Garden Tour Time!

Shades of Green Hosta Society of SE MN once again is holding their summer garden tours of member's gardens!   We don't miss them, great social times plus admiring the gardening efforts of friends and getting a few new ideas for my own beds!

Such a wide variety of hostas and ideas!  Not all are entirely shade gardens, so it is fun to see the wide variety of interests!

Here is a delightful miniature succulent garden found on a patio coffee table!

June brings me the coral bells to bring me smiles!

The common name for Heuchera is Coral Bells...  The newer hybrids are created mostly for their beautiful leaves in various colors but not so great at providing flowers.   I have several of those varieties, which I enjoy.  But, I think I enjoy the ones that provide lots of flowers the best!  They are lovely in arrangements also!  The more you cut them, the more they bloom!  

After several weeks of high 80's and low 90's....today it is in the 70's!

 Oh, what a joy to get up this morning later at my normal time! 

 We also had a welcome 1" of rain late yesterday, so with the combined moisture and low temperature, I didn't have to get up to water containers so early when it was cooler!  Jeans and sweat shirt are a welcome change of clothing!   

So, I was able to spend more time out there and finally got caught up removing the ugly deformed hosta leaves resulting from a early spring frost when they were coming up!  With 100 varieties of hostas out there, it takes a bit of time to do that.  I think I removed leaves enough to equal a huge hosta!  They looks so much happier!  And I am also much happier!

 Now to catch up with some weeding!

I had finally finished creating my miniature/fairy gardens last week, which is late in the season for me.  And that meant cleaning up my back porch with it's potting mess.   I just can't handle the high temps...so had been working in early mornings and in short bursts and trying to ignore the other chores beyond watering containers!

I have some potted sun flowers to get in yet, so hope to get that done this afternoon.  They are for my volunteer attending a pollinator garden in a nearby neighborhood park and for a small flower bed at the entrance to our neighborhood.  I was afraid they would not survive that heat with their small root structure yet and was also not up to the work of carrying water to them frequently!  Hopefully the cooler weather will let those roots dig deep this week!

H. Sun Power

H. Climax  

Sunrise Sunset time in SE MN!

My one and only rose, which is a shrub rose, "Sunrise Sunset" is once again the highlight of my side yard garden bed!

The story behind it is:  I had given up on hybrid roses due to the work involved with MN winter preparation.  Suddenly, I won a rose in a drawing from one of my favorite garden centers, and had my choice.....this one caught my eye and I've fallen in love..... it is so easy to care for.... I simply prune it back in the fall and finish pruning it up in the spring when it comes back to life... and it blooms continually with three major flushes all season!  Actually I have to prune back some of the branches during the summer as it threatens to take over the whole world, which includes other plantings and containers nearby!

If you are shopping for a shrub rose....be sure to check this one out and consider it!

Iris Time yet in SE MN

Not only is the color spectacular, the bloom is 8 inches tall!   Yep, my favorite iris!  Blooms late in the season.