May GBBD: Planting Frenzy Month

There ought to be a law--no one can graduate in the month of May.  Or have a birthday. Or get married.  Or all the countless celebrations that have kept me out of the garden this month.  The weather is finally cooperating so that I can plant some of the many, many annuals I have purchased.  But I keep getting interrupted by things like graduations, confirmations, and t-ball games.  And to top it all off, my Texas grandbabies will be here for a visit in a few days, and I really, really need to clean my house.

Not that I'm complaining.  I've enjoyed every minute of celebrating so many milestones with my family (no weddings, though--I just threw that one in there), and I am so excited about seeing my littlest grandchildren again.  No, I am just explaining why this is not a good time to visit my garden.  The spring show of tulips and daffodils is over, and in their place are weeds . . . lots of weeds.  At the rate I'm going, some of those weeds are going to be there for awhile, so instead of showing any long views of the garden today, we'll just focus on close-ups of a few pretty blooms.

   After heavy rains at the beginning of the month that turned the garden into a swamp and a cold spell with the threat of frost, the weather finally settled down so that I could get back into the garden and plant whenever there are a few uninterrupted minutes.  Typical of Illinois weather, we've gone from coat weather to tank top weather in just a few days, and now I'm griping that it's too hot to work outside.

May is usually my planting-frenzy month.  There are annuals from all my shopping sprees the past few weeks covering my back porch, my front porch, and the patio.  Only a few containers have been planted so far, but I'm not in a big hurry to change this pot when the sweet little violas and alyssum from April are still looking so good.

Other than the annuals, May is usually a transition month here, though there are a few perennials blooming.  The peony bud shown earlier opened up early in the month, and I'm happy to see that 'Scarlett O'Hara' is sporting not just one bloom, as in earlier years, but five blooms this year.

Other peonies are still budding up--I usually think of Memorial Day when I think of peonies--but the NOID white peony has a few blooms already.  The Amsonia Hubrichtii makes a nice backdrop for them, though as is usually the case in my garden, this was a happy accident in planting, not a carefully thought-out design.  Other Amsonia are also blooming, though I find it hard to capture their blue blooms on camera.

The clematis 'Nelly Moser' also bloomed early and is covered with blooms.  I have a hard time catching this one at the right time in the spring to prune it, and last year I made the mistake of pruning it too hard and too late so there were very few blooms.  This year I was late again, so I just left it alone, and I'm glad.
 

Columbines blooming under the 'Limelight' hydrangea.  I transplanted some native columbines from my mother's garden last year, but I haven't seen any sign of them blooming yet.

Speaking of natives, there are a few early flowers in the butterfly garden as well.  Phlox pilosa, also known throughout the blogging world as Gail's PPPP, has happily spread itself around this area.

And I am thrilled to finally have some Golden Alexanders Zizia aurea blooming!  I've tried planting them from seed before with no luck, and last year I planted some seedlings from the local prairie plant sale, but never saw any signs of bloom.  But patience has paid off, and these look so robust, I have a feeling I will have even more in the future.

Irises are blooming in the Arbor Bed and the Lily Bed--white, pale lavender, and yellow.  But my favorite are these purple and white bearded irises, a passalong a couple of years ago from Beth of Plant Postings.  Notice how many blooms are on each plant!

They're especially beautiful to me because I once had several of these at my old house, given to me by my mother.  When we moved, I dug up a few plants, but forgot all about these.  When I look at them, I think not only of Beth, but also of my mother.

Finally, this is NOT my garden!  It's the MG garden at the county nursing home where I volunteer every summer.   This is another activity that has taken up much of my time in the past few weeks, since I am one of the co-chairs.  We are going to be on the annual Garden Walk this year, so we have spent more time than usual weeding and dividing to get everything spruced up for the walk, as well as hours planning and plant shopping.  But it's already a beautiful garden as you can see from just this one little corner, and it really is a joy to work there.

And now back to weeding and planting in my own garden . . . and maybe taking a few swipes at the layers of dust in my house:)

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is hosted each month by Carol of May Dreams Gardens and author of Potted and Pruned.  Thanks, Carol, for helping me keep a monthly record of what is blooming in my garden!

GBBD: June Is Heating Up

I can't believe it's mid-June already!  Where has the past month gone?  And why haven't I posted in over a month?  I could say that I've been spending all my time in the garden, but that's not exactly true.  But it is true that I've spent every free moment possible working in the garden, battling the never-ending weeds and trying to get all my new plants in the ground--there are still a quite a few sitting on my patio getting more root-bound by the day, I'm embarrassed to say.

But enough of excuses.  I have a plethora of blooms to share on this Bloom Day, so let's get down to business.

One or two lonely peony blooms are still hanging on, but the big show was at the end of May.

Taking a month-long blogging break meant I didn't get to show off some blooms like these Allium. 

I think these are Allium roseum.

Or these--maybe Allium unifolium?

The climbing roses are still blooming, but they, too, looked the best in late May.  The pink one is 'Zephirine Drouhin,' which has done extremely well this year.  But the red one behind it had three times as many blooms!

This is the first year I've had red roses on this trellis (and yes, it's leaning, and yes, I've tried to straighten it out with no success), and I was bewildered at first.  Finally I decided they were from the root stock, which I apparently let grow too much.  I suppose I should cut back all the canes from the root stock, but it's awfully hard for me after seeing all these gorgeous red roses mixed in with the pink!

One of the things that has kept me busy the past few weeks is planting containers, something I do enjoy.  Sometimes I plant my "usual," but many times I just grab what appeals to me while plant shopping and see what goes together when I get home.  This is one of those hodgepodge planters.

Another combo of Supertunias, 'Diamond Frost' Euphorbia, and Angelonia 

that I plant in this container every year.

We're definitely into summer now with the hot temperatures we've had for the past week, and summer flowers are bursting into bloom each day.  Red poppies are everywhere!

Two NOID Asiatic lilies are blooming--I still don't remember planting these:)

Always the first daylilies to bloom, old reliable 'Stella d/Oro' is also putting 

out its usual prolific blooms.

Another reliable bloomer--a little too reliable, sometimes--

'Appleblossom' yarrow is at its best right now.

Lamb's ears are putting up their funky blooms, too.

In front of the house, the Spirea 'Magic Carpet' is also covered in blooms.

Once there were many hollyhocks scattered around the farmstead here.  In recent years, they have succumbed to rust, and now only a few return each year.  They usually appear in places they shouldn't be, like this large one in the vegetable garden.  But I leave them be and scatter a few seeds in more suitable places each fall, hoping they will become more numerous in the future.

A perennial that I would recommend for anyone wanting a low-maintenance garden is the 'Walker's Low' Nepeta seen above in the lefthand corner.  It blooms all summer long and is a favorite of the bees and Toby, too.

Now, a few blooms I'm especially excited about--Indian pinks, Spigelia marilandica, just starting to bloom.  For a native plant, it certainly hasn't been easy to get started, but at least this one survived the rabbits this year.

A new daisy planted last year is looking good--another name forgotten, I'm afraid.

And what I'm really happy about is that the lavender has returned this year!  I planted one 'Phenomenal' lavender on the recommendation of Kylee, which is doing well.  But the one above--once again, I don't remember the variety--is especially thriving.

The 'Annabelle' hydrangea is beginning to bloom, but more exciting to me is this one that has grown so tall this year--nearly 4 1/2 feet.  'Mary Nell' is a lacecap, but classified by Michael Dirr as Hydrangea arborescens. It's quite a unique hydrangea: I got a start of this a few years ago from a fellow MG, and the story, if I remember it correctly, is that Dirr discovered this hydrangea growing on the University of Illinois campus and named it.

The first daylily bloom--other than 'Stella'--is 'Moonlight Masquerade.'  

Soon it will be coneflower and daylily season.  I'm hoping to get all the garden chores finished soon so that I can just sit back and enjoy my favorite time in the garden.

Thanks once again to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly celebration of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

June GBBD: And the Garden Goes On...

It's not often that I go a whole month without posting, especially in spring when the garden is bursting into life.  But shortly after the last Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, my mother was hospitalized and then sent to rehab for a couple of weeks, so life has been pretty hectic around here.  Gardening has gotten short shrift, needless to say, with only the most important chores getting done--like finally planting all the new annuals and perennials I had purchased in the previous weeks. I also managed to do some weeding in the vegetable garden so that I could find the newly emerging green beans among the pesky grass popping up everywhere.  But other weeding?  Let's just say there won't be any long shots of my garden in this post.

Bloom Day is all about what is blooming in your garden today, but I hope you'll indulge me in a few scenes from previous weeks, since I didn't get a chance to post them earlier.  The peonies are gone now, but were gorgeous this year; my mother appreciated the bouquet of pink peonies I gathered from my garden as much as any florist's bouquet.

There were enough blooms this year to bring some inside for myself, too.

The Amsonia is no longer blooming either, but made a nice backdrop for the peonies.  Amsonia Hubrichtii here and its counterpart Amsonia tabernaemontana had much bluer blooms than this photo shows.

'May Night' Salvia is still blooming, however, and will continue to bloom throughout the summer--if I ever get around to deadheading it, that is.

Other blooms that have since faded include the Viburnum 'Cardinal Candy.'  This plant has been slow to establish here, or maybe I'm just impatient, but it's finally taking off and reaching some height.  In fact, I can see it needs some pruning--one more job to add to the growing to-do list.

The alliums haven't been purple for a couple of weeks, but I still like the accent these tall plants make even as they're fading.  And yes, that is more Salvia--it apparently likes my arbor bed and has re-seeded all over.

And now for what is actually blooming today--Nigella hidden away in the back corners of the Arbor Bed.  These re-seed themselves each year, and when the seedlings first emerge I'm never quite sure whether they're cosmos, larkspur, or nigella.  The mystery is solved.

Spirea 'Neon Flash' is covered in blooms.  These two shrubs have grown so full the past few years, they're due for a serious pruning before they overtake other nearby shrubs.

The Knockout roses are not doing well this year, but 'Radsunny' has some blooms.

I am envious of Southern gardeners whose 'Black and Blue' salvia come back every year.  In my zone 5b garden, it's definitely an annual, but worth purchasing every year.

Not only do I love the electric blue blooms, but they are hummingbird magnets and look good in a pot as well as in the ground.

Lamium adds some petite purple blooms to the various shades of green in the shade garden.

It's almost lily season now, and the first to bloom are always the ever-reliable 'Stella D'Oros.'  They definitely need dividing again--didn't I say that last year?  And the year before?  'Walker's Low' Nepeta to the left has been blooming for some time.

There will be a plethora of red poppies again this year, but I'm most excited about this dark burgundy called 'Laura's Dark Grape.'  I purchased this seed, but I will have to remember to save these seeds and separate them from the reds later in the season to have more of these next year.  The hoverflies love them, too.

I'm also excited to see my first ever 'Annabelle' blooms.  I planted a couple scrawny, half-dead starts last year when we divided an overgrown plant at the nursing home where I volunteer.  They must be pretty tough hydrangeas.

The past couple of weeks have been a time of transition, with spring flowers gone and summer flowers not quite ready to bloom.  But very soon there will be an explosion of color as lily buds begin to open.  The first Asiatic lily to bloom (above) is one I don't remember buying or planting, but I certainly can't ignore these bold orangey-red blooms.

And what would summer be without my favorite, purple coneflowers?  A few early blooms have appeared in the past week, but soon I will have a plethora of coneflowers everywhere.  I can't wait!

What is blooming in your garden today?  Check out Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts this monthly get-together--join in and see what's blooming all over the world!