Sunday, July 27, 2008

An Update on the Layered Sunny Corner Bed




You could visit the first post and the second post with information about change and progress in my sunny corner bed. The following photos show what we saw this past week out there.

Check out that "Stargazer" in the center! :-)
I'm going to apologize for the quality of this photo. You'll notice the catmint on the left, a new daylily in the center front (help, MMD!), Stonecrop Sedum "Pink Chablis" at left behind the daylily, Stonecrop Sedum "Purple Emperor" on the right (taller than it's supposed to be!)
Butterfly Milkweed in the center with Russian Sage behind it, and a tiny dianthus at the front right.

Here's a close-up of my mystery daylily. :-)

Stonecrop Sedum: Purple Emperor (seen above) and "Autumn Joy"with daylily "Pardon Me" and a bit of iris leaf.
Now you can see the iris leaves as well as the turk's cap Tiger Lilies. In the front bed you'll notice a pot of tuberoses next to my new butterfly bush entitled "Adonis Blue" And, yes! Two tomato plants! ;-)
In fact, you might notice another tomato plant between the Russian Sage and "Kwanzo" daylily.
Back to the front bed. After the tomatoes you'll see three parsley plants (two for the Black Swallowtails and one for me), a nice area of carrots that continue to be thinned, a couple of pepper plants (only one is doing very well), and Rhubarb! Alyssum is in the front of the border.

I wanted to have my fun and eat it, too! ;-)

Hasn't this been a great year for gardening in this area?
Hope you enjoyed the little tour.
(Not too "shady!")
:-)


This is a "P.S.". One last (north) view of the bed.
Some of you might also be interested in the Stonecrop Sedum "Matrona!"
It's on the left between the daylilies.

15 comments:

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hey Shady!
What a great post! You have such a nice space to work in, and your beds are looking absolutely fantastic! We've decided to put some lilies in this fall, and Stargazer is the first on the list! That poor Purple Turk's Cap I planted 3 years ago still can't get over about 5 inches at best. I've given up on him.

I also love how you've gotten things mixed up there ... we have to finally get one of the big Russian Sages, because the one we planted (addmittedly, not in a great spot) was the dwarf one, 'Little Spires,' another case of not reading the stake carefully enough, and I'm plenty guilty of that.

That Purple Emperor is a sedum??? What are the blooms like? I could go for that plant in a big way with that foliage! I'm sure that's no surprise to you, lol.

Things are looking great down your way? I suspect you're getting storms again tonight, as are we (since about 2:00 pm today!) off and on through the night. Keeps me out of the garden, but the ambiance is great!

Gail said...

Like IVG, the purple sedum cuaght my eye, well I did a double back to make sure it ws a sedum...It is a fabulous looking plant.

The bed is looking great and I like the tiered effect. If I had just a bit more room (we run into the shallow soil and limestone) would grow tomatoes in the front sunny bed!

Even though we haven't had as much rain as needed, it has been a good summer!

Gail

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

I like how you've integrated the veggies with the flowers. It's a very attractive way to grow them. The foliage of your 'Purple Emperor' Sedum looks a lot better than the foliage of my 'Black Jack' Sedums. I think I should get rid of mine & try yours. Wish I could help with the Daylily, but it is hard to tell from the photo. You'll have to take a closer shot. Is it a rebloomer?

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

The problem, as I see it, is that its not purple. If it were purple, the chances of me being able to ID it would go way up. I'm not into orange, so I don't pay much attention to the name of orange flowers. I wonder if there's a Daylily photo database somewhere. I'll look through some of my old AHS journals to try to find it.

Shady Gardener said...

IVG, Thank you for your compliments! You will like "Stargazer." It's very aeromatic. :-) I really like the tall Russian Sage, and I know you'll like Purple Emperor sedum. Have you checked out "Matrona?"

I think Des Moines had a LOT of stormy weather yesterday. How did you fare? We had a lot of wind and about 2" of rain in a short time... I'd opened the living room blinds to watch the storm and quickly closed them again! (Too much wind, tree too close to the house!) We're just fine, though.

Gail, Hi! You would like Purple Emperor, too. Especially since you have such a variety in your gardens!

MMD, Veggie foliage is just as interesting as that of other plants! ;-) I'll have to check out "Black Jack," as I'm not familiar with it. Purple Emperor does very well for me.

Thank you for being willing to try to help me ID my daylily! I appreciate your help... but don't worry if you can't find it. It's okay to have a few mystery plants. :-)

Iowa Victory Gardener said...

Hi Shady,
I'm still in the Emperor camp due to its rich foliage, but Matrona does seem to have some highlights, but looks more like a traditional stone crop type of sedum.

Yep, we had wild n'woolly weather all day and night Sunday, and broke a record rainfall for the date. We're fine, though things in the garden are looking a bit beaten down right now. Lots of wind here too, torrential rains, the whole 9 yards, so again, there's a lot of branches down all over the place.

We're fine, though some lower parts of the city are flooding again (Fleur Dr. of course is closed.) At least the stuff were supposed to get tonight looks like it won't happen, which is fine by me!

Shady Gardener said...

IVG, I guess there was quite a bit more excitement in town (3 1/2" rain in just a few minutes) than I'd thought... some people had to vacate their cars. Photos showed rain 1/2 way up the car doors! Plus a roof blown off and large trees were downed. Glad there wasn't more.

Dirty Fingernails said...

I first noticed in the very first picture the oriental lily.. I love them!! Mine too are amoungst my daylilies. I miss them, they have been gone for a time now.. Thanks for bringing them back for me today. My sedum has bloomed already.. crazy huh! Keep up the great work in the garden...

Shady Gardener said...

dirty fingernails, Thanks for visiting, and thanks for the encouragement. :-) The Stargazer is wonderful. I'm waiting for Starfighter to bloom!

Anonymous said...

I'm loving the way you've mixed veggies & herbs amongst the flowers. Great idea. Maybe that's a way for me to grow tomatoes since I don't have a veggie plot?? Your garden looks wonderful ~ there's such a variety in bloom.

Shady Gardener said...

Kathleen, Thank you for your compliments. You know, a lot of interest in garden plants stems from a diversity in foliage, so adding veggies is great! And, this is, actually, my only space for veggies. :-)

Anonymous said...

Shady ~ loved the photos and the serendipity of finding edibles mingling with ornamentals. Having very limited open, sunny areas, I've been sneaking veggies and herbs in with the "just another pretty face" specimens for years... somehow it all works out and is quite attractive, as well.

What a handsome sedum - I once had 'Ruby Glow' with purplish foliage and ruby flowers... makes me want to replace this one! ~Deb

Kylee Baumle said...

I love this post! So many pretty areas you have! I apologize for not visiting more often. You never disappoint when I do.

Could your daylily be 'Franz Hals'? I have it and it looks very much like it.

Andrea Dellit said...

i LOVE LOVE LOVE the lillies! stargazer is my favorite!!!

Shady Gardener said...

And how are your frogs doing this year??? ;-)