Flower Blogging

One of the things that I've learned since buying my house 2 years ago is that when it comes to landscaping, Lauri and I make a really good team. She comes up with lots of great ideas about what plants will look pretty where, I like digging in the dirt and have a knack for making those plants grow. We've done a lot with the front part of the house this year, and we've done a pretty good job with it if I do say so myself. All the mid-summer stuff is blooming, so I thought i'd put up some pictures.
We started with a good foundation, a previous owner did a lot of nice things, and the hostas you see here are part of that. They wrap around both front corners of the house. They're overdue for dividing, so next spring I'm going to put a row of them on my south property line next to the driveway. Although much of what this previous owner did hasn't survived subsequent neglect, we still have a very nice cherry tree and some currants, which I don't have good pictures of at the moment.
These are some boxwoods where the cedar hedges used to be. The cedar hedges were so badly neglected that there was nothing for it but to put them out of their misery. These don't look like much now, but imagine them four times this size and all trimmed up. Or check this blog in about 3 years for the pictures.
This is the end of the driveway, there are some sparse lilacs, survivors of my first ever transplant experiment last year. They kind of blend into the grass in this picture but they will be a nice thick hedge in a few years. In front of that you've got some peonies, which I moved up from the middle of the yard last year. I didn't used to like peonies, but I'm warming up to them. There are some pansies around it, the two shrubby things are Holly. I didn't know plants had gender, but the one on the left is a girl holly, and the one on the right is a boy. They both get white flowers in spring, but as long as there's a boy plant nearby, the girl plant will get bright red berries in the fall. They're new this year, they are one of several of Lauri's ideas that I was skeptical about at first, but after seeing them in the ground, I've realized she's pretty much always right about this stuff.
This is my favorite. The gladiolus came from a clearance rack at wal-mart last year, and about 1/4 of the bulbs were in really rough shape. I planted the good ones, and they grew. Gladiolus aren't supposed to come back this far north, the bulbs don't like being frozen and I can't say that I blame them. I didn't get them dug up in time and figured the were lost, but they came back. The row of marigolds in front of the glads is one of the few things that was my idea, not Lauri's

Happy Summer Everyone!