Photo Gallery of my Perennials from Spring through Summer
I don’t think I could ever have enough flowers blooming in my yard all summer long. Most of the perennials were here when I purchased the house though everything needed lots of love and time. I saved every perennial I could find – no doubt most of them were planted by my Grandma over her over fifty years here. My aunt, mom and I have walked the yard many times for them to point out where my Grandma’s flower beds used to be all over the farm.
Because of her age (and the loss of Grandpa) over the last ten years here Grandma wasn’t able to maintain the flower beds or the yard much. My family made sure it got mowed etc. but the years of over growth really did a toll on the perennials.
In my first years I was on a mission every spring to transplant and save anything I could find and it was wonderfully a lot!
Grandma’s perennials moved all over the farm – I found one tiger lily off by itself in the woods!
The main plants I transplanted were lilies of the valley, peonies, ferns and tiger lilies. I also moved my Grandma’s hydrangea and a virginia bluebell I found one year.
That little virginia bluebell just popped up behind the house in a spot with nothing else but sand around it. No idea how it got there and I moved it really late in the season so I didn’t have much hope for her.
(I couldn’t wait because I was literally building our deck over her location that day.)
She’s come back with a vengeance every year and she’s always the first to bloom!
The lilies of the valley are a sweet little shade plant that has big dark green leaves. Its blooms are subtle and its more known for being a “bed filler” than a bloomer but every year they put on all these adorable little white flowers that look like a string of little bells.
They really are fabulous bed fillers and have just about taken over the north side of my L shaped flower bed so that I barely have to weed it – YAY.
The only real flower bed left of the gardens my Grandma had when I came around was the bed by the garage which is still blooming gorgeously to this day.
Over the years I think I’ve mowed that perennial bed to the ground three times and every time its come back stronger.
Frankly the day lilies that take up most of that garden I’ve heard called “weeds” before lol because they’re perennials that are pretty much impossible to kill unless you dig them all up.
Which is fine by me!
I get a month of hundreds of bright orange day lilies blooming like crazy that are almost as tall as I am. Their colors range from bright orange neon to a really pretty color that I can only describe as a cross between orange and purple.
This year the one giant yellow lily in there did really well and gave us more blossoms than ever.
A flower that I had to look up that is also spreading by the garage is the purple balloon star flower that is just so sweet. When it first bloomed it was just one little stock that came up a couple of years after I bought the house.
Also in there are lots of daisies and a few brown eyed susans not to mention lots of wild flowers I have no names for. I have no idea why or how but there is also a tiger lily that just sprouted up in there this year too!
Every year it is totally dependent on the weather on what does or doesn’t do well. Unfortunately for me I actually don’t have a lot of great spots for flowers here right now.
I am VERY fortunate every flower I transplanted on the north side of the house in my L shaped bed are flourishing because most flowers prefer a lot more sun than that spot offers.
I moved all of the lilies of the valley and tigers lilies I could find there and those tigers are pretty much my pride and joy.
Every year August comes around, everything else is over it, and then the tigers BLOOM. They’re so bright and crazy they’re like something out of Alice in Wonderland – they almost don’t look real!
When Grandma was no longer able to get around much my mom and I decided to save what we could of her peonies from the South side of the house. (At the time I remember only a few had come up through the grass and none of them had bloomed in years.)
We moved them to the front of my mom’s house and crossed our fingers we hadn’t just killed them all. (Pretty much what I always do when I move a plant.)
They not only lived but did really well!
Fast forward a couple years and there I was working on Grandma’s house and mom’s selling her place but there was no way I was leaving those peonies behind.
I had already put in the privacy fence that we still have so I transplanted all of them to the East side by our driveway.
The location sucks but it was the best I could do.
Ten years later and they’re still there but they’re not flourishing like they could be if I could give them a full sun South facing place.
(Hoping someday with my new garden up where the barn used to be I can move them there!)
Over the years peonies kept popping up where Grandma had first planted them so I just keep moving them in with all the others lol. I think I finally got them all last year though.
With all that Grandma left for me I haven’t added a lot of my own perennials but my chives are happily doing well (and spreading yay) by the front step. I planted a whole pile of asparagus by the garage garden bed and its definitely spreading and growing but I predict I won’t see one large enough to eat for another decade or two lol!
There’s always the virginia creeper that is taking over the house that I pulled out of the woods one day and replanted on the north side of the building.
Google searches about the virginia creeper are mixed. Some people hate it and other people love it.
Its used for erosion control, ground cover, fence cover etc. and it is also very hard to kill. Its actually a part of the grape family which makes sense as its very woody and its “berries” definitely look like tiny grapes.
It doesn’t do any damage to what it climbs on or else I certainly wouldn’t have planted it here. HOWEVER, if you try to remove it may take whatever its stuck to with it lol. (Its got these cute little sticky vine like nodes.)
Its known for being a tree killer down South as it will literally, slowly, strangle and smother, and completely cover a tree to death by starving it of light and rain. Understandably the people that hate it seem to be in the South as it is MUCH easier to keep a handle on this far north with our subzero winters.
It turns a glorious fire engine red in the fall and our birds love the fruit right on into winter.
(Weird I have two random perennials here with “virginia” in the name…)
One perennial here I just love is all the milk weed I planted (and the wild stuff) that spread around our flower beds. Its blooms smell so good and seeing the butterflies (and their caterpillars) every year just makes me happy.
Brown Eyed Susans and Wild Flowers in the perennial garden by our garage.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Lilies of the Valley are known as wonderful bed fillers and they also bloom these adorable little white bells.
Milk weed blooms smell INCREDIBLE and they bring in the butterflies and caterpillars!
Milk weed blooms smell INCREDIBLE and they bring in the butterflies and caterpillars!
Milk weed blooms smell INCREDIBLE and they bring in the butterflies and caterpillars!
Day Lilies in the perennial garden by our garage.
My Peonies every year just make my heart so happy.
My Peonies every year just make my heart so happy.
My Peonies every year just make my heart so happy.
My Peonies every year just make my heart so happy.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Sweet little Virginia Blue Bells are one of our first blooming perennials every year.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Day Lilies in the perennial garden by our garage.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
A sweet Balloon Star flower in the perennial garden by our garage.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Sweet little Virginia Blue Bells are one of our first blooming perennials every year.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
Virginia Creeper and not yet blooming Tiger Lilies on the north side of our house.
Our Tiger Lilies are really my total pride and joy!
My Chives have such pretty purple blooms early on in the year.
Milk weed blooms smell INCREDIBLE and they bring in the butterflies and caterpillars!
My Peonies every year just make my heart so happy.
I don’t know what these sweet little wild flowers are called in the perennial garden by our garage.
Brown Eyed Susans and Daisies in the perennial garden by our garage.
Day Lilies and a sweet little Balloon Star Flower in my perennial garden by the garage.
Day Lilies in the perennial garden by our garage.
Day Lilies in the perennial garden by our garage.
Day Lilies in the perennial garden by our garage.
Your flower gardens are so beautiful. I live in town so I can’t have as many places to put flowers.
It is so amazing to have them from your Grandmother. I got as many starts from my two grandmothers as I could but in the last 60 years of living here, some have died. I do have a Virginia Creeper that was behind a small barn at the place where I was born. I love it but my husband isn’t as fond of it as I am. We compromise and keep it on the back fence, Ha!
Just keep up the good work and I love your blog.
Thanks Koleta!