What's blooming today # 2

Does a raised bed count as a hill?

It's 100% true for lupine.

Venu - we cross posted. I don't think a raised bed is as good as a hill for Delphinium, tall bearded irises, Lupines or Lavender.

I'll just have to keep my fingers crosses then, cause the only hills around here are ant hills.

Blooming today is the peonie tree. I've had it for three years, and this is the first time its bloomed. Wow! And two more buds to go!

How tall are the raised beds. My veggie ones are 30" so I'm sure they would work for the plants Pirl mentioned but they are dedicated (hey!) to veggies.

Victor,
I have a slop inbetween the front lawn and the back lawn. It always had weeds that i fought with on a yearly basis, no matter what i did. Under the 2" of sod w/weeds, is ledge....pure rock. I took the sod off an area of about 24' L X 8' W I used landscape timber 2 wide, to box it in. Placed apporx. 2" if newspaper down held down by the rocks I dug out of there. Filled with a mixture of Miracle Grow Potting soil (Sam's Club 55 qt bags $9.99) , compost made from fish & blueberries here in Maine, sand, dry manurer,and peat. Then I planted my delphiniums, iris's.... plants that don't like there feet wet. So far I have had no problems, the top of the slope has the best drainage, where as the bottom I can put plants that like more water. I have 3 different colored delphiniums as have come back each year. The oldest one is Blue Bird, it has been growing for at least 4 yrs.

I thought Irises liked wet feet?

That's encouraging Celeste. That's a huge box to fill! How high is it? Two timbers like the 'wall depth'?

Yes, 2 timbers high all the way around.
Some iris like wet feet, and others like to be watered well but not soaking their feet. LOL

Happy Returns.

Clematis 'Blue Light'.

Another Lavatera - forgot name. It's more of an alternating pink / white stripe.

Foliage combo - Weigela 'Midnight Wine' and a volunteer Agastache 'Golden Jubilee'.

Echinacea 'Pink Double Delight'.

Wow Victor, your gardens must be in full bloom!

Thanks Celeste. Yes, quite a few things are. Here's one more. My first Prickly Pear cactus bloom. Hope this means I'm gonna get fruit.

It took me so long to catch up that I had to check what thread this was, lol.
There are a few flowers over here, too.
The Catalpa tree is doing the only nice thing it does.
Andy P

The Missouri Primrose is nice, too.
Andy P

The Asiatic Lily 'Lollipop' is a little wet.
Andy P

And the first Clematis 'Polish Spirit' flower opened. You will see more of this one soon.
Andy P

Seems like we're all blooming this first day of Summer. Happy Summer to all!!

Oh yeah!! Happy Summer everyone!

Harper, German or "bearded" Iris need to be dry. japaneese and sberian iris like wet feet.

I'm imoressed by all the flowers you have blooming.Pirl youJI are beautifl. Mine don't bloom until july . What is the secret ? yours are so floriferous . I'm getting better . the ground has stoped rocking and I'm able to work for short periods . GD Amanda is a great help. When the gardeners cleaned the pond this spring theyemptied the water on the plants aroud the pond .This is the result. JOY

Wow! Nice and lush, Joy!

JI's want to be drenching wet until bloom time and then normal rain is fine with them. Acid soil and full sun. It works for me. We also gave them many wheelbarrow loads of compost when we planted them.

Glad your world is not rocking anymore!

Nothing better than pond water for plants. I try to use it whenever possible.

Looks good Victor. What color does Blue Light look like in person? You'll have to let me know how you like Pink Double Delight. I've had Razzmatazz for a few years that is very similar.

I like Lollipop Andy.

Al, this Blue Light in the photo was in heavier shade than intended, so it looked kind of muted to me, but better than the photo looks. I'll keep you posted on PDD.

I like Tootsie Roll Andy.

I did actually plant some new cosmos this year, I think this is a Sea Shells one.

This didn't flower in it's first year last year - so I'm not sure what it looks like open, but I think it's close.
Quickfire hydrangea

Another new coneflower this year is Green Eyes. The cone is greener.

I have Quickfire too Al. Just getting my first blooms as well.

Great photos. Love that touch of green in the Quickfire.

I think Al is a fellow Garden Crossings customer!

I am, but those were local.

What are your favorite plants to buy from GC, Al?

I'm in the echinacea aisle
http://www.gardencrossings.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=plants.main&alphaKey=D-F&whichName=genus&showIntro=0&hardinessZone=
although I did get the winky double blue and white columbine - maybe a flower if it reblooms this year.


I've got earwigs like crazy here this year. This is Yvonne

At first, when I went to your link, I thought $13.99 was a great price for a tray.... then I saw the price is per plant!

Not many earwigs....yet.

I have an old amaryllis bulb that has a bloom stalk about to pop. Pretty good gardening since it was inside all winter and i was going to throw it away because I thought it was dead! I will post a picture when it blooms which should be any day now. Two other A bulbs are leafing out which I also thought were dead. Hmm...could be a new DG thread for us: "Plants brought back from Death!" What do you think?
Martha