to the wish list: lupines! I also found a really great gardening book in a charity shop there for £2, It was Reader’s Digest: Your Gardening Question Answered. It’s a UK book, so the planting zones and seasonal time lines don’t quite work, but the information is so useful and I love it! My sister’s mother-in-law was getting rid of some books and I found The Complete Servant, which also has some really useful gardening information!

 

 

My New Pre-Loved Gardening Books

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My July Blooms
I missed the blooms of almost all my July lilies while on holiday. However, I came home to see the first two beautiful blooming gladiolas stems. Color was filling my perennial garden, my yellow yarrow, pink sedum, blue chip campanulas. My trumpet vines grew a few feet, I can’t wait until they mature.

July Blooms

Paying homage to my recent holiday, my heather was in full bloom. The tiny pink flowers and the green foliage are nicely complimented by the pink flowers on my sedum, my purple coral bells, and the pinky-purple colors on my (burgundy glow) ajuga.  

 

 

Small Toad

I had a small toad watching me work in my garden, he continued to hop around the various areas I was working. I’ll have to come up with a cute toad house to hide in my garden somewhere.

Lush Silver Mound

I grazed my hands over my silver mound enjoying the soft texture under my hands. This is one of my favorite, yet haven’t been successful yet with propagating more. And yes, I sometimes garden barefoot… it’s a tactile experience. 

Blue Chip Campanula

I enjoy the endless delicate flowers on my blue chip campanula through out the summer.

Chicks and Hens

I was thrilled to see that my Chicks and Hens multiplied more like bunnies while I was on holiday. To think that this time last year, this plant was only three small chicks itself!  I pulled some small chicks aside to give to my parents for the top of their rockery (I think 80% of the plants on their rockery have come from my perennial garden). I might pull a few more aside for my friend who gave me the bleeding heart.

Yellow Yarrow

I trimmed my yarrow early in the season to maintain height and to enjoy my bright yellow summer long blooms. My favorite part of the plant is actually the foliage. I’m thinking of planting a pink variety in the future.

Purple Gladiolas

Two tall stems of my purple gladiolas were already in bloom when I returned home. I love watching the blooms slowly creep up the stems each day.

Purple Coral Bell Blooms

My purple coral bells are in full bloom. Hubster seems to only like the foliage and thinks the small flowers look like weeds. The leaves also look like they got a bit dry while we were away. I was disappointed to see that my plum pudding coral bells and my red coral bells were not yet in bloom. My hostas are starting to flower (despite the caterpillar munching early in the season) and I just received two beautiful hostas from my parents garden with broad, dark green, heart shaped leaves.

Blooming Sedum

Both types of sedum I have are blooming beautiful pinks. 

Re-blooming Day Lilies

 

My faithful re-blooming day lilies and trucking through the summer.

Baby Virginia Creeper

My virginia creeper shot off a couple of great new runners.

Back to Work
After weeding my garden, planting my new plants (hostas, iris seeds, and blue bell seeds), and trimming the unruly, I laid in my hammock to enjoy my peaceful piece of earth. After a few minutes in could no longer fight the urge to get back into my garden and play!