Today's post will include plants and other features in the garden...
.jpg)
Here we have an important feature...Mr Rain Barrel. We have 4 barrels (55 gallons each) on one side of the house to collect the rain water from the roof. We use this water to keep the garden happy during our dry summer months. It is surprising how little rain you need to keep these barrels full.
This purple plant is on the hill behind the house. I am not sure what it is called, but it takes spells of looking really pretty, then looking pretty bad. It is in a bad stage right now. The bees love this plants though and there were several hanging around when I took this picture.
This is part of the new butterfly bush. We have two now, one white and this purple one. Birds adore this plant, and although it is named Butterfly bush, I haven't really noticed an increase in their numbers.
These are some of my favorites...Nandina. I love their wild and crazy look. I love how in the fall/winter they turn a nice bright red. They are the dwarf variety, but are finally growing a bit this summer for us.
This is in the corner of our yard...we planted a holly tree/bush and some gardenias to go around the blue house. So far, we have not had any nesting in the box, but the blue birds always fly over to it to look around.
Next week's post will show us what Tanner and Smokey are looking at :)
.jpg)
Here we have an important feature...Mr Rain Barrel. We have 4 barrels (55 gallons each) on one side of the house to collect the rain water from the roof. We use this water to keep the garden happy during our dry summer months. It is surprising how little rain you need to keep these barrels full.
This purple plant is on the hill behind the house. I am not sure what it is called, but it takes spells of looking really pretty, then looking pretty bad. It is in a bad stage right now. The bees love this plants though and there were several hanging around when I took this picture.
This is part of the new butterfly bush. We have two now, one white and this purple one. Birds adore this plant, and although it is named Butterfly bush, I haven't really noticed an increase in their numbers.
These are some of my favorites...Nandina. I love their wild and crazy look. I love how in the fall/winter they turn a nice bright red. They are the dwarf variety, but are finally growing a bit this summer for us.
This is in the corner of our yard...we planted a holly tree/bush and some gardenias to go around the blue house. So far, we have not had any nesting in the box, but the blue birds always fly over to it to look around.
Next week's post will show us what Tanner and Smokey are looking at :)
If you enjoy reading about gardens, pop over to The Society of Feline Gardeners for more fun sites!
Your garden is looking great, I love the butterfly bush, it's fun to watch the butterflies flutter by!
ReplyDeleteLoved the tour....thank you!! The rain barrel took our mama back a trillion years.....when she was a kiddo her folks had a wooden rain barrel that they caught rain water in....and they used it for gardening.
ReplyDeleteThat is a great garden tour! We think it is so cool that you have rain barrels. If we ever have a garden mom would like to get some. And don't worry, the birds will eventually find the house - we have one and it took a few years for them to figure it out!
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks fantastic; thanks for the tour!
ReplyDeleteRain barrels are such a great idea. We typically don't have them here, maybe because we don't often get drought conditions, but it just makes sense to use and reuse what Nature gives us. Our human does use the water from the dehumidifer to water the house plants, though. Oh, and we prefer that water to any other too, to drink.
Your garden is doing great. We LOVE the rain barrels. We have been thinking of getting one this Fall. Our rainy season runs from October to May and then it is dry dry dry.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely tour of your garden. We enjoyed out visit, and loved the buttefly bush. I bet you get lots of pretty butterflies! Thank you again for our prezzies for Christmas in July. WE loved everything. We mailed your package this week and we hope you receive it soon. Thank you to for stopping by for my purrday and celebrating with me
ReplyDeletepurrs
Abby
Neat garden!!!!
ReplyDeleteThe rain barrels are such a great idea! It looks like they are covered? (Our humans have always hesitated about getting one because of mosquitoes.)
ReplyDeleteAnd we like nandina too (a lot of people don't!) We have both the tall kind and the dwarf kind.
P.S. We think the purple plant is some kind of perennial salvia - maybe Salvia × sylvestris?
Wow!! Well done you for recycling rain water!!! That's always a good thing to have for the garden especially during the dry hot summer!
ReplyDeleteI love your purple flower and butterfly bush - I think anything that helps bees are fabulous!!! :-)
Nandina are great - I also love how they turn a fabulous red in winter.
I hope that one day a bird family will settle in that gorgeous bird box surrounded by gardenias and holly!
This is a beautiful garden! Thanks for sharing! Me and Charlie look forward to discovering what Tanner and Smokey are looking at!
Take care
x
Wow, your garden is really doing well!
ReplyDeleteSuch pretty flowers!
ReplyDeleteYour garden is looking good! We have that first plant, don't know what it's called either...But Daddy cuts it way back several times a year (even in Summer!) and it seems to like the pruning, cuz it blossoms all over again. The bees love ours, too.
ReplyDeleteThe garden is looking good thanks to all of that rain water you are catching and putting on the plants.
ReplyDeleteThanks for coming to my daddie's surprise birthday party. It was such a fun time we all had!
We love the idea of rain barrels! Now I want some!!!! Purrrrr....
ReplyDelete