What's growing this summer at Gaye Gardens...

It seems odd to talk about something as trivial as gardening right now but it gives us something to look forward to. I'm not sure what I would have done the last three months without the distraction of my garden. It is not lost on us how extremely privileged we are to have access to plants, seeds, and land to grow them on. I don’t care if you believe in God or science or the Flying Spaghetti Monster, it is nothing short of magical to watch plants come out of the earth and create flowers.

We planted a ton of perennials this year. Our garden was seriously lacking continuous color throughout the summer. I tried to do a mix of late spring, early summer, mid-summer, and late summer/early fall-blooming perennials. Which kind of sucks because most of the early spring plants look like crap because our weather was so strange this year. Our garden is odd in general. It seems to either love a plant and it fosters a giant/beautiful plant or it hates the plant and it gets lost or it just dies. The gardens are picky.  

Our garden was also overrun with phlox! The previous owner really liked her phlox. It is everywhere. I'm guessing because it is free (just look in any ditch in northeast Iowa) and grows well here. I spent an entire day ripping out phlox from the front gardens. I love ditch phlox but not when it is 5’ tall and in every flower bed.

Here's the full list of perennials and quantity:


We also planted a ton of annuals in the planters out front and lots of seeds.

Seeds are such a great option if you are on a strict budget. It really isn't as hard to plant seeds as people think. My problem is I always plant them too deep so a dibbler has been my best friend.

We didn't do a ton of veggies because we don't have a fenced-in garden. That is on the project list for next year. We need someone with an excavator to take out all the overgrown raspberry bushes on our back acre. It is covered in trees and years of overgrown weeds. I thought about burning it but we don't want to torch the carriage house along with it. Or at least Gary doesn't. These are all in the back gardens or in our container garden on the east porch.

Edibles!

  • Corn - 'Glass Gem' (not for eating but for decorating and taking pictures of)

  • Gourd - 'Autumn Wings', 'Birdhouse', 'Chinese Miniature', and the 'Ten Commandments' mixture. (I may have a slight gourd obsession.

  • Ground Cherry

  • Cucumber - 'Mexican Sour Gherkin' because they are beautiful little mini cucumbers!! So cute in salads or for Instagram whores.

  • Pepper - 'Ancho Gigantea', 'Orange Bell' and 'Ausilio Thin Skin Italian'.

  • Tomato - 'German Pink' and 'Mexico Midget'

  • Strawberries - No idea what variety but they look alive… so far.

  • Cilantro

  • Dill Bouquet

  • Bronze Fennel

  • Garlic Chives

  • Genovese Basil

  • Greek Oregano

  • Green Culinary Sage

  • Rosemary

  • Thai Basil

  • Thyme

  • Triple Curled Parsley (my favorite for landscape! It is apparently a perennial since it came back this year!)


And, of course, lots of flowers!

  • 'Amish' Cockscomb

  • Bee Feed Mix

  • Bee's Friend

  • 'Benary's Giant' Zinnia

  • Bird and Butterfly Mix

  • Black Hollyhock

  • 'Black Knight' Pincushion

  • 'Blue Boy' Bachelor's Buttons

  • Cardinal Climber

  • Mixture Pincushion

  • 'Diablo' Cosmos

  • 'Double Butterfly' Cosmos - Rose Bon Bon

  • 'Double Carnival Rosy Red' Hollyhock

  • 'Giant Spotted' Foxglove

  • 'Gibsonii' Castor Bean

  • 'Grandpa Ott's' Morning Glory

  • 'Historic Pansies' Mixture

  • 'Hopi Red Dye' Amaranth (organic)

  • Johnny Jump-Up

  • Love-Lies-Bleeding

  • 'Majorette' Double Champagne Hollyhock

  • 'Milkmaid' Nasturtium

  • Mixed Bachelor's Buttons

  • Moonflower

  • Night Scented Stock

  • 'Red Marietta' Marigold

  • 'Ruby Moon' Hyacinth

  • 'Scarlet Magic' Tassel Flower

  • 'Sea Shells' Cosmos Mixture

  • 'Sensation' Cosmos Mixture

  • 'Spider Flower' Mixture

  • Strawflower Mixture

  • 'Tall Russell' Lupine

  • Zebrina

  • 'Zulu Prince' Daisy


I also plant a deer garden each year. You can mock me if you want to but I plant them their own garden behind our carriage house and then they leave mine alone for the most part. I made a deal with them last year and it seemed to work.

I'll keep you posted on the progress and what does well/gets killed off this season.

XOXO from Gaye Gardens

The GardensGaye Gardensfloral, Floret, flowers, Gardener, flowerlover, Greenhouse, blooooms, GayeGardens, gardening, gardens, Seed Starting, flowerbulbs, flower, flowerphotography, inthegarden, flowerpic, Seed Savers Exchange, flowerlovers, bhgflowers, flowergram, gardener, flowerporn, flowergarden, flowerlove1 Comment