Bloom Thyme Friday: 2012 Top Ten

October 8, 2012April 4, 2014 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

For us in the midwest this was the year of the drought. For 9 weeks we had no rain. Most of the pictures of the entries for the 2012 Top Ten are before the drought began. However, there are a few plants that rose to the top as a result of the drought. All in all, the drought made us more appreciative of everything we have. And, made us think of those in other areas of the world that have drought as a part of their everyday lives—our prayers go out to them!

# 10 Annabelle Hydrangeas

This picture was taken before the drought began. These hydrangeas are beautiful, reliable and long lasting. I just picked a few to have in the potting shed for the long winter that is on it’s way!

# 9 Gene Boerner

This is a new rose to my garden but what a stand out! Bloomed and bloomed and bloomed. During the drought the roses were the plants that got most of the allotted water. I am so glad I planted Gene Boerner.

# 8 Bill Warriner

This rose was named for a Jackson & Perkins’ hybridizer who lost his battle with cancer. Our family lost a beloved family member to cancer too, so this rose is special to me. But, in and above all that, it is an amazing, fragrant blooming machine that is a standout in the rose garden.

# 7 Summer garden in front of the Potting Shed

It was so hot and so dry when this picture was taken. I was grateful for every bloom!

#6 The Grande Dame

The Grande Dame is an amazing fragrant rose that wows in my garden! I have three of them and will probably have more.

#5 New Dawn

New Dawn bloomed before the drought began and was spectacular! Soft pink, fragrant, tough and disease resistant. This is a climber that any garden would enjoy! For more on New Dawn, click HERE.

#4 The President Clematis

This clematis was a show stopper in early summer and just recently bloomed again making it completely amazing in my book.

#3 Larkspur

I love larkspur. Larkspur is best when it self seeds. This year was one of those years when I planted seed AND there was plenty of self seeding going on from the year before. The larkspur was beautiful for a long, long time!

#2 Dogwood

To get the whole story of why I love my dogwood trees, CLICK HERE.

#1 Harison’s Yellow

What a year this rose had. Spectacular in the spring and enchanting me completely with it’s history. Read about the history HERE.

Honorable Mention

This picture tells the story of the drought. Something I don’t want to forget…

I hope 2012 was a wonderful growing season for you! It is now that thyme of year when I settle in to plan and plot for next year. My favorite season is spring and it will be here soon… Well sort of soon … actually it will be here in 161 days! 🙂

Happy fall to you!

Bloom Thyme Friday: The Good. The Bad. The Ugly. Part 2.

July 27, 2012April 4, 2014 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

The gorgeous Flamenco rose has required very little water / from the Biltmore Collection

Today we start 9 weeks of drought… as you know my garden is very large and I have had to limit watering to my roses and tomatoes and alternating trees and shrubs that are closest to our living area.

As I write this I am in the garden looking up at a simply gorgeous summer sky… not a cloud in site! Even in times of drought, God does amazing things… with people and with plants.

There is always an up side, I read that it looks like the US will set a record in the month of July for the fewest tornadoes on record. After the horrible storms of last summer (remember Joplin, MO), that is sure welcome.

And, as far as the roses are concerned, they are usually covered in Japanese Beetles at this time of year and so far we have seen very few. In their place are beautiful blooms without bug bites! That is sure welcome!

Roses get watered once a week and still keep going!

Tomatoes get water a couple times each week….

Sunny Knockouts and wave petunias can definitely take the heat!

More Zinnias with Phlox that is also beating the heat very well.

First bloom of Tropicana … rescued from sale table.

Wordless Wednesday: Drought… The Good. The Bad. The Ugly.

July 11, 2012July 10, 2012 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Beating the Heat: Coleus

July 8, 2012 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

This year I fell in love with just about every coleus I saw. I didn’t buy one of each like I wanted to, but I did buy several of them! And, I am so glad I did. They are beating the heat like no other. Having such hot dry conditions this year has made me more than appreciate the plants that can take the heat and still look amazing!

Some are bushy and some trail. We have one on our front porch that is 3′ x 3′! Some I have in containers, some in the ground and some are in a window box. All of them are doing great! If you follow my blog you know that we have been without rain for 7 weeks now. Even though I water, many plants are showing great signs of stress.

But not the coleus! Here they are…

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Bloom Thyme Friday: Beating the Heat

June 30, 2012April 4, 2014 | Teresa / TheGardenDiary.com

This is a week of record high temps (99 – 103), so I find myself extremely grateful for the plants that are “beating the heat.”

Just when I was about to panic about the lack of water and intense heat, David Strickland of Witherspoon Rose Culture, our guest on Blog Talk Radio today told the story of his roses going without water for 6 weeks last year and once the rains came–the roses came back too.

So presently we are beating the heat with iced tea, fighting the Japanese Beetles and waiting for rain … and watering as much as we can! As CWO (Chief Watering Officer) the garden hose is in my hand most days!)