Category Archives: Bloom Day

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August Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

July in Virginia is usually even hotter than August, but this year August might be winning.  A week of highs approaching and exceeding 100 degrees is giving way this week to high humidity and daily showers.  Better than drought, I guess?  Of course, the sunny garden is an absolute JUNGLE at this point, and it’s too wet to weed it.  Maybe next week.

Rudbeckia subtomentosa, a tall one that I should probably move.  It’s in the boxwood garden and doesn’t get quite enough sun, but isn’t it bold and lovely?

The less dramatic black-eyed Susan has decided to sow itself in the back, but here’s one small clump in the side garden by the raised bed.

An anonymous sunflower sowed in the big blue pot.  Again, not quite enough sun for the best show.

The silken flowers of the datura bloom early in the morning and fade like the twelve dancing princesses by mid-morning.

The native passionflower is a real problem.  It pops up everywhere and aggressively twines around everything it can find.  It even pops up in the lawn.  But then I see how the butterflies and bees love it, and I let it go wild.  I need to get a grip!

I imagine this bee got drunk on the nectar last night and is just beginning to wake up this morning.

I’ve moved the hummingbird feeder so that I can see it from the sewing room window.  The hummers love the feeder as well as the zinnias.  They  don’t  seem  to  mind  the  scruffiness  of  this  part  of  the  garden.

The Joe Pye weed is just coming into bloom, a bit shorter than usual since I gave it the Chelsea chop.  And the butterfly bush is still going strong.

This one is a bit of a mystery.  I think it’s Arisaema dracontium (Green dragon) that I got at the farmer’s market years ago.  I noticed the seedhead and then not long after these little seeds.   At first I thought they might be bugs!

The perennial pea from Mom is looking a bit worse for wear right now.

Looking forward to some better weather so that I can edit this wild landscape!

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Posted on August 16, 2021 in Bloom Day, Garden bloggers' bloom day, seeds, white, yellow

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July Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Crape Myrtle, a bit less floriferous than last year, for some reason.

We are at the peak of hot, humid summertime in Virginia.  My rule is not to try to do any real gardening in July and August, but I do keep up with watering annuals when I can.  Otherwise, it’s HHH (hazy, hot and humid) and not fit out for man or beast.  Lots of purple in the garden, but other colors, too.

Echinacea purpurea, morning glories,  and  a few  Mexican  petunias, Ruellia simplex

Rudbeckia ‘Goldsturm’

butterfly bush  complete  with  butterfly

Mandevilla

achillea

zinnias  and   cosmos

dahlias

hostas

tiger lilies (Lilium ‘lancifolium’ or ‘African queen’)

Liatris (Gayfeather)

Verbena bonariensis

Mountain mint with just one of the hundreds of insects that buzz around it constantly

One lone poppy out of the seeds I planted too late this year.  Next February for sure! 

Fnally, the lovely Souvenir de Ste. Anne rose having a second flush

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Posted on August 16, 2021 in Bloom Day

Pretend it’s June

Posted on June 6, 2021 | Leave a comment

I forgot to post on the 15th of the month as we are supposed to, but at least I remembered to take pictures this time around.  Starting in the back, the peak of bloom under the oak tree is just past, but I can still see columbines, including this enormous one that tumped over from its weight

and this white one that I won’t cut back as I’ve done to all the plain blue ones this year, hoping that the more unusual colors will self-seed and bloom next year.

 

Two varieties of geranium macrorrhizum, one ‘Ingwersen’s variety’ and one something else, both beloved by the bees

Itea ‘Henry Garnet’ in bloom

Tradescantia that pops up here and there in various shades of blue; I think I first got this from Mom but now it’s gone to town.  And the remnants of the white bleeding heart.

The containers are doing well so far, one planted with Caladium ‘White Christmas,’  the small Hosta ‘Alan McConnell’ and Foam Flower ‘Sylvan Lace.’

The other has a Caladium, a white-spotted begonia from last year (‘My Special Angel’) and some white impatiens. 

It actually looks a litte sparse now that the alyssum has gone by.  It does need a spiller, doesn’t it?

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Posted in Bloom Day, Garden bloggers' bloom day

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Posted on March 19, 2021 | Leave a comment

It’s actually on the 15th of the month, but I’m a bit slow to catch up this time. In bloom in my zone 7 garden last Monday:
snowbells (just starting to bloom)
hellebores

species daffodils (my favorites)

winter aconite (just going by)

crocuses (I don’t remember planting these here, but okay)

squill

It’s been a cool spring, and things are late this year, judging by last year’s photos. The forsythia is not blooming yet, and the daffodils in the cutting garden have just started to open. Soon enough it will be on us like a runaway train!

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Posted in Bloom Day, blue, bulbs, daffodils, spring, yellow

Not again!

Posted on May 22, 2016 | 1 comment

It has been raining almost every day for about a month, and we are sick of it, as you can see from this extremely witty Facebook post.just-walking-my-fish

 

Even someone like me, who welcomes a rainy day as an excuse to quilt and read, is getting weary.  We had one sunny day last week, and the air was ringing with the sounds of lawn mowers.  I was able to edge the sunny border, fighting with the witch grass all the way, and started to replenish the soil in the newly installed raised bed.  Rainy today, Sunday, and predicted to go on until some time on Tuesday.  And to top it off, we are still in a rain deficit for the year!

On another note, garden bloggers’ Bloom Day has come and gone yet again without a post from me.  Here is a reconstruction, and a list from 2014 (another of those pieces of paper that floats around the kitchen counter until needed).

Early May 2014

  • Cherokee phlox
  • False Solomon’s seal
  • Ghostly bulb in white garden
  • small white allium
  • hellebores
  • mazus reptans
  • bluebells
  • tulips (going by)
  • columbine and wild columbine
  • sweet woodruff
  • Topolino (I think) daffodil in sunny bordertopolino
  • tiarella
  • euphorbia
  • vinca
  • sorrel
  • Star of Bethlehem
  • dandelions
  • Viburnum ‘Shasta’ and neighbor’s pink dogwood
  • bleeding hearts (white and red)
  • white azalea
  • garlic mustard
  • geranium macrorrhizum ‘Ingwersen’s variety’
  • bugleweed
  • lily of the valley
  • pink azalea
  • coral bells
  • Sun Dial narcissus
  • pansies

This year is much the same, except that mid-May this year found nary a trace of the mazus and wild columbine, both lamented.  I think the hellebores might have crowded out the columbine.  The Topolino daffodil again was the last to bloom and is most welcome.

‘Sarah Bernhardt’ is in bloom, as gorgeous and over the top as ever.

2016 peony

Equally magnificent in a very different way is the Jack in the pulpit that either Becky or Judy passed along to me.  It seems to be very happy in this cool, wet spring. Jack in the pulpit

Thanks to advice from Adrian Higgins, I sowed my Shirley poppy seeds in February and hoped for the best.  They were just lying around, so why not give it a go? Lo and behold, it worked!  poppy

This gorgeous red is a good contrast with the blue columbines that have taken over the garden (their days are numbered if it ever dries out a bit).

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Posted in Bloom Day, bulbs, peonies, seeds, spring

Bloom Day March 2016

Posted on March 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

A drizzly morning is good for the garden and good for garden photos.  In bloom today, after a very warm week last week and just a bit of welcome rain this week, are:

grape hyacinths – modest little bulbs but I want to add more for a sea of blue.  I like the contrast with the red blossoms from the maple.IMG_20160315_093458

hellebore – one of the most satisfying of perennials, these come in several colors and postures

daffodils – the cutting garden is doing well (I’ve already cut several dozen in the last few days), and more are in bloom under the oak tree and outside the shed.  I need some in the front garden.DSC06825

chionodoxa – my plan for a sea of blue under the hydrangeas is slow to mature, but I’ll keep adding bulbs each yearDSC06826

speaking of blue, the blue anemones seem to  be the only ones to survive.  They do well in sun and are not showing at their best on this cloudy morning.  They would look great under the maple tree.  Next year?DSC06828

and finally, leucojum ‘Snowflake’ – this one is in the bed with Bishops weed, so I rooted out both the weed and some of the leucojum a year or two back.  It seems to be thriving again.  It makes a very sweet tiny bouquet that allows you to see the delicate green lines on each petal.DSC06820

And, of course, dandelions, myrtle and forsythia, all appreciated but too common to record.  Otherwise, plenty of buds are swelling – not just the maple but also the bottlebrush buckeye and the hydrangeas.

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Posted in Bloom Day, blue, bulbs, spring, white

Bloom Day

Posted on February 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

So, it’s Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but all we have here is a blanket of snow. 20160215_090932

Instead, here is an orchid I saw two days ago at the Lankester Botanical Garden in Costa Rica.Stafford Piecemakers show 014

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Posted in Bloom Day, other people's gardens

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day

Posted on January 15, 2016 | Leave a comment

On January 15, the only things in bloom were the usual suspects, but they were welcome.  Winter aconite (which has been in bloom for about a month), hellebores, and crocus ‘Claret’ tried to brighten the gloom on this mild, cloudy day.IMG_20160103_160409
With rain in the forecast, I took Adrian Higgins’ advice and sowed some Shirley poppies that I had on hand. No telling if they will take, but worth a try.

Shirley Poppy

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Posted in Bloom Day, bulbs

What’s blooming today

Posted on May 15, 2011 | Leave a comment

The columbines are beginning to go to seed.  Clearly, I sprinkled the seed everywhere last year, since they have now popped up along the walkway and in the erstwhile white garden, where their tall, airy dark violet (and occasionally white) blossoms are just the right scale for the space.

Speaking of columbines, Santa Rosa Gardens enticed me with an offer of aquilegia ‘Songbird’ mix free with a hosta order, and I bit.  Here’s the lovely white bloom that resulted, somehow bigger yet more delicate than the ones that self-seed everywhere.

Also in bloom: amsonia, baptisia, sages, peonies.

This yellow iris always confuses me – is it a Japanese iris? or Siberian? Either way, its cheddar yellow color is a little hard to use.  It shrieks next to pale blues.

The coral bells are still going strong, and the azalea behind them is beginning to fade.  ‘Zepherine Drouhin’ was glorious this spring, with pale blue pansies and a few allium triquetrum alongside.  Today there are drifts of petals on the ground.

The tradescantias have a life of their own.  I know I planted at least one in front and another one or two around the oak tree, all probably from Mom.  Now they show up everywhere in various shades of blue.  The one on the left popped up by the fence in the corner under the crepe myrtle. Next to it is the slightly darker blue under the oak.

They are loving this cool, wet spring.

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Posted in Bloom Day