2019 Summer Flowers
It's June, Memorial Day has passed. I officially declare Spring Flowers over and Summer Flowers have arrived!! ;-)
So many things in bloom and so much on the way. Foxglove is starting, salvia and veronica are out. Evening primrose have started. Coreopsis any day now.
This spiderwort grew exponentially last year. After a time where it struggle from moving it's now bigger and better than ever.
GC 
I've seen a bunch of different salvia in gardens lately. All doing really well this year. This is one of 3 I have.
MG 
MG - That geranium came from my mom's neighbor in Pennsylvania. The one in my garden is getting crowded out by Solomon Seal on one side and run away mint on the other. I saved it this year but not very big. I'll have to be more proactive next year.
Stuff is definitely gearing up, I saw a single blush campion flower open over the weekend. Coreopsis right on the verge of opening, I've seen others in the neighborhood now open.
This is veronica that's opening up gradually.
waiting for flowers - bird netting around it last year as the deer at the flowers the minute all bloomed (clematis)
4catmom 
Here is Foxglove that opened this weekend.
A quick check outside also shows it's too early for pictures but two coreopsis buds have opened. Even one penstemon has an open flower on it.
joyful 
As usual MG, you are Queen of the Iris!
PM me, I owe you a plant or two. ;-)
This is the very prolific evening primrose. Not my favorite thing to do getting these out of all the places they show up. And they sure do show up everywhere. But at least at the moment they look good.
Thanks guys!! Yes iris are an obsession of mine, purchased 9 more from my iris lady! Now to find places for them!
Lena 
Colmcman
Lena - The color combination is great, they're both bold plants. If only my evening primrose would be so nice and neat like your pic. Mine mixes with everything, pops up 5 feet away from where it's supposed to be, and is just a nuisance grower. I end up pulling as much as leaving and that's why it's not a real favorite for me.
Colmcman - You've got a hummingbird magnet there!
This is blush campion that's now opening. I'm luck that it put up some baby plants and I consolidated them together. Now it's a nice size and I even gave some away. ;-)
Penstemon - "Husker Red" variety. That's because of the leaves, not the flower which is more white than it is light pink. This didn't do well last year and I was getting worried. At least one really well established plant came back great, and a couple of others picked back up.
I'm starting to see heliopsis getting ready, and even buds on cone flowers. After a cold start, it looks like summer is now coming along quickly.
Globe Flower. I managed to clear space around this one early while some other things were starting to encroach on it. Seems to have paid off because it's got a record number of blooms on it.
Geery 
With a break in the rain yesterday went out to check on something and found my Black Gamecock iris had opened
Can anyone tell me what the purple flower with the weird leaves is? A friend gave me a bouquet of flowers and these are in it. We have no idea what they are.
Bessie 
3wbdwnj 3wbdwnj - the blue part in the middle is the bloom. It starts out with the spikey leaves, and then the center grows into almost a mini-pineapple. I don't have it myself, but I've seen it at Well Sweep.
I recently received prickly pear in a trade. Didn't expect it to bloom, but it's gone through two flowers and working on a third now.
So much has now bloomed with the rain followed by three great days of sun. Bee balm, heliopsis, white cone flower, clematis all need pics taken.
Tracy 
And my hydrangea is just starting to bloom. I have a couple other hydrangea plants I will need to move. They have leaves but are very small. I think they're not getting enough sun.
Tracy - The lilies look great, but I know if I had that it would be a crop of headless leaves. I've already had a good number of everyday day lilies gobbled up by the deer. The oriental lilies are even more tempting apparently so that I've completely given up on them. There is a house down at the end of my street that has them like that and I have no idea how they survive. I do have two buds currently on my Easter lily that I'm just hoping they make it. They're kind of tucked away under some other leaves but they are right near phlox the dear have already been nibbling the tops.
Still I have these two fire cracker red day lilies.
I'm sure hoping my hydrangea blooms this year. It never has but if there is ever a time, this is it. All the rain has finally given them what they want and look big and healthy.
Meanwhile I was surprised to see a cone flower while most are just getting buds. This one is called "White Swan".
I'm really surprised the flowers are not being bothered. We do have wildlife that visits from time to time, but honestly, it's been awhile since I've seen any on our camera. But we did have a pair of baby bunnies last weekend and their mama was nearby too. Surprisingly they left my lilies alone.
Bunnies at least will east some grass or maybe one to two plants. I'd take that in a minute compared to the deer snipping all the phlox, the day lilies, and balloon flower. The rain has washed off the spray and it only takes one time for the deer.
auntiel 
For whatever reason, I find the bugs are about as sparse as they have ever been for the last 15 years. Very little activity.
My Milkweed is very pretty this year. I want to get a pic of the Monarch, but it may be to early yet.
Auntiel - we have a few very new caterpillars on ours and have seen a few monarchs as well doing their thing
Nosila 
GC- Mine is after the mulching. I lost two on this bunch. The guy doing the mulching wasn't paying attention (DH) I love Eater lilies in the Garden.
"Mulching" or "munching"? "Eater" lilies? Mine were munching, ie truely "eaten" lilies. The deer got them. ;-)
Wow, that's pretty. What type is that?? Sorry I read wrong. Tired. Mulching got mine not munching. lol
AuntieL - I don't know the specific names but I have two types of Bee Balm. One is the more traditional tomato red that's pictures. The other is more of a deep magenta that's a humming bird magnet.
MG - Everything from the bee balm and cone flowers to some hyssop and balloon flower. I'd say it's happy and the United Colors of Benetton. ;-)
I need to get Deer Out down on some things. Some balloon flowers have opened, but some got munched. The Easter lilies are not alone...
At least I do have some balloon flower not munched. The deer usually try once and then give up on it. It then comes back just shorter...
Monarda & balloon flowers, just about the only 2 flowers the deer didn't eat this year! They ate my lilies, sedum, Queen of the prairie, Incarvillea, hibiscus, impatients, just to name a few! This has to be my worst year of deer attacking my gardens.
Iris 
iris, you're lucky the balloon flower is close to that bee balm. If it weren't for that,I'd bet you'd be missing them too. Deer eat my sedum too, must be like getting a drink of water.
Summer 
Caught my butterfly bush doing its job and attracting butterflies to my yard. You can also see my coneflowers and a bit of my balloon flowers in the pic as well.
Honestyseasy 
I've tried more than once and hollyhocks just never work out for me. By the time the plant is even half way to a flower it's already riddled with rust and it doesn't survive. Just too much moisture around I guess.
I don't know if it'll still show signs of life or not, but come to think of it my white butterfly bush does not seem to be coming up. I know it's in a space where the bee balm is prolific. And there is a super sized baptisia right next to it. They seem to sometimes have off years so I'm not worried yet. But I'd hate to lose it. It sure didn't seem like a winter that would have killed it off.
Blackcat 
GC - I had butterfly bush that always was blooming profusely and grew almost as a tree despite serious pruning every spring. It died a few years ago, a year before my caryopteris died. I think it's because (1) winter and spring were too wet and roots were water clogged and couldn't recoup during spring and (2) growing nearby tree started to give them too much shade. This is old picture, they were really butterfly magnets. I am planning to plant hostas and astilbe instead.
Lena - that looks like a Bluebeard bush - which the bees and butterflies love and they grow really well. I could be wrong but it.looks like the one I used to have
MG - yes, Caryopteris is also known as bluebeard or blue mist spirea. It was growing great and then just dried during winter and didn't come back. I used to have a few seedlings but lost them also.
Not just caryopteris, a really spectacular one at that. I had seen them before but a neighbor has two along their fence. So I got one may be three years ago and have been very happy. But it's in no way as big or a real shrub size like Lena's. They are good because they're later in the season and so one of the things more like mums that go right into fall. I'm really surprised the whole thing would go all at once. One of the things I've looked at this year is how to propagate one. As a shrub it doesn't just give you some seeds to grow. And few seedlings I've seen which is what makes something that large so great that it produced some. Cuttings aren't so easy so you're doing really good to have new plants. I would definitely trade aggressively for those.
GC - unfortunately whole plant and seedlings are gone now: plant didn't survive and all but one seedling were given away years ago. The one I left as a backup also didn't survive (I had rough time for a couple of years and neglected my garden). Seedlings I had were from self-seeding, I just replanted them. Regular propagation by cuttings didn't work because at the end this is not a bush but a perennial. Even layering wasn't successful (I liked to experiment). This plant has shallow spreading roots and doesn't like to be disturbed and replanted more than once. I think my plant was just happy where it was growing - sunny location (all day sun), great air circulation (no plants closer than 6 ft in any direction), I formed base stems about 12" long and then pruned stems every spring to the next to the base bud. Soil was mostly clay with some moss amendment, a little bit 5-5-5 fertilizer in the spring. No watering. It was surrounded by invasive evening primrose but was doing well. Every large caryopteris I saw was growing practically as a weed in the open sunny spot.
I actually posted a picture because I wanted to show a butterfly bush - it was 7 ft tall and growing nicely, then just never came after one winter.
Can anyone provide advice on geraniums? I have two hanging pots with geraniums that just look stringy no matter what I seem to do. They also seem to get yellow leaves and I’ve tried both watering more and watering less and that didn’t seem to help. Any advice?
Jules Have the same problem, Jules..Mine started out as a beautiful, full hanging planter overloaded with geraniums and now is down to just one bloom which we are nursing in hopes more pop out again..
Geraniums need to be pruned regularly and tightly. With a hanging basket there is also the danger they're under a porch or somewhere not getting 110% sun. I know they're what you see most often in all of those great European window boxes. But I'm not the biggest fan given the work. I'll take impatiens instead.
I've learned that most already planted hanging baskets become root bound quickly and need constant watering and pruning - so I now plant my own - big wire hanging basket with the liner - forget the material - and I plant things that will have room to grow. That seems to work much better for me.
My special candy lily (xPardancanda norrisii) - grown from seeds of German origin. Plants are much shorter than orange varieties. Love them - and deer don't!
Lena - That's not only a great looking kind of lily but interesting hybrid. I looked it up and it's somehow a combination of bulb lily and iris. Yet if I had to guess I'd say it was more day lily like. (which is not really related to the other kinds of lily) Great plant when it won't get munched by the deer either.
GC - actually it's more iris, that's why deer doesn't touch it. It's practically care-free but likes room and sun, any soil is OK and no watering required when established. Foliage is up-right growing and stays green all summer and fall, dies only after frost. Most plants have some combination of orange and yellow but this one is plum.
Lena - candy lilies are AMAZING!! IF you ever have any seeds/plants you'd share let me know.
On further inspection I'm happy to say my butterfly bush has not perished. It's just had a bad year. While everything else in the world seems to have bloomed early and already faded or fading, this is just starting to open up. Everyday purple butterfly bushes at several neighbors have been out for weeks. But these are opening only after yesterday's rain. It's stunted and much smaller than usual, but still alive.
Is it really coming up on Labor Day and the start of "fall"?? My own caryopteris is not yet in bloom, but it's one of the things I've been working on for more color late in the season. The neighbor's blue beard is out though so I suspect I may have some in a week or two.
New edition this year is gaura. Didn't expect it to grow so quickly after only buying it a month ago. Doing really well and seems like it may bloom for most of September.
Besides fall mums that everyone has, my other staple late is "Sweet Autumn". It may not look typical, its bloom time isn't typical, and its fragrance isn't typical at all, but that's a clematis.
It's had years where the deer got it, and years where it's been so HUGE it was called a snow man. This year it's not big but it's really flowering well. The pollinators are all over it with so many other things faded by now.
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