I am trying to get myself into a better place. A few things are helping me. One is reading blogs and keeping up on my own blog. The second thing is pruning my poor neglected garden. I want a Gothic Garden. I have been working on this for awhile. I call this Garden "Ancient Enchantment". I hope the name gives an idea of the look I am going for. Here are the BEFORE pictures.
Below are the AFTER photos. I did not rip out anything. I did prune the
heck out of the peonies. I do love them. They are Magenta. I think next
spring I will cut them back as soon as they are done blooming. They
block the sun for my other flowers. I think I like my garden before? Maybe its like a new haircut. It looks better in a few weeks. Hopefully all my hard work shows next summer.
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| I think this might be the third year for this Rose in my Dark Garden. I thought this was "Mr. Lincoln" but its looking more Scarlet then the deep luxurious Red I love. I will have to compare it to one of the roses that I just planted that I know for sure is Mr. Lincoln when it blooms. Mr. Lincoln is one of my favorites of the cheap Red Roses I buy from Menard's. They look like Red Velvet and smell rosey and fruity at the same time. Its on the cusp of being zone five so wish me luck. |
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| This is my Hibiscus. It is very Dark Red. I think its name is "Big Red" not very romantic. They could have come up with way better. Perfect for my Dark Garden. I cannot cut it back yet. It still has some buds on it. I think I will cut it back right away in the spring so it will bush out more instead of letting get get tall and stringy. |
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This is a Purple Geranium! I had no idea they came in Purple. Its name is "Contessa Purple". Unfortunately where I live these are an annual. The nursery in my town let me have the annuals for a dollar a piece since they are on their last legs.
This Rose in front of the Lion I think is called Carrousel. I am not crazy about it.
The Roses are little and they are not all Red. They Are Red and White. I might mail order the Darkest Rose in the World and put in this spot next spring. You cannot see it but this year I had a Black Hollyhock! I thought he was dead. I am not sure if they come back or just reseed. It is done for the season so I did not bother to take a picture. |
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| These are Dahlias and Mums. Nothing special but it is some desperately needed color. | | | |
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| These are Verbana. One of the few flowers that still looked okay at the nursery. They talked me into them.
The brown leaves behind the Iris is a brand new Hibiscus I bought from the nursery. It is done for the season. Its called "Plum Fantasy". I looked it up and I think it is going to be more Fuchsia then a Dark Plum. I am kicking myself because last week I seen one with the word Black in its name and I did not buy it. |
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| I added three roses that were in pots on my deck. They are not happy. It was pretty hot today. I hope they make it. They are Mr. Lincoln, Oklahoma and probably Mirandy. |
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| The Flowers and especially the Roses did not look good at the nursery. I asked why and they said it was too wet this season. Now I don't feel so guilty about my garden. They are professionals and they had a hard time. I have identified two of my problems when it comes to gardening. I am sure I have more problems then two. One is I think I might be cramming to much it to a small space. The second one is that I take to many free things from people. Free things are free for a reason. They get invasive. I know there are people within a 50 mile radius that are cussing me out right now because of my White Irises. Sometimes the Roses love fall in my area. I will post some photos if they decide to put on a show. |
