Tuesday, August 08, 2006

Fence Mania!

My hubby built these fences on Sunday to hold up these very tall flowers. We've had a different fence here in previous years, but after all your comments on his rustic fences, Ross has suddenly developed fence mania. You've created a monster! The other fence was more of a picket-type and was taken down at the end of summer. These will be able to stay.





These flowers are called Golden Glow. If someone out there knows the more formal name for them, I hope they'll tell me what it is. (P.S. before you rack your brain, see the edit below)



We had diesel and regular fuel tanks sitting on this little bit of lawn until recently (farmers must refuel their tractors). After enlarging this little pink garden in the Fall last year, when we bought some roses on sale, Ross decided the tanks should be moved to make room for more flowers! Only 2 of our 5 new rose bushes survived the winter, I'm sad to say, even though Ross painstakingly protected them. He put a wire mesh collar around them and filled it with compost. In the past we've mounded soil around our roses and covered that with Christmas tree branches (after Christmas of course) . We also planted an azalea and a spirea with the roses, and they've thrived. So all was not lost!



The Golden Glow plants, being so tall, tend to fall all over the place, which looks rather pretty, until we get a heavy rain. They sometimes get run over too, by tractors and other vehicles using the driveway, and then they don't look pretty at all....just squashed!



Morning glory grows in this patch and wraps itself around the long stems. It's very pretty, but is considered a noxious weed by farmers in this area. I usually remove it, but was feeling lenient this summer because they were putting on such a nice show.



Yesterday, however, I spent about an hour removing it because it had the plants in such a tight grip that they were all bundled together after the fence was put up.


I was surprised that the white flowers made such a pretty display in a vase in my kitchen. I had thought they wouldn't work well as cut flowers....but happily, they did!



As soon as the fence was in place, Alice, the cat, immediately tried out the fence post as a perch.




And gave it a thumbs up!



I'm wondering where the next fence will turn up....
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Edit:
Tracy suggested this might be a perennial sunflower, which inspired me to look on the Dave's Garden site. Here's what I found out:
My Golden Glow is: Family-Asteraceae; Genus-Rudbeckia; Species-laciniata; Cultivar-Hortensia....and is also called a cut-leaf coneflower.
For those of you who care :)

19 comments:

Alice said...[Reply]

Oh, how timely! I am presently obtaining quotes to replace our back boundary fence. I'd be so happy if Ross would like to give a quote for a paling fence, and we will give him the job, no matter what he charges, so long as he brings his missus with him.

What do you think, Ross? Can you do paling fences?

sonia a. mascaro said...[Reply]

What a beautiful fence and beautiful flowers, Kerri! Your house and garden is just stunning, breathtaking!

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Love that new fence! Your hubby did a wonderful job.

Could those flowers be helianthus (aka perennial sunflower)? What do you think?
http://home.hiwaay.net/~oliver/helianthus.htm

They are sure putting on a show for you.

Motherkitty said...[Reply]

I loved the pictures of little Alice sitting on the fence watching you.

I can't say enough times how lovely your yard is. You can tell that you and your Ross put a lot of time and effort into beautifying your environment. It's picture perfect.

Sigruns German Garden said...[Reply]

Everything looks good. You are very good in combinating colours!

Sigrun

Susie said...[Reply]

Bill and I have been admiring all of the efforts you two put into your lovely farm. Kerri, you know I always love a kitty picture, too!
Alice looks quite at home on the new fence!
Ross did a wonderful job on the fences!
{{{hugs}}}

Philosophical Karen said...[Reply]

My favourite photo is the last one. It looks very artsy with the yellow flowers against the rustic red of the barn. The strong diagonals of the fence and the three windows, converging at the large patch of yellow flowers create a very pleasing composition.

Oh, and who can resist a good picture, too? They are a close second. ;-)

Pear tree cottage! said...[Reply]

Kerri please tell Ross his fence yes! is a beauty!! :o) and looks like it has been there forever and ever how clever is he.

Your flowers always are beautiful too. stunning photos as always. and here I am sitting in the frost! :o(

O! well spring is in the air!

best wishes

Sandy Hatcher-Wallace said...[Reply]

Dare I show this post to Jimmy, because he is always tieing up my flowers when the storms bring them to the ground. A rail fence would look so pretty in front of the tall flowers on the side of the house, by my driveway though. It would sure solve the problem of the falling flowers.

kylieps said...[Reply]

Hi Mummy,
Those fences look fabulous. Please tell Dad that he's outdone himself yet again! Maybe he should go into business putting up rustic fence for all your gardening friends!

Val said...[Reply]

Kylie is right, your hubby could probably start a whole new career building these fences. When he's finished in the State of NY, he can come over to the east coast of Australia and set up a business.

clairesgarden said...[Reply]

yes, the cats always have to inspect any work you've done,, the fences look great.
I love the Butterpat lily, it rminds me of the yellow daffodils, have to look out for that one.

Carole Burant said...[Reply]

The rustic fences your hubby built look perfect in that setting!! Everything looks so beautiful, Keri! Hugs:-)

Diana LaMarre said...[Reply]

That fence works great to hold them up. It looks so natural.

I have the same flowwers, but not nearly as many as you have.

I usually cut mine back by about 50% in early July to keep them shorter. This year everything is pretty short, so I didn't bother cutting them back.

I like to use them in floral arrangements.

If I had a nice rustic fence like you now have, I wouldn't have to cut them back. How does Ross feel about a little trip to Michigan? LOL.

Philosophical Karen said...[Reply]

Oh, that last part of my comment above was meant to say "Who can resist a good CAT picture, too?" (I hate the auto-select feature. I lose more words that way...)

Boxwood Cottage said...[Reply]

Those rustic fences are looking really nice!

Tanya said...[Reply]

Love those fences. On my trip I took stacks of pictures of fences - only a few came out decently, and nothing like yours. Sigh.

Anonymous said...[Reply]

That yellow flower is heliopsis (also known as false sunflower or oxeye.) When I got some from my cousin, she called it barnflower, so it's wonderful seeing it actually growing against a barn! If you do search on Google, nobody calls it barnflower, but I think we should start!

Anonymous said...[Reply]

Your flower gardens are lovely. I have the same Golden Glow flowers in one of my gardens. Reaching to about 6 feet or so tall it creates a natural hedge of privacy. My gray tabby cat thinks it is her private jungle.