Love, Joy and Peas: September 2016

Friday, September 30, 2016

Big Fat Raindrops on Beautiful Flowers and a Surprise

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" This might be my last installment of regular garden photos for 2016 but, God willing, they'll return in the spring. For this week's post I waited and waited... and waited for a break in the rain but it didn't come so I went out and got soaked for you all. Hope my raindrop on flower photos make you smile!

If you look closely you can see big fat raindrops filling some of the little lantana flower cups.

The raindrops were so big and heavy on this rose that it was facing down toward the ground.

The dahlia was sturdy enough to support the heavy raindrops.

The tiny little bug on this yellow cosmos was a pleasant surprise to me. I didn't even notice it until I downloaded the photos.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you and all you set your hands to do!

Related posts:
Yellow finch on black eyed susans: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/yellow-finch-feeding-on-black-eyed.html
Bright summer flowers: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/09/bright-summer-flowers-dahlia-tithonia.html
Butterflies on flowers: https://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/08/butterflies-on-mexican-sunflowers-at.html

Friday, September 23, 2016

Mexican Bush Sage, Purple Coneflower, Impatiens, Giant Zinnia, and Tithonia Flowers

Happy autumn, floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The Mexican bush sage has started to bloom and I'm always thrilled to not only see the flowers but feel their super soft texture. They're almost as soft as pussy willows. I overwintered this plant in the house as it's not perennial in our planting zone.

The white impatiens I planted in early spring is still putting out lovely flowers in a semi-shady area.

This volunteer purple coneflower sprung up in the middle of my giant zinnia area but I let it stay. I'll probably move it later this fall or early next spring, but for now I'm enjoying the contrast.

I only planted red giant zinnia seeds but also got pink and purple from the package. The bees and butterflies like them all so I do too.

Our biggest annuals this year are the tithonia (also called Mexican sunflower). They are huge and covered in pretty flowers.

That's all for this week's tour. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Butterflies on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/08/butterflies-on-mexican-sunflowers-at.html
Monarchs on chrysanthemum: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/10/monarch-butterfly-on-pretty.html
Brookside Gardens butterflies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/monarch-butterflies-from-brookside.html

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

Skipper Butterfly on Orange Zinnia

Happy wild Wednesday! We must have more than 50 of these skipper butterflies in our garden. They seem to particularly enjoy the zinnias, marigolds, butterfly bushes and tithonia, although I see them on other flowers too. I hope my photo brightened your day! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Dahlia with skipper: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/09/dahlia-with-skipper-unusual-zinnias.html
Pretty insects on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/03/pretty-insects-on-giant-red-zinnias-and.html
More insects on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/08/dahlia-marigolds-zinnia-butterfly-bush.html

Friday, September 16, 2016

Bright Summer Flowers: Dahlia, Tithonia, Rose, Marigold and Salvia

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The dahlias are still putting out nice sized flowers and this pink one is a favorite.

I think some of our tithonia plants (also called Mexican sunflowers) are over six feet tall. The butterflies and bees love them and I occasionally even see a hummingbird visit them. They are especially precious to me because I started them from seed.

These creamy knockout roses smell like a mixture of honey and lemon.

I love the contrast between the giant yellow marigolds and the blue salvia. You can also see some red zinnias in the background.

Because this pretty butterfly was kind enough to open its wings for a photo I thought it deserved to be included in today's post.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
Butterflies on tithonia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/08/butterflies-on-mexican-sunflowers-at.html
Dahlias and marigolds: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/08/dahlia-marigolds-zinnia-butterfly-bush.html
Funky flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/05/funky-lavender-thyme-allium-marigold.html

Friday, September 9, 2016

Pretty Water Lily with Unique Foliage

Happy floral Friday! Hope you enjoy this water lily with interesting variegated foliage photo. I wish you a joy-filled weekend. May God bless you and yours!

Related posts:
More water lilies: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/dragonfly-and-butterflies-on-flowers-at.html
Aquatic garden flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/05/flowers-at-kenilworth-aquatic-gardens.html
Wild swans: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2016/03/beautiful-swans-at-thomas-point-park.html

Friday, September 2, 2016

Washington Youth Garden Fun and Unique Features

Happy floral Friday! It's been four years since I featured the Washington Youth Garden on my blog so I thought today would be a great day to share some of its unique and fun features. I love the big hand-painted sign that greets visitors to the garden (and there are some flowers in it - can you find them?). One of the rules in the garden is that you must stay on the paths so please forgive some crooked/odd angle photos. I did the best I could while obeying the rules.

Once you enter the chain link fence area you're greeted by this whimsical sign for the Sensory Garden. I love that they have many mini gardens within the main area. The sensory garden has lots of neat flowers and herbs to experience.

This fun giant bird statue is one of my favorite features of the Washington Youth Garden. They move it around from time to time but today it was near the center of the main garden.

They have some lovely signs explaining gardening basics and events throughout the growing season. The Washington Youth Garden is located within the National Arboretum so I imagine you could contact the Arboretum for dates and times of the events. I did see a flyer once at the visitor's center but rarely see any advertisements for this wonderful garden.

I'm not sure why this program wouldn't let me put text between the two photos above but it wouldn't so I'll just explain both here. The top features the Beekeeping area within the Washington Youth Garden. I didn't enter the area because I didn't want to disturb the bees. I imagine that's an area best explored with a staff member. The staff members I saw were busy watering and weeding so I'll save that adventure for another day.

I love their unique garden bed in a real bed frame and I think it's fun that they painted the frame purple so it stands out more. They have herbs and flowers planted in the bed and it spills over on either side like a generous comforter.

These pretty fuchsia colored flowers are the same kind in the top left corner of the garden bed photo.

Thank you for visiting! I hope you enjoyed my mini photo tour of the Washington Youth Garden! May God bless their staff, the young gardeners and YOU!

Related posts:
2012 Washington Youth Garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/fun-ideas-from-childrens-garden-at-us.html
Bright summer flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/07/sunrise-zinnia-pink-rose-sunrise-dahlia.html
Mary's amazing garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/05/marys-amazing-garden-retreat.html