Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - June 2008

How did summer get here so fast? It seems as if just a few weeks ago we were still watching spring unfold in our gardens and now they're bursting at the edges with blooms and lush green growth. Maybe this is that third-year phenomenon going on in my garden, seeing that this summer is my third as a 'real' gardener.

The first year they sleep,
The second year they creep,
The third year they leap.

Definitely leaping here. And now I present to you some of the best blooms Our Little Acre has to offer if you were to visit today:

Astilbe x arendsii 'Peach Blossom'
I've said before that I haven't had tremendous luck with Astilbes, but last year this one negated that statement and it has continued to perform very well - the best of any of my Astilbes.

Kniphofia (Unknown cultivar)
I bought these several years ago from Spring Hill during one of their one-cent sales, and they've performed very well for me, in spite of being moved twice.


Campanula garganica 'Dickson's Gold'
I love this Campanula! It glows in the garden and the combination of purple and chartreuse is one of my favorite shockers.


Clematis 'Huldine' has really come into its own this year.


Rosa 'Chihuly' continues to wow me.


Rosa 'Disneyland' is still at the top of my list of favorite roses because of its beautiful blend of pink and orange hues.


Rosa 'Crown Princess Margareta'
The English Roses have begun their first flush of blooms.


Schizophragma hydrangeoides 'Moonlight' is also known as Japanese Climbing Hydrangea. In this first spring in our garden after a fall planting and surviving the winter, it seems to be very happy. It's grown like crazy and from what I've read, it can be a slow grower if it's not in the right conditions. We got lucky!


For the life of me I can't find the tag for this Allium I planted in so many places last fall. I love it, no matter what its name is!


After I purchased this first Astrantia 'Roma' last fall, it quickly became one of my favorite flowers. I've got a new darker burgundy one, too ('Ruby Cloud'), but the plant is not well-established enough yet to give a show of flowers like this one.


Clematis 'Niobe' blooms in spite of its location on the east side of the pool house, where it's shaded all day by a flowering crabapple tree.


Eryngium 'Blue Hobbit' has a profusion of smaller blooms on a dwarf plant in comparison to the other one I have ('Sapphire Blue').


Coreopsis 'Jethro Tull'


Veronica 'Royal Candles'


Dutch Iris (Iris x hollandica 'Oriental Beauty') has just finished its last blooms after looking like this last week.


Campanula persicifolia 'Kelly's Gold' keeps its brilliant lime green foliage nearly year-round, then blooms big white flowers in June.


This Paeonia lactiflora can be depended on to bring showy, frilly blooms that have that classic peony fragrance. Looks like the Leafcutter bees like these as much as we do!


I grew this Potentilla nepalensis 'Melton Fire' from seed the first year that I winter sowed (January 2006). I love the color of the small flowers it gets, but the plant is a sprawler and I don't care for that. Maybe I'd like it better in a different location, or maybe it could be helped by cutting back by half, early in the season. Maybe I'll try that next year.


Geranium pratense 'Victor Reiter, Jr.' has dark foliage that needs a brighter-leaved something around it, or it tends to fade into oblivion in a mulched bed. This year, I planted Helichrysum petiolare 'Limelight' around the base. Once that starts spreading, it should bring attention to Victor as well as itself.


Geum 'Double Bloody Mary'

There are other bloomers, too. It's been such a warm, wet spring that everything has just taken off and grown and bloomed like crazy. I almost can't keep up with what's flowering. The weeds are doing their thing too, of course, but in the three years that I've been actively gardening, this is by far the best spring ever.

I'm just loving living the lush green life of my garden . . .