What’s Blooming!

I am so excited — so excited, look what I spied today!!!

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I can’t believe the tulips are poking up already. Those didn’t show up until April last year.  I am over the moon about that!  I guess it doesn’t take much to make me happy 😀 Now to impatiently run outside every day and see how big they are getting.

On to some more things that will be arriving for the garden in a couple months:

More foxglove. I can’t resist a free shipping and 50% discount sale. These companies know what they’re doing in January, I tell you.

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It a mixed bunch, so I don’t know what colors will be coming, which is kind of fun. I like surprises.

I am trying this plant again – torch lily, aka red hot poker. A name John finds the need to make jokes about for some reason…

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I tried these before a few years ago and they didn’t make it. The torch lilies are normally to zone 6, but there is one variety that is supposed to be hardy to 5 (which is our zone). So, I’m trying it again.

This is a plant that I was going to grow from seed, but then it was on sale for not much more than a packet of seeds would be. Normally I would never get an annual by mail, but there is always a first time for everything, right?

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Purple passion flower. It’s a vine and I love the look. These are all from Michigan Bulb Company. They have kind of mixed reviews online, so I don’t know what to expect with these.

We have 2 big outdoor projects planned for next year. One is the water feature in the back bed next to the house. We are going to use all of those rocks I dug up to make a pondless waterfall of sorts. 

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The design is still in the thought process. The other project is the complete rennovation of the front bed on the other side of the house. Last year was working on the left side of the house, this year is the right wild and wooly side:

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All of those shrubs are coming out. They are really overgrown and I hate them. I think there are 3 or 4 bushes in that pile.  I am hoping to keep the rhododendrons on the left there, but I think they might be too old and woody. I pruned one of them way down and will see if it comes back. If it does, then I will prune the other. If it doesn’t I will take these down.

We will be doing the slate walkway along the front of this bed just like on the other side and putting my bench in there to be able to sit out front. 

We can’t do much just yet as the ground is still too wet and soggy to be doing much, but I have an itchy trigger finger LOL

12 thoughts on “What’s Blooming!

  1. Ruby

    I can’t wait to see how it all turns out. I’ve been doing some yard stuff too, but still waiting for that last freeze of the year to really dive in. Good Luck!

  2. Sandy

    Ooh lots of fun to be had in the garden Lori. I’m looking forward to seeing what you do with both of the areas you have in your sights! What are those lovely little seed pods in the photo with the tulip. They look like little dry water tadpoles..:)

    1. Lori Post author

      Those are maple tree seed pods, aka helicopters because of how they twirl to the ground. They are ubiquitous and a little annoying up here LOL.

  3. Debby

    So fun to see you so excited about the garden. I love those passion flowers when I’ve seen them, but they were mature plants and so kind of expensive, plus not frost resistant. I never thought of getting smaller plants and treating them as annuals.

    1. Lori Post author

      I’m terribly excited! Maybe I should move to where I can garden year round…

      I also have seen those passion flowers in the local garden centers and since they are annuals around here, I didn’t want to shell out the $$$ for them. I don’t really want to pay $20 for one annual.

  4. Susan

    The passion flowers vine flowers are pretty hardy when we had a mild freeze here in Florida they got knocked back but it didn’t kill them they really attract the butter flies. I don’t know if they would survive your cold winters up there in New York I would check before investing the $$.

    1. Lori

      The passion flower is an annual in my zone, so I am not planning on it lasting. That’s why I bought it on sale 🙂

  5. Fran

    So many fun projects for your garden. I don’t like gardening myself but I always enjoy your enthousiasm about gardening.

  6. Ali @ Peaches and Football

    So… seriously, should I just take pictures of all my nasty landscaping and have you draw up plans telling me how to fix it? I am at a loss and grimacing at how to best remove all the nasty shrubs. I’m sure they looked nice once but not anymore!

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