My Flower Garden Tour 2017, Part 1: Perennials

 Tomorrow is only the first of September, but Fall has arrived early this year to Northern Indiana! This past week's weather has been unseasonably cold for the end of August and tomorrow the forecasted high temp is only 68 degrees! Yikes! Perhaps I jinxed us in my last post when I said that we usually have several weeks of good weather left!

Today, I am posting pics of all my glorious flowers from this year before they bite the dust! I feel like even my flowers are sensing that Fall is near because they are subtly starting to fade away. So let's take a tour of my flower gardens before that happens!

I had a pretty good season for flowers this year. Things I thought didn't survive last winter made a surprise appearance late in the season and even my first year Dinner Plate Hibiscus bloomed! I started a new garden, added to my existing ones, and have decided to revamp all of my front porch landscaping next year. In fact, I've already started adding to it with a couple of clearance plants!

I'm going to break this down into two posts since I have so many flowers! Perennials and Annuals. We'll start with the Perennial plants first, which come back every year (hopefully!) 

First up is my new fave, the Hardy Dinner Plate Hibiscus!

 

I didn't know what to expect when it bloomed. I knew it was a red and pink combo of some sort, but there are several different kinds. I was pleasantly surprised!

This is my favorite picture ever!

It brings a touch of tropical Hawaii to my Midwest garden! Be sure to get the ones labeled hardy if you live in a non-tropical climate.

Next up are my Hydrangeas, beginning with my favorite, the Limelight Hydrangea. 

This was from this Spring when it first started to bloom. It's my favorite stage because of the bright lime green color.

Then they turn white and fluffy!

This sucker is so huge! I got this plant at Main's Flower Garden for half off (only $10!) probably 6-7 years ago. The first year, I misread the directions and cut it off almost to the ground! I thought I'd lose it! But it came back better than ever! It's now bordering on being too big for it's spot.

Here is the Limelight Hydrangea today. It's already starting to turn a dusty pink around the tips for Fall!

 

This was my Bloomstruck Hydrangea a few months ago. It's a beautiful purple color. I was about to dig it up because I thought it was dead due to a late frost when all of the sudden this tiny sprout appeared.

This is the Bloomstruck today! A flower bud has appeared! Better late than never! This winter I will definitely be protecting it better!

This is my shade garden area. On the far left is my pink Let's Dance Diva Hydrangea. It too barely survived the late frost, but it's come back nicely! My transplanted Hostas sure have thrived in the shade garden too! I'm on the lookout for more shade loving plants to fill in the rest of the garden here.

This is a fully bloomed head of the Let's Dance Diva. It's a little strange, but still very pretty. The little pink buds in the middle don't get the big flowers on them.

These are purple Balloon Flowers, aka Platycodon. The unbloomed flower at the top resembles a balloon, hence the name! They don't really spread much from year to year, so I will be getting more next Summer.

This is a new plant for 2017, a Spiderwort. I planted it in the shady creekside garden, but I may move it next year if it needs more sunshine.

After seeing the Bleeding Hearts at Foster Park this year, I had to get one for my creekside garden!

My most recent purchase was this Black-Eyed Susan and the Echinacea in the next picture. They are front and center in my new garden area around my garage.

This is Echinacea, otherwise known as Coneflower. I only fell in love with them this year!

My new garage garden area is looking good!

This Wisteria is a new plant this year too! (I am only just now realizing how many plants I actually bought this year as I write this post! I can't help it! I love them!) I planted it in a pot since I am unsure where it's forever home will be just yet. They are known to grow like crazy, so I have to find just the right spot! Hopefully it will come back next year!

One plant that will not be coming back next year is my Chinese Lantern plant. I love the orange lanterns it produces, but it has gone wild and completely taken over my garden! I can't ever just seem to throw plants away so I may see if I can re-home it elsewhere in the yard, but we shall see!

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my 2017 Flower Garden Tour ~ The Annuals!

Looking ahead to Spring!

Despite the fact that it is only November, I am already planning ahead for Spring. Well, in my garden at least. I'm a planner by nature and every year around August/September when the bulbs start coming out I like to go around to all of the stores and take stock. I take lots of pictures of all of the flowers that I like and then try to whittle it down from there. I would spend all my money on flowers if I could!

This year I tried really hard not to go crazy and I only bought four new packs of bulbs. I usually tend to go a little overboard and get in over my head. Then I have to race against the clock to get them all planted and I end up getting a little resentful that I purchased so many bulbs. My four packs still equaled out to over 100 bulbs that I had to get in the ground. I didn't want a repeat of last year when I ran out of Muscari to edge the border of my creekside garden, so I made sure to purchase plenty to finally finish it off this year. I can't wait to see it!

Muscari and Daffodils are among my most favorite flowers and I had been wanting some Irises for a long time.

I got two packs of Muscari to finish off the border of my garden. I absolutely love their blue color. There were even a few bulbs left over that I planted in my peony garden where I noticed, much to my dismay, that it looked like my peonies were pushing up again! I don't remember that happening before, so I hope they will be okay. Crazy Indiana weather!

Daffodils are probably my most favorite of all flowers. I saw these gorgeous double daffodils and just had to get them. I hope I got a good mix of all three planted together!

I planted the daffodils in five clumps of five bulbs through out my garden that runs along the creek-I call it the "creekside garden." This is how I decide where to plant them for the best placement.

Here they are nestled in their new home.

I planted these beauties in clumps of five in a few places in the front of my house. They will look great with my existing daffodils and purple hyacinths! We are always looking to add more pops of color in the front yard. I had a few bulbs left over that I ended up planting in a new bed that I am just starting on the side of my garage too.

I also decided it was time to plant this gorgeous deep red mum (well, it was deep red when I originally bought it.) It went into my creekside garden as well, the first of many in the years to come. I like to take my time planting gardens-if I did it all at once, what would I have to look forward to?

These were the only bulbs that I really wanted but did not get a chance to purchase. I think it may be too late because the first frost finally hit last night. Next year!

I woke up to this. The dreaded first frost!

Frost on my beloved limelight hydrangea. This is just the beginning of things to come!