Art me in the garden....Divide and Conquer!

I love a plant that gives and gives and then gives just a little more.  My garden is mostly made up of perennials and shrubs.  I use some annuals- but mostly in the Fall when they'll give me 9 months of pleasure.  I HATE spending money on flowers!  So whenever it's a birthday or anniversary or some occasion that it's traditional to receive a gift, I always ask for plants :)  Hey, it never hurts to ask right?

Also, it's a really good thing to have gardening friends.  My Mom has given me divisions of irises and swamp sunflowers that are now major players in the garden- one of the things I'm really excited about this year is my living fence of swamp sunflowers to create an entrance to the veggie garden.  Here they are just about 18" but by this August, they'll be more than 5 feet tall and bursting with brilliant sunny yellow color!

Also in this picture are some of the irises from my Mom and some of the Shasta Daisies that I did originally buy- three plants that are now everywhere in my garden, that I've divided over and over again- really I couldn't tell you how many I have!
Did you know that Hydrangeas are dividable?  I didn't until last year when I was moving some.  I started with four plants and ended with more than double that!

This is from last year- I have them mixed with elephant ears and Ginger Lilies that were both free to me.

Really this time of year, the only thing I buy is plants for my containers and and seeds for filler.  I have zinnia seeds scattered here and there throughout my daisies and impatiens (a birthday gift)

and some petunias from Home Depot for .50 cents each.....nicotiana....and if I'm REALLY lucky, my Snapdragons might hang around a while longer :)
I like my containers because I can move them around to add POPS of color...

 These black petunias are my favorite annual right now- they are SO fragrant in the evenings!

I've been admiring this fish in my Mother's garden for years- I was THRILLED when she gave it to me for part of my birthday pressie!

On my arbor (I was lucky enough to find a man that likes to build things for me ;)) I have two butterfly bushes with a New Dawn rose just starting to climb it's way up and a tulip(?) Clematis on the other side.....BTW, I try to stick to Heirloom roses, they are VERY disease and bug resistant and haven't had their fragrance bred out of them!

I just discovered the first bud on my Black Knight butterfly bush.....THRILLING!

Here's the yellow rose I showed you last week

And this is my "mailbox rose" Perle D'or that I'm featuring in my new painting.....still need to do a makeover on that mailbox :)

Oh, and looking this last picture reminds me of another good dividable perennial (tho' in this case is an herb ;)) BEE BALM- so beautiful and the hummingbirds LOVE it!  Thanks for letting me share my garden....I started out having a kind of bad morning- teenager induced drama, but now, I'm all better!

Have a beautiful day,

Stephanie