August Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

I scrounged through my phjotos I have saved for Instagram postings, and took a few tonight before the sun went down. The 15th sneaked up on me this month.

Interesting story on this. If you snoop through past years of posts, you know I like growing different dwarf sunflowers. The last cultivar tried had some seeds I saved for the birds. I planted a few the following year, and saved these seeds and planted this year. The blooms are a nice manageable size, but they are not very drawf, stading at about 5-feet (1.5 m) tall, and do not match the original hybrid. I like the flowers though.

Tithonia is new to me this year. I am impressed by the pollinators that constantly visit it, and it's preference for poor soil, and a hot dry environment.

Cutleaf rudbeckia last week, Now, after some rain storms, it's falling over but still blooming up a storm.

This is the only ruby red zinnia 'Cherry Queen' I photographed so far. Hummingbirds stop by, but I don't really know how much they get out of the flower. Beautiful color.

Just starting to bloom now, the cardinal flower lobelia was labed as 'Blue Lobelia' at the spring plant swap. Oops.

Late summer blooming garden phlox. Another pollinator love.

Find more ther garden bloggers' blooms on May Dream Gardens.

July Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

I wanted to wait until dark when the moonflowers open before taking the last shots for this July. These are some of the blooms at this time of year.

Datura arrayed along the entry to the house where I enjoy the intoxicating fragrance every summer evening. They reseed themselves every year.

Rudbeckia hita native loves the sun. They last about two years, but easily reseed.

Rudbeckia laciniata picked up at a plant swap, it grows 6 feet (2 m) tall and easily falls over. Thanks to Janet, Queen of Seaford in identifying for me.

I thought a closeup of the balloon flower would be interesting. Platycodon grandiflorus reseeds but they're difficult to move because of their deep tap root.

Phlox paniculata 'Jeana' giveaway at the Washington DC Garden Bloggers Fling. Pollinators love it as much as I do.

When echinacea purpurea is planted in part shade, it gows 5 feet tall (1.5 m).

Echinops ritro is about ready to bloom and inviting all the bumbles to it.


Will it go round in circles? Watch bees on coneflowers go around the ring of pollen on the flower.

Find more ther garden bloggers' blooms on May Dream Gardens.

June Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

I want to highlight some blooms that are not the usual ones I post every June.

Lychnis coronaria, Rose campion is such a work horse. It blooms in heat, reseeds well, survives winters, and the color combo of silver and magenta is striking.

Coconut lime echinacea is a hybrid that is lower in height, and not as attractive to pollinators as the native. Here, some little guy poses on a petal.

Speaking of lime ... this is lime green nicotiana. As thick as ever at this time of year, and a proflific reseeder. I keep it separated from the white in another garden to keep it from intermixing, and to maintain the green color. This year the fragrance at night is incredible.

I was lazy and did not cut off the seed pods one year. A whole lot of different hostas sprouted the following year. I kept about a half dozen including this one.

This lavendar was free at the Garden Bloggers Fling when it came to Washington DC. Lavender 'Phenomenal' is exceptional in that none of it died back in winter, and the amount of blooms is awesome.

\Once I figured out what this low-growing iris was (picked up at a plant swap), it was moved from the sunny garden to damp part shade. My native crested iris (Iris cristata) is now flourishing and I am rewarded with flowers.



An impatient visitor waiting for pollen to open.

Daylilies I crossed using the orange ditch lily with 'Night of Passion'. Very proud and pleased with the results, but the colors get washed out to a dull pale rust in bright hot sunlight.

Find more ther garden bloggers' blooms on May Dream Gardens.

May Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

The smaller perennials are still growing, while some of the larger ones are blooming.

Siberian Iris are in full bloom. I picked these multipliers up at a master gardener plant swap, and now have 3 stands with 100 blooms.

Columbine Aquilegia from my mom's garden years ago.

Pea blossom. Hey, veggies have blooms, too.

Mountain Laurel Kamlia latifolia. A very red 'Sarah' cultivar.

White camassia -- not as popular as the blue.

Bearded Iris. This reblooming cultivar 'Clarence' was purchased from Walmart many years ago.

Geranium sanguineum close up.

I don't know the name of my black bearded iris. It's really hard to get the color right, when taken with a cell phone camera.

Spiderwort grows well although in a sunty location.

The white ruffled bearded iris came from another plant swap.

The tree peony 'Garden Treasure' that closes up at night.

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Now Returning

About a half dozen Dutch Iris 'Discovery' bulbs were purchsed years ago and they brought great pleasure in the late spring when they bloomed. They first showed up on my blog back in 2008. After that, they brought great heartache. They did not want to bloom again. I did not think they were in the tulip mode of blooming great one year, and then disappoointment in following years.

I kept them, and every year they might knock out one or two blooms each spring. I changed their location to give them more sunlight. I gave them fertilizer. I gave them more attention and care than other plants who were becoming jealous, but every year it was the same: very few booms.

This year I am please to report that I have 7 blooms. I also have about a dozen new bulbs that will hopefully be blooming in following years. They are not fast multiplying, so maybe they require several years of coddling before they grow enough to produce a bloom.

I really appreciate the irridescent blue, espeically when the sunlight hits them from behind. The contrast with the yellow is striking.

For The Record:   • Well-drained soil with organic amendments   • Full sun   • Generous fertilizer   • No disease

April 2021 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

March and April are prime times for the garden. I did not believe I have a lot of spring blooms ... until I began assembling photos for this post. (Dandelions were not included.)

Some spring blooms here. Daffodils do very well and return in my climate, whereas tulips do not reliably return year after year - we progress from winter to summer very quckly, so after blooming, the tulips struggle through the heat to bulk up for the following year .

Narcissus poeticus - fragrant

'Rip van Winkle' planted many years ago and lost track of ... until last year.

'Bridal Crown' was a "I have some leftovers if you want" gift

'Sweet Love' cups turn white as they age

'Salome' cups start out yellow then turn salmon

Muscari - this one is a cultivar I think

Closeup of the redbud blooms

I want more of this free giveaway tulip because of the color, but I don't know its name. It displays incredible carmine red blooms and bluish foliage. It came back from past years, albeit smaller.

Closeup of leucojum after the rain

Pieris is suppposed to be difficult. Not in my garden, although after 5 years, leaf spot is beginning to show up.

Who can have spring in Virginia without our dogwood state flower.

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Damned If I Know

Three daffodils are starting to bloom and I don't know their names. They were picked up in a Master Gardener free-for-all scramble two years ago one winter evening. During our class break, it was announced that the unsold spring bulbs of the store hosting our meeting was giving away unsold spring bulbs - free for the taking. Being the middle of winter, there was little hope of selling these leftovers. After a trip to the unsold loose bulb bins, I snagged these three daffodil varieties but do not know their names.

They were planted in the dead of winter and bloomed that spring. One last variety, a late green-tinted daffodil, is not quite yet blooming.

I also picked up a ferw increadible scarlet-red, late-season tulips, again, unknown. I would love to get my hands on more of the tulips, but the store does not remember what they were.

March 2021 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

It's been almost a year since I posted something. Much time was spent working on an investment house last year, and then surgery, and then beginning a gardening Instagram account. I really like Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, so let's start blogging again.
There is not much springing in spring yet, but here are a few items found.

Yes, I know. Just a crocus. But, these crocuses were in the original gardens when I moved here over 30 years ago. They pop up in different places and in different gardens each year.

Extremely fragrant, jasmine-like, early-blooming white forsythia of the olive family.



Hellebores - I thought there was one color when I picked it up at a plant swap.





Mahonia

Unknown amaryllis bulb picked up at a plant swap and planted in the ground last spring. Brought indoors in the fall, it surprised me by finally blooming now.

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