Summer Garden Tour

A bright and colorful garden tour awaits at Two Purple Couches #gardening #gardentour #dahlia #hydrangea #vegetablegardening

So I just realized that it’s August (whaaaa!?), and I’ve never taken you guys on our garden tour! I’ve talked about various gardening projects I’ve done, but never given you the full-monty view of our yard.

Please accept my apologies.

So, without further ado… the moment you’ve all been waiting for (at least I hope so)…

The Two Purple Couches Summer Garden Tour!

The biggest difference in our garden and landscaping this year is that we decided to plant flowers in the mulch beds in our front yard. While our larger perennials, like our Knockout roses, Japanese yew, boxwood, and Rose of Sharon tree are beautiful and thriving, we wanted some extra pops of color in the spaces between them.

Garden Tour 2014 by Two Purple Couches #gardening #gardentour

I think we got what we wanted.

Two nursery trips and upteen billion dahlias later and we’ve got color-color-color, everywhere!

A sea of colorful dahlias on this summer Garden Tour by Two Purple Couches #gardening #dahlias #gardentour

When it comes to flowers, I like big, bold, colorful blooms. And I’ve made a strong effort at getting these types of flowers into our yard, including dahlias, hydrangea and peony, though this last guy has yet to bloom. I’ve heard it can take 3 years before a peony bush produces blossoms, so if it doesn’t next year, I’m going to cry. And then probably wait 3 more years for a new bush to bloom!

Hydrangeas are great additions to cutting gardens. #gardening #hydrangea #summergarden

I know hydrangeas change color depending on soil quality, etc, but I was so surprised when these blossoms came up pink this summer! The year they were planted, they were a pretty pale blue to blue-ish lavender. They didn’t bloom last season, and now they’re pink! Crazy. But oh-so-pretty no matter the color.

Vertical garden on this summertime garden tour by Two Purple Couches #gardening #summergarden

Remember the vertical garden I planted earlier this spring? Well… it’s not doing so hot. #sadface. My petunias suffered a blight of aphids, which nearly wiped them out. Then they rebounded a bit only to be struck with very hot temperatures. Poor petunias.

Contain fresh mint in a pot or window box. It spreads like crazy! #gardeningtips #mint #herbgardening

My vertical herb garden on our deck is thriving. I added a pot of mint nearby, so I have a nice little collection of fresh herbs for meals and cocktails. Mint is a ruthless spreader, though, so I’d highly recommend relegating it to a container versus planting it in a bed! And if there’s a mild winter, it’ll probably come back, even in a container!

Plant cannas for a tropical feel. #gardening #summergarden #cannas

While we’re out back, let’s take a look around. My dad gifted me a whole bunch of canna bulbs, which I planted around our air conditioning unit. And they are absolutely huge! The stalks to the far left of the picture are taller than me! And the leaves are massive. You may recognize Philbert. I can’t resist quirky yard art, and Philbert is loving his shady spot in the backyard.

I’ve got a nice little sort of butterfly and hummingbird garden happening back here. I have a hummingbird feeder hung on that shepherd’s staff, plus some pots and window boxes full of the sorts of flowers that attract them, like lobularia and these vanilla-scented heliotrope:

Attract hummingbirds and butterflies to your garden with heliotrope. #gardening #gardentour #butterflygarden

The hummingbirds love the cannas as well, and they spend most days dive-bombing and chasing each other all over our backyard! It’s very entertaining, and crazy how bold they are. I’ve been trying to capture a good shot of them on the feeder, but as soon as I turn their way with a camera, they’re off! Darn fast birds!

Plant vegetables like tomatoes and cucumber in a raised bed. #gardening #vegetablegardening

And lastly, let’s check in on the raised vegetable garden. Which, in usual fashion, is growing like crazy. I even reduced the number of plants I used this year, because I overloaded things a bit last year. But it’s still a behemoth of a veggie garden. Plenty of tomatoes, one unruly cucumber, and two struggling bell pepper plants. I think I’m giving up on bell peppers from now on. Deer ripped one out, and the second is in daily danger of being consumed by the cucumber plant!

Here’s a tip, if you don’t have a trellis for cucumber to vine up, wrap the growing vines around a tomato cage. Works just as well!

That about does it! Hope you enjoyed this somewhat belated Summer Garden Tour! What are your favorite flowers or veggies to plant in your garden?

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6 thoughts on “Summer Garden Tour

  1. Jennifer

    Gorgeous! I just love dahlias — they remind me of my honeymoon in Washington State. Love all the punches of color. Those hummingbirds are tricky, aren’t they? You have to wait forever and be very still! And then you MIGHT get lucky.

    Just beautiful.
    Jennifer recently posted…Hello August!My Profile

  2. Katrina

    Your flowers are blooming so nice! We planted some flowering evergreen shrubs and sweet peas and other flowers in our front flowerbeds and thankfully they’ll all thriving. By far my favorite plants we planted are the butterfly bushes, they’ve already gotten huge and they constantly bloom! yay šŸ™‚
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    1. Two Purple Couches Post author

      Oh, I love butterfly bushes!! I’d love to plant a couple near our back deck so I can see them when I’m eating breakfast šŸ™‚ It seems that the deer in our neighborhood don’t like dahlias, otherwise I’m sure I’d have a bunch of chewed up stems instead of pretty flowers!

  3. Michelle from Weekend Craft

    Your garden is so beautiful. I have been working on my landscaping nonstop for the last 2 weeks. I have a vegetable garden and I filled 8 flower boxes, a bucket at my lamp post, four planters, and I am moving on to perennials this week. I can’t believe how exhausting and expensive it is but I know it will all pay off when I am done! I think I may need to go find some Dahlias! So pretty.
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    1. Two Purple Couches Post author

      Wow, you did a ton of work!!! I think I add something new to our garden each year, so it always feels like a work-in-progress. But I love making that first trip to the nursery every Spring – it’s my second favorite day of the year to Christmas šŸ˜›

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