Instrument of Grace

GBBD June 2009

A big thank you to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Blogger's Bloom Day.

I've missed bloom day. It's been happening, but I haven't been participating. I either haven't had anything blooming, haven't been able to get good photographs, or have gotten home after dark so there were no photographs. But today, I'm home and I was able to take a few photos. Although there are only a few photos here, there is a lot blooming in my garden.

In my front porch pots, I have a mix of coleus and Fuchsia triphylla 'Gartenmeister Bonstedt.' While I tend to play with the combo, the fuchsia is always there. Its blooms brighten up the shady area, and it blooms all summer long.

Last fall, when we redid the perennial border, I added three Geranium 'Tiny Monster.' I didn't know at the time just what a monster it would be, but you would think the name would have given me a clue. I have three lovely, well behaved Geranium (cultivar unknonium) in the Azalea Bed. Silly me for thinking Tiny Monster would have the same growth habit. It isn't covered with flowers when it blooms, it has them sprinkled here and there. It sprawls, it insinuates, it intertwines. BUT, it also blooms and blooms and blooms. It's been blooming for more than 6 weeks, and it doesn't show any sign of stopping. For that, I can forgive its untidy habit, but it might get a haircut here pretty soon. I love the color of the flowers.

When I first started my little garden at our old home, around 1991, one of the first plants I bought was a yellow yarrow. I wasn't into plant identification at the time, other than common names, so I didn't keep the tag or remember the plant information. That yarrow, with its yellow flowers, bloomed like crazy every spring, and every year the clump got larger and larger. I divided it into three clumps, and each of them increased, even though we had heavy, clay soil. I brought one of the clumps with me when we moved to this house in 2003. The soil was better, but the yarrow sulked. It put out a few blooms each year, but the clump shrank down to just a few leaves. While all the other plants we brought, other than the catmint, were growing like weeds, the yarrow failed to thrive. Then, this last fall, we redid the perennial border and I bought a new yarrow. The threat of competition must have done it, because this year the yarrow is spectacular. The blooms are waist high and there are a lot of them. I'm happy because I've always loved that plant. Oh, I'm sure I'll love the new one, too, but we go way back, me and the old one.

I also have a lot of other things blooming, including the plants listed below.

• Aruncus dioicus 'Kneiffi'
• Astilbe - variety unknown
• Begonia x hybrida 'Dragon Wing Red'
• Calamagrostis acutiflora 'Karl Forster' - Feather Reed Grass
• Calibrachoa x hybrid 'Cherry Red'
• Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Beauty'
• Campanula poscharskyana 'Blue Waterfall'
• Cucumis sativus - two varieties (cucumber)
• Curcurbita - yellow straight neck and zucchini
• Hemerocallis 'Happy Returns'
• Ilex verticillata, cultivar unknown - Winterberry holly
• Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' - Golden Creeping Jenny
• Nepeta faassenii 'Walkers Low'
• Oenothera macrocarpa - Ozark Sundrops, Garden Man's favorite
• Pennisetum orientale
• Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'
• Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna'
• Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight' - False Climbing Hydrangea
• Solanum lycopersicum - Yellow Pear, Red Grape and Brandywine
• Spiraea japonica 'Lime Mound'
• Sutera cordata 'Snowstorm Pink' (deck pot)
• Tiarella 'Spring Symphony'
• Veronica longifolia 'Lilac Fantasy'
• Veronica spicata 'Royal Candles'
• Veronica spicata 'Red Fox' 

Thanks for visiting my garden today. Please sit here in the shade and have a cool glass of ice tea before you go (and since I'm a southerner, there's no "d" in ice tea! Please visit the other gardeners participating in Bloom Day, and make sure you visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

October 2008 Bloom Day

Once again, thank you to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day. Please visit May Dreams Gardens for this month's Bloom Day post and comments and visit the other blogs. You'll see some beautiful gardens, and you might even see some asters.

Once again this month, I'm surprised by what's blooming. The trees are changing color, and some of the cherry trees have completely dropped their leaves. Although Fall is here, some plants are still blooming. I think my Hosta 'Gold Standard' is confused - it is one of the first to bloom in the spring/summer, and I cleaned up the dead bloom stalks from my two larger plants months ago. One of the plants must have felt somewhat naked, so it sent up another stalk.

I think the tomatoes are a little confused, too, because they are covered with blooms. They must be liking the warm days and cool nights we've been having lately.  If they keep up, I'll be harvesting little yellow pear tomatoes in December, which wouldn't be a bad thing.

The Victoria blue salvia and the dragon's wing begonias are still going strong, and I expect they will continue on until frost. How can you not love plants which ask for so little and give so much in return?  And the reader will kindly neglect to notice the blue salvia should have been dead-headed some time ago.

The recent border re-do seems to have coaxed a lobelia to bloom just a bit more. Hmmmm. I seem to remember the flowers looking much more burgundy and not so red.

And the Gartenmeister fuschia is still flowering as it always does. This year, the Royal Glissade coleus upstaged the fuschia and at the same time provided a great color echo. I'm not sure how I feel about the combo, which you can see here, but I like both plants, and I'm sure I'll plant them both again.

Although most of the photos I show are from plants in our front yard, where we have more sun, the impatiens out back are still putting on a show amid the falling leaves. They didn't do so well in our drought last year, but this summer had been a good one for rain and for impatiens flowers.

This cute little Penstemon, which was not labeled when I bought it, has bloomed all summer. It's just about 18 inches high and as cute as it can be. Its little speckled flowers have charmed me, and it's become one of my favorites.

Finally, a last look around the border reveals the truth. And I have a picture to prove it. Despite what common knowledge everyone thinks they have, my aster is NOT that big.

Not very big at all.

Happy Bloom Day, everyone. Thank you for visiting!

September Bloom Day

Once again, thank you to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Blogger's Bloom Day. Please visit May Dreams Gardens for this month's Bloom Day post and comments and visit the other blogs. You'll see some beautiful gardens.

I must confess I took these photos on the 14th, but I think the flowers are still there, don't you? Again, this month, I'm surprised at what I see blooming. I'm seeing very real signs of the move into fall, but after not being out in the garden for a while, I wasn't prepared to find some surprises.

I bought some Dahlia 'Roodkapje' because Ranter Michele at Garden Rant recommended them. What I didn't know, since I've always had such bad luck with dahlias, was how these things would bloom their heads off. This one has been in constant bloom for more than two months. I love their clear red flowers with their sunny yellow centers.

This spring, my Master Gardener friend Kathy gave me three passalong Leucanthemums of unknown variety. While they were nice sized, I didn't expect the quantity of bloom I got. I thought they were done blooming a week or so ago, but today I found this surprise. This is the last one.

I expected to see Rudbeckia fuldiga 'Goldsturm' blooming, and I wasn't disappointed. It's still in its nursery pot, but it will be going into the ground as soon as the drip irrigation system is here and we rework the border.

I also expected to see Echinacea purpurea 'Pink Double Delight,' because it was just coming into bloom when I brought it home several weeks ago. What I didn't expect was how much I was going to fall in love with its cheerful pink self.

One thing I did not expect to see was more bloom from Salvia 'Eveline.' I planted her in the early spring, when she was covered with bloom spikes. After they bloomed out, I trimmed them off. I was rewarded with a few more spikes in July. Again, I trimmed them off when they were spent. I thought that was it for the year, so imagine my surprise when I found this today.

Maybe I'm "cheating" to include these Ilex verticillata berries, but they are as beautiful as any blooms to me. Last year, even though I watered, the drought caused them to drop all their berries.  Since they'd been moved the year before and planted the year before that, they've never had more than a few berries. I'm thrilled with the crop we have this year.  Another story about these mystery winterberries.  They came from a wholesale nursery and were a bargain at $5.00 each. They were labeled Cornus alba 'Sibirica' which they obviously were not. I was happy to have them, and at such a bargain price, that I can tolerate not knowing the variety.

Here's another plant whose variety is unknown. This Solidago has been in my garden for a number of years. I think it is the prettiest Solidago I've ever seen, and I love the leaves - they are almost round. I meant to take a photo of the entire plant, but I got distracted by the "friend" on one of the flowers. I'm guessing this friend is some type of wasp. Anyone know just what type?

My last photo this month is another unknown variety. Sigh.  It's sedum, and it might be Neon and it might not. It was one of the first perennials I bought when I began gardening in ernest, about sixteen years ago. Needless to say, it is very prolific, and its progeny grace many of my friends' gardens. What I love about it is its bright pink color and that it blooms as many other plants are beginning to fade. Did I also mention it's a butterfly and bee magnet?

I still have a good many things blooming, although some of them are beginning to look tired.  Here's a partial list:

Heliopsis 'Summer Nights'

Echinacea 'Coconut Lime'

Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

Crocosmia 'Bright Eyes'

Boltonia asteroides 'Pink Beauty'

Sedum spurium 'Fuldaglut'

Dahlia Impression 'Fantastico'

Triteleia Corrina

Dragon's Wing begonia

unidentified little pink zinnias

tangerine calibrachoa

unidentified purple cuphea

Buddleia davidii 'Petite Plum' - and there nothing petite about it!

Thank you so much for stopping by and visiting my garden. Stop back by again soon! And don't forget to see the other lovely gardens by viewing the comments over at this month's bloom day post.

I'm late (for a very important date)

This month has been a whirlwind, and I'm late! I did take photos for bloom day, but I didn't get around to making a blog entry. So, while I'm late, I will adhere to the "better late than never" tenet and go ahead and make the post. 

Thank you to lovely Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting bloom day. I urge you to participate, and make sure you check out all the lovely gardens each month by viewing the comments to her post.

August 15, 2008. I think the thing that strikes me most strongly about this month is how MUCH is still blooming. I didn't think I'd have so much blooming, and I do. I must confess many of the blooms are due to a recent purchase I made in preparation for reworking our perennial border this fall. But I also still have a lot of long time residents still in flower. I hope you enjoy the tour.

This is Gartenmeister fuchsia. I grow it, along with coleus and other things, in pots by my front door. The area gets a bit of dappled sun during the day and a bit of sun in the afternoon, and these little things just bloom their heads off. They have been in flower since May.

This is Sedum spurium 'Fuldaglut,' and it is a recent purchase. I just loved the red and green on the foliage and the pretty pink flowers. I needed some low-growers for the front of the border, and I think this little beauty will fit the bill nicely.

This is Eupatorium fistulosum 'Bartered Bride'.  You can't see it's majesty here, but just let me say it's a regal Joe Pye weed for the back of the border. I think when it's out of its tiny pot and into some good soil, it will be upwards of 5 feet tall, maybe more. The bees love it. 

This is Boltonia asteriodes 'Pink Beauty,' also a recent purchase. It will be one of the back of the border plants, and I couldn't resist its sweet, daisy face flowers. It just says "good morning" to me every time I see it. 

I have several of these calibrachoas, and I always love having them in my garden. These are in the ground, and I also have some peachy colored ones in my deck pots. These reliable little plants just bloom and bloom all summer long.

Several years ago, a neighbor introduced me to dragon wing begonias, another plant which just blooms all summer long and looks great no matter the weather.  I find those traits to be pretty irresistable.

I have another eupatorium to share, it's Eupatorium dubium 'Little Joe.' It's just over knee high and has lovely foliage and full bloom. 

I have several low-growing veronicas, and I've been wanting a taller one. I found one recently, and it will be included in our border re-do in a few weeks. Let me introduce Veronica 'Lilac Fantasy.'  I think it will fit in very nicely in the middle of the border.

I have a number of Dahlias blooming, and no one could be more surprised about that than me. I've never had luck with them. They either succumb to a fungal disease right after coming up or are totally eaten up by something before they bloom.  This year, I planted several kinds, mostly the roots but one type was in pots and not labeled. The unknown one has dark foliage and pink flowers.  Here for your viewing pleasure, I present the unidentified one with Fantastico in the background, Fantastico with a friend, Roodkapje with a friend and Rembrandt.  Although I don't have a photo, I also have Yellow Sneezy blooming.

Only by planting in a pot was I able to have an oriental lily still blooming. I took advantage of a sale at Brent and Becky's Bulbs when I bought my Yellow Sneezy dahlia and this lovely Sorbonne lily, so they were planted a bit late and hence the late bloom. Don't you think Sorbonne is lovely?

Another recent acquisition is this stunning Crocosmia 'Bright Eyes.' I didn't notice until I stared looking at the photo that there was a Hairstreak butterfly hiding there.

As part of my participation in the Great Sunflower Project, I'm watching for bees on Helianthus annus. I haven't seen a lot of bees on the flowers yet, but the butterflies LOVE it. Here's one now.

Here are some other things I also have blooming:

unidentified garden phlox

passalong Knautia - I love its lovely maroon color

Agastache rugosa 'Golden Jubilee'

Mondarda didyma 'Coral Reef'

Heliopsis 'Summer Nights'

Echinacea 'Coconut Lime'

Echinacea purpurea 'Pink Double Delight'

Echinacea var 'Tiki Torch'

Rudbeckia fuldiga 'Goldsturm'

Salvia farinacea 'Victoria Blue'

and some unidentified dianthus that have rebloomed after being sheared.

I also have an unidentified Solidago, with rounded leaves, that is about to burst into bloom. It's so lovely.

That's a LOT of bloom for hot, dry August but I'm not complaining! I hope you enjoyed the garden tour and will stop back by next month on the 15th.

Bloom Day - A Little Late

Yesterday was Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.  Unfortunately, I left home before daylight yesterday, and it was dark when I got home. Work has been crazy, and it's summer baseball season. I can't miss watching my son play. I decided to capture what's blooming today and document it, as I like having these records. I wanted to share a few things with you, too.  Please let me apologize right now for not using proper names. It's been a long day, and I'm just too lazy to look them up. I wanted to get these posted before I was two days late.

I still have a few things hanging around from earlier this spring. There is one single bloom left on the Ozark Sundrops.  The violas also have a few blooms left, but I don't think they'll last much longer. How they survived with the temperatures in the 90's for almost two weeks is beyond me. Though they look delicate, they sure are tough!

I have a lot of my usual annual things blooming - Victoria Blue Salvia, pink Dragon Wing Begonia, Calibrachoa, Sutera, Gartenmeister Fuchsia and a few puny looking Dahlias. 

The daylilies are blooming, and the double yellow ruffled and my favorite peachy pink are adding a lot of color to the garden.  Here's my favorite:

And the coneflowers - they are so tall this year, approaching 4 1/2 feet!  The little melon-colored one is a tame 24 inches, but the purple is majestic.

All the hosta are in full flower, and the buddleia is in its second flush of bloom. The Mountain Fleece Flower my friend Karen gave me has sent up a bloom stalk, and I'm so excited to see it bloom.  I still have some liatris and monarda blooming, too.  The Coreopsis 'Zagreb' and my perennial salvia are still in full bloom, and my white and purple phlox look to be at their peak. The Gaura still has flowers, too. Most curious to me, and it was too dark to photograph, is the Lobelia cardinalis that got eaten by deer - at least the top 18 inches got eaten.  It has since put out little purple flowers all up and down the stem. I didn't know they would revert.  I KNOW the flower is red, because I'd seen that plant bloom.  Has anyone else ever heard of lobelia reverting like that?

Thank you, Carol, for allowing us to share our gardens with each other! I hope you all enjoyed your visit to mine.

Bloom Day, June 2008

May Dreams Gardens hosts a monthly Garden Blogger's Bloom Day on the 15th of the month.  Go see the lovely photos Carol has posted for today.  If you'd like, join in the fun. We gardeners love to see photos of others' gardens.

I have a lot blooming today.  Even though we've had some brutally hot temperatures, my garden still looks fresh.  Some of the flowers I'm happiest to see are the ones on my winterberry hollies.  Last summer's drought was hard on them, and then one of our ash trees had the audacity to split and pummel one of them.  With these flowers, I have hope for lovely red berries this fall and winter.

My Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' is taking over a corner of my back garden.  Three little plants two years ago have turned into a clump more than three feet across. It's beautiful and just starting to bloom.

Daylilies are one of those plants you either love or hate. While I'm not thrilled that the foliage will get ratty in a hot, dry summer, Happy Returns is one daylily worth having. Its foliage seems to be more resilient than some, and it will bloom most of the summer if you cut the scapes back when the blooms on them have faded.  Happy Returns is a relatively early bloomer, and it will bloom reliably in full sun or more than half shade. I love its sunny yellow flowers.

Although I took my photos relatively early today, the bees were already busy. My Veronica spitaca 'Red Fox' is going to town, as it always does. I love the intense pink color and the fact that they just bloom and bloom.  The bees love them too.

Of course, my latest hosta acquisition, Dream Queen, had to have a spot in today's photo lineup. It's sporting a tiny remnant of last evening's storm.

I have more blooming. This is not a complete list, but it gets most of it.

Lychnis coronaria (Rose campion)

Oenothera macrocarpa (Ozark sundrops or Missouri evening primrose)

Gaura 'Siskiyou Pink'

Coreopsis

Impatiens - of many colors

Hosta - several varieties

Campanula

Penstemon 'Husker Red'

Dahlia

Achillea var Schwellenberg

Salvia nemorosa 'Caradonna'

Centaurea montana 'Cupid's Dart'

Blue-eyed grass

Penisetum orientale

Black mondo grass

Calamagrostis 'Karl Forster'

Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'

Nandina

Happy bloom day!

Bloom Day

Spring seems to have come a bit late this year, but we still have a lot blooming.  It still amazes me that my 50 minute drive south and east to work reveals a universe weeks ahead of where my plants are at home.  But we're still coming along just fine. A stroll around the garden revealed these:  

Top left:  Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet' just getting ready to bloom; Top right:  Salvia, but I don't know what kind.  Bottom left:  Clematis with a lot more bloom than climb; Bottom right:  Geranium. Cranesbill. You know. Also blooming:  raspberries, heuchera, azaleas (some just finishing up and some just getting started), Aquilegia 'Nora Barlow', Centaurea montana 'Cupid's Dart', calibrachoa, nepeta, Jack-in-the-Pulpit, and a bunch of stuff I can't name (yet).  The thalictrum is just about to bloom, along with some campanula, fuschia and dahlia.  And you ought to see the size of the buds on the Oriental poppy! Looks to be a good year for them.  Here's a bloom from a past year.

 

 No wonder I'm so excited about these getting ready to pop!