Lilium ‘Scheherezade’
Well as usual I’m a day late for GBBD, but the flowers are happening nonetheless. Lillies are the dominant theme this time of year. And for us the Scheherezade hanging over the garden fence is difficult to miss.
Lilium ‘Scheherezade’
There are, however, many other lily varieties that help stamp July as the lily time of year.
Lily ‘Time Out’
Lilium ‘Casablanca’
Lilium ‘Madame Butterfly’
Stargazer Lily
I was particularly struck by a very tall Lily Orienpet cultivar that has very large and striking red flowers.
Orienpet Lily ‘Miss Feya’
Nearby to the backyard gate and the Scheherezade lillies is the continuing flowering of the Cestrum
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
And on the deck steps the 9 foot tall Princess flower plants continue to flower as well.
Princess Flower (Tibouchina urvilleana)
Even the buds for the Princess flower are quite striking.
Princess Flower buds
Another long flowering plant, Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ is coming into bloom beside the back porch.
Hydrangea ‘Limelight’
Another strong flowering element for this season are the sunflowers.
Sunflowers in the garden
We have some quite striking varieties in bloom now.
White Sunflower
Bees love the sunflowers
Sunflower (note the green center)
Sunflowers to dine with
Let me close with one of a number of gladiolias in the garden.
A striking white Gladiolia in the garden
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day June 2026
Lily ‘Forever Susan’
Well it’s already past the middle of the month and I will try to catch up with a brief post for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.
Life has been very busy with travel to Europe and strange weather in Maryland. As shown above the first lillies are beginning to appear.
Lilium ‘Purple Marble’ is in the Peony garden.
Lilium ‘Pink Perfection’ sits out by the blueberries.
One flower that is particularly striking is the bright red Bishop Dahlia.
Bishop of Llandaff Dahlia
This one comes back every year even though dahlia are nominally not hardy enough to over winter in our are. The bulk of our dahlias are dug and put in the basement to get through the cold part of the year. Perhaps I should try a couple of other varieties in the ground over the winter. Right beside this Dahlia we grow a palm and a banana so it may be an unusually warm spot.
Nearby is a particularly nice green leaved plant with bright yellow flowers.
Lysimachia paridiformis var. stenophylla
Of course it’s important to note that the Stewartia is covered with flowers in a 20 foot tall tree at this point.
Stewartia pseudocamellia
And I’ve been meaning to mention one of the loveliest ‘weeds’ you could possible plant.
Corydalis lutea
These guys are zero care, widely spreading, and easily pulled if you think they are taking up too much space. And they flower from now until winter.
In the newly rebuilt Alpine bed the first Lewisia flowers are delightfully showing themselves.
Lewisia ‘Little Snowberry’
Besides the Alpine bed we have reconstructed the vegetable garden including two raised beds which were added today thanks to visiting family from Massachusetts.
2 raised beds
This should provide some more good growing space for beans, lettuce, and garlic.
And in lieu of a more complete posting I should mention that we did spend two weeks in England at the end of May. Once again we were at the Chelsea Flower Show. This time with a tour group led by our good friend Marianne Wilburn. (Hortcultural Exceptional Garden Tours)
Just a few shots from Chelsea, with more images to follow.
Chelsea Chrysanthemum
Tacca Chantrieri
Inspirational Ferns
Fern heaven
South Africa at Chelsea
Once again Chelsea is just loaded with inspirations for the future. Ironically one of things I discovered was Cornus Venus, a delightully large flowered hybrid Cornus that I had planted this Spring with knowing that the flowers are gigantic compared to the normal Chinese Dogwoods.
Cornus ‘Venus’
The world is full of discoveries…
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day May 2026
Stewartia malacondendron
It is Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day and it’s mid-May but some of the strangest weather you could imagine. As you see above our favorite Stewartia is indeed in bloom, but many other things have suffered the drastic hot/cold cycle that we went through in mid-April. We had temperatures at 85-90 degrees and then three days later down to 26 degrees. Although it was hard to imagine at the time the net result over the last month has been an almost total loss of apples and peaches as well as drastic damage to many other trees and bushes. I think we may get a few pears, blueberries and raspberries but it’s going to be a different year.
We still have some flowers to report on but I need to keep this fairly compact as I still have a lot of planting to do outside.
As usual the Azaleas are among the peak performers in May. In addition to the Gibraltar exbury hybrid and the Klondyke we’ve now added a third exbury hybrid
Azalea exbury hybrid ‘Gibraltar’
Azalea exbury hybrid ‘Klondyke’
Azalea exbury hybrid ‘George Reynolds’
Of course regular Azaleas are busy doing their thing as well.
White Azalea in the front yard
I should mention that at the end of last month we got a nice flowering from the Azalea ‘Visco Sepala’ in our raised bed by the porch.
Azalea ‘Visco Sepala’
This is probably the most fragrant Azalea that has ever flowered. We got it from White Flower Farm about 50 years ago and I’m not sure you could fine it anywhere nowadays.
And as you might expect Peonies are performing every day.
Paeonia x ‘Morning Lilac’
It is always astounding to see the flowers of Festiva Maxima show up because we brought this with us from Alexandria, Va over 50 years ago.
Festiva maxima
It’s now against the house, in the lawn and in the pasture. It seems to be vigorous and happy no matter where we put it.
Somewhat more suprising is vigorous growth of the Chines Ground Orchids which seem to be spreading every year as well, both white and pink.
Chinese Ground Orchid (Bletilla stricta)
Bletilla stricta
In addition to all of our carefully planted flowers we have wild flowers contributing to the beauty of our hillside.
Blue Flax and Dame’s Rocket
Many people are very negative about the invasive impact of the Pink Evening Primrose but to me it’s like saying you don’t like California poppies because there are so many of them.
Pink Evening Primrose (Oenethera speciosa)
Pink Evening Primrose (Oenethera speciosa)
One of the major projects for us over the last month has been restoring the Alpine bed next to the greenhouse. And hooray it is now being planted again.
Restoring the Alpine bed
Restored Alpine Bed
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day February 2026
Backyard on return home
Well we arrived home from California vacation on February 13th and found the remains of three weeks of icy weather in Maryland. So this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day has only limited flowers to share. I suppose I should be grateful that the snow provided insulation for the plants during some of the coldest weather Maryland has had in years. The snowdrops were visible in the grass.
Galanthus nivalis in the grass
There were just a few bare patches of soil showing up. And in one of them the Adonis were demonstrating why you should plant Adonis.
Adonis in the early morning
And then when the sun came fully out
Adonis amurensis ‘Fukujukai’
The Adonis have long been one of my favorite flowers and over the next few weeks some of the other varieties will showing up after the snow melts.
I can also see some color on the Witch Hazels but they are behind their normal performance at this time of year.
Witch Hazel ‘Diane’
Witch hazel (Hamamelis mollis)
Otherwise we need to go into the greenhouse to enjoy the flowers. The greenhouse survived the cold temperatures quite well and several of the flowers will come into the house.
Geum ‘Pink Frills’
Lewisia ‘Little Raspberry’
Nerine ‘Masonorium’
Cyrtanthus breviflorus
Cyrthanus hybrid
Veltheimia
Veltheimia flower
I think a lot of flowering will be evident in the next few weeks as the snow melts. In particular the daffodils should be ready to go from the buds showing now to full open flowers…
I should mention in closing that we had a great time with flowers on the west coast with visits to Huntington and the UCR Botanical Garden. In particular I will share a short video of our visit to the Ventura Botanical Garden
Short walk in Ventura Botanical Garden
Garden Bloggers Bloom Day January 2026
Camellia japonica
Well, for this GBBD it’s going down to 18 degrees tonight but this Camellia japonica doesn’t seem to mind. We have a fair number of Camellias but this particular Camellia has two parts, one which blooms early and the other half comes in the normal Spring blooming for Camellia japonicas. Here’s another view of the same plant.
Camellia japonica blooming early
Most of the other japonicas have lots of buds but no blooms as in this example.
Camellia japonica
It’s hard not to want to plant more Camellias since they have such an extensive blooming season and look good even when they are not in bloom. Here’s the last flower on the fall blooming Camellia sansanqua.
Camellia sasanqua
And then there is the very lovely little hybrid Camellia ‘Yume’ which manages to flower extensively across the late Fall to early Spring.
Camellia ‘Yume’
Other than the Camellias, flowering is still pretty limited. We are seeing the first snowdrops appearing in multiple places including the lawn.
Galanthus elwesii in the lawn
And I can now see the first flower buds on the Cyclamen Coum.
Cyclamen coum first bud
Otherwise my morning garden walk is more focused on the various ways that green contributes to the garden. Here’s the Cyclamen hederifolium for example.
Cyclamen hederifolium
I find the winter is much more tolerable when there is lots interesting greenery. Here are some other green points.
Japanese Holly Fern (Cyrtomium falcatum)
Mahonia ‘Soft Caress’
Mahonia japonica
One of many Hellebores in the woods
One of many Epimediums in the woods
I also have been tracking the Pussy Willow on the hillside as this is the first year we’ve had buds.
Pussy Willow
Of course for every winter’s day my real focus is on the Adonis and wondering when they will first show up. Here is their status.
Adonis ‘Chichibu Beni’
Adonis ‘Fukujukai’
Lastly let me note that the greenhouse has been a constant joy. Here is one of the current flowerings.
Freesia fucata
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day September 2025
Colchicum bivonae
Well a relatively brief statement this month just to catch up for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. We are just returned from almost three weeks in South Africa and I can assure you that of the many flowers we saw there, Colchicum are non-existent. It’s their Springtime, not their Fall. We got home to find that Colchicum are happily flowering away (which is what to expect in mid-September).
Colchicum (of unknown variety)
Colchicum x byzantium ‘Innocence’
At the same time the usual winners for September were happily flowering despite the terrible dryness Maryland has been experiencing.
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
I was happy to see that the Dahlias were spreading their usual joy. Not only the Bishop in the perennial bed but also several other varieties in the vegetable garden courtesy of Swan Island Dahlias.
Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’
Dahlia from Swan Island
Dahlia from Swan Island
I’ll have to research the names when I get time. And we have a lot sunflowers and other annuals in the vegetable garden.
Annual Flowers in the Veg garden
But I do want to share that our exposure to South African Flowers was wonderful. This was all via a trip arranged by the American Horticultural Society. We’ve been a member since forever but this was our first travel experience with AHS and it was memorable. The arrangements were excellent and breadth of exposure to South African culture and plant life will stay with us for a long time. I’ll try to see if I can put together a more detailed summary at some point but here is just a glimpse of what we saw.
Candelabra aloe atop Table Mountain in Cape Town
An absolute must for Cape Town visitors is Kirstenbosch, one of the world’s outstanding Botanic Gardens.
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden
Looking at the mountains that are part of Kirstenbosch
We happened to be there for the first annual flowering of the Crimson King Protea which was a celebration for even the curators.
Protea cyanoides (King Protea)
Driving through the countryside there were lovely vistas of wildflowers and wonderful opportunities to explore.
Dimorphotheca sinuata (African Daisy)
And although horticulture was a major interest it turned out that I spent a lot of time photographing birds which are every bit as beautiful as the plants.
Orange-breasted Sunbird on Table Mountain
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day August 2025
Gladiolus ‘Pink Lady’
Well at this time of year for GBBD with a lot of hot humid weather the Glads are one of the flowers doing really well. They last a week in the house as the flowers open one by one.
Glads on the inside with one of the early Dahlias beside the glads
Gladious inside
Just a few days before it was time for the Surprise Lillies
Surprise Lily (Lycoris squamigera)
In the house we have the similar-flowered Rain lily relative which comes out of the greenhouse.
Habranthus robustus
The front garden bed has some very nice Butterfly Milkweed
Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa)
And in the back garden there is a small Crocosmia starting up.
Lucifer Crocosmia
In the back we also have a spreading installation of Mirabilis that needs to be seen at just the right time of day to appreciate the open flowers.
Four o’clock Flowers (Mirabilis jalapa)
Nearby is the Cestrum which flowers all summer long.
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel)
In the vegetable garden we have an abundant supply of annuals
Annuals galore
And on the hillside we have on of several Crepe Myrtles in flower.
Crepe Myrtle
I should also point out that for us it’s not just the flowers.
Harvesting – Veggies and Peaches
Harvesting – Peaches and Raspberries
The Contender Peach has yielded some of the best tasting peaches we’ve ever had and a good many of them are completely free of brown rot.
Lastly let me close with one shot of the berries getting ready for Fall.
Viburnum wrightii
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day July 2025
Lilium ‘Scheherezade’
Well it’s long past the date for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, but I’ll explain at the end some of why I’m so late. Lillies as usual mark our summer highlights and I always wonder why I haven’t planted more. Scheherezade is really the last big one for us and it has long been a memorable part of our flower collection. It is an oriental/trumpet hybrid from the Lily Garden that can easily get up to eight feet tall. We usually bring a stalk or two into the house.
Lilium ‘Scheherezade’ on display
The other standout flower right now is the hydrangea at the back porch. This one is getting larger every year with more and more flowers.
Hydrangea ‘Limelight’ in full flower
Otherwise we have the normal abundance of flowers that show up in July.
Crocus Rose
Rudbeckia dominating front bed
Liatris in the Front Garden
Lovely pink phox gone wild
Tithonia in the annuals bed
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’ on display now
Sunflowers inside
Sunflowers welcome to the inside
I should mention that we received a particularly nice Canna from a friend and I think it will be a constant addition to our yard.
Canna ‘Cleopatra’
We also received some particularly nice new tomato cages from our son in the north
Josh holds new tomato cages
This is a marvelous product from Texas Tomato Cages that easily assembles and should last a long time.
Lastly I will share that on the normal day for posting Garden Blogger Bloom Day we found ourselves replacing part of our 60 year-old septic system. It was an adventure that hopefully we won’t have to repeat…
Septic solution