CDLV Garden Update

I was so happy to see that so many of you were kind enough to leave comments about the garden, and wanting to see the progress. From now until August, the garden changes almost daily, with things coming and going. For instance, the Wine and Roses Weigela just opened up under the River Clump Birch tree. It's a fun plant, almost like an Oleander, but non-toxic. The leaves are a dark green verging purple, and the flowers (which will open up soon) are a brilliant fuchsia.

The Dogwood Tree, which is filled with more blooms than ever before, sits in the corner of the round garden, between our house and the neighbors. When we moved into the house, it was in the front yard, and not doing well at all. I moved it back here, and it's gotten more and more beautiful each year.

One of the new additions to the garden this year was a climbing hydrangea. I thought $25 was such a great deal that I just couldn't pass it up. Already pretty established, and almost 5' tall, it found a home next to the garage on a new trellis. It's little pods are starting to open up now, and I can't wait to see how it looks when it bursts with blooms! 

I had to YouTube Knock-Out Roses to figure out what to do with mine, as they had gotten WAY out of control. They were nearly 4' tall, and 4' wide. Just a big thorny mess. Essentially, I followed this video, (loved his accent!!) which gave me permission to cut them almost all the way down, and now they're beautifully symmetrical and producing their first salmon colored roses of the season.

The allium, which is not the huge gladiator variety, just a simple little guy that grew wild in the backyard of our friend Karen's house. So I dug up enough to share about 5 years ago, and they've been beautiful each year ever since. They're at the end of their bloom period now, but I like to leave them up after all the purple plums are gone for the cool spherical shape.

And last, but not least, the wild Columbine. I remember when this first took root here in my yard, my gardening friend Geri was giving me some garden advice, and I said - I have to rip this out. She asked, "Why?" and I told her because it was wild! She then asked: "So you only buy your flowers!?" And I realized, these little beauties were a gift from mother nature, and I'm gonna keep them!

So that's the news from the garden this week ... hope you enjoy!!