Lilly

I haven't shared a picture of Lilly, our golden retriever, in a while and thought some of you animal lovers would enjoy this one. She loves stuffed animals, but tends to destroy them. Saturday, I found a garage sale that had a lot of stuffed animals for fifty cents each, so now Lilly has a new stash and she is very happy.
This is the side yard I have been working on, I hope to finish mulching tomorrow. I moved the grasses from the perennial butterfly garden and I really like them better here on the side. Carol, from May Dreams Gardens, had a post on large shrubs. I read that one with great interest because I'd love to have really large shrubs to block my view from this neighbor. They are guardians of a troubled teen, (14 yo), and the other day he was jumping on the trampoline while completely exposing himself. I had a little talk with him and told him if I ever saw him do that again I'd call the police. My husband had a talk with the "dad" and he seemed glad that I confronted the teen. I think they have their hands full and he said as much. The trampoline is a neighborhood hangout and you wouldn't believe the stuff that goes on while these parents are at work. Anyway a fence is not an option, so fast growing large shrubs sound really good to me, the larger the better. Actually moving to the country sounds even better, if only the housing market weren't so dismal right now.

If you look closely at the picture above, you'll see that the neighbor behind me planted a small forest in his back yard. While I personally don't care for the jungle look at all, I don't blame him for wanting to have complete backyard privacy.

Last fall I planted several small trees, two crab apple trees, one Bradford pear, (one pear was planted a few years earlier). I also planted several shrubs, two red twigged dogwoods, two burning bushes, (one died), and forsythia . With the crazy spring weather and the drought-like conditions this summer, the things I planted have been struggling to survive. Hopefully, we will have normal weather next spring and the plants will grow quickly.

Ornamental Grass

Shirl, and Layanee are posting on ornamental grasses this weekend and inviting others to join in the fun. I posted on July 30 about my grasses but very few of them were blooming at that time.

It is very breezy and sometimes downright windy where I live and I love to watch the grasses sway in the breeze.

Since my post in July, I have added three more grasses to my collection, so now I've got twenty-eight.

Hibiscus

The rain that we received over the last couple of days has renewed some gardening interest. I had to run a quick errand today, I hadn't planned on doing any shopping, but for some reason the car drove me to one of the home centers. I'm so glad I went! I had been wanting to get more of the Russian sage and I bought three. I planted my first one last fall and I have enjoyed it so much. It did great through the drought and of course I love anything purple. They had this beautiful hibiscus ('Pinot Grigio') with flowers almost the size of a dinner plate. I couldn't pass that up. I also bought three Fountain Grass Pennisetum Alopecuroides 'Red head'. What a long name! I do like the 'RedHead' part especially since my husband and two children are red heads. I have quite a few grasses already, but most of them have the feathery blooms and they are O.K. but I love the plumes. They made me happy during the winter, and not much can make me happy about winter. These were on sale for $10.00 so I bought $30.00 worth of winter happiness today. It was an investment purchase.
I got this little gardening apron, for a couple of dollars, while my mom was here on one of our shopping excursions. I used it today for the first time. It has really deep pockets, great for my camera, garden scissors, (used for dead heading), and my gloves, ( I use latex gloves and sometimes need several pairs while I'm working).

I got the three grasses planted today, but it was so humid I couldn't stay out. Hopefully in the morning I'll get the rest planted.

Ornamental Grasses

Last fall I purchased my very first ornamental grass, it was Fountain Grass Pennisetum Alopecuroides. I enjoyed it so much during the autumn months as I watched it sway in the breeze...

and I especially enjoyed how it added to the beauty of the landscape during the snowy winter.

It was particularly beautiful one winter morning when the fog froze and created a glittery masterpiece. Being from the south, I am in awe when I see the rare beauty of frozen fog on the trees and plants. I knew I had to have more of these wonderful grasses. So this year I have added many more to my yard and flower gardens. I have 25 new grasses, not counting the lily-turf and annual grasses. Some of them haven't done well with our weather extremes and others haven't transplanted well, drying up and turning brown. Hopefully they will revive as others have and in a year or two add to the beauty of our landscape.

The Purple Fountain grass Pennisetum setaceum 'Rubrum' is an annual but I have enjoyed it in my containers this year. I'm going to try and overwinter it in the garage and I've also collected some seed to try my hand at growing my own as I did the pampas grass this past winter.

This is Japanese Blood grass that I just bought in Shipshewana. I have two of them waiting to be planted. I can't decide where I want them to go. The more sun they have the more red they become, so I definitely want a place in full sun.

This is Blue-eyed grass Sisyrinchium angustifolium, it's an iris-like grass with pretty purple flowers. I have two of these also.

Dixieland Maiden Grass Miscanthus sinensis

Miscanthus sinensis 'Zebrinus' Zebra Grass

Maiden Grass
I am terrible at keeping up with the names of plants and since I planted over 25 grasses I've lost track of what they are. Most of the grasses I have are some form of Miscanthus Maiden grass, I know I planted several Karl Foerster Feather Reed grass. I don't want to guess and mislabel the grass so when I get a positive ID I'll come back and label them. If anyone wants to help out, please feel free.