Good "Morning Glory" and a Rose for Sharon

What a summer this has been - very little rain and hot hot hot!  I average about two hours a day just watering my flowers.  I have had extraordinary luck with many of my flowers.  For example, I started this Morning Glory from seed.  It is now over 25 ft tall and the leaves are larger than my hand.  All this is growing out of a small 12" pot.

 

We also planted six Rose of Sharon bushes this past spring. Although I was told I would not see any blooms this year, my bushes are blooming all over the place.  Even after an attack from the Japanese Beetles these Rose of Sharon bushes are flourishing. 

 

 

The temperature here in Kentucky has started to cool down.  I am hoping that means we can get back on the Harley and see some fall foliage.  Until then, I will continue to tend to my flowers and enjoy the beauty of each day.

 

Flowers inspite of the rain . . .

We have finally had a break in the unforgiving heat of this summer.  Rain has finally found it's way to my plants.  So, while, the rain is taking care of my gardens, I thought I would post a few pictures of my flowers.

This is a log that Tim fond near the water.  It is huge, over 9ft
long.

However, when placed by the house, the log quickly shrunk!

This reminds me of my Red Hat's group.

Petunias

Rose of Sharon

Rose of Sharon

Moss Rose seems to be growing and multiplying.

I really loved this Stacking Pots, however, since someone stole it, it was needed elsewhere.

Another take on the Stacking Pots.

I created this bird bath out of three clay pots.  Lola is checking it out.

Knock out roses and petunias.

I love this picture of a flowering Rose of Sharon.

This Lantus plant is thriving this summer.

Beautifying the Neighborhood

We live on an acreage near the beginning of a subdivision.  This means little else than, we get the subdivision sign in our yard . . . yeah!  We made the decision to fix the sign and beautify our little corner of the world. 

Below are two pictures of the sign just after we painted it.  We also had to replace several pieces of rotted wood on the back of the sign.

At this point we had a blank canvas.  I knew I wanted flowers - just not what type and color for this setting. 

I began with two containers of Knock-out Roses, color red.

I also added a container of yellow inpatients.

Then I hit the Internet, looking for different ideas. 

I added boots to the back of the sign and planted flowers in each.

We walked a few beaches to finally find 2 pieces of driftwood.  I took the driftwood and placed it within the confines of the rock trim around the sign.  We also added river rock to top of the area.  And this is what it looks like:

I consider this corner mostly done.  I do have to add some type of ground cover on the outside of the trim, this will help to make it mower friendly and to ease our mowing burden.

Just A Little More Landscaping

We continue to work on the landscaping for our acreage.  Thought you would like to see what I have done to the front of the house.

We have added two rain barrels, one in the front an the other in the back by the garden.

Meet Gladys Knight and The Pig (Katy).

I continue to add flowers as I find the ones I like.  We also replaced the white rock with the more colorful river rock.

A view from the road.  I have recently added the two hanging ferns, very "southern".

Never Ending Landscaping

Living on an acreage has it's advantages and disadvantages.  I can certainly see the disadvantages already.  The main one; trying to find time to ride the Harley!  I am hoping that once we get our yard more established, the less time we will have to work it.  This equates to more time on the Harley of course!

Since this is our first Spring in this home, we have a ton of work to do in the yard.  It is also very apparent that this will be a continual work in progress.

The first thing we wanted to tackle was the sub-division sign that resides in our yard.  There are actually two signs, however, the other sign is much smaller and we will address it at a later date.

We began by painting the sign and replacing the rotting wood.  Our next objective is to make the entire yard as 'trim' free as possible.  We are accomplishing this by creating borders around everything in the yard.

After viewing a few ideas on the Internet, I began the project 'Flower Signs'.  I have added a couple of containers of roses and other assorted flowers.  I added a few "boot flower pots" on the back of the sign.  I am currently working on the driftwood we have added.  We are hoping to gain some control over the weeds by adding ground cover.  Here are a few pictures of the sign with some of our improvements.

This piece of driftwood has it's own personality.

Stay tuned for more changes to come!