How Does Your Garden Grow

Tuomo writes: The first really warm days of summer have finally arrived, with temperatures on Saturday up to the high 20s C (high 80s F). That means that we've scoped a lot of hot men parading around shirtless - and others (bless their hearts) who shouldn't... :-)

Thanks to the good weather we've been able to focus on the exterior of the house, or to be more precise, our porch and front garden. Our porch looks has bleeding hearts, choleas, and a begonia in tall pots. As for the trees and bushes that came with the original landscaping, they have been blooming and thriving quite well. However, we felt that we had to try our hand at landscaping (and discovered first-hand why grass is good is great at preventing erosion) and expand the growing area by creating two lobes on which the following plants were planted (in no particular order):

• Two red dragon weeping Japanese miniature maple trees (acer palmatum dissectum 'Red Dragon')
• Goldfingers (potentilla fructicosa)
• Princess potentillas (potentilla fruticosa 'princess')
• Robb's wood spurges (euphorbia amygdaloides var. robbiae)
• Evergreen spurges (euphorbia characias wulfenii)
• Cushion spurges polychroma (euphorbia epithymoides)
• Sea thrifts (armeria maritima 'rubrifolia')
• Butterfly blues (scabiosa columbaria)
• Catchflies (silene schafta)
• Dwarf variegated boxwoods (euonymus japonica 'microphylla variegata')
• Azalea exburies (azalea 'exbury hybrid')

Various body parts may be aching or sunburned, but we are very satisfied with the fruit of our labour. Why don't you come over and see it all! :-)

BTW, for more on the origins of the nursery rhyme that the title of today's posting alludes to, click here.