A tour around the trees and plants in the backyard!
They are my “babies” and I am happy to help. This time of year is my favorite time of the summer. The rains of spring have enriched everything and made it lush, but the dryness and heat of late summer have yet to fully arrive.
Now is the best time to tour as the plants and trees are overgrown. :
Before we start, please note that our grow zone is 5b/6a.
plants in bloom
Hydrangeas (foreground in the photo above) have always been my favorites, but over the years peonies have lined up as my number one flowering plant.
Two peonies can be seen behind the hydrangeas, but it’s a pity that I couldn’t take a single photo of the flowers this year. (I cut off the dead flowers.)
Here’s a photo from last year (note my hand in the corner to gauge the scale!)
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Every year I am amazed at how long it takes to bloom. All of us (all kinds) just It’s starting to bloom now, but will keep blooming all the way into fall.
After the peony blooms and before the hydrangea blooms, this gorgeous reddish pink Knockout Rose from Mystic Fairy Blooming flowers add a beautiful, bright punch of color to our landscapes.
It’s so fulfilling and wonderful now!
take a look small Right after rice planting!
That’s why I buy plants on clearance most of the time. With a little tweaking, it will look great in no time.
I also got this knockout rose bush at the same time and it’s even bigger than the others. they are a little different. This is the same color, but the flowers are smaller.
If you love roses but don’t want to keep them, these knockout varieties are perfect for you. You can literally ignore it and it will look better, but this spring I cut back all the branches for the first time in years.
My dream was to have vines and flowers hanging around my gazebo, so last year I planted two clematis.
Only one was (barely) successful. So this year we tried it again. Sarah Elizabeth Clematis) was thriving!:
Two days after this photo was taken, a rabbit (or deer?) snapped the vine in half…and now there are still a few sticks on the ground. 😂
If you have any recommendations for beautifully flowering vines, please share them with me.
evergreens and trees
I am a bit obsessed with evergreen plants and trees. They add richness and lush greenery throughout the year, much needed during the drab winters.
If you’re going to pay to buy a tree, you want it to look beautiful all year round.
Our fire pit area is 15 feet wide.
These particular evergreens are conifers, Thuja Green Giant Arborvitae. they are great
There are many varieties of arborvitae now, so if you are interested, quick Privacy, don’t make the mistake we made. emerald green arborvitae Instead:
I installed these along with the patio. They are great, but they grow very slowly. in short…slow molasses.
Great for privacy, great for long lines or tucked into a corner of the house.
But the star is actually a version of the green giant.I planted this much Two years agoand see how small it was then compared to now!:
crazy! These trees grow to be 50-60 feet tall and 12-20 feet wide. So eventually you’ll just have to groom or move the arbor, but you’ll be fine for the time being. 😉
They are the best plants for the money I have found. It’s not that expensive if you buy a small one. Believe me, they grow fast.
They are also much easier to grow than “traditional” evergreens like pine trees. It seems that kurobe takes more time. Arborvitae is very easy to maintain.
My plans have always been to layer up the landscaping around the fire pit area. So someday I plan to add flowering shrubs and groundcover in front of the trees.
I was lucky enough to find these seagreen junipers on clearance last year for $6 each.
(Located behind the chair on the left side.)
These should grow pretty quickly (grows up to 6 feet tall and 8 feet wide!), but ours don’t. They’re still little kids, but maybe I’m just underestimating how small they were when I got them.
They provide another layer of year-round greenery that I love. 🙂
As I said earlier, I plan to add color here eventually. The best part of gardening is seeing how plants grow and thrive, and it takes a certain amount of patience.
The only tree I have in my backyard so far is a beautiful Rivers Purple Beech tree that I acquired with a permit a few years ago.
We planted it in this left corner.
I liked it so much that I bought another one for the other side of the patio.
I love the dark, fluffy colors of the leaves all year round. I was drawn to the fact that it had branches from top to bottom (also great for privacy).
These will eventually grow, but very slow growing people.
This beech tree blooms very late in the spring. I think he was in June before our beech tree had all its leaves. But they are beautiful trees that add great color to your landscape.
here we go! I hope this answers your questions about the plants in our backyard landscaping. This year, my focus is on adding small perennials to add color around my patio.
Let me know if I missed a point. Happy summer! 🙂
