Sunday Afternoon Photos (lots of pics)

16 years ago

After a long, hard day of gardening yesterday, I sat down on my little trellis bench to contemplate what I had accomplished. The late afternoon sun was slanting light down through all the leaves, and it was just so pretty, I had to try to capture it in pixels! ;o)

Of course, this doesn't anywhere near do it justice, but here's an overall photo of my rose bed, with the sunlight shining through. Only a few blooms right now, but lots of new growth showing up, so it won't be long until a new flush of flowers appears.

This is the small bed next to the shed, which I call Oscar's Bed, as he is buried under the birdbath.

Another view so you can see how tall my sunflower tree is getting again. (I cut it back in July to about 3 feet.) It is probably 12 or 13 feet, at least, now.

A closer look at the birdbath over Oscar's grave.

Mark, stopping to pull a few weeds from the edges of the brick pathway. Kat, you can see your euphorbia to the left of the picture. Compare it in size to the Diamond Frost euphorbia which is growing in a semi-circle around the front of the bed, interspersed with the yellow-flowering coreopsis.

The rose garden from the other side.

A closer look at my 20th anniversary trellis bench, against the fence. This is usually where I drink my morning tea every day.

The Bali Hut bed with some leggy coleus that I'm getting ready to trim back. The gaps are from where I pulled out some annual coleus that had bitten the dust. The tall purple "tree" is my hibiscus acetosella or False Roselle. I just love that rich color, even if it hasn't yet bloomed for me. And that is purple fountain grass around it, which was SUPPOSED to be taller than the coleus I planted in front, but haha...the coleus grew huge and eclipsed it.

Just to give you an example of how big some of that coleus can get, here is a picture of one that is only about 6" below the gutter of my porch roof! This bed is wildly overgrown and in need of clean up, but I thought some of you might like to see how tall this Saturn got.

And that's my garden as it was yesterday afternoon. Hope you liked visiting with me!

Marcia

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Comments (23)

vaodiva
16 years ago
Loved it!
Your Bali hut looks like a wonderful place to chill. I too love coleus and have a few different varieties throughout our property, but none as tall as your Saturn.
Thank you for sharing :)
manature
Original Author
16 years ago
Vaodiva, I have over 50 varieties of coleus, and just love them so much. They add such color to the garden when other things aren't blooming, don't they?

That Saturn, btw, is way too leggy and ugly, but it had gotten so tall, I just had to take a pic of it. It normally stays about 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide, and very full. Now it's time to whack it back severely.

Here are some piccies of my other coleus for you. Enjoy!

Marcia

This is a picture of that same bed from the other end, at the beginning of summer. You can see that Saturn way down at the far end, just starting out.

Coleus by my front door.

The entryway bed from a slight distance.

Various container groupings:

You can see how much I love them. Nothing else gives you as much bang for the buck...and they keep on giving. The perennial coleus are SO easy to root. No need to ever run out of them, even if they die for some reason.

Just call me The Coleus Queen of Sanford, thankyewverymuch!

Marcia
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pamelainfl
16 years ago
Marcia,
Wow! You have a gorgeous garden! I'm really starting to love coleus more and more. I received a few from Veronkia's play date and just love them. After seeing your garden I love them even more. I can't believe there are so many varieties. Your tea bench looks so inviting! Thank you for sharing your pictures.

Pamela
fawnridge (Ricky)
16 years ago
Very nice brick pathways. The whole garden is very English cottage in appearance, wonderful job!
manature
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you, Ricky! Coming from someone with gardens like yours, that's a very high compliment! And you couldn't make me happier than by comparing it to English cottage gardens. My favorites.

But this is only 1/3 of my backyard. The rest hasn't even been started on, nor the front yard, either. I'm hoping to do a big tropical bed, too, and taking notes from the way YOUR garden looks for that. Also, the pond will be going into the grassy looking area in front of the Bali Hut. (It is really 90% dichondra, 5% other weeds, and the rest grass.) It's a larger area than it looks in the photos, so I think I can fit in a fair sized pond, and I want tropicals around it, too. Hey, maybe I'll add a croton or two! There are two splindly ones out front that need to be moved, anyway. Perhaps they'll fatten up in a better spot!

Marcia
fl_southpaw
16 years ago
Absolutely fabulous. Now I have coleus envy, garden envy, bench envy... Hmmm, it's not easy being green (unless you're a plant in Marcia's care). I am really awed.

Julie in WPB
annafl
16 years ago
Marcia,

I love the way you've kept the theme of the periwinkle blue throughout the yard. The bench, shed door, birdhouse, watering can, etc. Really keeps the continuity of the garden going. I also love the lighting our fall weather brings to the eye. Colors seem more intense to me.

Anna
katkin_gw
16 years ago
Looks really great Marcia, you do have a lovely English style cottage garden. Thanks for sharing the photos!
nova_gw
16 years ago
BEAUTIFUL! Just absolutely Beautiful, Marcia! Love your rose garden's cottage garden look and of course your coleus are stunning. Excellent job, you should be very proud of your creation!

nova
cindeea
16 years ago
Marcia, it all looks stunning! This time of year our plants and trees really do become center stage. Cooler temps, less humidity allows them to shake their tail feathers. Very pretty, my friend. You have a relaxing Bali hut to admire all your hard work!
manature
Original Author
16 years ago
Pamela, there are SO many varieties to choose from! Sun lovers and shade lovers and some that aren't fussy either way, and every color and size you can imagine. From tiny Thumbelina with 1/2" leaves to brilliant green Envy with leaves over a foot long. I just LOVE the infinite variety!

Aw, you guys are all so nice! Julie, if you saw the rest of my yard, you wouldn't be quite so green! SO much left untouched, or worse, piled with pots and old lawn furniture and a huge logpile under a blue tarp. I mean, it's really a MESS at the other end.

Anna, I do love that shade of blue, and I try to have touches of it everywhere. It's my unifying color that (I hope) ties the rest all together.

So glad you guys enjoyed taking a look around. Even though I've barely made a dent in what I want to do here, I enjoy the bits I've done.

Marcia
FlowerLady6
16 years ago
Marcia ~ You have a fantastic creation there. I just love it all. The meandering brick paths, the colorful plants, wonderful benches, and other artwork. I would certainly sit out there on your anniversary bench and have my tea also. Thank you for sharing pics from your bit of paradise. They made me want to get out and work on our gardens. So much became overgrown and weedy this past summer. It was just too miserable to get out. This is the first year it effected me like this. Maybe it's age, 58, maybe it's hormones. At any rate, I look forward to getting out now that the weather has changed for the good.

Do you grow your coleus from seed? I believe I have seeds from that sunflower tree. Is that how you started yours? I really need to get out and plant seeds, make cuttings etc.

Thanks again for the inspiration.

FlowerLady
manature
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, Flower Lady. No, I do not grow coleus from seed, as most of the seed-grown coleus are annuals, and most of mine are perennials. I ordered a lot of mine from Rosy Dawn Coleus online (we had a huge surge of coleus posts around here this past spring, with many of us ordering different ones, then trading cuttings later).

My sunflower tree was a cutting I got from Nicki, and I have since made many more cuttings. I'm often too impatient to wait for seeds to grow. I do grow the smaller tithonia (Mexican sunflower) from seeds, and I have lots of volunteers of that one popping up here and there.

I love my anniversary trellis bench, too. It's a great spot to sit for a short time to enjoy the view, however it isn't very comfy for long term relaxing. For that, I usually head to the Bali Hut, or my other blue wooden bench, visible from the back in pictures 2, 3 and 4. We also have a nice wicker table and chairs on our patio that are comfortable, too. I'm hoping to have dinner out there now that the weather has turned a bit more bearable.

I have been working solidly for the last 2 weeks to clean up the weeds and lanky, overgrown stuff that I let go when it was too hot, as well. It was a mess, but is starting to look nicer now.

Thanks!
Marcia
barbcoleus
16 years ago
Marcia,
You are the one that convinced me to give another look at coleus. Yours are gorgeous!!!
Barb
SusieQsie_Fla
16 years ago
Hi Marcia
Thanks for takin' us on a tour of your gardens.

I TOTALLY, totally loved it and can't wait to see the next phase!

Susie
countrynest
16 years ago
Marcia, Gorgeous, like flowerlady said "inspiration".
The very dark coleus are so beautiful. All the pictures are lovely. Marcia it is so good to see mark helping you with the weeding. I had to show Syl, Marks loving gesture. We both congratulate you on your masterpiece.
The tall plant, in the picture with your tea bench that has the orange red flowers, what is it?
The days have been so nice. I have been doing lot of weeding.
I want to get the garden in better shape so I can enjoy it as it cools down.

Felix
goldenpond
16 years ago
Simply wonderful.Thank you for the garden tour.I love your coleus just picked up some more over the weekend myself!
vaodiva
16 years ago
Marcia, you're place is so cool. Thanks for posting more pics of your fantastic Coleus. Next time you do cuttings I'd love to trade for anything I have.
wlsflowers
16 years ago
Marcia, awesome work! I love your paths and the sunflower tree...and the coleus...and the tithonia. Blue is one of my favorite accent colors in the garden, I love your use of it.

Great job, neighbor!!!
manature
Original Author
16 years ago
Thank you, Everybody! I wish I could say it REALLY looks that good, but it is selective photography, honest. Oh, well...at least I have something to SELECT from, eh?

I am trying to build up my supply of coleus cuttings so I have some to trade. Will keep you all posted in that regard.

Felix, that red-orange flower is Mexican sunflower (tithonia rotundiflora). It is related to the sunflower tree (tithonia grandiflora) and is a great butterfly plant. I have lots of volunteers from a bed of them I planted a couple of years ago. The one in the picture popped up in a really dumb place, but I left it there because the butterflies are on it every morning. Here's a tiger swallowtail checking it out:

Marcia
maureen155
16 years ago
Marcia -

Your yard looks like a lovely relaxing place to spend time. I love the blue accents, the pathways and the many roses.

Maureen
FlowerLady6
16 years ago
Marcia ~ Does Home Depot sell perennial coleus? Maybe one of these days I can make it to a plant-swap. Growing things from seed does take time, but it's an inexpensive way to get plants. I love that Mexican tithonia also and look at that beautiful swallowtail it attracted.

I got out this morning and did some weeding and trimming. Still have quite a bit to do, but it felt so GREAT to be outdoors working in cooler temps.

Thanks again for the inspiration.

FlowerLady
Bren2
16 years ago
Thank you Marcia, that was a wonderfully inspirational tour. Your hard work has really paid off. Your gardens are lovely.
Brenda