Mid-May 2013 Blooms

In this last week of May, I admit to having posted nothing for an entire month.  Let me remedy that by showing off what was happening in my yard two weeks ago.

I'll start with the annual disappointment:  clematis.

 

Why are these disappointing?  Well, this color is not particularly showy, as far as clematis go.  I've tried others over the years, but I can't keep them alive.  I think this one came with the house. Why else are they a failure?  The three blooms, plus the foliage (about 4ft off the ground) are the full extent of blooms and foliage for this plant.  That's it.

 

Moving on to happier plants, here's the baptisia in the terrace garden (straight-up Baptisia australis, no cultivar), in not-quite full bloom.  I love this plant, but have trouble photographing it to its advantage.

 



I planted the baptisia about four years ago (maybe five...).  Three plants, which have all thrived.  It's making babies, too, but they tend to sprout in the veggie garden where they obviously can't stay.  So I still have just the original three.

Here's a columbine in the "neglected terrace bed". 

Of all the columbines, this one has the largest flowers and the most upright blooms.  I think it is also the smallest plant.  I don't know how it does that.

Over on the patio, my jumble of plopped plants is taking over. 

Virginia sweetspire and penstemon blooming, along with Echinacea foliage.  Together, these plants have managed to outcompete the columbine and obedient plants that once shared this space.  The original penstemon was "husker's red", but its offspring are sometimes not red.

Also on the patio, some Wisteria "Amethyst Falls" in a pot.  Year three, and I still don't have the trellis it was intended to grow on.

Around to the front yard, now.  Mid-month, the peonies were just starting to open.

Along the front walkway, coreopsis blooms among the old daffodil foliage.

In the lower front border, two types of catmint and an iris.

That's "Walker's Low" on the right, and an unidentified passalong plant on the left.  Quite a difference in growth and flowering habits.  (Can't see the iris in there?  It's all the way on the right, also purple.)

Mid-month, the Kousa dogwood was still a bit green, but showy.  It is full-white now.

Along the driveway, blackberry flowers promise tastiness to come.

Other mid-may blooms, not pictured: more columbine (purple and A. Canadensis), geranium, bearded irises, viburnum, Centaurea, rue, strawberries, Tradescantia, hellebores.

Late-April Blooms

I love wandering through the yard this time of year.  When I take a break from weeding/prepping/planting to look at what nature is doing without my intervention, it really is astounding.  There is something new to look at every day.  Here's proof:  fourteen days since my April Bloom Day post, and I have more than fourteen new blooms to show off.

1.  Irises. Each morning I've been running out to see if a new one is open.  So far, four different bearded irises have opened their buds.

2.  Centaurea (bachelor buttons).  Shown here with white bleeding hearts.

3.  Dicentra eximia (wild bleeding hearts).

4.  Spanish bluebells.  I have these all over the yard.  They're rather weedy (they'll grow anywhere), but so cheerful while in bloom.

5.  Camassia.  This is their second year.  I bought the bulbs on a whim, not really knowing what they were.  Took a chance and planted them right in the middle of the front border, where they've been quite showy.

6.  Phlox.  I've already shown off the moss phlox to the right of the tulips, but now the woodland phlox between the tulips is in full bloom.  It is unfortunate that the colors are so close, so they seem to run together. 

7.  Blueberries.  I bought a second blueberry shrub two weeks ago (to replace one that didn't survive my "you're in the ground, now you're on your own" maintenance scheme), so maybe this year I'll get berries.  For now, the flowers are cute.

8.  Columbine (Aquilegia) - three types.

 

 

 

9.  Blue flax (Linum perenne ssp. lewisii).  The truest blue in my garden.

10.  Rosemary.

 11.  Pasque flower.

 12.  Geranium.

13.  Strawberries.  I'll need to put up the critter netting soon, I think.

 14.  Ajuga.  Bought a year ago, planted Friday. 

  
15.  Nepeta (catmint).  I have two of these, not the same variety.  This one is in full bloom, the other hasn't started yet.

16.  Viburnum.  Just barely.  Of course it is also just barely a shrub, at under two feet tall.

17.  Carolina Jessamine.  Growing on the chain link fence around my vegetable garden.  I planted this quite a few years ago.  It has flowered sparingly the last few years, but is (finally) rather showy this year.  Now if only I could get it to grow laterally, to cover more of the fence, rather than up into the neighboring rose of sharon.

Seventeen types of flowers (and 22 different blooms) opening up in two weeks.  Now I just need more time to enjoy them.

June 2012 Blooms

Another late Bloom Day post, though these photos were actually taken on the 15th.  Here's some of what is blooming mid-month.

In the garage garden, Easter lilies, tall phlox, and valerian: 

'Easter' lilies

Phlox paniculata 'Franz Schubert'

 

Valerian

Last spring I threatened to shovel-prune the valerian, but it took advantage of my procrastination and lived another year.
(not pictured:  Geranium, Stokesia)

On the patio, an assortment of black-eyed susan and two colors of echinacea:

In the upper terrace, Stokesia, Spigelia marlandica, and Monarda:

Stokesia

Spigelia marylandica

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'

(not pictured:  black-eyed susan, spiderwort, daylilies)

Some columbine that don't know when to stop:

(also in the lower terrace:  dianthus)

In the side garden, the balloon flowers are popping:

(not picured:  asiatic lilies, lots of daylilies, butterfly bush, lamb's ear, rose campion)

The front yard is even looking showy this month.  Along the front walk are several types of Rudbeckia, some 'Rocky Top' Echinacea, larkspur, lavender (not pictured), and some pansies hanging on:

Along the front walk

In the front bed, some cinquefoil and one white glad:

(not pictured:  four-o'clocks, catmint, sedum)

Thanks for looking at my June blooms.

De-Neglecting (Bloom Day, part two)

 I've been working to un-neglect the Neglected Bed, which so far has meant pulling out the ivy that has been smothering it.

 

 (Sorry, no picture of ivy running rampant.  I bet you can imagine it, though.)

 I actually started the de-ivying about two years ago, with a plan to replace the rotting timbers forming the terraces.  But the ivy was all intermingled with the timbers, and it was actually the ivy, not the rotten wood, holding everything in place.  I got discouraged, and abandoned the project.  I stopped caring for this bed at all, the ivy grew over everything, and I named it the Neglected Bed.

Ivy growing through the timbers

At the end of March, taking a break from whatever other yard chore I was doing at the time, I started pulling out some ivy.  And more and more, until the surface of the bed was free from ivy.  I still don't have a plan of attack for the timbers, but I'll get there.

A pile of ivy

 

Look - there were plants under the ivy!

I took the following photos on Bloom Day, then decided to save them for their own post:

It seems I missed a few pieces of ivy here among the euphorbia.  This is the only time of year I like this euphorbia, with its version of "flowers" (later on, it gets sprawly and leggy).  But this makes up for it enough to keep, at least for now.

 

 My only non-purple phlox, banished to the neglected bed, is an attention-grabbing pink.

  

I used to have a blue and white columbine here, with giant flowers.  Its offspring has reverted to blue-purple, as columbine tend to do, but has maintained the huge petals.

  

Can I call this Gaillardia blooming?  Probably not. (A week later, it is in full bloom!)

And last Wednesday, my Sunsprite Rose had its first bloom of the year.

 

With all this going on (and more to come), I'll try not to neglect this part of the yard this year.