Thank you for finding That Old House amidst the chaos of the Internet. We are delighted that you are here.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

The Blooms At That Old House

What is in bloom now, in late July, at That Old House?



Join the fun at A Southern Daydreamer, for Outdoor Wednesday, hosted by blogger Susan. Click on the blog title or here to find more stories and some great pics!

(By the way, Susan shows Gazania in an amazing full display of blooms in her post today.
Why don't mine do that? My Gazania like to keep their blooms hidden.)


**********************************************

Last week, I discovered that what I thought were old iris leaves just hanging out, waiting for the axe to fall, were, in fact, fresh green gladiolus leaves, just hanging out waiting for their flowers to pop.

And pop they did!



I really like this color, with the dark border; so pretty in pink.
(Calling the real gardeners: is that called a picotee edge?)


Sadly, some heavy wind and rain felled a couple of the spikes, so they will be nipped and moved into That Old House;
she loves getting gussied up with fresh flowers.


Nearby, the trusty cosmos:


and amazingly prolific hibiscus are still pumping out the blooms.


Up along the driveway, it's rioting daisies:


On the stone wall side, the daisies are collapsing under their own weight:


Ack! Weeds! Cover your eyes.

I love over-the-top, devil-may-care Rudbeckia; we've got them all over the place:







They are doing their best to choke out this blue hydrangea;


Perhaps this poor guy needs a new home come fall:


The purple and lavender hydrangea are blooming, also, up above the stone wall:


And a tomato is happily ripening.
We don't have too many tomato plants but they are all Fertile Myrtles.


(Oops -- the Myrtle plants growing in the border are filing a protest over the unauthorized use of their name.
Never allow your garden plants to unionize. They get ideas.)

Also along the stone border -- some old-fashioned phlox:


Phlox.
That's a funny name.
Who came up with that for such a pretty flower?
Phlox. Phlox. Nope, doesn't get any better.

"Honey, get the paper towels! Dion's phloxing on the good rug!"

Is there another name for these guys?


Up on top of the border, on the driveway level, the "Autumn Joy" sedum is looking like anemic broccoli.
With this sedum, that's a good thing; it will reward us in the fall.


I never much liked wax begonias, till I realized how amazingly easy these scrappy little things are, and how they can suffer brutal gardening abuse and neglect and still look like this:

Oops. I think I just confessed to brutal gardening abuse and neglect. Guilty.

One more outdoor shot, this one from Sunday:

We went to a family baptism on Long Island.
That's baby Andrew, at the party afterward, hanging onto Uncle Howard.

And I guess it is Great-Uncle Howard, actually. Yikes.
My great uncles smoked stinky cigars and wore their pants hiked up under their nipples.



I think Dion is telling me it is time to leave the computer, and give him a treat.
He may be right. Enjoy your Wednesday! -- Cass

22 comments:

  1. Such beautiful flowers. As a lover of old houses, I just LOVE your home!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your pink gladiola is so beautiful.

    And all of those black-eyed susans. Mine are spreading each year but are not that massive yet.

    Always love seeing your puppy!

    Have a great day!
    Becky K.
    Hospitality Lane

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great photos of beautiful colorful flowers....love old houses.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh Cass! I love the flowers. They are all so beautiful. I used to have some of that Autumn Joy" sedum, and the lilac colored blooms they produce are just exquisite. Moma always called it Live Forever, as you didn't even have to root it, it would just grow. I stuck it in the ground and it grew. I had a pot of it on my front porch, looked like a huge snoball and someone stole it. Made me so mad. Beautiful post. Country Hugs, Sherry

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would love to spend all day in your yard, photographing all your flowers! Not that you don't take beautiful pictures, I just love taking pictures of flowers and you have so many I'd have to pack a lunch!

    Wanted to tell you also that I love the new mirror over the mantle. Representing the original thirteen colonies? What a wonderful thing for your old house! Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  6. You lucky lady having all these beautiful flower everywhere! There so pretty!! I liked the yellow ones. Hugs!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Beautiful flowers. What a beautiful pink gladiolus.
    There is that adorable little face, and of course he wants a treat.
    Glenda

    ReplyDelete
  8. What a lovely home surrounded with such breathtakingly beautiful flowers. The gladiola is one I hadn't seen before. My black-eyed Susan's passed away ...

    And, that precious wee one & darling pooch ...
    TTFN ~Marydon

    ReplyDelete
  9. Your garden is looking great, Cass! Our rudbeckia is blooming, too. I love them. We don't have gladiolas, yours are beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I have work to do planning for next year after seeing your wonderful garden.

    What beautiful gladiolas!

    Laura

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love the color of your glads!
    I will send some deer over they love the black eyes Susan's, yummo..
    Did you yell over on Sunday?? I thought I heard my name!
    I did Greenport for OW...YOUR side of the fork..

    ReplyDelete
  12. Hi Cass!
    Good to hear from anohter Long Islander! You have a spectacular garden! I love the gladioli and the daisies.

    You comment about great Uncle made me laugh...so true! :-) Baby Andrew is a doll!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Whoop! I thought your house looked like a Long Island home ...but it is nice to meet a New Jersyite too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. Cass, your house looks as if it were wearing a beautiful lei of flowers!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I hope you will stop by Dining With Debbie with your favorite Crock Pot Wednesday entry. Misty Linky is up and waiting for you. The first of the giveaways for the inaugural event is posted. diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your garden is just gorgeous right now! LOVE that gladiola!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Really, it doesn't get much better than this - pictures of a gorgeous old house, pictures of flowers, a gorgeous baby and a laugh at the end. Perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Hi Cass! I love your house! It truley is in the dream house catagory. :O) Your flowers and tomatos look heavenly. We have a mouse in our yard that keeps gobeling up all of our tomatos, but fortunatly he doesn't like pumpkin. :O)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Hi, thanks for visiting my blog! Got to tell you I love your flowers! Oh yes and in your most recent post, your pottery tea set. I so love pottery. Someday when I retire, I am going to learn to do pottery along with the other 999 things on my list!

    ReplyDelete
  20. WOW! That is fabulous!.Such beautiful flowers
    I love your house.
    cute baby!

    xoxo

    ReplyDelete
  21. that baby is adorable. who does he belong to (besides great uncle howard)?

    ReplyDelete
  22. oh, and i forgot, the flowers are beautiful and you are getting good with that camera!

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for visiting That Old House; it's always exciting to find new comments -- they are treasured! Because of increasing spam, I have reluctantly eliminated "Anonymous" commenting. Legitimate anonymous commenters, please forgive me! You might try using "Open ID" instead. Blogger's spam software worked for a good long time, but, sadly, no longer.