Great Bear Gardens: July 2021

I haven't posted since April! Late snows, intense heat, lost roses (so I thought!), and the demise of the crabapple orchard kept me busy, and mostly out of the weather. But it seems the October trauma to the roses did little harm. I just cut them back hard and they are back bigger and better than ever! The orchard was cut down and mulched. Very sad, but it did create a large lawn and a rethinking of the back 40. We decided to not replant the trees, but create a peony garden instead! The deer are totally not interested in them, so we feel confident that we will have wonderful blooms next spring.

MAY 2021:

Building Peony Bed

Orchard, with all crab apples cut down...mulched.

May Snow!

Fresh Load of Topsoil delivered!

Fairy Slipper in the garden

Glacier Lillies in the lawn = no weed killer for sure!

New Herb Raised planter

Snow AGAIN!!!

Keeping plants safe in portable green houses

New hat to keep me from bumping my head under the porches!

JUNE 2021:

New Azalea!

tomato plants

Double Daffodils!

Dalhia tubers finally showing! First time planting these, so we will see what happens!

Peony bed looking good...probably no blooms this year, but next.

Pond has lots of volunteer pansies this year.

Globe flower

Potatoes are coming up in the planting bags!

The back 40 with no trees.

Barney Yard is greening up!

Back 40...no trees...and it looks great, I think

Barney Yard, enclosed by the "Verdehr Enclosure"...more on that later. :)

Freshly mowed pond garden

We decided to make the back deck into an outside room.

The Columbines this year are spectacular!

So happy that all of the 11 Azaleas we planted last year survived and are blooming!

First Harvest of Carrots!

Potatoes!

Trying my had at Clematis this year.

Garden walk to the Barney Garden

Freshly stained new garage deck.

Porches log oiled and seating areas back

The garden at night is another world

New climbing rose!

View from new garage deck

We did break down and got an inflatable hot time. It is wonderful!

Last deck to log oil

Freshly mowed lawn in the Barney Garden

Garage Deck needed an umbrella.

and wine....

JULY 2021:

The iris this year bloomed late, but were beautiful!

The roses this year have been abundantly blooming, even though they were knocked back hard from the October2020 killer cold that wiped out roses, fruit trees and flowering shrubs all over Wesern Montana!