Still Waiting for the "Summer" Blooms

Even though there's a decent amount of color in the gardens right now, I still feel like I'm waiting for the big explosion. Only my early yellow daylilies are blooming, and I have asiatic lilies, agastache, coreopsis, phlox, monarda and coneflowers getting ready to open. My clematis is growing some new buds, so I'm hopeful that it's just starting its show with a meager 2 blooms.

I chopped down the viburnum this week, which was kind of sad. It definitely had leaf beetle disease and the only remedy is to chop the diseased branches. I may have to chop it even shorter in the fall and it looks horrible. I really hope it will come back as a smaller and more manageable shrub. I also did a bunch of work on the patio area and it's level with a layer of gravel and sand. I need to add more sand and then work on the bricks. I ordered a solar fountain for it and should get that this week. I'm also thinking of putting a bench to the side of the patio instead of the table and chairs I was originally planning.

The sad viburnum:


Foxglove, which was a pleasant surprise this year. I have a bunch of groupings that I'm going to plant in a mass to get more of a pop. I may add a brighter color as well:


Coreopsis from Bob just starting:


This was labelled Shasta Daisy Snowcap. But it sure doesn't look like the picture on the label. Maybe the petals will turn white with time? It's kind of interesting looking anyway. It also came with another bonus plant attached to it that looks like phlox. We'll see. It was a $1.50 fall special that looked dead when I planted it.


Terry's Campanula:




Annual salvia and another annual I can't remember the name of:


Some pretty weeds/wildflowers/volunteers I'm keeping for the time being:

Early Clematis Bloom

I woke up to my first clematis flower this morning, which was a nice treat. I didn't get my first flower until early August last year, so I'm not sure what this means. I know I cut the plant back too far last year, which delayed the blooming. I only see 3 other buds on it now, so I hope this is the start of a very long bloom season and not a bad bloom year.

There's not too much happening in the garden right now as I wait for a bunch of perennials to flower. The annuals are starting to fill in well at least. Here are a few pictures:



African daisy (Osteospermum):


Hardy gladiolus:


Valerian root:


I couldn't get the colors right in this shot. It's a purple swirl dianthus from Bob with dark purple rock daisies:


First daylilies to bloom. They're in bad need of division, which I'll do this fall:


Snapdragons with lobelia (calamint in the back)




Lovely moth Jake and I hung out with on the driveway. This thing was the size of a small bird and very furry. I later discovered it's a Polyphemus Moth. From wikipedia: The eye spots are where it gets its name – from the Greek myth of the Cyclops Polyphemus. The caterpillar of the Polyphemus Moth can eat 86,000 times its weight at emergence in a little less than two months.

Just a Few Purchases

I took advantage of some sales this week and bought a few new plants. Well actually I bought a lot of new plants! After browsing at Blooming Bulb for a couple of weeks I watched the price on daylilies drop to as low as $1.33 a clump. I couldn't resist so I put in an order with them for 3 bunches of 4 different types of lilies to fill in the bed on the other side of the garage in the fall. I figure I'll pot them up and let them grow over the summer and then plant them when the bed is ready. I also ordered 2 different types of Astilbe (peach and pink), some mixed hollyhock plants, and Kniphofia Red Hot Poker.

Then I took a ride up to Meadow View Farm yesterday morning for what will hopefully be my last visit there. They had everything on sale since I think they close at the end of the month. I picked up a few perennials: Sedum Angelina Stonecrop, 2 Lavender Hidcote, and Gaillardia Gallo Red (Blanket Flower). Plus impatiens (my plants started in the basement have a ways to go before flowering), zinnia, some more alyssum, 2 annual dianthus, ageratum, and bacopa.

I started digging and laying out the rough area for the little brick patio I want to make in the center of the island bed today. I also picked up sand and weed fabric for the project. This will be a real experiment, but I figure it's worth a try, and I have all summer to play with it. While I was at Home Depot picking up materials I discovered their rhododendrons were 1/2 price. So I picked up what was labeled as a Nova Zembla and another one labeled "red" that still has a dark pink bloom on it. They were $12 each for 2-gallon containers so I figured it was a good deal. These will be used out near the road to fill in the huge space where one of our transplanted evergreen shrubs from the island died.

Oxeye/Marguerite Daisies in the pool bed:




Purple and white lamium with barberry in the same bed. there's coreopsis in there that has buds and I plan to add more perennials in the fall.


Gaillardia Gallo Red:


Coral Bells and Salvia in front of the house:


Calamint in bloom:

June is Off to a Good Start

The Nova Zembla rhododendron, my most anticipated new planting, is finally in bloom. I'm happy with the color, although it's not quite as red as I had hoped for. The shrub looks great though and seems to like its location. Things are really starting to come together in the gardens. I know it will be a couple of more years before everything really fills in the way I'd like it to, but I feel like I'm off to a good start.

Nova Zembla (with hardy gladiolus and African daisy to the left):


Iris in the pool bed:


Lone white siberian iris bloom from Terry. It's beautiful! I'm going to move these to the new island bed in the fall next to the purple ones.


Peonies:




The border in front of the house filling in:


Other side of the walkway:


Pool bed is pretty much filled in. Allium starting to lose color with iris and coleus in the front: