Fireworks in the Garden

Do you have big plans for the Fourth of July?  There are many activities planned in our area to celebrate the holiday, including the annual fireworks show in C-U, which is always outstanding.  But my husband doesn't like crowded celebrations and the traffic afterwards, so sometimes I go to the show with one of my children and grandkids.  Other times, we'll simply sit on the lawn after dusk and watch the displays in surrounding towns from a distance.   I'm not sure what we'll do this year, but we could just stay at home this year and enjoy the garden--in the past week, my garden has exploded into a riotous display of color that's almost as good as fireworks.

Like pink?  There is plenty of it in my garden right now.  The Asiatic lily 'Brindisi' is nearly at the end of its bloom cycle, but what a show she has put on!

She's the biggest and most prolific Asiatic I have, putting out too many blooms to count.

As she is fading away, the pink of the purple coneflowers is taking over.  I have a sea of coneflowers this year, and I'm not exaggerating--more on this in a later post.

Prefer a hotter shade of pink?  These phlox always defy my photographic skills, but they are a dazzling shade of hot pink/fuschia.  And to think I almost pulled them their second year, because I didn't remember planting them!

More hot pink from the Monarda in the butterfly garden, which is a jungle once again this year.  By the way, please ignore the many weeds you may see in the photos.  The abundant rain we have had this year has certainly been good for the garden, but it's also been a boon to the weeds.  I'm fighting a daily battle against them, and I think I'm losing.

Now this is my shade of pink!

We can go darker still with the Drumstick Allium.

Or how about a bright red?  I wish I had taken this photo a few days before, when more of the poppies were blooming. . . and wish I had pulled that buttonweed behind them before snapping this photo:)  I scatter poppy seed in late winter over the snow and never know how many or where they might germinate; needless to say, this was a good year for them.

Going darker still, 'Little Grapette' is the first of several darker daylilies to bloom.

Personally, I like a combo of light and dark as in this early daylily 'Moonlight Masquerade.'

If you prefer the purity of white, there's plenty of that too--'Beckie' daisies are just starting to bloom.

And so are the 'Knee High Sonata' cosmos.

In fact, there will be quite a bit of white in the coming weeks as the 'David' phlox join the parade of blooms.

We can also add some purple to the dazzling mix of colors with some larkspur.

And almost blue--Balloonflowers.  I actually had to pull out some volunteer Amsonia, which were hiding this plant.

There is plenty of yellow in the garden, too, with all of the 'Stella d'Oro' daylilies in bloom, as well as other yellow blossoms, such as this 'Moonbeam' Coreopsis.  In fact, about the only color that is noticeably absent in my garden right now is orange, but that will soon change as more of the daylilies begin to bloom.  Tarzan obliged me by adding a little orange today:)  I think he has the best idea of how to celebrate the weekend.

No Fourth of July would be complete without displaying the red, white, and blue.  Maybe the phlox are a little more pinkish and purple, but it's close.

A little closer to the patriotic color scheme--an "accidental" combination of red, white, and blue.

Wishing you all a happy and safe Fourth of July!

July GBBD

What a difference a year makes!  On last year's July Bloom Day I was praying for rain, like many of you, as we were in the middle of an extreme drought.  Plants were shriveling in the heat, and I spent little time in the garden, other than to drag around hoses and move sprinklers.  This year, however, thanks to one of the wettest Aprils on record and frequent showers all spring and into the summer, I only get out the hose every few days to water containers.  The garden is lush and green and full of blooms, and for that I am very thankful.  Since I have so many blooms to share on today's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, I'll keep the narrative short, so we can tour the garden before the thermometer reaches the 90's.  One request for all visitors, please--put your weed blinders on:)

Starting at the roadside garden, the coneflowers are in full bloom, though they're not as abundant as last year. Ironically, I suspect they've been the victim of too much rain--this area was full of standing water in early April for several days, and both the spring tulips and some of the coneflowers may have been drowned out.  Not to worry, though, I'm sure the coneflowers will be back next year.  The standing water didn't seem to bother any of the daylilies, however.  In the middle of a border of ordinary Stellas, this rogue, as I have come to call it, has gotten bigger and better.  Now if I was ambitious, I'd dig up all the Stellas and divide this one to replace them:)

Fewer coneflowers means these daylilies mistakenly planted behind them finally have a chance to command the attention they deserve.  Passalongs from my aunt, I call them 'Nettie's Corals,' and they're one of my favorites.

In one area of this garden (you still have those weed blinders on, don't you??) where I've had mixed success with different varieties of galliardia, I am really pleased this year with a stand of  Rudbeckia hirta I started indoors from seed.

According to MOBOT's website, 'Prairie Sun' can be a short-lived perennial or will re-seed itself if conditions are right.  I've never had this happen in my garden yet, but I'm more than willing to start them from seeds each year--I love these big yellow blooms with the green centers.

 Taking the short walk back up to the house, the shade garden is also loving all this rain (and the humidity, which fogged up my camera lens). It's more about foliage, obviously, than blooms, but hosta and heuchera blooms are adding some accents.

The hydrangeas also are thriving with the moisture--this is the biggest bloom I've ever had on my 'Endless Summer.'

If late June is all about coneflowers in my garden, then July is all about lilies.  Just a few of the lilies blooming in my lily bed today--first, 'Prairie Blue Eyes.'

A division from friend Beckie--'Dragonfly Corner.'

Another passalong from Beckie, this one a NOID daylily.

'Little Grapette' may be small in stature but makes up for it with a profusion of blooms.

A spider lily whose name I've forgotten--I was so happy to see it return this year, because I don't remember it blooming at all last year.

Two reliable daylilies are 'Canterbury Tales' on the left and 'Moonlight Masquerade' in the center.  (A late bloom from the Asiatic 'Brindisi' is on the right.)  These two will re-bloom all summer, especially 'Moonlight' which is usually the first daylily to bloom and the last as well, often showing a few blooms up until frost.  Too bad I have them both planted in an inconspicuous place--must put moving them on my to-do list!

'Romeo Lies Bleeding' looks much healthier than in past years.

Next to him, of course--'Juliet.'

One of the most eye-catching daylilies in this area is a yellow NOID that I don't remember ever planting.  Behind it a very hardy pink phlox, also a NOID--this one has been blooming for weeks.

Another NOID that I finally remembered came from friend Beckie also has large blooms.  As you can see, though I call this area the Lily Garden, there is much more here than lilies.  Drumstick allium have been attracting the bees, and the hybrid coneflower 'Big Sky Sundown' is bigger than ever.  A common purple coneflower somehow sneaked into this area, too:)

Sometimes the mix of plants have unintended results.  A quick glance might have a non-gardener wondering what this two-toned plant is.  It's actually a NOID Asiatic lily that should have been staked leaning into the 'Moonbeam' Coreopsis.

Also in the Lily Garden, 'Vanilla Strawberry' Hydrangea is just starting to bloom.  I'm waiting to see if this will be the year these blooms turn the pink they're advertised to become.

A balloon flower can finally be seen, now that I pulled some wayward asters growing around it.

The Arbor Bed could be called the Poppy Field these days.  I mentioned in an earlier post how I scattered these seeds in late winter and wound up with a plethora of poppies this year.

These will all be pulled eventually to make room for whatever is blooming behind them, but not until they're all finished blooming and the bees have had their fill.

The Arbor Bed was created a few years ago with a load of compost spread over newspapers and cardboard.  All that compost has made for some very happy plants that are beginning to turn this place into a jungle.  'Becky' daisy has become a reliable source for divisions for elsewhere in the garden.

Liatris are just beginning to bloom here, too.

Since it has become a jungle, despite my best intentions, it's easy to miss something here.  The larkspur did well this year, but I just noticed yesterday this lone dark purple stem.

Other surprises include Nigella--hmm, did I plant these seeds??--and a Veronica that I had completely forgotten planting last fall.  Both are hidden behind the arbor bench--more moving to put on the to-do list.

Thankfully, the jungle inhabitants haven't prevented the phlox from blooming.  'David's' pristine white blooms show up clearly from a distance; 'Blue Paradise' on the right, and to the left a hot pink phlox that was mislabeled as 'David.'

Most of the seeds that I sowed here in May won't be blooming for awhile, but a few cosmos have already begun.

And finally, my daughter's favorite--a 'Stargazer' lily blooming in the shadow of the tall cosmos.

Whew!  We haven't even gotten to the butterfly garden, but I'll save that for the next Wildflower Wednesday.  In the meantime, be sure to check out blooms from other gardens across the world at May Dreams Gardens where hostess Carol is probably out picking green beans or mowing the lawn:)

Lessons Learned In the Garden: Spring 2013

With age comes wisdom, or so they say.  Having recently celebrated another birthday, I can safely say I am wiser than I was thirty or forty years ago.  But I am far from a sage yet, and I still have so much more to learn.  That is certainly true when it comes to gardening. Once again I have found out how much I still don't know about gardening and am joining in with Beth at Plant Postings for "Lessons Learned" this spring.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever," wrote the poet John Keats.  However, gardeners know that is not necessarily so.  While trees may last many lifetimes, the blooms of trees and other plants are usually fleeting.  Nowhere was this more evident to me this spring than in my Baptisia.  My lone Baptisia is in the roadside garden, and one day while working there, I noticed the first blooms on it and couldn't wait to see it covered in purple.  A week went by before I thought of it again and realized I wanted to get a good photo of it this spring.  But when I went down the lane with my camera, there were no blooms to be found!

These were the only Baptisia blooms I saw this year.

 Now you have to understand that this small flowerbed is at the end of our lane which is about 1/8 mile long, so I don't make a point of walking down to check things out every day.  However, I do pass it every time I drive somewhere, so what happened?  Was I just not paying attention as I left on errands, or did it even bloom fully?   Sadly, I'll never know.  But I have learned my lesson--even if you don't have time to work in it, pay attention to your garden every day, or you may miss something beautiful.

I almost pulled out this "weed"--which turned out to be a Rudbeckia!

Recently fellow blogger Carol posted on Facebook that she was offering a course in weed identification: the workshop would be held in her garden, participants were to bring their own hoes, and the class would last until all the weeds were gone.   Carol's post may have been tongue-in-cheek, but I really could use a course in weed i.d.--except, let's hold it in my garden, please!  I can recognize dandelions, of course, along with bindweed, henbit, purslane, and the weedy grasses that are the bane of my garden, not to mention countless others whose names I don't know but whose appearance immediately tells me they must be banished at once.  But there are so many plants I don't recognize as seedlings. I'm sure I'm not the only one who has nurtured a plant only to discover weeks later that it's a weed, or pulled a weed-lookalike, remembering later that I'm missing a new plant...unmarked, of course.

Actually, besides a course in weed identification, a good book on weeds would be an invaluable resource.  One with clear color photos of mature weeds as well as the seedlings, with an easy-to-use cross reference of  leaf size and shape.  If such a book already exists, please tell me--I'll order it immediately!

On a positive note, I have finally learned the secret to growing annual poppies and larkspur.  After several years with no success in growing poppies, I followed the advice of another blogger (sorry, I've forgotten who it was!) who recommended sowing poppy seed in late winter by sprinkling it over the melting snow in the garden. As the snow melts, the seeds sink down into the soil and germinate when they're ready.  I've done this for several years now and have done the same with larkspur the past two years. Voila!  Success!  Next winter I'm going to get out my seed packets earlier and try the same technique with other annuals that require some cold stratification.  Casting seeds out on the snow is certainly easier than filling my fridge with seed trays of 'Rocky Mountain Penstemon' and babying them for a few weeks as I did this spring, only to have nothing germinate.

The first of many poppies to come!

The only problem with this method of sowing seeds is that you never know exactly where the plants might come up or how many will germinate.  I don't just have poppies this year, I have a plethora of poppies.  I also have a plethora of volunteers. Remember the nicotania that re-seeded itself all over my arbor bed last year?  At the time I attributed it to the mild winter we had in 2011-2012.  But apparently, nicotania just likes it here.  Once again, I have seedlings all over the arbor bed. 'Victoria Blue' salvia also re-seeded itself, which I didn't discover until after I had bought a flat of it, naturally:)

This Nicotania escaped being pulled.  A pretty white flower, but a few are enough!

Last year I dug up and transplanted many of the 'Victoria' volunteers elsewhere, and I dug up dozens of Nicotania volunteers to give away.  Not this year, which brings me to another important lesson I've learned this spring: sometimes you have to be ruthless in thinning out plants.  I'm a saver by nature, and it's hard for me to throw perfectly good plants onto the compost pile, but really, sometimes you really can have too much of a good thing.  I've pulled or hoed out most of the nicotania, leaving a few in an empty spot (and will probably be pulling more seedlings out as they pop up all summer!); I've hoed out the excess 'Victorias' that have strayed into the wrong territory; and, I've thinned out some of the poppies for now, and will be pulling most of them after they've bloomed, rather than leaving the seedheads.  It's been a hard lesson to learn, but I know I will be so glad I did this as the garden fills in this summer.

Best friend Beckie, aka my "plant enabler," talked me into buying this basket, so of course I had to go shopping again to find some double impatiens to fill it!

Finally, I have vowed this spring to cut down on the number of annuals I buy in the future, or at the very least be more organized when I go plant shopping.  Every year there are certain old standbys I always buy, but while I'm out shopping for the best buys on those, I always find something new to entice me.  Once I arrive home, I find I need another coleus to finish this container or something trailing for that one...and off I go, shopping again.  I spent much of the end of May and the beginning of June planting everything; meanwhile, the weeds have grown by leaps and bounds, and I haven't even begun to mulch.  Planting is my favorite part of gardening, but when it starts to become a chore, it's time to re-think and prioritize how I really want to spend my time.

The largest of the Asiatic lilies, 'Brindisi' signals the beginning of summer and lily time!

There will be more lessons learned in the garden through the rest of the year, more than enough to post some this fall, I'm sure.  And that's a good thing--all this new knowledge helps to keep the old brain cells from atrophying.  Besides, if I knew everything there was to know about gardening, it probably wouldn't be as much fun anymore!

Thanks to Beth for hosting this topic every season; you may learn something new yourself if you visit Plant Postings' wrap-up of lessons learned by other bloggers.