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.

May 2012 Blooms

It rained on Bloom Day (two days ago).  It rained the day and night before that, too.  But everything's green now!

For this Bloom Day post, I'll focus on the side garden.  It has a lot going on right now.

At the driveway entrance to the garden, the geraniums are blooming.  Lambs ear provides a nice contrast.

A week or two ago, this garden was full of various irises, mostly along the house side of the path.  Most are finished, but there are a few that are later than the others.

Yellow bearded irises with white rose campion

purple bearded irises with rose campion

 Think I have a lot of rose campion? I sure do. Its shocking-pink blooms are about all you can see at the front end of the garden.

a sea of rose campion

Taking a closer look, it is hiding one of the first daylilies of the year.

Also along the house side, I have a few patches of mazus reptans.  It has been blooming for about two months, though it is finishing up now and the blooms are more sparse.  I bought two little pots of this groundcover last year, to see if it would spread well enough that I can redo the path with it between stepping stones.  I planted them along the edge of the existing path, and it has spread very nicely.  It should be easy to divide so I can put some along the whole path.  I love it when a plan comes together!

Mazus reptans

At the front end of this side of the garden (ok, actually in the front yard, but humor me...) is my rather prolifically flowering white rose.  I have no idea what it is, but the one-inch flowers are covering the shrub right now.

Along the fence-side of the garden, Centaurea have been blooming their funky flowers for a while.

Centaurea with lamb's ear

 The heuchera I planted for foliage accents actually have nice pink flower sprays.

Heuchera flowers

 The doublefile viburnum I planted last fall (to replace a nandina) is still very small, but growing and flowering happily.

Viburnum

 And at the front end of this side of the garden, peonies and salvia.  Why does it always happen that as soon as the peonies bloom, we get a big rainstorm?  I think I could predict rain better than a meteorologist, just by looking at the peony blooms. As a result, they don't last very long.

And that's the tour of the side garden.  Here's what it looks like from the front:

 Thanks to May Dreams Gardens for hosting another Bloom Day!

May 2011 Blooms

I think May is my most crowded bloom day post. While the garden is calming down a little bit (new things to see every day rather than every hour!), there's still plenty to show off. I'll try to limit my photos today to three sections of the yard.

The Garage Garden (aka the herb garden, though it is less and less so as time passes) is no longer the Purple Garden.

There's still lots of purple in the form of columbine, but the front section is now yellow with potted iris and rue. The clematis add a vibrant red-violet. And toward the back, some new flowers this year.

I started a bunch of seeds last year, then did a plunk-and-run into a bare-ish spot of the garage garden. This year they are crowding each other out. The tall plants above are not what I thought they would be.

I think they are valerian. I don't like them, so out they will come. Making more room for:

Pink penstemon. This one got really crowded between the valerian and all the columbine. I've removed some of the offending columbine already.

Over to the terraces, the Neglected Bed (formal name: Right Lower Terrace) has all sorts of color going on:

some Iberis (candytuft) hanging on in front. Then, the rather vigorous rootstock from the Dead Rose is all abloom:

Further along, some iris I dug from my cousin's yard several years ago. They bloomed for the first time last year.

And just in case there wasn't enough color already, the Gaillardia have joined the party:

(I consider these a Summer flower - what are they doing up so early?)

Back across the yard, the driveway bed (now blackberry bed) is blue. But I'm not sad about it.

The grape-scented iris seem to be more blue than purple this year. They match the flax (Linum perrene ssp. lewisii) down the row a bit. Beyond the flax, not visible from the previous photo, is mom's geranium:

I wonder how much of this will last once those blackberries (also flowering now) take over?

Two more photos to show off today. First, the peonies are blooming!

Peonies always seem to pick the day before a rainstorm to open. Hard rains last night, a storm today, and more to come over the next few days mean I probably won't get to enjoy them much.

Finally, my favorite flower of May, for the promise it brings:

Peas are coming!

To see what's blooming in other gardens, visit Carol over at May Dreams Gardens.

also blooming today:
front - virginia sweetspire, pansy, coreopsis
side - bearded irises, Dicentra spectabilis, Dicentra spectabilis 'alba', Dicentra eximia, rose campion, heuchera
patio - virginia sweetspire
upper garden - Baptisia australis, Tradescantia, Sedum ternatum
shade garden - Chrysogonum virginianum, hellebores

Dont Tread on Me!

I was starting to clean out the last garden bed on the terrace a few weeks ago. I found an uprooted plant tag from the new peony I planted late last year. Now, where did I plant that peony? Did it survive my neglect after I planted it?

I didn't see any sign of it where I thought I'd put it, so I kept on weeding. When I stood up, I realized I'd bee nkneeling right on top of it! Unfortunately, it had already started growing, and I'd broken off its two emerging shoots:

Oops! What are the chances it will regrow?



...



Pretty good, it turns out. Here's what it looked like this evening:

Whew!

I doubt it will flower this year, but at least it is alive. Hopefully it will gain some strength this year and give me flowers next year.

May Blooms

(or, Procrastination Pays)

The fifteenth of May, time for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, sponsored by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. I'm glad I made my Iris post yesterday, as the iris are done today. just a few purple ones left.

Meanwhile in the garden, shrubs and trees are blooming. Here's the Kousa dogwood, aglow in the side yard:


The Virginia sweetspire that I got as a twig last year is blooming, too:


Several flowers have appeared in the last several days. Here's goatsbeard, blooming in front of Amsonia hubrichtii:


Gaillardia:


Here are the mini blooms of the white rose in front:


And the rootstock of the dead rose in the side yard. The rose was dead before I moved in, so I never knew what it was. But I like the simple red flowers that remain:


All this has been a teaser, my peony is the main attraction today:


The geranium has been blooming for a while, but it is so cheery I have to include it here:


And the Centaurea montana is hanging on:


I have edibles blooming, too. Here are the peas (yay!):


Even the back alley is full of blooms. Honeysuckle is pretty uncontrollable here, but this time of year I don't mind, it's scent is intoxicating:


I don't know what this is, blooming outside my neighbor's fence, but I like it:


And on the other side of the alley, another unidentified flower:


Now, to address that subtitle, Procrastination Pays. I took most of these photos this afternoon, but didn't make the post then. Then, when I was cleaning up at sunset, I saw a new flower, Missouri Primrose, blooming for the first time this year:


I hope your May is full of blooms, too!