{Lily's Garden} June Update, #2

The hydrangea (first picture) is huge! It's an oak leaf hydrangea and starts off with white flowers but they age to pink. It's roughly 9' feet tall. The privacy fence is 6' and the trellis above is another 3'. Here is the same hydrangea in 2016 - in this post. And here it is in 2014 when it was just a little thing! And in 2013 when it was just a baby!!! 

The second photo is looking back towards the street, the opposite of what I normally take, but I liked the look. I'm tempted to figure out how to spray paint the fish a glossy black, but I can't take the stuff off/out, so I'm not sure. I may still try and hope for the best! Everything else in the garden is black (fence, shephard's hooks, etc.) and the big arbor trellis will be going back some day too. I want a nice, cohesive look with black accents. Black is also used throughout the inside of my house (hallway, living room ceiling, and basement stairwell) and backyard (mostly with black patio furniture). 

And yes, I know I'm posting a June update when it's nearly August but it's been a crazy summer. I need to get back out there and weed like crazy and then I'll post more pictures. 

{Lily's Garden} June Flowers

Lily's Garden has been in full bloom for a few weeks now and I love it all! The coneflowers are a bit out of control but it's a nice, semi controlled chaos of a cottage garden. The weeds may be getting out of control but I'll get out there soon and take care of everything ... once the heat decides to chill out and/or we get a nice rain to cool things down (and soften the soil!). 

But for now, lets enjoy the pretty lilies and coneflowers, ok? I'm going to do another post of my annuals, but these are all perennials here in Missouri.

{Garden} Late June Update

How it is almost the end of June?? This month has flown by and I feel like I haven't accomplished as much as I wanted. But.. my chicken coop and run are done, the girls have been in there for days, and the back porch is cleaned up from the chicken brooder. I hope to get it painted soon. But for now, let's focus on the gorgeous flowers that are open!! 

OK, so some of the plants above are technically weeds but I haven't pulled them yet. But at least the flowers look pretty! 

Guys... this oak leaf hydrangea is huge! The top of the trellis is roughly 9' feet tall (or taller!) and this oak leaf makes that look like nothing. I found a picture of it as a baby, so I should do an post about it soon. 

The "flower" above is what is left after the clematis petals fall off. I find it more unique and fun than the blooms, plus the last forever. They start off smooth and turn fuzzy.

I'll be back with more garden updates. I didn't take too many photos of our backyard garden this year, but the south side garden (with veggies and flowers) is growing strong. One pepper plant looks pitiful but it's been watered and receives full sun. I'm not sure what's going on. There are peppers on it but the leaves are droopy. 

Have a great Monday! 

{Lily's Garden} Early June Update

Hi Friends! Have you been reading about our back yard chicken adventure? We got them in early May and we've been spending a lot of time (and money) on them. Luckily for me, the garden has come in strong this year with only two plants that haven't returned. I replaced one but it died too, so I may switch directions. Other than that, I think it's looking good, don't you? 

The lilies are blooming like crazy right now! This is one I picked up a few years ago to add some height and variety. It angles down which is so pretty but very hard to photograph. 

Below is a shot from before some of the lilies bloomed. Above is the most recent full garden shot. I'm trying to show more updates this summer and I'm already slacking so come back for more garden shots! Or check me out on Instagram @ thebrickbungalow - I take the pictures but they don't always get on the blog. 

And now my coneflowers are blooming and I love them. They're so pretty in all stages of their bloom - even the bright green buds.  Don't you agree? 

The daylilies will be blooming soon and then who knows what! I don't have a lot of late bloomers so maybe that's the next plan? I've run out of room though so here's to hoping all the lilies and coneflowers keep going! 

{Garden} A few photos

Hello! Two posts in one week, crazy! I guess that's what happens when school is out and the kids are daycare. The extra expense of Lily going will suck this month but at the same time, momma can get stuff done and take naps. It's the little things. 

I'm working on creating a full garden tour (well, more than one but you get the idea) but until then, I thought I'd share some of the growth going on here at The Brick Bungalow. 

First, I'll start with this month old photo from our back yard. I made it over last summer so you can check out those before and afters. There's already a huge change from this photo until now because of all the flowers that popped up in May. If you remember, I got a lot of flowers from my parents' fields and transplanted a few from around our house. This helped give it a really full, lush feeling in a short amount of time. 

The rest of the photos are from Lily's Garden. It's the side yard that was once all grass (a long time ago!) and I've slowly made it to what it is today. Every single item you see was put in there by us, minus the garage and house. The rocks, foundation stones, fences (privacy and black), trellis (on the privacy fence), and of course, plants - it's about 7 years of a work in progress. 

See the white gutter in the photo above? It ruins almost all the photos I take at this angle…. I NEED to find something to replace it that's not so ugly. I'll add that to my do list.

My collection of pots. This year I took the small metal container and redid our fairy garden. It was on the ground a few years ago but moles and plant growth ruined it, so now it's been condensed into the container garden variety. We may add more to it, or smaller containers with it, but I don't know. The rest of plants are annuals. The one on the far left in front is the top of a pineapple. Living in Missouri, I don't have high hopes for it but we'll see what happens. 

Coneflowers are one of my favorites. My coneflowers are taking over and may need some intervention later this summer, but this was my first one of the season. 

View from the driveway. I don't always show this as our dining room window (the big set of three) is ugly and needs replaced. But I want to document more so I can compare year to year. Plus, it shows my new clematis that we added late last year. 

I love hydrangeas. This one plant is a part of the trio I planted while pregnant with Nate almost 3 years ago. I love how one plant can have a variety of colors. 

And here's another shot of another coneflower from the same plant as earlier. I think I like the green buds more than the actual flower, but then when they change to the beautiful purple variety, it's hard to not like those too. 

Do you garden? What 's your favorite flower? We have our veggie gardens planted too, so I'll be sure to show those soon. 

Linking up with: Outdoor Extravaganza Link Party

{Lily's Garden} April

Lily's Garden is pretty much finished. Or, at least as finished as a garden can be. The beds are made, the rocks have been put down on the ground, and the flowers have are growing. And growing. 

And growing even more. Which, of course, is what I want. However, after 7 years of gardening (and adding more every year), things have gotten a bit full. Sunday morning saw a lot of gardening and after weeding a lot and checking on the growth of everything, I've realized the giant oak leaf hydrangea has taken over the back area to the point that some of my day lilies aren't getting as much sun as they should. 

And then there's the three hydrangeas I planted while pregnant with Nate and one gets too much sun. I've noticed it since the summer after he was born but refused to mess with it, hoping it'll all be ok. And it has been until I realized just how much smaller the plant is compared to the other two. So I am going to switch the hydrangea with some of the day lilies. 

I'll have more photos later as I just had enough time to split some of the day lilies and now they filled in a few empty spots. I didn't think I could find empty spots but I did. I may put the rest on the south side of our house where the irises live. 

And below is just a shot of our container gardens I collected in this area last year. You can see some pots are empty and there are dead weeds in the background but if I wait to take photos until everything is picture perfect, I would never have any photos. Plus, I want to document changes more than anything so here goes. 

There aren't many plans for #thebrickbungalowgardens this year except to maybe redo one bed that was made with wood and we're thinking of switching to stone and enlarging it. But before that, we need to work on our kids' play area, plant the veggies, split some more lilies, transplant the hydrangea, and so much more house and home (and family) stuff. 

Did you  know that Doug and I will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary soon? It's on the last day of my school. I think that calls for a celebration! 

{Deck} Container Gardens

I love the outdoors and now that we have our new deck, going outside couldn't be any easier. OK, so it wasn't hard to begin with seeing as we have a great covered porch on the front of our house and a large patio on the back.. but you get what I mean. We built the deck last summer and this summer, I wanted to add some plants. I figured that if I were to spend any amount of time outside, I'd need something to scare away the mosquitos because my dream of them all dying hasn't happened. Yet. 

So, in comes Pinterest to the rescue to tell me what type of plants help keep mosquitos away. Basically, the majority of herbs with strong smells... Cilantro, basil, mint, rosemary, and more. I planted them in containers made to sit on the deck railings. We had two already from our strawberries (that produced about 2 berries) and so I added four more. I also added marigolds and some petunias for color. 

Below left is a pineapple sage that smells like pineapples!

In the last two photos you can see our "kids area"... aka our swing set, slide, and giant trampoline (that we got for free!). The second to last photo shows our sad little shed that desperately needs a makeover. It'll get one, this fall hopefully, in time for its new purpose in life next spring... half chicken coop, half storage. Now, Doug will just have to find the snake and kill it because he said he saw one and I don't do snakes in my yard. And speaking of the kids' area too, we have more plans for that may start this fall in preparation for Nate's first birthday! 

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