“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains…” ~Diane Ackerman
These lazy days in the summer heat allowed me time to put together some collections of blooms for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. As we garden bloggers join in from around the world, I am linking in with Carol@May Dreams Gardens and Gesine@Seepferds Garden. I am surprised that flowers continue to bloom even with only .5 inches of rain for the past month. I only water the veggie garden, new trees, bushes and a few containers. But as the lack of rain continues, I am starting to see the stress in the garden.
First let’s look at the Glad To See You Blooms….
This oak leaf hydrangea is the only hydrangea that has bloomed in my garden. I should say that all the oak leaf hydrangeas bloomed beautifully. They appeared to love the cold freezing April that even Endless Summer could not abide. I am thankful to see these beauties.
I swear my plants listen to me. Only when properly threatened and know I mean business, then they finally perform. This weird spring was perfect for all my climbing roses and the fairy roses, but not my tried and true knockouts. I expect with some pruning and fertilizing they will bounce back in the fall as they had limited blooms this spring. The top left is a rose I ripped out 2 years ago. Apparently I only thought I got rid of it because it grew a bit last year and took over the pergola this spring. It is called “Night Owl”. The one in the center is another one that has been a non-performer with a bloom or two the last few years. Now look at it. I need to find the name of this rose because it is a gorgeous. Good thing I have lots of receipts from years ago. Right now the Japanese beetles have been out of control and just decimating the roses as well as many other plants. We finally resorted to traps which have worked. There are new ones now that do not contain any chemicals. Thanks to Tina@In The Garden for turning me on to these. Her post was wonderful with lots of good ideas to naturally deter these beasts.
In March, the clematis started to grow. I quickly cut them back and watched them grow at least 2 feet in the warm March weather. Then cold April arrived and they stopped dead. When the weather finally warmed again in May, some were slow to grow and did not get tall before they started to bloom. And oh how they bloomed well into late June with some just finishing. I have never seen these vines so covered to the point you couldn’t see the leaves. Starting clockwise top left is Belle of Woking then’Nelly Moser’ (I think), but maybe ‘Dr. Ruppel’. Not sure about the name of the blue bell-shaped clematis. The red one top right and bottom left is one of my favorites, ‘Avant Garde’. Bottom left is supposed to be , ‘Roguchi’, but it seems too lilac in color. Below the mailbox is ‘Crystal Fountain’ a real stand out. The purple one that is around the mailbox with a close up to the right is supposed to be ‘Tie Dye’. Seems more like ‘Jumanji’ which is the purple clematis top right growing through the red twig dogwood bush (middle right).
Alliums were a ‘came and went’ plant with the crazy weather. But I love looking forward to the later blooming drumstick allium, or Allium sphaerocephalum. It is blooming right alongside my cultivar heliopsis pictured at the top of the post, Heliopsis helianthoides ‘Summer Nights’.
Now on to, Blooming Now In Abundance.….
There are shasta daisies galore blooming throughout the garden, if I can keep the Japanese beetles away. I love so many of the varieties and thought I would show you a few. I am going by memory but I believe the top left is ‘Alaska’. Top right and center is a common variety. Next is ‘Becky’ followed by the interesting ‘Crazy Daisy’ which looks like shredded coconut. I love ‘Fluffy’ bottom left. Lastly is a double variety.
This year the echinacea cultivars have been superb especially the orange/red ones. Again we will see how good my memory is here. Starting top left is ‘Hot Papaya’ and ‘Summer Sky’. Not sure of the pink one, but may be echinacea purpurea. Top right and second from bottom left is one of my favorites, ‘Sundown’. The white echinacea are just starting. This one is ‘Kim’s Mophead’. Not sure of the unusual pink one, but the orange one bottom right is another favorite and stunner once it opens, ‘Flame Thrower’. Bottom left is ‘Tomato Soup’. The double pink one which is actually, ‘Pink Poodle’ which when fully opened looks like a dahlia. Lastly in the center is , ‘Ruby Giant’. I have lost track of many of the pink ones because they have seeded themselves all over. The echinacea have just begun this month and will continue for another month now that we have controlled the Japanese beetles. They were destroying so many.
Native gaillardia seeds itself all over the garden beds where it is planted and blooms from now until later fall. Love those bright cheery faces. Hope its blooms continue in this drought.
Native bee balm is blooming nicely in what are usually the wet areas of the garden that are dry now. All that spring rain certainly gave this water lover lots of moisture up until a month ago. They are beginning to fade already.
As this bloom day comes to a close I leave you with a picture of the next big performer in the garden. It has been blooming throughout the summer. Some have opened early and others will be blooming soon. Still others are only blooming throughout summer for one day. Of course I am talking about the lilies and daylilies. I hope to feature these next time. Of course only those the pesky deer left for me. This is Asiatic lily, ‘Eyeliner’ below.
“I like not lady-slippers, Not yet the sweet-pea blossoms, Not yet the flaky roses, Red or white as snow; I like the chaliced lilies, The heavy Eastern lilies, The gorgeous tiger-lilies, That in our garden grow.” ~Thomas Bailey Aldrich
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Next up on the blog: Wednesday I will be highlighting Perfection in the garden with foliage. Then on Monday it will be time to highlight another native plant in my Simply The Best series. This time it will be liatris.
I will be linking in with Michelle@Rambling Woods for her Nature Notes meme. It is a great way to see what is happening in nature around the world every Wednesday.
As always, I’ll be joining Tootsie Time’s Fertilizer Friday.
I hope you will join me for my posts, every other Tuesday, at Beautiful Wildlife Garden.
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