Our Yard in July, 2013

If you are on Facebook,  then you have seen some of these photos.  Our yard RIGHT NOW is just awesome.  We have ROSES, LILIES and DAYLILIES all blooming... Everything is ablaze with color... It's just so exciting!   George and I go outside every morning and every evening and take pictures... SO--I just HAVE to share some of them with you today.

The picture above shows most of the front yard ---so you can see much of the colors.  Be sure to click on the pictures to see enlargements.

The one thing we really struggle getting to bloom here is our one and only CLEMATIS.  That bush used to bloom like crazy --but the last 2-3 yrs,  we can't get it to bloom much at all.  We finally cut back some of the Redbud tree which was causing it to be shaded... We now have 4-5 blooms --but not too much.  The plant itself looks healthy --but it just doesn't like to bloom... Grrrrrrrr!!!! 

We have lots of HOSTA in our yard --and it has done GREAT this year.  Here's a photo of two of them blooming like crazy.... Oh how I love Hosta.

We also have lots of SEMPERVIVUM in our yard... Some people call these Hens and Chicks... When the Mama Hen BLOOMS (see photo above),  that means that she will die --and the babies take over.... Then the babies become Mamas --and the process starts all over again... I do love their blooms --but hate the fact that they will soon die.  But--that's just the way it is!!!!!

This is one of our ROSE beds.   As most of you know,  we have 57 different varieties of HYBRID TEA and GRANDIFLORA ROSES  in our yard.  Right now,  we have many, many of them blooming...  They are all so pretty.

Here's a photo showing our "Road Flowerbed".   IN this bed,  you will see ROSES, LILIES and DAYLILIES...  This is a beautiful bed with lots and lots of colors....

This is our LILY  and  DAYLILY collection in the "Side Flowerbed"...    I love this bed since I can enjoy the colors from the kitchen and our Living Room area.

GOLD BAND LILY

I showed you 14 of our varieties of LILIES in  this post.  Click HERE to see that post.  Since I published that one,  we have TWO MORE lilies which have bloomed.  One of them is GOLD BAND.    Isn't this a pretty Lily?   

The other new LILY  is named SIMPLON.  There are many more of these to bloom --but this pretty white lily is gorgeous,  especially when many of them are blooming next to each other.  (I will share another photo once more of these bloom.)

SPANISH GLOW DAYLILIES

Our DAYLILIES have been fabulous this year.   I still have many more posts of these beauties --but one has been published.  IF you missed seeing this first post,  click HERE.   The group featured here are named SPANISH GLOW.  Aren't they gorgeous? 

LAVENDER DEAL DAYLILIES

Another favorite DAYLILY is named LAVENDER DEAL.  I love this color, don't you?

FOOLED ME DAYLILIES

And here is one more group of a favorite DAYLILY.  Many people liked this one when I featured it on the last Daylily Blog post.   This one is named FOOLED ME --and it has bloomed and bloomed this year.

TOUCHING LILIES

One of my favorite LILY blooms this year has been one named TOUCHING... Like Pink Perfection (featured on the last Lily post),  this group has been fantastic... I loved this picture taken from the yard--looking UP at these lilies...   I took this photo late one afternoon ---so the afternoon sun is shining on them... Pretty, huh?

Finally,  here's one final look at our front yard  (featuring the SOUTH SEAS DAYLILIES).   Hope you enjoyed seeing more of our photos taken from our yard in July.

NOW---click HERE to go to my Photo Blog.  You will see one more photo taken in our yard during this past month.  Hope you enjoy it ---and all of these.

Hugs,

Emoticons

Even the Flowers don't Like THIS much RAIN

Those of you on Facebook have heard me complain and post comments and pictures last weekend.  On Saturday and Sunday (July 6 and 7),  we had 6.5 inches of rain.... On Saturday,  the rain was constant and we had 5 inches that day.  Then Sunday,  it only rained once --but it was a 'gully-washer' since we got another 1.5 inches at one time... Most of these photos were taken on Sunday--after the 'gully washer'... Luckily,  the skies cleared on Sunday afternoon--and we actually saw some SUNSHINE for a few hours that day.  It felt wonderful...

The picture above shows some of the daylilies begging for the rain to finally stop.  Be sure to click on the photos in order to see enlargements.

Here's a photo of one of our rose bushes... Note that all of the roses are drooping and turning brown because of TOO much rain... I always say that the roses are bowing their heads and praying for the rain to STOP.




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Here are some photos of the heavy rains in our front yard.

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And here are some photos taken from our deck of the back yard (near the golf course fairway).   Bet nobody played golf on this rainy day!!!!

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Here is a photo of our driveway---with the water running across it --as it makes its way down the hill.




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Now---here's the good news.... We DO need rain---and the plants/flowers love it (unless it is too heavy like now).  BUT--when I think of the alternative--drought---I'll choose rain anytime...

More good news is that we have had a COOL June and July so far because of the rain.  I hate HOT weather ---so I am thrilled to say that it's been fairly cool most of the summer.  BUT--August is usually our hottest month---SO??????????

And --more good news is that we can get some great pictures outside AFTER the rain.  Here are four pictures for you to enjoy!!!!

Lily Buds with water droplets

Lavender Deal Daylily with water droplets

Touching Lily with water droplets

Sedona Rose with water droplets

See????  There is good that comes along with the 'not-so-good'..... Don't you just love seeing the water drops on the flowers?   We manage to take plenty of photos during the rainy days --as well as the sunny days.

Truly though,  there has been WAY too much rain in all of the surrounding areas  of Tennessee lately.   Our home was 'high-and-dry' here --but don't forget those who live on the river or creeks --and who may have had some severe damage to their homes and other buildings/property due to the flooding...

UPDATE:  I wrote this post on Sunday ---and am here to say that on Monday,  we only had a tiny bit of rain about 6:30 p.m.  Then on Tuesday,  we had a rain-free morning with some sunshine (yeah) ---but had some thunderstorms and a rainy afternoon....  At least though,  the rain was not heavy.

AND--I heard on the news on Tuesday night that there is a tropical storm which 'could' come our way the first of next week and give us LOTS more rain... Gads---I hope not!!!!!  

Have a great Wednesday --and be sure to hop over to my Photo Blog (click HERE) to see a gorgeous photo today.

Hugs,

Emoticons

LILIES in our YARD in 2013

GARDEN PLEASURE LILY

Except for the deer eating some of them this year,  our LILIES have done really well in our yard... We've had so much rain that things are flourishing, although lately,  we've had TOO much rain... Oh Well!!!!!  Better too wet than too dry I guess.

Hope you like seeing our 14 different lily varieties this year... It's hard to pick a favorite --but the one above  (named Garden Pleasure) is a favorite of mine... Too bad that this is one that the deer also loved and ATE --so we haven't had many of these blooms this year...

Below are more.  Click on them for enlargements...

JUANITA LILY

SARINA LILY

MONTENEGRO LILY

Combination of REGALE and MADONNA  LILIES  (Regale has pink outsides,  and Madonna is white on the outside;  But other than that,  they are similar.)

REGALE LILY

LOLLYPOP LILY

TINOS LILY

PINK PERFECTION LILY

FREEDOM'S GLOW LILY

PINK LEMONADE LILY

TREFFER LILY

GOLDEN SPLENDOR LILY

TOUCHING LILY

Hope  you enjoyed seeing our Lilies...   Four of these (Juanita,  Sarina,  Tinos, and Pink Lemonade) are in the round lamppost flowerbed ---and the deer got to them this year,  eating many of their buds... Hopefully,  we will have a larger group blooming in that bed next year.

The one which bloomed the most this year was Pink Perfection... These were amazing.  AND  Touching will have alot more blooms on it, as you can see from the picture above.  Touching is a beautiful lily since it is a pale yellow with a red inside and pink outside....

Golden Splendor,  Regale,  Madonna,  Treffer and Freedom's Glow are all in the side flowerbed near the deck... I enjoy this group since I can see them from both the kitchen and the Great Room.

Pink Perfection,  Garden Pleasure (which the deer ate),  Touching,  Montenegro and Lollypop are in the road flowerbed out front...

We may have a few more lilies to bloom --to add to this year's collection,  but this is most of them.  IF we do get more,  I'll share them on an upcoming blog post.

Do you have a favorite?????  Gosh---if I HAD to choose from this year's group,  I'd probably choose Pink Perfection --since we had SO many of them... BUT--I also love Touching and Garden Pleasure..... Ah Shucks---I love them all.

Hope you enjoyed seeing them today!  Wish you could smell them.  Lilies just smell awesome!!!!!

Hope you had a good 4th of July.  We had a VERY VERY wet one here --with  more rain than I've seen for a continuous amount of time in a long, long time!!!!!   Many of my friends asked if we were going to build an ark!!!!! ha

ADDENDUM:  Besides these 14 lilies,  we also had 3 more to bloom:  Gold Band,  Simplon, and a tiger lily (either Black Beauty or Midnight Queen).  SO --that made 17 total for 2013.

Hugs,

Emoticons