An Explosion of Color: July GBBD

I don't get to travel as much as I would like.  Between family obligations--including who's going to take care of four dogs??--and this and that, it is hard to get away.  So when my daughter offered to let me tag along with her to Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago, I jumped at the chance.  My husband stayed home, so I didn't have to worry about the dogs, and not much was going on in the garden that needed my immediate attention, so it was perfect timing.

While the garden was kind of at a lull when I left, all that changed in the few short days that I was gone.

In six days' time, the purple coneflowers had gone from a few opening blooms to a sea of pink!  And when I say "sea," I'm not exaggerating.  It's hard for me to get a good photo of the sidewalk garden that shows all the flowers, but maybe this one section will give you an idea.  Even though I dug up many seedlings in the spring, there are so many that there isn't much room for anything else.  Good thing I love coneflowers:)

Almost all the coneflowers that grow here are the native species, but 'Cheyenne Spirit' is one hybrid that has done well here and hasn't been overtaken by the natives--yet.  'Cheyenne Spirit' is one that will have different colored blooms on the same plant.  I bought this one before it bloomed, hoping for yellow blooms, but as you can see, I didn't quite get what I had wished for.  Still, I like the varied shades of coral and orange on this plant which sets it apart from all the common coneflowers here.

The other coneflowers have spread everywhere, including to the Lily Bed, which has been a riot of color for the past two weeks.  Even though I initially named this the Lily Bed, not all my lilies are growing here--I ran out of room here long ago! Since the daylilies are the other star of the garden right now, let's take a little closer look at some of them.

One of the first to bloom, 'Little Hug' is still putting out a plethora of blooms.

'Susan Webber,' a registered cultivar named after a local gardener.

'Moonlight Madness'

A NOID lily, given to me by a friend.

'Andrea's Dragonfly,' a division shared with me by my friend Beckie who named it in memory of her daughter. (Not a registered daylily)

Another NOID lily that I call 'Nettie's Coral' after my aunt who gave me several of these years ago.

It's probably apparent from the previous photos that I am partial to pastel lilies.  Take me to a daylily farm, and no matter what my buying intentions are, I always gravitate to the pastels:)  But I do have a few darker ones, including this lovely whose name has long been forgotten and which was also given to me by my friend Beckie.

Another non-pastel is this NOID that apparently got mixed up with some 'Stellas' I bought years ago.  I keep meaning to divide it because I really do like it much better than the Stellas anyway.

Some of my "literary lilies" are also a little darker like 'Divine Comedy.'  

And 'Canterbury Tales.'

'Romeo is Bleeding' is a bright red edged with yellow.

Of course, 'Romeo' had to have a companion, so I named this no-name hybrid 'Juliet.'

More of my "literary lilies"--and pastels again--'Tennyson' is a prolific beauty. I can't quite decide if this is my favorite daylily....

...or if 'Mistress Prynne' is my favorite.

I have many more daylilies than this, but I think you get that idea that I have become addicted to them.  The last few years, though, I've  also branched out a little to other types such as the Orientals, including what I call everyone's favorite, 'Stargazer.'  I've yet to see any blooms on the Casablancas, however, one of my favorite Orientals.

There are a few Orienpets as well, including this one whose name I've already forgotten.  With their downward-facing blooms, they are interesting but hard to photograph.

Although the coneflowers and lilies are the stars of the garden right now, there are other blooms as well.  Grey-headed coneflowers have been blooming for several weeks in the butterfly garden.

Hostas are just beginning to bloom in the Oak Tree garden.  All the rain we have had recently has turned my shade gardens into jungles once again.

In the Arbor Bed, the phlox are just starting to bloom.  This is 'David' with a fuschia no-name peeking behind it to the left.  I noticed this combo one day of whites with the pinks of the coneflowers and 'Stargazers'--another one of my happy accidents in planting.

I love, love the garden this time of year, but it's not just the blooms that I enjoy; it's all the creatures that come to visit it that bring me joy as well.  Well, not that darned Japanese beetle on the left coneflower, of course.  But I have been thrilled that finally the butterflies have appeared.  I was beginning to worry that their numbers were down this year, but in the last two weeks, I have had so many come to visit that my camera memory card is filled with nothing but  butterfly photos.  Black swallowtails, Red Admirals, and many smaller butterflies that I haven't identified are enjoying the coneflowers.

The Tiger Swallowtail is one of my favorites, 

and I'm pretty sure on Friday a Giant Swallowtail made a short visit as well.

But what makes me happiest of all is to see the Monarchs.  I've had at least two--my husband says he saw four at once--hanging about the garden for the past two weeks.  My milkweed plants are pretty puny, but at least I can provide some nectar for the adults with all these coneflowers!

It's been a hot, hot summer so far, but I am enjoying the garden right now, and I hope you are enjoying your summer garden, too.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is brought to you once again by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.

Reflections on 2016

The new year is already a week old, but now that the Christmas decorations have finally been put away, I have some time to reflect on the past year.  2016 was certainly eventful, full of dizzying joys and the depths of despair.  But one of my resolutions for this year is to try to find something positive in every day, so I want to focus on the good parts of 2016.

January 2016 was truly an awful month for me, full of personal loss.  But in spite of all that, the many birds at the feeders provided for some quiet moments of enjoyment and a reminder that life goes on in spite of harsh conditions.

February brought its share of snow, and more time was spent enjoying the wonders of nature from the comfort of my living room window.  By the end of the month, however, we had a reprieve from winter, and daffodils began an early emergence from the soil.

March--can there be anything more uplifting to your spirits than the appearance of the first spring flowers?  March is a fickle month in the Midwest, sometimes bringing the worst of winter weather, but last year all I remember is that it was warm and beautiful.  By the end of the month, daffodils, hyacinths, and many other spring bulbs were in full bloom, and I was busy getting an early start on cleaning up the garden.

April, too, can sometimes break your heart with a teasing of spring that disappears under more cold or constant days of rain.  But not so last year--April 2016 was glorious!  Spring, as I've often said, is my favorite season of the year, and last year's spring was exceptional with warm weather and a daily explosion of blooms from all my tulips.  New green growth was sprouting everywhere.

A warm April meant that most of the tulips and other spring bloomers had faded by the first of May.  Irises and peonies took center stage instead, although the month was more of a transition time in the garden.  May is always the busiest month for me, as I plant containers and annuals in the flowerbeds and try to complete a host of other garden chores.  My resolution for this year is try to slow down and enjoy this beautiful month more, although I suspect that will be hard to change.

Ah, June--my favorite month of the year.  The garden was bursting with color by mid-month, but it didn't take me long to choose one photo of the many I took during this time: coneflowers and butterflies--two of my favorites!  If it was possible to freeze time and just live one day over and over again, I would pick a sunny day in June with swaths of coneflowers blooming and alive with bees and butterflies.

July brought even more color as coneflowers competed with lilies, a new one blooming each day it seemed.  I've become addicted to all kinds of lilies and can't really pick a favorite although 'Stargazer,' which grew to new heights this year, would definitely be a contender.

If coneflowers represent June and lilies represent July, then the perfect choice for August would have to be zinnias.  I've shown the 'Zowie' zinnias, one of my favorites, over and over again on Facebook and on summer posts here, but I did grow other zinnias as well.  All of them performed exceptionally this year, probably due to the weather.  It was a warm summer--not ungodly hot, but consistently hot throughout the season so that garden work was relegated to early mornings only.  Besides the warm weather, we had consistent rainfall as well, so that everything seemed to grow taller and fuller than ever before.

September brought asters, goldenrod, the 'Limelight' hydrangea, and Japanese anemones as well as a few other fall-bloomers. The heat continued through the last month of summer, and I spent many moments enjoying the shade of the front porch watching the goldfinches feast on the fading coneflowers and the antics of hummingbirds.  The warm weather meant the hummers stayed longer than usual; my last visitor stayed until the second week of October.

By October, much of the garden sensed the end of the year, though continued warm weather--and no frost!--kept many things blooming longer than usual.  The Amsonia hubrichtii, which usually has a golden hue by October, stayed nearly green until November.  The trees were slow to turn as well, and many didn't drop their leaves until December.

If one month symbolizes the extreme highs and lows of 2016, it has to be November.  On November 2, the Cubs won the World Series, ending a 108-year drought for long-suffering Cubs fans like myself.  Unless you're a baseball fan, you probably won't understand the joyous delirium we all felt. But you will understand the joy I felt just three days later when my 8th grandchild, a precious little girl, was born.  The other two granddaughters are older, so I am looking forward to tea parties and princess and fairy make-believe once again!

As for the low, well, the following week was the Presidential election.  Nothing else needs to be said, although I have vowed to try to be kinder and to be more active, speaking up for what I believe in the coming year.

As for the garden, the first frost finally arrived on November 12, the latest first frost ever recorded in our area.  So whatever else can be said about 2016, it was a great year in the garden--the longest blooming season in my memory!

By December, bulbs had been planted, and the garden was going into its long winter's sleep.  There was time at last to prepare for the holidays and to make the much-anticipated trip to Texas to meet my new granddaughter.  This may not be the best photograph, technically speaking, but it's my favorite of 2016 because the year ended on such a positive note.  This is what it's all about--family and sharing life with those you love.

We don't know what 2017 may bring for the garden, but I know whether it's an outstanding year or just a mediocre one, we gardeners won't give up hope.  And that is what I wish for all of you in the coming year--hope, peace, and love.  As Ellen says, "Be kind to one another."  💕

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.