My Mid to Late Spring Perennial Garden

If you saw My Early Spring Perennial Garden that I posted in late May you will be surprised to see how lush and full everything has become just a few weeks later.  We had a very dry spring, but now it's been raining non-stop.  It's been raining so hard the sewers in the city can't keep up and the streets are flooding.  I tell you, it's either feast or famine when it comes to rain 😆.  But enough about the weather, let's begin the garden tour shall we?  Below is a landscape scene of my hosta garden which is filled with Foxglove this spring, but I will share more on that later in the post. 

Iris

Iris are always the stars of my garden in the early June.  I have several different varieties, but I would love to collect more!

My favorite Iris is this deep purple one.

The yellow Iris seem to be the most prolific.  This year they looked stunning in my garden that sits just outside my kitchen window.  Pictures can never do my "kitchen window garden" justice.  I loved the contrast of the yellow iris with the yellow/orange Columbine, the bright pink peonies, and all the purple flowers from the Lamin that grows like a weed in my yard.

This year, I put some chive in this "kitchen window garden" as I like to call it.  I did that because chive has such a pretty flower, but I also thought it would help keep bunnies away.  Nope.  I caught a bunny digging a hole underneath the chive.  The smell attracted the bunny and he thought there might be some yummy food underneath the chive plant.  So I had to refill the hole and cover it with a net.  Those little buggers!

Because the yellow Iris is so prolific I have it growing all over the yard.

Spring Perennials

Columbine

The Columbine was so pretty this year.  I love its dainty little blooms.  Usually the critters eat most of it but this year they seemed to have preferred munching on other things in my garden and have left the Columbine alone.

Bachelor Buttons

The perennial version of Bachelor Buttons is a great way to bring some blue into your garden.

Dames Rocket

Some people would consider Dames Rocket a weed as it grows on hillsides along country roads, but I just love it in a garden.  I let it grow wherever it wants, it's very easy to pull out when it's done blooming.  My favorite spot to let it grow is the fence line, which is right next to the woods where it's hard to grow anything, so it's the perfect spot for Dames Rocket.

Geraniums

The perennial Geranium is also another way to bring blue into your garden.  I also have it in white as you can see.

Flowering Onion (Spring Bulb)

I love Flowering Onion.  It makes such a statement in the yard and the blooms are the size of my hand.

Speaking of Little Buggers, there is one now!  I can't do a garden post without including a photo of a garden critter😀!

Hosta

 One of my favorite gardens is the Hosta Garden by the road.  I just love how low-maintenance it is and how lush and full it is.  I have dug so much Hosta from this garden to move to other gardens, and yet somehow it always comes back bigger and better than before.

Lots of Bleeding Hearts have reseeded themselves into this Hosta garden.  

And here is a landscape view as seen from the top of the Hosta garden,

Foxglove

Ok, now let's talk about this Foxglove I mentioned earlier in the post.  I did not plant this here, but wow! Isn't it beautiful?  Foxglove tends to have a mind of its own, which is ok as it's an easy plant to pull up.  I actually had it planted in my "kitchen window garden" which is right above it, but the wind must have blown the seeds down the western hill and wow! Mother Nature had a better idea of where my Foxglove should grow.

In addition to spreading by seed, it is also a biennial so you never know from one year to the next where and if it will grow and bloom.  I've even seen Foxglove growing in my grass (of which I usually dig up and place in my garden).  Even though its behavior can be quite erratic and frustrating, I love this plant! It's so pretty, the bees love it, and most importantly:  it's poisonous so the critters don't eat it!

Lilacs & Viburnum

Lilacs are my favorite flowering spring bush, I only wish they'd last longer.  But at least I have several different varieties so when one stops blooming, another one starts.

I just love how lilacs fill the entire yard with scent.

This small one is pink.  Some other weedy bush keeps trying to grow in its spot and strangle it out.  My husband and I have rescued it once, but I see that bush keeps trying to grow back so I need to get out there and cut it back once again.

The Viburnum is always so pretty when it blooms.  I love how its blooms framed my garden shed this year.

Peonies

If Iris are the stars of my spring garden, peonies are a close second.  I only rate them number two because their blooms only last a couple of days and/or they always fall over after a rain no matter how I stake them.

I always love it when my single white peony blooms, although the blooms get smaller and smaller each year because it is growing in the shade where once sun used to be.  I really need to move this plant.

I do love the way it looks with the white and green hosta in the background.

This magenta peony is always a show stopper.

But perhaps the biggest show stopper of all is this single bright pink one.  I actually had a friend stop by when this peony was in full bloom and she couldn't believe it.  She said she never saw one like this before.  She is a beauty alright.

This bright pink peony is in my "kitchen window garden" so I got to enjoy its blooms every time I did the dishes.  In past years, it hasn't done as well because the garden was too shady, but then we lost a couple of trees and it got more sunlight and seems to be recovering well.

But this Sarah Bernhardt peony is probably the largest one I have.  I have this variety all over my garden.  This is the most traditional peony you see in most peoples yards, and for good reason:  it's very prolific. 

Mine was already on the property when I purchased my home in 1998, and I have divided this peony multiple times.  This one is located in a side garden on the front of my home.

But I also have them growing in my septic garden, on the western hill, and in my sunroom garden.

And as always, right when they opened up and looked their best, a rainstorm knocked them to the ground.  Good thing I got photos taken beforehand.  But not to fret, I just cut a few and brought them into the house.  Peonies make a beautiful floral arrangement.

Annuals

I spent so much on annuals this year, partly because the cost of annuals really went up and I also invested in more expensive annuals.  I got tired of the traditional petunias fizzling out on me mid-summer, so I bought all wave petunias.  I just love this yellow wave petunia with the deep burgundy center.  It goes great with the coleus.

Here I put a purple wave petunia with a white frilly edge in my whiskey barrel.  I can't be more pleased with the wave petunias.  They are worth the investment.  I will show you more annuals next month when my baskets and pots are fuller.  I make all my own baskets and pots to help keep costs down, but when you do that, it takes a while for them to look full than if you just bought a nice full basket to begin with.  But I need 17 hanging baskets for my property and there is no way I can pay $50-$75 a piece for one basket, so I have to make my own.

I hope you enjoyed my mid to late spring perennial garden tour.  I'll be back in a few weeks with a early summer post!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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Lewisburg West Virginia: A Historic Town Filled with Loads of Charm

This is part six of a travel series to West Virginia.  To start at the beginning, go HERE!

On the fourth day of our West Virginia road trip we started the morning at the highest point in West Virginia, went in search of bears at Beartown State Park, and then ended the day in a cave in Lewisburg and a town where we would spend the night.  The cave is just a five minute drive from town, so we decided to check out the town of Lewisburg first.  I love checking out old towns, even though I don't spend much time shopping.  I'm more interested in the architecture and history.

Lewisburg is a vibrant, artsy historic town of about 4,000 people with lots of small town charm but also plenty of things to do.

The plaque below gives a brief of History of Lewisburg.  What a pretty view the town had nestled at the base of the mountains.  The town is named after Andrew Lewis who is credited with finding Lewis Spring in 1751.  The town itself was founded in 1782.

After stopping at their Vistor's Center which is amazing btw and located conveniently in downtown Lewisburg, we walked over to Academy Park.  This was a pretty area filled with historic buildings.

Apparently there was a brief battle here during the Civil War.  In only thirty minutes 1,600 Union Troops defeated a larger Confederate force of 2, 200 men.  

The Northhouse Museum is an 1820 Federalist-style brick home that is operated by the Greenbrier Historical Society.  It houses artifacts from the French and Indian War, the Civil War, and early Appalachian Settlement.  We did not go inside.

We saw the famous Old Stone Church in the distance (it's actually behind the big grey building with the white pillars) and we meant to walk over there but we ran out of time.  The church is the oldest church building in continued use since 1796.  It served as a hospital for both Union and Confederate troops during the Civil War.  Behind the church is the oldest cemetery west of the Allegheny Mountains.

I loved this old stone home with the flowering tree in front.

On the grounds of the North House Museum is an original cabin from 1748, built by Henry Lipps.  It was relocated here to serve as an interactive educational exhibit.

Also located in Academy Park is the historic building that once housed the Greenbrier College for Women.  It is now houses the New River Community and Technical College.

Perhaps the most fascinating building of them all was to me was this one:  Carnegie Hall.  Did you know that there was more than one Carnegie Hall other than the famous one in New York?  I certainly did not.  You learn something new everyday!  Apparently there are four original Carnegie Hall performing art centers:  New York, Pittsburgh, Lewisburg, and Dunfermline, Scotland.  

I have always wanted to go to Carnegie Hall but I never thought it would be on accident on a road trip through West Virginia 😆. Excuse the goofy outfit, but we were on a hiking trip that very morning and I didn't have the opportunity to switch outfits.  I felt kinda silly walking around town dressed this way, but, what are you going to do?  They don't have phone booths anymore to change clothes in 😆.

After touring the Academy Park area we headed back to the business district of downtown Lewisburg to check out a few shops.

It looked like they had a good assortment of restaurants, but we weren't ready to eat yet so we didn't visit any to recommend to ya'll.

Love, love, love this building.  I just really admire how they built buildings into corner streets back in the day, don't you?  They don't seem to do that anymore.  Just look at those arched windows and the wrought iron balconies.  Incredible!   I guess this used to be a bank built in 1897.

I saw this sign on the face of a building and really liked it.  Very well done.

Although not quite as charming as Old Town Winchester, the historic town of Lewisburg also had cute old buildings lining their street. 

Even though we walked up and down the main shopping street, we only went into one store and it was this antique shop.  I just thought the building looked so inviting I had to go inside.

What a cute little entrance!

I loved the benches to sit and rest a spell.  So inviting!

This building really caught our eye the moment we arrived in town and I had to ask about it at the Visitor's Center.  It is a three story stone and log structure that is currently being renovated to become an event and program space for the Greenbrier Historical Society.  The oldest logs of the building date back to 1799.

On the way back to our car we spotted General Andrew Lewis Park, named after the surveyor, and later General Andrew Lewis in 1750.  The formal park was established in 1979 and encompasses the town's original spring and serves as a monument to the areas early history.  

This cute old stone structure houses the original spring.

 Well I hope you enjoyed my short visit to Lewisburg West Virginia, but our day wasn't over yet!  We finished out the fourth day of our road trip with a tour of Lost Caverns...one of the best caves I have ever visited.  See you next week for that adventure!Have A Great Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE!

For more posts from this travel series check these out:

Harpers Ferry West Virginia

Hiking the Maryland Heights Trail at Harpers Ferry

Old Town Winchester

Blackwater Falls State Park West Virginia

Seneca Rocks West Virginia

Spruce Knob, West Virginia's Highest Point

The Beartown Boardwalk in Beartown State Park West Virginia