July 2013 Blooms

Once again, my bloom day post has been delayed.  I blame the excessive heat.  Oh, I took pictures on the 14th and 15th, but the heat has completely sapped my energy for even the most sedentary tasks, like blogging. 

Fortunately the garden doesn't complain quite as much about the heat as I do.  I did venture out earlier in the week to find a cucumber hiding among the very tall weeds.  It is over a foot long.

On to the blooms ...

Most of the yard this month has been daylilies and Rudbeckia.  But I also have these:

 Echinacea on the patio, forming the backdrop for the glider.  The 'White Swan' Echinacea is barely visible in this photo, just behind the glider and on the right edge.

 

More Echinacea in the side garden, shading some yellow-blooming blue spruce sedum.  Oh, and there's something else in there ...



 

It is all flopped over and only made two blooms this year, but the stargazer lily, declining for the past few years, is still there. 



And here's a closeup of the blooming sedum

 

The lower border in the front has some sedum, too.  I don't remember what this one is, with thick grayish leaves.

 

Also in the front border:  four o'clocks and catmint.

 

The upper garden is sporting some cute little Coreopsis rosea.

The garage garden is full of phlox.

The side garden, in addition to the Echinacea and lilies, has balloon flower (shown here with daylilies) and heliopsis (with a rose campion).

Back in the front are this year's new bulbs:  Acidanthera (Gladiolus callianthus).  I just love them!

 

Oh, I'm pooped now, just thinking about those plants out in the heat.  Time for a nap.  

June Blooms, part 2

Finally showing off what was blooming in my yard on June Bloom Day, the 15th of the month.

In the upper garden: stokesia, butterfly weed, baptisia seed pods, rudbeckia

Upper Garden

Rudbeckia in the upper garden

There are different Rudbeckia along the front walk. Last year I wintersowed a whole bunch of different types and planted them in various spots on the garden. I have no idea what's where anymore.

Rudbeckia along the front walk

Also in the front are some very tipsy glads:

Gladiolus

Over in the side garden, a yellow flower I wintersowed last year. I think its a heliopsis, though it might be a helianthus. I really have no idea.

Heliopsis?

Around back, I have last fall's mums in a pot. They are blooming already.

Mums!?!?!?

In the garage garden, the "Easter" lilies are brightening up the corner, while farther down 'Franz Schubert' is the first of the garden phlox to bloom. This was a plant I 'rescued' off the clearance table a few years ago, and it has limped along ever since. I am happy to see it bloom.

"Easter" lilies in the garage garden

Phlox 'Franz Schubert'

Completing the circuit, some coreopsis on the terraces:

Zagreb coreopsis on the terraces

Whew! Finally done.