The following three photos are of the Knock Out roses by the driveway out towards the entrance gates.
The next photo is of the Knockout roses, Midnight Blue roses, and Gourmet Popcorn roses directly in front of the house and along the edge of the driveway.
Here is a photo of Gourmet Popcorn. It is a small spray type rose that works well as a filler in arrangements.
This rose is Midnight Blue and when it is not in bright sunlight it will appear very very dark purple almost a royal purple color.
The next two photos are of a Japanese Lilac tree. Notice the white flowers in the center of the photo. This tree makes the whole yard smell wonderful.
This is a close up of the flower.
On both sides of the driveway just as you enter the driveway through the iron gates I have planted Nearly Wild roses. None of these photos do it justice. Even though this variety is regarded as hardy, it took me 4 years to finally get them all to survive and flourish. But it was worth it. They look great despite what my photos show. In person the blooms are hot pink with white centers.
The following two photos are of a Catalpa tree. My friend Carrie gave me two 6 inch Catalpa tree twiglets. Today those two tiny little things are now 6 foot tall and blooming. This was the first year for flowers and each tree only had several blooms.
Check out an up close individual Catalpa flower. 
The next rose was purchased on eBay. When it arrived, I was shocked to see how tiny it was. The entire plant was 4 inches high and the thickest part was all of 1/8th of an inch in diameter. I thought to myself "no way will this survive." Well it did. 'Louise Oldier' is thriving nicely and blooming profusely. It is a bourbon rose with a wonderful strong scent. Currently it has grown to 12" high and 16" wide.
Two years ago we purchased two discounted Wisteria vines at the end of the season. They were cheap. We had always heard that they were a difficult plant to get started but hardy once established. So we felt if they didn't survive it wouldn't be a big loss.This year we have a flower. The vine is healthy and growing. Our plan is to have it grow up and across the deck along the rim joist.
Our inspiration for this was a house located down the street from R's mother's home. Every summer we would marvel at this huge Wisteria trained along the entire front of this ranch style home. The Wisteria started at one end of the house and grew up the downspout and along the whole length of the gutter to the other end of the house. Huge Wisteria flowers appeared to drip from the roof. It was just plain gorgeous. The house sold and they immediately ripped out the Wisteria and to this day the front of the house is completely barren and ugly.
My Apple Blossom yarrow is in full bloom. I usually get two flushes of blooms by dead heading the first flush immediately once they start looking brown and gangly.
And finally a photo of a sign I purchased at a garage sale last year.
2 comments:
Be careful with the Wisteria! When we purchased our 70 year old house last year, the trees were choked out with Wisteria vines. The Wisteria had spread all over the place, grew masses and choked out all the surrounding trees. It was crazy and I had no idea what it was until I saw it bloom!
I think the winters really help to slow the wisteria growth. When my sister and I went shopping today it was 12 degrees and very windy.
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