Gardening Flowers & Foliage

'Tis the season....

 

Pink Dr Seuss flowers


Coneflowers are open

 

I need to move these Daylilies to a move viewable place



No blue hydrangea flowers this year. All of last years growth died off over the winter. Oh well.

 

I have some daylilies that I too need to move because they are smothered under peonies.

I wouldn't count the hydrangeas out for this year. Some of them will bloom on new wood - it just maybe not as plentiful. I need to check mine to see if there are any buds/blooms.

 

Balloon flowers and the RoS just started blooming.

 

Its been hot for the most part the last two weeks. Although it has been very humid for the most part, I've only gotten a bit under 3/4" of rain in that time (1/2" in one 10 minute downpour). All that has cumulated in my not mowing. So, now there are things blooming in the yard that normally don't get that chance

Miniaturized Black eyed suzies that are just barely above (or at) the grass/weed height.



A little patch of creeping phlox nestled in with wild strawberries and a bit of grass (and clover just outside the picture). Not sure why it is blooming now because all its brethren are bare of flowers - including the patches over in the south garden that I've been supplementing with watering to keep the RoH happy.
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Tall phlox and Rose of Sharon






bogieb - any indication that your RoS is thinking of flowering?

 

Took some updated pics of my wife’s flower garden. There’s mountain mint, globe thistle, pearly everlasting, lilies, black eyed Susan’s, phlox, and a few others blooming right now.

 

Hey Mike. The RoS got lots of rain in the spring so they leafed out early and beautifully. It's been dry for the last month, so I have been watering them on a regular basis. I haven't seen any buds yet, but I haven't gotten up close to check. Last year, the first year of blooming, they didn't' bloom until mid August. I'll check them over the weekend.

 

Thought to look at the RoS yesterday as I was watering that garden. They have little teeny buds. So, I'd say that mid August is probably about right. It was windy so I had to hold the branches while taking the pictures. Makes my hand look huge In reality, when I wore a ring, it was a size 4 and I wear women's small gloves, so that should tell you how small that buds are.

 

A couple from around here.

 

A few from Kenya:

 

My other rose of sharon.


That was transplanted several years ago. It was a sprout under the larger, older RoS that has been around for +35yrs.

 

Sawtooth Oak

 

Do your purple coneflowers come back year after year on their own without much encouragement? I have a small grassy spot in my yard that I want to smother with a tarp this year and plant coneflowers, black eyed Susan and goldenrod next spring.

 

Black eyed Suzies won't stay put as they are biannuals. It does reseed quite readily, but not necessarily where you want it. I have a bunch that try to grow in my yard. Even with mowing, if I don't mow for a couple of weeks (no rain), then you get miniature plants that flower. Disclaimer: I don't deadhead until the next spring (leave them for birds in the winter), and my yard is probably 1/2 weeds anyway, so I really don't care.



Purple coneflowers tend to be better behaved since they are perinnial. and don't reseed as abundantly as BES.

Golden rod can be aggressive as they multiply from roots. However, pulling those that escape is actually pretty easy and mowing does seem to discourage them in the yard. They do pop up in areas I tend to let go wilder, so there are some places that I pull them up and other places I let them be.

Just my experiences with the natural versions of these plants. If you buy potted, named plants (like Proven Winners or the like), those may not be as prone to replicate or may even be sterile.

 

Picture dump from the last 2 weeks. I missed a couple of the day lillies as they were hidden by taller plans so I didn't see the flowers until they were spent (or it was so windy I couldn't get a clear picture)







Winterberry doesn't have showy flowers, but the bees/wasps/flies sure love them - and the birds love the resulting berries



Bees also love the butterly weed and gayfeather (liatris - there are 2 bees in the picture)



The tall phlox is outstanding this year, and smells awesome. When conditions are right, I can get a strong smell from them even on my back porch (these are in the roadside garden so 70-90' from the porch). They must have really liked all the spring rain followed by abnormally dry conditions.

 

Yes they do.