Sunday is Summer Solstice. I'm trying to decide what I want to do on the longest night of the year. Maybe work on my tan in the EVENING (just because I can). I'm interested what other people do to celebrate the beginning of the Summer season. If you want to share please add it to the comments section. Either way, these extended days are really lending themselves to more renewed energy. The birds are definitely feeling it too. Most days I find the barn swallows attempting to build a nest in the Horticulture garage if I leave the garage door open too long. The resident coyotes have given birth to a litter of six cute and bouncy pups. Apparently, they have been spending a lot of time on the West side of the #1 hole. There is so much activity outside. I recently discovered a hummingbird hawk moth siphoning the pollen from the containers at #1. In my ten years of gardening I had never seen one before. Needless to say, I was pretty excited.
I'm also happy to say that the perennials and annuals are maturing for the year and the bed near the #9 hole is starting to take shape. In the last blog post I promised I would provide the plants selected for that garden bed. The plants were chosen primarily for it's Summer and Fall interest (i.e. the busy season). Warm yellow, cool blue/ purple, pure white/ silver and chocolate brown are the main colours used throughout the bed. I chose these hues to complement other garden beds and to be welcoming and calming. A mass planting of feather reed grasses were used in the center bed to create the illusion of a sea as the grasses move in the breeze. Groupings of lavender were planted near the pathway to provide a pleasant aroma in the warm Summer months. Ultimately, it's a Summer prairie perennial garden bed and it should really be coming alive as we progress into these warm Summer days.
Here is the plant listing for the beds:
Shrubs
Variegated Red Twigged Dogwood - Cornus alaba 'Elegantissima'
Dwarf Fothergilla - Fothergilla gardenii 'Mount Airy'
Heavenly Bamboo - Nandina domestica 'Gulf Stream'
Grasses
Feather Reed Grass - Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Foerster'
Mexican Feather Grass - Stipa tenuissima
Blue Oat Grass - Helictotrichon sempervirens
Sedge - Carex oshimensis 'Evergold'
Purple Fountain Grass - Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum'
Perennials
Cardoon - Cynara cardunculus
New Zealand Flax - Phormium tenax
Black Bugbane - Actaea simplex 'Black Negligee'
White Conflower - Echinachea purpurea 'White Swan'
Purple Coneflower - Echinachea purpurea ' Magnus'
Cranesbill Geranium - Geranium 'Johnson's Blue'
Perennial Sage -Salvia nemerosa 'May Night'
Russian Sage - Perovskia atriplicifolia
White Blazing Star - Liatris spicata ' Floristan Alba'
Evergreen Spurge - Euphorbia characias 'Glacier Blue'
Threadleaf Coreopsis - Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam'
Oriental Poppy - Papaver orientale
Phlomis - Phlomis tuberosa 'Amazone'
Jerusalem Sage - Phlomis fruiticosa
Stella de Oro Daylily - Hemerocallis 'Stella de Oro'
Spindle 'Emerald and Gold' - Euonymus fortunei 'Emerald and Gold'
Rock Rose - Cistus purpureus 'Alan Fradd'
Fred Boutin Lavender - Lavandula intermedia 'Fred Boutin'
Wooly Thyme - Thymus pseudolanuginosus
