Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Blooms in July


Boy, that Garden Bloggers Bloom Day thing really sneaks up on you when you aren't looking. It's supposed to be on the 15th of every month and here it is the 16th and I'm a day late and a dollar short. No big surprise there.

I've got these blooming now:

Hybrid Gladiolus (Gladiolus x hortulanus 'Atom')
These are just gorgeous. They're a rich red and more dainty than the regular glads.


English Daisy (Bellis perennis 'Red Pomponette')
I grew these from seed this year. They are supposed to be a perennial, but when I bought some plants two summers ago, they didn't return after the following winter. I don't think I'll bother to plant more if these don't make it through this winter.


Hybrid Tea Rose (Rosa 'Kordes Perfecta')
I got this rose this spring at Walmart - the only time I've ever purchased a rose there. It's been slow to start growing, but seems to be doing fine now. This was introduced in 1957, the year I was born, and was the first of its kind in its color class.


Zinnia (Zinnia 'Peppermint Stick')


Nemesia
While I love the form and color of these annuals, I'll not buy them again, because they haven't done well in the container where I planted them, even though I've been faithful about watering. They have slowly declined, getting crispier by the day. I've had the same problem with my trailing verbena.


Shirley Poppy (Papaver rhoeas)
I'm so happy to be able to grow these! Poppies generally don't like me. But these are of the annual sort and I wintersowed them. They are all different shades, mostly reds, pinks and white. They're smaller than the oriental poppies, but have the characteristic crepe paper flower petals.


Blanket Flower (Gaillardia 'Tokajer')
The traditional blanket flower is blooming now, too, and will continue right into fall. It's a very tough plant that seems to survive whatever is thrown at it.


Parlor Maple (Abutilon)
This is one of three abutilons I have and all three will winter over in the house, as they're not hardy to our zone (5).


Bee Balm (Monarda 'Jacob Cline')


Orienpet Lily (Lilium 'Robert Swanson')
The fragrance emanating from this lily is wonderful and very strong. Orienpet lilies are a cross of an oriental lily with a trumpet lily. They generally bloom after the asiatic lilies and before the oriental lilies.


Scarlet Runner Bean (Phaseolus coccineus)
I grew these last year, too, but they didn't do as well as these are doing this year. I've got them in a different location than last year. And you can eat the beans that form on the vines, too! (But I haven't yet.)


Zinnia (Zinnia elegans 'Zowie! Yellow Flame')
It's a keeper!
This was introduced last year and I have yet to find the seeds in any nursery. It was a 2006 All-America Selections (AAS) Winner. Of the 15 seeds in the packet I got from Burpee, all fifteen germinated.


Yarrow (Achillea millefolia - 'Walter Funke' in the foreground)
This gets lovelier each year and looks best when planted en masse.


Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa)
Last year, we had Monarch butterfly caterpillars on this. I bought a yellow cultivar ('Hello Yellow') about a month ago, but it hasn't bloomed yet.


Calendula
These were grown from seed saved from last year's calendula. If you've never seen calendula seeds, I think they look like little dried up worms.


Parlor Maple (Abutilon pictum 'Thompsonii')
This one has yellow and green variegated leaves.


Sunflower (Helianthus anuus 'Van Gogh Mix')


Gloriosa Daisies (Rudbeckia hirta 'Irish Eyes')
I'm not sure what kind the white daisies are, but they're very pretty when they're all in bloom at once. They're also somewhat invasive. 'Irish Eyes' is behaving so far, but it's so pretty, it could invade just a little bit and I wouldn't care.


Threadleaf Coreopsis (Coreopsis verticillata 'Moonbeam')
Mom gave me this a couple of years ago and just like last year, it has a couple of pink blooms in the middle of all the yellow ones.


Spotted Bee Balm (Monarda punctata 'Fantasy') Now this is really cool. It keeps right on blooming out the top. Right now, each flower has four sections (you can see the second section starting to form at the top of this one). I wonder how many it will stack up at one time!


Alpine Forget-Me-Not (Myosotis alpestris)


Dwarf Morning Glory (Convolvulus tricolor 'Ensign Blue')
This is what The Gold Bug loves so much, as evidenced by the holes in the leaves.


Larkspur (Delphinium)
I wintersowed this one. The plant itself looks pretty pathetic. It's very small, and the threadlike foliage is dry and crispy about halfway up the stem. I'm kind of amazed it has it in itself to bloom given its condition.


Trailing Verbena
This will probably be my last verbena. I had some last year that I planted in the ground and this purple one I have this year is in a hanging pot. They tend to dry up and not quite die for me, regardless of how much I water them.


Blazing Star or Gayfeather (Liatris spicata 'Kobold')
The hummingbird moth loves this one!


Miniature Hosta (Hosta 'Baby Bunting')
I have several miniatures and this one is a strong, healthy plant. I've had no problems with slugs eating this one.


Bellflower (Campanula)
This is a tiny one! The flowers measure half an inch across.


Heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens 'Marine')
This overwintered last year under lights in my basement and did very well, although it didn't bloom. This summer, it has bloomed non-stop so far. It's got a mild fragrance - nothing exciting.











Pansy (Viola 'Park's Whopper')
These were both grown from seed.


Candytuft ( Iberis crenata)
This is the annual candytuft. I've also got the perennial one which is all white and it's been done blooming for a month.


Petunia (Petunia x hybrida 'Aladdin Nautical Mix')
I grew these from seed and this is the first and only bloom so far, which just opened late last week.


Calla Lily (Zantedeschia 'Galaxy')


Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus 'Aphrodite')
This is grown as a standard in my shade garden.


Dahlia 'Who Dun It'
Not quite the color that Dutch Gardens shows (and I'm not convinced that's what this really is), but it really is striking in the garden, and purely by chance, I've got it planted next to its colormate . . .

Clematis 'Avant-Garde™'
This clematis is very different from others I've got or have had in the past. It's got a small bloom (maybe 2" or so in diameter) and doesn't start blooming until mid-summer. It's supposed to bloom right through fall, but this is its first year in my garden, so we'll see.


WHEW! For all the whining I've been doing about having no rain, we've still got a lot going on in the garden, as you can see. And in addition to these, there are the daylilies, coneflowers, more roses and a few annuals. (Separate post on coneflowers coming soon!)


14 comments:

Muum said...

I had some irish eyes Gloriosa daisies, but they died out on me, too dry where I put them, I think, and they didn't get settled in. the white daisies behind them look like Shasta daisies to me. I have them popping up everywhere this year, I think the seeds surive my 'cold' compost pile!

Connie said...

WOW! You have an amazing collection of blooms there....Just wonderful! I love the look of the Van Gogh sunflowers, will have to try some next year. I agree with Mumm about the daisies being Shasta. They can really become a pain as they drop millions of seeds everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for visiting me! So many beautiful flowers are blooming now in your garden? Just great! You are a lucky gardener! Today I also took some pics of gladiolus, maybe I'll post them some day. I also liked your garden tour very much. We have here special days with "open garden doors",i.e. people can go and visit them (most of them are very nice and special gardens, neat and cared for.
Have a good day and some rain from time to time!
Barbara

Carol Michel said...

I'd say your flowers are doing quite well in spite of no rain. You must be taking great care of them!

Thanks for participating in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Robin's Nesting Place said...

I have the same zinnia, I didn't know the name of it, but I love it too. I wonder if they would be true to plant if we save our seed. Will you be winter sowing again this year? It appears that you had pretty good success with it.

You have so many pretty blooms and you did a beautiful job with the pictures.

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Kylee, I just did a google and my zinnia is the swizzle, they look so much alike.

MrBrownThumb said...

You have a lot of things blooming right now. I wanted to comment on one particular flower but by the time I got to the end the post I had forgotten which one.

You must have a lot of happy insects in your garden.

Thanks for sharing your pics.

Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

I love that Zinnia ! Beautiful garden photos. Thanks for sharing.

Veera said...

Looks refreshing!! Good work!!!

Kylee Baumle said...

Muum, I think you're right about them being Shastas. I never let them go to seed, but these spread by underground runners.
I hope 'Irish Eyes' comes back okay for me. I also have 'Prairie Sun' which looks much the same. It will be iffy, but I was willing to take the chance.

Connie, yes I'm loving those sunflowers, too! I grew a different kind last year. They're all so cheery!

Barbara, isn't it fun to see other gardens? It doesn't matter to me how big or how small, it's just interesting and I always learn something I didn't know before.

Carol, up until today, when we got about .4 of an inch of rain, it had been taking us about three hours to water everything. It's wearisome when it goes on and on dry like this. We're supposed to get some more rain tomorrow and I hope they're right!

Robin, I plan to save the seed from 'Zowie!' so we'll see if it does come true to seed. Since I grew them from seed, I would guess so!
I know what you mean about them looking a lot like 'Swizzle'. I even mentioned that in my July 1st post.

Unknown said...

Kylee, WOW... what gorgeous blooms! I like how you had them grouped by color in your post, too, whether that was intentional or not. :)

Whenever I see those English daisies they are generally labelled "tender perennials" or biennials, FWIW. And yet I spoke with a woman this spring who has had the same batch (unless they always reseed for her) for at Wacky.

Robin's Nesting Place said...

Kylee, I read from one of the seed catalogs that they don't go to seed. If thats true then where do the seeds come from? I'll be keeping an eye out for you to solve that mystery for me.

Ki said...

What a huge, interesting collection of blooms for July! I miss the Heliotrope we planted a few years ago. Seeing yours reminds me to get them again next year. I didn't know that Yarrow could be so colorful (A. millefolia 'Walter Funke'. And that's a very unusual Zinnia. Never seen any like it before. Nemesia are beautiful but be haven't had much success in growing them. They seem to be at their best while still in the pot!

Tira said...

Wow! You took some fab pics for blooms day. You are a person after my heart, with all those vivid red and oranges!

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