FIRST FLOWERS OF SUMMER!!! Yay it's finally here!!!

Oh that makes sense Cat, duh...LOL

Speedie---

That "bloom" on the caladium is not really a bloom. What you see-is it!
I have never found out what the purpose of it is to the plant????

The "thing" inside the "bloom" will just turn dirty-looking with time, the outer
enclosure (for lack of a better word) will also darken and get yukky-- and then
you should just cut the whole thing off.
I often just remove these "blooms" before all this deterioration takes place.

This "bloom" is similar to the "blooms" of Peace Lilies--Aeglonemas--and other
similar plants.

Maybe Coleup knows what their purpose is??? Or, maybe Greenthumb?

G.

I love that Daylily, Seq! Beautiful color. The Cupid's Dart is also really pretty! Also really love that Zebra Malva--really pretty colors!

This message was edited Jun 29, 2014 8:57 PM

Gita, that "bloom" on a Caladium really is a bloom, or more correctly, a collection of blooms. The cup-like structure surrounding the spike-like part is actually a bract, like the red "petals" on a Poinsettia, and is called a spathe. The spike-like structure is called a spadix, which is a type of spike inflorescence having many small flowers borne on a fleshy stem. This is indeed the flower for this group of plants. Hope this helps.

Seq, your blooms are lovely, and I really like your Cupid's Dart (had to look that one up, had never heard of it before!). That's a beautiful Day Lily, too... now I want one! < =P

Oh! My Veronica looks just like Jeff's!! =) They sure are pretty, huh? Well, a handful of those things are gonna get transferred out to the Big Bed out front this Fall, including a Hydrangea that's in one of the pots back there.

Thank you David for the info on the Caladium's "bloom". I knew there was more to my Caladium than just that 'cause I can see its leaves and the junction from which the "bloom" is growing... (pic included). I too have read that many prefer to snip the bloom off, believing it to be beneficial, to re-direct energy back into the leaves. I think it's really pretty though, so I'm gonna leave it until it starts to look yucky. ;)

And, what the heck, while we're here... Pic 2 is another happy Caladium with that Hydrangea in front of it. She was a rescue from work Winter-before-last; just a lump of brown sticks.
Pic 3; a happy little Coleus family! :)

Very cool looking, Speedie! I can't believe how huge your caladium are already! Mine have only just unfurled their leaves. The coleus is pretty!

Our Zebra Malva isn't perennial but it produces tons of seed that I spread about so I have one every year, which is nice. It usually gets pretty tall but something ate the top of the stalk off this spring. A couple other seedlings are also growing.

Seq if you have some of those seeds to spare I'd love to try some!

Sure, of course! I usually collect them and then scatter them in the fall. A lot didn't show up this spring for me though, I think because I spread too thick a mulch layer in the spring.

I could be tempted by a few Zebra seeds...

Sure, I'll collect as many as I can :)

yay!

Thanks for educating me, David....these spathe look pretty as long as they are
white and clean. When they start to turn yukky-- i cut them off.
g.

thanks Greenthumb on the campanula ID

SS, the blue hydrangea in the background of my canna pic is Hydrangea, hydrangea macrophylla ‘blue billow’. I shared that one and also the pom pom cobalt blue hydrangea at the swap. Glad you have some blooms on yours!

Lysimachia Lysimachia ciliate ‘Firecracker’

Wow, that's a beautiful Loosestrife Wind! I really like the look of your shade garden there, very nice and layered.

Wind do you have Firecracker contained? I have mine in a pot because I was told it was very invasive. I actually put the pot in pachysandra. Ha. I'm thinking about moving it to a spot where it can let loose.

I let Firecracker roam and just pull the unwanted. It hasn't been too bad that way for me. Spring and summer is the prettiest, its rather blah after the flowers when it turns green.

Ditto to Seq, very nice mix there wind!

I third that! I just love your shady garden area Wind, so lush and like Jeff said, beautifully layered.

Got a few pics of some pretties at work today, and a couple of new blooms of my Love in a Mist...

1-Hollyhock "Chater's Double Pink"

2-Gorgeous Lily.. not a Stargazer, but a Star... something! < =/ (now I don't remember!!)

3-Happy little Coneflower sisters. :)

4-Love in a Mist, A BLUE BLOOM!!! < =D

5-More Love in a Mist blooming. I'm really loving these things, thank you again Holly!! =) (err.. ummm... it was you Holly, wasn't it!?) < =/

hi, Speedie. I know Critter was passing out love in a mist seeds at the seed swap from Joyanna's garden! Do you think you might have gotten some from that? Of course, maybe Holly was passing it out, too! :-)

1. Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' from Happy. Definitely pinker and about a foot taller than the species monarda.

2. Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' from donner.

3. I think this noid monarda is just the straight species. It bloomed about 3 weeks earlier than 'Raspberry Wine.'

Edit! I'm so terrible at typing on my phone.

This message was edited Jun 30, 2014 9:00 PM

1. Double Pink Soapwort - Saponaria officinalis ''Rosea Plena'

2. Chinese Foxglove - Rehmannia elata, not a true foxglove.

3. Rusty Foxglove - Digitalis ferruginea, the basic species, a perennial.

4. Tall Bellflower - Campanula (Campanulastrum) americanum, a native biennial.

5. Lilium 'Triumphator'

Love the Monardas Ssg, and your Soapwort is GORGEOUS David!! (putting the word "wort" into plant names cracks me up... such a negative connotation to something so beautiful!)

Catmint, thank you!! I sat here trying to remember - was it Holly or Jill!?!? THANK YOU JOYANNA!!!!!!!!!! < =D

greenthumb, what an amazing assortment you have. Beautiful.

I agree, I never imagined soapwort being so pretty.

Love your monarda and agastache, SSG! Looking forward to my own Golden Jubilee blooming! Is the straight species Monarda fistulosa (wild bergamot)?

Beautiful soapwort and foxglove, David! I especially like the soapwort and the Rusty Foxglove.

David, you have the prettiest foxgloves.

Catmint, I'm pretty sure the species monarda came from a swap, but I'm not sure which swap, and the tag has been washed away.

Just trying to figure out which monarda would be considered the 'species monarda'... I had been thinking it was M. fistulosa because that's the wild version, but I can't find any info online that would confirm that... all Wiki says is that there are 16 species of monarda.

Maybe your straight species monarda would be M. didyma because of the red color?

Try Monarda punctata as a native. Its pretty cool looking. Not totally sure they say its native though.

CatMint - the term "species' Monarda would refer to the naturally occurring form of a species rather than a cultivar. While it is a little early for M. didyma to be in bloom, M. didyma 'Jacob Cline', a cultivar, is currently blooming and widely sold. All the species of Monarda are "wild" as they are all native plants of North America, but there are dozens of cultivars of M didyma.

Thanks for explaining, David, I needed that information too!

Beautiful flowers GT :)

SSG, I love the Raspberry Wine. Mine is enormous and just starting to bloom. It's going to light up the garden for sure. I'll post pics of the whole plant in a few days when it's really popping. I love the golden jubilee, I too got some from Donner and I'm hoping the one will bloom this season. I just planted it a couple weekends ago...shamefully I still have a couple plants from the swap to install yet...Lol This weekend should do it for planting though.

Thanks Greenthumb I was hoping you would chime in! :-)

Oh I'd love to see your Raspberry Wine patch!

I got mine as a teeny tiny starter plant last fall from Happy. I can't believe how massive it got in less than one year.

Yeah, mine was a quart sized pot last year, maybe a gallon but either way it's huge now.

No not me, must have been Jill.
Great pictures
Wind I agree your gardens look so lovely.
SSG, Those colors against the white fence look so good. Maybe it was a good thing that your neighbor had a nasty dog.
David, Beautiful as ever.

Unfortunately, my sprig of 'Raspberry Wine' from last year did not make it! :-( (Sorry, Happy!) Hopefully I'll have another chance to try it out...

Found some new blooms this morning:

1) My yellow celosia, once again volunteering for me from last year's plant! Glad to see its cheerful first blooms.
2) Liatris spicata beginning to open
3) Monarda 'Jacob Cline'--first bloom
4) My wildflower mix showing some first blooms
5) The neighbor's beautiful vine that hangs over my fence and smells absolutely heavenly is back in bloom again. Someone on the plant ID forum told me last year it was some kind of abelia. Does that look right to you guys?

Several of my plants are enjoying a second flush of blooms:

1) Honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler'
2) Denver daisy--not exactly a second flush, but I'm taken with this blossom, even though it looks nothing like the plant it reseeded from
3) Black & blue salvia
4) My wisteria plant put out a few blossoms long after the others faded
5) Sweet William 2nd flush of blooms

Looks like Abelia x grandiflora to me.

thanks, Greenthumb! :-)

My Ditch Lilies are strutting their stuff.
The living wreath is blooming.

Holly, I love those lilies--such a pretty color. And the living wreath is beautiful! You are so creative! :-)