GBBD: Early Summer Blooms

My, but the summer days are flying by . . . well, technically, it is still spring until June 21, but last week's heat wave certainly makes it feel like summer.  At any rate, here it is the middle of June already, which means it's time for another Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day hosted by our fairy godmother Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

As I said on my last post, bloom times seem to be out of sync this year. 

The daylilies 'Stella d'Oro' are finally in full bloom.

Another latecomer, though, is the star of the garden right now. I had hoped my lone Asiatic lily 'Brindisi'
would bloom last week so that my daughter could see it, but it waited until this week to open up.

Look at all those buds!  I have been so smitten in recent years with daylilies that I have passed by the Asiatics.  I must find a place for more of these next year.  That's Hemerocallis 'Moonlight Masquerade' in the right background; a close-up of it is featured on my last post.

Nearby is another prize--my first red poppy.  I've never had much luck with poppies before, but this year I scattered some seed in late February over the melting snow, and they apparently liked that cold start.  I still had some seeds leftover from Spring Fling of '09 when Cindy generously shared her bounty with us, and I also had seeds from Tatyana, whose red poppies I so admired last summer.  Both packs were spread with abandon in late winter, so the lineage of each plant is unknown.

In the butterfly garden, chaos reigns as usual.  Bachelor's buttons have reseeded again,

and yarrow invades any empty space.

Penstemon from  friend Beckie--'Husker's Red,' I think--is nearly swallowed up by taller plants, either asters or goldenrod.  Not knowing what they are until they bloom means I am surprised every fall:)  The asters/goldenrod were cut back after this photo was taken.

Another re-seeder, Nigella, bloomed before I had time to take a photo, though a few florets remain.

Butterfly weed, however, is just beginning to bloom. 

I'm hoping the Monarchs can find it in the midst of this jungle.

The first hollyhocks have opened up.  There will be fewer than usual of these old friends this year, I'm afraid--in the feverish trimming that went on here a few weeks ago many of these fell victim to the weedeater.  But I know they will be back again next year.

The new Itea 'Henry's Garnet' was chosen for its fall color, but the little white brush-like blooms are a welcome sight this spring.

And for something different, you can't get much funkier than the vertical blooms of the Lamb's Ears.

There are other blooms, too, as the garden begins its summer session, most notably the first of the coneflowers as well as 'May Night' salvia and the geranium 'Roxanne,' but it is pouring down rain at the moment with thunder booming overhead, so those flowers will have to wait for another day.  There are many annuals, too, that will have to wait for their own spotlight, but I will leave you today with one of the most eye-catching at the moment, the yellow Hibiscus.

To see what else is blooming across the country and across the world, be sure to check out the list of participants at Carol's. 

And my best bloom of all?--My garden buddy who turns eight today. 

 Happy Birthday, Granddaughter!