July blooms

wind--

I have has Frans Hals for years.....can give you "seeds" if you want to wait 3 years till blooms
I believe it was the fall Swap in 2010 that I had dug and divided a lot of my DL.
Among them were also Frans Hals. I am sure some people that have them got these from me.
This summer--the red Lilies have overgrown all the others. They are HUGE!

I can also send you seeds to my Blue Picote MG. I love this one--trying to grow it again this summer.
It will be mixed in with Cardinal Climber....good luck (to me) separating which seed pod is which.
The leaves are quite different on the picote.

Our day lilies are looking pretty rough because of the constant rain, one consolation is the Asiatic and orientals are holding up well.

thanks Gita, I'd love that. how about at next years swap? if we can remember it. next years swap will be here before you know it lol

... picotee is gorgeous!!

some of Karen's daylilies - TY Karen!!
Cisty
Seattle Slew

I hope Karen will post some pictures of the gathering today at her house. Can you imagine how gorgeous with all those daylilies in peak bloom? And friends to share them with!

Wind love that bicolor buddleia

wind--It may not be too late for you to grow the Blue Picote MG. Soak the seeds and plant in a sunny place...
Send me your address and i will send them out for you asap.
They will go in a reg. envelope for 1 stamp. No sweat!

Just FYI--There may be some pink picotes mixed in--as you can see in the picture.
Both are equally pretty.

Their leaves are also pretty--and it is much better behaves that the usual MG.
These will not climb all over the place....just moderately.
Gita

well, the corn has been pulled up and I can see my butterfly bush again. ;-) I think it was from the cracked corn in the birdseed. The birds really loved having the feeder there, but maybe I need to find a different spot for it -- LOL! There were all kinds of other interesting grasses and plants sprouting up under the feeder as well.

I am totally loving all the butterflies, and am seeing a lot of skipper butterflies around today! Some photos of blooms from this morning:

1) Hollyhock Chater's Doubles Pink--my daughter fell in love with it so I brought it home, but it's hard to keep whole from all the bugs who seem to want to chew on it ;-)

2) Stargazer

3) Rose of Sharon 'Minerva'

4) A coleus that came a while ago without its identifying tags and I've always wondered exactly what it is. Flambe? It's been blooming like crazy

5) Tickseed--Red Satin and Sienna Sunset

Easy way to tell difference of Oriental and Asiatic, Orientals have a scent Asiatics have none

Padded around in the morning drizzle and got some photos for today:

Gooseneck Loosestrife - Lysimachia clethroides - not yet "goosenecked"

Lilium'Show Winner'

Spotted Bee Balm - Monarda punctata - I posted a photo of this when it was partially open. I grow a number of native Monarda species, but this is my favorite one when fully open. Had to show it at this stage.

Our pink, no ID Rose Of Sharon.

greenthumb, that spotted monarda is wild! Do hummingbirds like it as much as the brightly colored ones?

Wind, your hydrangea is so beautiful!! Your picture appears dark on my screen, but it is beautiful anyway. It's so BIG!

Gitagal, I have a coleus that is similar to your yellow one speckled with maroon, called 'mardi gras' that I bought from Rosy Dawn. I guess coleus names are not all that official though. Some that I KNOW the names of I have seen with different names on them at the nursery. Well, I say I KNOW - I'm going by Rosy Dawn where I buy most of mine or color farm, where are lot are hybridized (hmm, is that a word?)


I think I posted this pic over in another thread before noticing 'summer blooms' thread here. These are a couple of my favorites. The yellow one is fragrant and is called 'Dorothy' something.

Wind and Gita--love your morning glories. I love morning glories but have not had good luck with them. Someone gave me one last summer and it became very invasive. Are there some types of MG that are less aggressive, or do you just have to keep a close eye on them?

Coleup, it's possible the corn was really millet. However, it's gone now. I can't find a better location for the bird feeder, so right now it's empty. Think maybe I'll just focus on encouraging butterflies for now! :-)

SS, thanks for the article about lilies. The Franz Hals is very pretty! The Lilium Stargazer is my first lily of any kind. It is very pretty. Greenthumb, your Show Winner is lovely.

Wind, your Buddleia is beautiful! Such huge blossoms.

Greenthumb, I love that Rose of Sharon color. I debated between a pink color and the more purplish Minerva, and still think about the pink one from time to time. It's hard for me to choose sometimes! :-)

I agree about the spotted monarda--totally wild! :-)

CatMint - Careful, lilies can be addictive, especially Oriental Lilies with their incredible fragrance. (Addictive for the gardener and local deer alike)

coleuslover--

I am sure I got the speckles one from you at the Swap. The name I gave it
was from warped memory.
"Mardi Gras" seems like the real name I could not remember...

Hey! Mardi Gras IS a Carnival....no? ....:o) Gita

Green thumb that monarda is very interesting. The only one I have is tall fushia, tons of it.

Greenthumb, you are so right about the fragrance! I love to go out and just sniff sometimes! :-)

I know these are common plants, but they do well in unamended clay and the pollinators love them. And they're all from fellow DGers!

Beautiful--I love daisies, black eyed susan, coreopsis, and others. I've been wanting to get some more michaelmas daisies.

Pretty, ssgardener!

Jolee is blooming again but barely. I never got a chance to dead head her and if you do not, the summer blooms are rather scarce.

Red spotted purple
Double Pompon DL
Salmon Star Lily
Lobelia
Glad

One of the Orchids from the GH.

Beautiful lilies, FlowAjen. I'm thinking of getting some more of the Orientals--they smell so wonderful.

Love your orchid, Holly!

From my garden this morning:

1) black eyed susans
2) hosta and caladium
3) coreopsis
4) salvia
5) impatiens

The butterflies especially love the salvia!

I can show you a few new blooms as well--

1--Astilbe
2--Bloom on a mini-dwarf Hosta
3--Frans Hals DL--these are just staring to open. Late bloomers...
4--Close-up of a Frans Hals bloom...pretty!
5--First blooms on my Kopper King Hibiscus

1--This is for Ric--eat your heart out!!!
2--Alabama Sunset Coleus--so intense with all this sun
3--The bed around my Dr. Seuss brug. LOVE the red begonias and the blue Petunias..
4--Epi bloom in last weeks downpour. All gone now--one more bud coming...
5--Olga's glads...my "other bed"....

Beautiful, just beautiful shots of beautiful flowers. Those just made my day. Thanks.

Thanks, JB! You saying that just made MY day!!!

XOX Gita

Beautiful flowers, Gita.

Watch your rocks Gita.
Our Asiatics and orientals and starting to wither, and this heat will not spare them much. I probably have another 200+ glads to come yet, and my cream marigolds are really coming into there prime, out growing the Nandina hedge I planted them between. Too bad my Granny never saw this variety of "stinking Toms" she so disrespected, yet planted every year.

okay--my last try. I've been enjoying everyone else's blossoms, and hope others enjoy mine as well.

1) I really love this particular coleus. I got it as a tiny little thing, and it has just grown so well.

2) Coneflower--Raspberry Truffle; I just fell in love with this color.

3) Tickseed--Red Satin; I also fell in love with this color

4) Dicentra--it has been such a trooper, long past bloom but still full and golden despite the midsummer heat

5) My little tiny bell flower (Campanula Cochlearifolia?); it has also been such a trooper for me this year, blooming mightily since spring

I love the color of the Raspberry Truffle Coneflower, Also I picked up a mini Campanula wonder if it is the same as yours. Have to check out the tag again.

catmint---Yes! I like your flowers too...That Coneflower is amazing!!!

If you don't mind a bit of advice--one should pinch off the blooms Coleus sends up.
It is like anything else that "bolts"--and if you leave it on the plant--it will, slowly, start its decline.
Very slowly--but if you pinch it off, the Coleus will look a lot better--longer...like as long as late fall...

As I walk around--and see any Coleus sending up the bloom--I pinch it right off.
It is NOT really a "bloom" per say--it is the first stage of it going to seed.
We all know what happens when you allow annuals to go to seed...they keep on going..going...gone..
Their "mission" is accomplished...

Just my 2cents worth.... Gita

Gita is that epi really as hot pink in person as it is in the picture?

Patch of Honeymoon
Pow Wow Berry Echi
Hosta blooms

Jen--YES! It is probably even hotter pink in person!

Amazingly beautiful blooms from this ugly, cruddy plant I have...
Here are some good ones from July of previous years ... G.

First year it bloomed was in 2010. This year--I will only have 2 blooms.
It has bloomed, sparsely, since then.
I have had it since 2005 as a cutting from CA. It hAS GROWN humongous
and it is hard to deal with it --bringing it inside and all that. It weighs about 35lbs!
It is ungainly--lopsided--the fronds look like creeping crud--but that all seems to be normal...

Thanks HollyAnn & Gita. HollyAnn, would love to see a photo of your mini campanula! I'm not sure what cultivar mine is--I got it back before I knew to keep track...

Gita, that is good advice about pinching the coleus blooms. I'll make sure I do that tomorrow. Your epi is amazing! Can't believe it weighs 35 lbs now!!

FlowAjen, those are absolutely gorgeous--I love all 3!

After drooling all over the photos you all have shared here, I am going to embarrass myself now by sharing what I have left in the front beds (and what has come back) after the termite-spraying fiasco. So much had to be cut waaayyy back. With the way my schedule has been with school and appointments, work, heat etc, please ignore all the weeds. I will get to them, I promise, just.. for now, please pretend they are not there. Oh, and in pic #1.. I try to keep clover around on purpose for the bunnies. =)

1 - The petunias on the side of the porch. I'd cut them back to about 2" tall, they had sprawled all over the place and were up against the porch before. On July 1 EVERYTHING got cut way back to make sure I had at least 6" of space between plants and structure. For these little guys, they were nothing but stem and a few leaves on July 1. Now they are no longer sprawly, they are all bushy and full, Wheee!! :)

2 - Red annual verbena and carpet of snow alyssum are running rampant again after their haircuts.

3 - I love the pink annual verbena with purple petunias, a lovely colour combo. I love petunias anyway. :)

4 - A little red verbena, a little pink, a little sprig of alyssum, a little coreopsis. What a tossed salad!

5 - Purple Homestead verbena plays really well with wax begonias and million bells that came back from last year. At first I thought they might simply be re-seeds from last years' plants, but when I checked the soil, I found that they are the actual plants from last year. I guess this past winter really was very mild!

What the heck may as well go for broke, right? =) I'd had to cut EVERYTHING back for Orkin to come do the trenching/rodding for termites, and that meant that shrubs near the house had to be cut back as well. Well, waaayyy back when, before I knew anything about plants/planting, I'd installed my sedum up against the house, and quite frankly, there it stays. (you may bonk me on the head with a spade any time you like). The were blooming before their haircuts. Then they were 1" tall. And brown. And crispy. ... Now?

1 - Sedum - Revisited. I can't believe they are coming back already, and in only 2 weeks!!

2 - One of my Platycodons, was cut back to about 4" tall and about 8" from the wall. Now it's smothered in buds again and over 12" tall. Wheee!!!

3 - One of my Lemongrasses on the front porch. This year I put a few little petunias around the base of it... just got one bloom left. I think I might need to feed them.

4 - One of 3 Lemongrasses on back deck.

Speedie, so glad things are growing back for you! I love the verbena. I tried a red homestead this year but it died on me--so many thriving plants this spring, and it just flopped over and died. :-(

Interesting about your survivor from the mild winter-- I had a Gerbera daisy survive from last summer! This was shortly after we moved to this house, before I was doing anything with the garden; it had been planted by the previous owner. This spring when I began working in the wonderful soil the previous owner left me (she lived here for 50+ years and loved to garden--left wonderfully fertile soil beds everywhere), I kept looking and looking at the growing Gerbera, trying to figure out what it was, and finally put it together that it was an annual that had survived our mild winter!

Speedie, I have 2 Homestead verbenas in full sun, but they don't bloom well for me.

I thought all the rhododendron/azalea lovers would love the pictures here: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/peren/msg071459535148.html?19

Catmint, what a sweetheart of a previous owner, to leave you such a gift! Great gardening soil is a loving gift to leave new home owners. Now, we just gotta hope you like Gerberas. ;) heehee

Ss, WOW those are gorgeous plants in that link you shared! I had to laugh at the writer's comment about growing the orange Azalea on purpose to shock the "no oranges no yellows" person who walks by, LOL!! That sounds like something "wise-guy'ish" I would do, heehee. But the effect is spectacular, a beautiful warm spot in the otherwise cool background. Absolutely breath-taking! Thank you for sharing that link!