What's in full bloom now? MAY 16th - MAY 31st

Willow - you got it!

The poker primrose has started to bloom.

Geranium- one little bloom all by his lonesome.

One side of the front yard looking toward the street. Crazy in bloom. Had a slight break with the rain today to take a picture. Everything is very soggy.

Found a few yellow blossoms on my tomato plants. They will need much more sun & warmth to get going! Hurry up summer!

Aurinium saxatilis Dudley Neville:

Halimiocistus 'Merrist Wood Cream' - my all-time favourite.
An excellent subshrub to replace Cistus, if your zone is not Cistus-friendly.

Berberis 'Golden Carousel' - no flowers yet. But I love the colouring on the new growth & offer it as a hardy, problem-free choice for bright colour.
Cast iron, the Berberis are. The Carousel series has some fabulous choices. Not always easy to find. Sofer has one, but I forget which. Beautiful in flower.

Patty Popping plum-purple?
If it stops raining, we shall see.

Beahive, what a wonderful front bed you have, and in such contrast to your neighbors. I bet they are green with envy.

Katye - who could resist a plant named Dudley? And then to find it so captivating.

Beautiful pics, keep them coming.

Columbine Central
This is just a trip - there are scores of them. More behind me & off to either side: large patch.
So I REALLY know what Columbines like, LOL.
There is also a Lupine in there - looks like it's going to be peach-coloured. I did not plant it, but i have ripped several out over the past 20+ years! A couple roses are hidden as well as a variety of Salvias, Agastaches, , Penstemons, Lilies & Frosty Morn Sedum that appears to be aiding & abetting a non-variegated sport. (!!!)
The Cols are pushing 40" - I will be digging most of them up & moving elsewhere. Most likely to no avail...

Holy toledo, I thought I had columbines! How come your beds look like they've been getting sunshine? Are you holding out on us?

I tell you - she has a special spot. Holy cow, that's a lot of columbines!!

Pixy - I have the quintessential Full Sun spot. Actually, 80% of the property is such.
That sunshine was experienced briefly on Monday after work, for an ever-so shortness of time.
there's even a pure white ruffled-fluffy in there. Bees do good work.

I would LOVE for my property to be 80% full sun. Actually I'd be happy with 50% full sun. Or lately, with ANY full sun. I'm really not hard to please. I have a ton of those pink granny bonnet types of columbine this year. Can't say I'm really a fan of them. They must be bee babies because I sure didn't buy them. The color is pretty, but they are a little 'frilly' for me in some way that I can't really explain.

They do have kind of an ornate Victorian look to them. Not my favorite. Here's a McKenna giant I have this year. I need more of these.

Pysocarpus 'Diablo' is just starting to bloom

And a pretty pink geranium. I don't know what this is, but it looks a little like Biokovo. It's very hardy.

That Patty Plum Whatever thingie is gorgeous.

Again I have envy for all your gardens. hehe. I will have lots of beautiful flowers to photograph this summer, though. A lot of my lilies and daylilies are already loaded with buds, and hopefully the truckload of dahlias I planted will do well. I have bunches of seedlings languishing on a windowsill that desperately need to be potted and hardened off, but with this weather... oy.

I have one crazy foxglove that is taller than me. Sadly, the flowers are white. My least favorite color for flowers, with the exception of callas. I love the big white ones.

Right. Rambling. Carry on- nothing to see here...

I want your white foxglove! I have mostly pinks and very few whites. In one bed, I pull all the pinks in the hopes the whites will take over. Sadly, not yet.

Still nothing new blooming here. Well, a few little flowers on the tomatoes. Does that count? I finally pulled out the chard and bok choy because they were so infested with leaf miners. I have to decide what to put in their place. Maybe carrots and radishes.

Wow to the columbines. Just wow.

Is it me or is this a great year for columbines? I was down in Oregon at my folks place for Mother's Day and theirs were gorgeous - much taller and more floriferous than ever before. Could be they are just all maturing this year, but it seems like everyone's are particularly big and gorgeous this year.

Mine have been there for quite a while - I think they like the cold snap. They do this in CO, too.
I was hoping the Bees would find the others & give me some tall big-flowering-looking like birds type. No such luck yet.
For the Foxgloves - I have yellows whites pinks lavender.
There is one growing in the crack of the cement patio - butter yellow with maroon spots.

Katye wonderful columbine photo! They seem to be the only thing doing well here.

Went out to photograph a few things in our yard. First, need to know what these two plants are. Is one the rodgersia? These are the only two plants I don't know what they are. I'm hoping this first is the rodgersia. If not, then I don't think mine came back this year.

The other unknown...

Persicaria? And Astrantia? Not Rodgersia, though.

Oh, yes, one is definitely persicaria. It's persicaria firetail. Don't think the other is astrantia, but clearly, what do I know! Bummer on the rodgersia! Maybe I never bought it. LOL

I didn't realize that firetail had a leaf like that. I look forward to seeing it in bloom.

Do you suppose it could be Phlox, then, if not Astrantia? The leaf doesn't look right, though. When it blooms you'll know. It surely looks happy.

Not a phlox unless it's a white one, but I don't think so. I've never had a phlox that actually came back the second year. :(

It's in my 'wine' garden which means it's either a maroon colored flower or a white one. Maybe it's the dark red/wine colored astrantia. I do like astrantias and have planted them elsewhere. But I don't remember planting one in that area.

Oooh. That sounds lovely. And it's about at the point where my Astrantia are. What other Wine colored things do you have there?

My Phlox comes back each year . . .

Please do not get me started on phlox. I might cry. Julie gave me some that I'm in the process of putting in.

Well, okay, since you brought it up, here's my list of phlox that I've planted. They have all died, even the ones that don't say 'died.'

Phlox blue paradise 2006
Phlox blue paradise 2006
Phlox Dwarf Laura   (day) 2007 died
Phlox Dwarf Pink Dream   2007 died
Phlox Dwarf Snow White 2007  died
Phlox Dwarf Snow White 2007  died
Phlox dwarf snow white 2007 died
Phlox Miss Kelly    2007 2008
Phlox Paniculata Amethyst      2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Amethyst      2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Amethyst      2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Balmoral    2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Bright Eyes  2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Bright Eyes  2007 died
Phlox Paniculata david 2007 died
Phlox Paniculata David 2009
Phlox Paniculata David   2007 2008 died
Phlox Paniculata David   2007   2008 died
Phlox Paniculata Harlequin   2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Jubilee    2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Katherine 2008 died
Phlox Paniculata Miss Mary    2007 died
Phlox Paniculata orange perfection 2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Rainbow     2007 died
Phlox Paniculata Tenor      2007 died
Phlox subulata Emerald Blue creeping phlox 2009
Phlox subulata Emerald Blue creeping phlox 2009
Phlox subulata, candy stripe creeping phlox 2007

And these were just the ones I wrote in my garden journal. I planted more that I've gotten at round-ups and didn't log them in. So you can see it's not for lack of trying! And these have been in many different areas, so we can't blame it on soil or whatever. Phlox just plain do not like me!

Onto the wine garden. It also sits across from my grape arbor, so I thought the word 'wine' was fitting. Here's some of what I've planted there:

Belle etoile 2008 (died)
Black pussy willow 2008
Box Honeysuckle 2008, 2 plants, died
Heuchera Plum Pudding 2006/planted 2009, 2010
Hibiscus Red Heart 2009
Itea illicifolia aka hollyleaf sweetspire 2009
Lamium orvala 'Silva'
Leysteria Formosa ‘Purple Rain’ 2008
Lilac 2008
Lonicera sempervirens 'Major Wheeler' 2010
Lupinus Russell Hybrids 'The Pages' 2010
Lysimachia atropurpurea 2009
Lysimachia atropurpurea 2010
Persicaria (Polygonum) amplexicaule 'Firetail' 2009
Persicaria virginiana (Compton's form) 2010
Phlox Paniculata David 2009
Raspberry 2010
Viburnum 2008

Oh, LOOK!!! I planted a white phlox there last year. That must be it - IT'S COMING BACK. Soooo exciting!!!!!!

I also see I have planted two persicarias. So maybe the one in the photo is not the firetail. It's very hard to even concentrate right now. For one, the dog is sitting under the table here doing sbd's. For another, I'm so excited that possibly a phlox is returning I can't even think straight.

ROFL about the dog - and the Phlox.

David is a nice tried and true Phlox. That's what I have. However, I don't think it looks like a Phlox leaf. Check out this Astrantia picture. What do you think?

http://www.plantsforshade.co.uk/acatalog/Astrantia-rubyweddinglge.jpg

Yep, that's pretty much what it looks like. Ex the old stems left over from last years flowers seem awfully tall for astrantia.

I agree it doesn't look anything like a phlox leaf. dam dam and double dam.

I have more if you need some. :-)

i would suggest a swap ex i can't bare to part with any of mine!

I sort them by month. The idea is that I can then go and get the stack for, say, June, and go thru them right now.

Do you know that some mags reuse their photos?!?!? I've kept mine so long that I recognize the photos. And then I see the same photos turn up in books! Yes, it's true.

I have them on the shelf in Tim's closet. Since he gets his own room, he has to share it with me. It's a wonder the shelf hasn't collapsed.

Gwen, I can save seeds from the white foxglove for you if you want. I'm assuming seeds from a white one will produce more white ones...?

that would be great, Pony. I assume the same thing. Or is 'hope' a better word than 'assume'?

Since we're talking about seed saving, and a few people were interested in the snapdragon growing in my yard - how does one gather seed from a foxglove or snapdragon? I'm new to the seed saving game.

I haven't seen how foxglove seed pods form yet, but I'll be keeping my eye on them.

Snapdragon seed pods are awesome- they're little skulls! Seriously! When the seed pod dries and starts to open, it looks exactly like a teeny brown skull. I just pick them off over a paper cup, because the seed spills out real easy, then I let them dry real good, then empty them out. The trick is to watch them closely every day and nab the pods as soon as they start to open. The seeds are just tiny black specks.