Prime Time - Summer!
An ornamental metal rabbit stands in the Chichimeca Paradise garden and the three holes in its thorax signal that the area is off limits to bunnies, and they should simply stay away. The surrounding lilies, Russian sage, blue geranium, and a favorite palm sedge with horizontally radiating leaves, Carex muskingumensis 'Oehme', all camouflage the utilitarian vegetable patch beyond the black rail.
Meet a quartet of garden delights - the deep crimson Oriental lily 'Black Beauty' the huge variegated Canna 'Pretoria', the coneflower Echinacea 'Pow Wow White', and the burgundy Dahlia 'Mystic Illusion'. Soon the canna will shoot forth vibrant orange lilies and the dahlia buds will open into lemon flowers.
This is the Bling Prairie in its prime, with glorious white Asian lilies, vibrant golden dahlias and pardancanda, perfect white coneflowers, spiky gray rattlesnake master, and delicate calamintha, all encircled by brilliant lemon thyme.
Near the upper flagstone patio, Hosta 'Golden Tiara' intermingle with Heuchera 'Chocolate Ruffles', Carex appalachica, and short yellow lemon thyme.
A short variety of rattlesnake master Eryngium 'Prairie Moon' adds what one might now call a "Covid" structure to the garden, and it complements the wine monarda behind it. The creamy Verbascum 'Snowy Spires' with its tubular blooms are a summer delight, backed here by Lythrum 'Morden Pink', a sterile purple loosestrife.
On a foggy day, the carefully pruned weeping crab drapes over the base of a tree fort, visited frequently by our grandkids and neighborhood children as well. This corner of the Departed Bunny garden also welcomes visitors to sit beneath the birch nestled next to the row of tall arbor vitae.
In this segment of the Departed Bunny garden, this dense planting includes from the far left a sterile purple loosestrife, Russian sage, calamintha, lamb's ears, pardancanda, and barberry, with groundcovers of sedum and thyme.
Beyond the path, Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster' stands left of the tall barberry hedge, fronted by Russian sage, yellow Belamcanda chinensis, deep red monarda, white phlox, tiger lilies, and white ribbon grass.
This favorite Rudbeckia subtomentosa 'Little Henry' has butter yellow quilled ray florets and a dark brown central cone. This hardy beauty with its dusty gray green leaves is backed by the brilliant variegated Canna 'Pretoria'.
The variegated canna leaves here complement purple annual salvia, Russian sage, calamintha, white coneflowers, delicate white cosmos, and short Star White zinnias.
A pair of sandhill cranes wander in the garden, catching some shade among the tall grasses. Healthy white Clematis Candida bloom along the deck railing. A stream of Japanese blood grass runs between clumps of Dahlia Bishop of Canterbury and white spires of annual Salvia farinacea.
Hemerocallis 'Todd Monroe' dominate this section of the Departed Bunny garden and is interspersed with white cone flowers, barberry, lamb's ears, blood grass, and cannas.
A grand display of white Miscanthus sinensis 'Variegata' spreads five feet wide over the yellow petals of Rudbeckia 'Little Henry', while behind is the towering lemon yellow perennial sunflower Helianthus 'Lemon Queen'.