From about the first week of July until at least the first or second week of August, the beauty of Iten's Acres rest almost solely on the flower beds. Not that they don't fulfill their "mission"--more on that in a minute--but because of two other factors, the rest of the property is taking a break. First, the Rose of Sharon and the hibiscus--with a couple of exceptions--do not start really blooming until at least the end of the first week of August. Now, they will be magnificent when the time comes, but the time hasn't come yet. Only one hibiscus--a deep, deep, deep red one blooms in July and only one Rose of Sharon--a bluish purple one--blooms this early as well. When the time comes, there will be almost thirty hibiscus abloom in every shade from pure white to the deep, deep, deep red and every color in between, and there will be another dozen or so Rose of Sharon decorating the landscape--pinks, reds, whites, and the early bird bluish one. When they are all blooming, it's amazing. But, again, it's not "when" yet.
A second reason why the pressure is on the beds is because the wild area is "resting" as well. Oh, there are some black-eyed Susans, some yellow, pink, and red coneflowers, a batch of tall white clover (over my head tall), a few orange daylilies, and some Queen Anne's Lace back there, but this time of year it's primarily an ocean of green--not that I don't love the green. Yet, by the third week of August, the wild area will be an ocean of color. Where will the color come from? Purple, pink, red, and white asters by the hundreds, tall teasels with their lilac waist bands decorated in butterflies, and hundreds upon hundreds of golden rod will transform the wild area. Throw in the black-eyed Susans, Queen Anne's Lace, and coneflowers that are still hanging around, and you wouldn't believe the color. (Though I'll try to prove it to you with some fb pictures.) Oh, and God throws in some deep purple iron weed, a bouquet of blue lobelia, a patch of pink lady's-thumb, and some field thistle with their little red caps just for good measure. In the wild area, He saves the best for last. And He knows how to put on a grand finale, trust me! You should see it on a windy day! (If He does that in that natural world, just think of what's coming later for His children--the best for last.)
But back to the now, and the pressure that's on the flower beds--all twenty plus of them. Just about every bed has a touch of morning glories and some daylilies of some color, And they all have more than that; some much, much more. Can I give you a few examples? I don't want to bore you too much by going through each bed so I'll just highlight a few if you can bear with me a little while longer:
Bed One--the very first bed you see as you enter Iten's Acres is an ocean of morning glories. An eight by eight foot bed of purple, pink, and bi-colored beauties from the first ray of sun until the heat of the day forces them to live up to their name. There are forty to fifty blooms every morning. But that's not all. Rising out of the "ocean"--and they keep their color all day long--are two patches of daylilies--a double orange and a mauve with cream heart, a bouquet of purple bee balm (a plant that lives up to its name; it's literally abuzz all day long), several tall snapdragons, a wine colored hollyhock, a couple gladiolas, and a number of tall cosmos. It's gorgeous.
Bed Eight--this is a blue and purple bed. Right now the center is taken up with a huge light blue spiderwort. Throw in some balloon flowers, a couple of good size Stoke's asters, a bell flower, the blue Rose of Sharon, a regular blue aster, and a pincushion flower (scabiosa), and you have a bed for lovers of blue.
Bed Eleven--this is the bed Mom can see from her window seat. On each end it has two large clumps of sunflowers. The middle has a huge pink coneflower and a pinkish day lily to go along with a variety of cosmos and larkspur. Throughout the bed are a plethora of balloon flowers--blue mostly. And I do mean plethora--forty of fifty blooms. There's also a red gladiola. Mom loves "her bed." She tells everyone who calls about the balloon flowers and sunflowers--though she can never remember the name of the balloon flowers, I don't mind refreshing her memory.
Bed Fourteen: This is the lily bed right next to my house. Tons of lily blooms every day--oranges, yellows, reds, pinks, peaches, creams. Fifty blooms per day at least. There are also a few larkspur, morning glories, and gladiolas joining the celebration.
One more bed if you haven't fallen asleep yet: In the bed along the property line there is a wonderful mixture of phlox and tiger lilies. They are all taller than I am, and there are tons of them. The great thing about phlox is that it spreads so wonderfully, but the new plants are rarely the same color as the original. I started out with two colors and now I have, at least, six or seven varieties. And coming up all around them are these huge orange tiger lilies by the dozen. Lovely. And the phlox will last until frost. They are adored by the hummingbirds and bumble bees. In fact, I think at times, the bees get "drunk" in the midst of them and go into a kind of stupor.
Well, I hope I haven't bored you to death. If only I could accompany the description with a video! And I've only told you about a couple of the beds! I am looking forward to the hibiscus/Rose of Sharon show and the grand finale in the wild area. But I can wait.
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