Sunday, August 6, 2017

The Reeder Garden in Early August

I thought maybe it was time to share my own garden again, since it has been a while. 

We are in the middle of a heat wave, with 90 degree temps every day lately. This is not common for us, and it makes most of us north westerners uncomfortable. It can make our plants unhappy too. We are also going on 50 days without rain. Needless to say, if you want a garden you have to water. We put in a watering system about ten years ago, so most parts of our yard are watered automatically. We still have a few spots that have to be hand watered or reached with a hose and sprinkler. Our water bill in summer sort of takes the place of the heat bill in winter. 

By August the garden can begin to look tired. With the heat, I have not been able to get out and clip and deadhead perennials that are finished like I usually do. But I went out with my camera this morning after our walk, with the morning sun filtering through the smoke from British Columbia fires, and my camera liked what it saw.


The lot next door has been cleared and we expect construction to begin soon, Hence the black plastic instead of a green hedge. Change happens. 
The roses are between blooms, but there are lilies!

Dahlias where the tulips were in the spring.




Sweet peas and the first sunflowers in the vegetable garden, which is as much a flower cutting garden as it is a food crop patch. 


Buddleias cover up the compost bins.



Above, the island bed before deadheading. After taking photos, I did a little work here while I was monitoring hose watering since it was much cooler today. Below you see the difference. It looks a lot fresher with the tired Lady's Mantle seed heads gone. 


This clematis has a trellis but it prefers to bloom on the forsythia. 






Down the path toward the garden deck. 





These are old windows from the old Whidbey Island cousin's cabin, with Rusty Bird ornamentation. 

Jake gave me a Buddha for Christmas. He thought with the election and all that I might need a place for quiet meditation. Tom gave me the rocks. Truth and patience, good reminders in these times. 


Old Woody monitors the steps down under the big cedar tree. 

The front entrance.

The hop covered gate to the back yard from the driveway. 
As I was standing there taking the above photo, this hummer came and carefully inspected the crevice in the wall.

Then it flew towards me, seemingly curious about my camera. Then it flitted away. 
Behind the gate, the tomatoes on a west wall
and in front of the greenhouse. 

The back side of the greenhouse is the garden shed, which for the first time in many years is just a shed and no longer Irene's playhouse or flower shop. Sigh. 

The canna is blooming in a pot on the patio. 



We spend a lot of time here before it gets too hot. We love having lunch on the patio in summer. 



There is a fresh bouquet of sweet peas on the kitchen table. 
Beginning Monday we will be away and I will not be blogging for a while.  No Internet. I will, no doubt, pop up on Facebook, since our phones work almost anywhere. There will be photos of the Pacific Ocean coming.

See you later. 

21 comments:

  1. I am wondering how much acreage this garden takes up? It certainly is a slice of heaven, even in hot, dry weather.

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    1. Our property is a half acre, set back off the street on a 150 ft driveway in an old neighborhood where the streets run only every other block. It is part farm, part forest, part playground, part resort, part highly tended, part native. To borrow the words of a favorite children's book, "my {garden} is me and I am it and it looks like all of my dreams".

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  2. All of your watering activity is worth the effort. Your garden looks great. It is difficult to see that you are in a drought. I know how scary a drought can feel. I hope it ends soon. This is an enjoyable walk around your garden. I could get lost here in all the blooms and sit in your favorite places and just enjoy life. Have fun on your get away.

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  3. P.S. I had to go back over the photos of your garden. Seeing the hummingbird searching for insects and then coming to look into your camera is a bit of magic that one hopes for in the garden. At least it is one of the reasons why I garden. Your neat edges are a miracle to me. I can't seem to keep motivated to do this chore and it really makes the flower beds pop. So very nice.

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  4. You certainly didn't stint on your pictures, Linda. It sure looks beautiful to me. :-)

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  5. Your garden looks so lovely. I wish mine looked half as good. I do not like this weather, and the smoke has aggravated my asthma. I have to haul hoses and sprinklers around to water the beds.

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  6. I hope you get some rain soon. To me, there is no prettier garden than yours. The lilies are breathtaking, like I hope mine will be next year. I love the arbor with the old window! All of it is beautiful. Irene probably didn't have time for the flower shop this summer. She has really grown up and is such a pretty girl, like her mother.

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  7. Stunning! & that word isn't even adequate. It's a 1/2 acre of the best a garden can be. What an artist/gardener you are. How old is the garden? I love gardening my 1/4 acre. However mine is straggling & struggling to survive in the drought here in the mtns. of So. Central California. Your pix were a treat for me soul. Thank you, Sandy

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    1. We moved into our house as new construction 39 years ago in June. We started from scratch with more time than money. We cleared and built walls and watched to see what would come up naturally. We laid out beds and pathways around trees we wanted to keep. Over the years it has changed from a kids play yard to more of an old people's show garden.

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  8. Oh Linda, everything is looking so green and lush, not tired at all, a testament to your dedication and hard work at keeping everything hydrated in the heat. Yours is a magic garden filled with plants and objects that bring special memories. It seems like just yesterday that Alison and I visited for the first time and Irene was in charge of her flower shop. She and Isaac have grown so quickly. I'm kind of looking forward to the return of rain (not so much the cold or the return to work.)

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    1. I remember Irene's flower shop during that visit! I mourn its demise. I still have the pregnant onion I got that day.

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  9. I love your garden; it doesn't look like it's suffering from the heat at all. Great picture of the Hummingbird.

    Have a great time away!

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  10. Your marvelous garden shows no signs of the weather stress you have been under. Shows what great caregivers you are.

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  11. Gardens are hard work and when the weather doesn't do it's part it's a bigger challenge. You'd never know your grden is a little stressed by a dry spell.

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  12. You have such a beautiful and relaxing garden! All your hard works certainly shows!

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  13. a lovely yard with so many flowers of all kinds!

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  14. Your gardens are lovely! No flower shop or playhouse, your Irene is growing up too fast. We have our own well so we can water when we want but prefer that the flowers develop deep roots so they can survive a drought:)

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  15. Gorgeous plants! Have a good vacation.

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  16. Linda, it's difficult to believe that we haven't had rains for so long, but gardens look so good!
    I enjoyed the walk! Lovely garden with great variety of plants and many points of interest!

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  17. I love how you have grassy open spaces and areas of plantings, each area being different and wonderfully in tune with the plantings and architecture that you have designed. Love the hanging windows - I saved a couple of double hung old windows and will use them one of these days.

    Your garden is still my favorite. What joy it must bring you each time you water!

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  18. Looks like the Reeder garden is hitting its peak! Awesome!

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