My Favorite Time of Year

People go on and on about how Christmas is the most wonderful time of the year.  I have to kind of laugh when I hear that.  When I hear it I can’t help but think they aren’t from Iowa.  Christmas is snow and cold…Yes, August is hot but just look how pretty it is…and the food fresh from the gardens is AMAZING!!  I can honestly say, I think August is likely my favorite time of year.  That is spoken from a privileged, “I can sit in air conditioning” point of view.

Here is my house…everything is blooming.

Here it is from a different angle.  My hard work is paying off.

I was outside and snapped some pictures.

This is my view as I come out my garage door.  I recently added a couple of plants along the back just to fill it in a little more in the spring when the pretty impatiens aren’t blooming so brilliantly.  This is the north side of my house and I get a lot shade here.

In the corner is a Sunpatiens.  It can grow in sun or shade…Here it’s shade.  I just love the variegated leaves and REALLY hope the nursery carries these next year.

I plant about 150 impatiens each spring and wait for August to come and for them to be blooming.

Buck made the planter boxes that sit on my porch for Mother’s Day one year.  It’s likely about my favorite Mother’s Day gift.

Along the stairs are planter boxes that Craig made me.  I just love them.  I have to be careful with the bottom planter as it isn’t very deep so can’t hold as much water.  In early July the clematis on the house was full of blooms.  It was just so pretty.  I was told that wouldn’t grow there because there wasn’t enough sun.  It actually does wonderfully.

I have these planters and I am super happy with them this year too.  In the back are geraniums.  In the front are alyssum and a supertunia with variegated leaves.  I love the flowers but also know they can get expensive.  So for reference…there are two geraniums and one supertunia.  Those are about $3.98 a piece…then I split a pack of alyssum between a couple of pots.  I thought that is pretty reasonable for all of the blooms I’m getting.

They are actually so much prettier in person.  Here is another planter with the same stuff.  I had bought the two supertunias with variegated leaves for the cemetery but they didn’t last long.  Deer ate them off so they were just nubs.  I brought them home and hopefully, they will bloom before frost.  The plant in the middle is a fairy Lilly that I bought at a garage sale.

Here are some Cala Lillies.  A friend gave them to me late in the season.  They are blooming now.  I put them in a pot with the plan to bring them in but not have to dig them up.  I want to get a big nicer planter for them next year.

We really need rain so our grass is brown…UGH.  Rain is in the forecast so I’m hoping we actually get some.

I love the pink cone flower.  It is so pretty. It’s been blooming since early July.  I love long bloomers.

Here is the front porch.

I’m tickled with how my hanging baskets are doing.  I plant the baskets myself with the hope of saving a little bit of money.  I have really big pots.  I have two pots hanging there.  I planted two supertunias in each basket and they are $3.98 each.  So my hanging baskets cost me about $8 each and they are so full and big.

There is a planter at the front door.  Next year I plan to find something that will bloom a little better there.  Right now it’s getting too much shade.

Sadly my hydrangeas are petering out.  The ones in front are the limelight variety.  I wish I had a different variety there.  The limelight doesn’t seem to last as long.

In the back against the fence are two bridal wreath spireas.  They are going to get clipped back and dug out this fall.  They are going to Karl’s house.  Then October 1st I’m heading to the nursery and plan to buy some hydrangeas for there.  The spirea are too big.  I’m excited for that to happen.  On October 1st everything at the nursery is half price.  I’ve always had good luck with whatever I buy then.

I have some other hydrangeas.  I planted them all a year or so ago so they aren’t big and lush yet.

The front of my Kramer rock looks bad.  You might remember I said I had moles ruin the front of this area.  It’s gradually looking better.

I planted the majority of my plants in pinks and whites this year.  I’ve tried reds before and was never really happy with it.  The pinks are so much prettier and offer more variety.  I’m sticking with pink.

…and now I am off to drop a note to the gal the owns the nursery requesting some variegated leaf sunpatiens and supertunias for next year…and after that, watering.  At this time of year, watering is daily for anything in a basket or planter, unless we get lucky and get some rain.