June Blooms for GBBD

H.  'Texas Beautiful Bouquet'

Mid June brings the beginning of our daylily blooms.  We are growing close to  600 cultivars with bloom dates that range from mid June until the end of July.  The daylily pictured above is one of my favorites of the early blooming ones.

H. 'Richard William Haynes'

Blooming in a bed nearby is another early favorite. This one is classified by the American Hemerocallis Society as an unusual form.  I love the long curling petals and sepals. I first became interested in growing daylilies after seeing the round ruffled ones but I find myself drawn more and more into the unusual forms.

Echinacea 'Daydream'

There are several of the cone flowers that are beginning to bloom. E. 'Daydream' was added late last year so these are the first blooms on this plant. I am very pleased with it so far. It is planted in one of the daylily gardens.

Echinacea 'PowWow Wild Berry'

 

Last year I purchased several of the variety E. 'PowWow Wild Berry' but several of them developed the aster yellow disease. I destroyed all the plants that displayed any symptoms and so far this year have not seen any evidence of the disease. I have not purchased any new cone flowers this year. I love these colorful plants and will really miss their presence if the disease appears again this year.

 

Achillea x 'Moonshine'

 

 

Coreopsis 'Sienna Sunset'

 

The yarrow's and the coreopsis are plants that can take a lot of neglect and keep right on blooming. The coreopsis have been divided several times and moved to other areas of the garden because I can count on them to bloom.

 

Hydrangea however are not always so dependable in my garden. I keep searching for the perfect spot and I may have found a good one for the one in this first picture. It may just have been the mild winter but I am hoping that its the location. Only time will tell.

 

Hydrangea macrophylla

 

 

Hydrangea quercifolia

 

This is the first bloom ever for my oakleaf hydrangea. The deer munch on this plant every fall and winter and I was sure I would never see a bloom. I had to move the Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' in order to get a good picture. But at least I have proof that it bloomed once.

 

Hydrangea macrophylla 'Lady in Red'

 

The 'Lady in Red' hydragea does bloom most years. There are lots of buds this year so I will get to enjoy it longer.

 

 

The final picture is of a Blue Star Creeper. It is new this spring and I am please that  it is blooming and spreading. This area is a small slope at the end of our rock wall garden. I am hoping that it will be vigorous enough to cover much of the slope and grow between the stones that are on the slope.

 

Isotoma fluviatillis Blue Star Creeper

 

Hope your garden is full of blooms for you to enjoy.

 

 

Sue Ellen

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dreaming of Blooms

The weather has been so warm lately that I have started to plan for this year's planting season. This weekend with its cold wind and low tempatures reminded me that it's too early to get excited yet. But I can't keep my thoughts from being more and more on what this year's bloom season will brirng.



Last fall we divided and moved a number of daylilies to a new bed. We left plenty of space in between the clumps of daylilies to add other plants. We like to give the daylilies about three feet of space so we mark off the beds to indicate where plants can go. There are still flags visible indicating open spaces for new plants.

Echinacea 'Daydream'

Photo courtesy of Terra Nova® Nurseries, Inc.

www.terranovanurseries.com

One of the new plants that I already have on order to arrive this spring is this echinacea. I have other echinacea in the pink and white shades but this will be my first of the dream series. This series is advertised to be superior in landscape settings so I am anxious to give them a try.

Some New Plants for the Garden

Salvia 'Black and Blue' is new  to the garden this year. I was surprised to see this much bloom since it was planted only last month. I know that I am pushing the hardiness limits a little with this plant but after seeing it in bloom in a garden almost 90 miles to the north of me I had to give it try.

Another new plant to the garden is a white coneflower Echinacea 'Fragrant Angel'. I have several of the pink coneflowers some of which I don't know the variety. They are usually carefree plants here except that I am always torn whether to leave the seedpods for the birds or cut them back to make the garden look better. If I see the goldfinches feeding they usually stay.



This black eyed susan caught my eye at the garden center and I decided to give it a try. This one is 'Cherry Brandy'. It is supposed to be both drought tolant and deer resistant. If this one overwinters well I may want to add some of the other Rubeckia's