Well, for mid-summer it’s got to be all about the lilies for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.
Each time the wind begins to chime,
And end begins to near
A whisper of the softest sort
Flows gently to the ear
The scent and sight enough are great
Yet lilies live for more
The lilies whisper poetry
As none have heard before
— The Lilies Whisper Poetry by Deborah Amar
Lilies are definitely the most striking flower in the yard right now. They come in all shapes and sizes.
Of course, the lilies also work on the inside of the house.
However, there are other things happening on our hillside. I notice, for example that the Corydalis are doing there usual magic in the front yard where they just gently spread over any vacant space.
Similarly, the echinacea are everywhere in the perennial beds.
I should also share the Cestrum which is just now flowering for the first time this year and they will go on like this for the next 5 months.
The Hydrangea are just now flowering for the first time this year as well and they will also have any extended flowering.
One of the real delights for us is the Bishop of Llandaff Dahlia which has once again survived a winter in the ground.
In the middle of the backyard there are some allium also showing up for the first time this year.
If we go back beside the greenhouse the alpine bed has some Daphne that are flowering once again this year.
Nearby in the troughs there is one with a little potentilla that flowers for a long time.
And in another trough a very tiny thyme that has taken over a good part of the trough.
I should also share the vegetable garden which has a number of flowers.
Although flowers are not the main purpose there are many, many flowers every day in the vegetable garden.
If you think of corn as a grass, it is the tallest grass we’ve ever grown in our garden this year.
We’re just hoping the raccoons don’t come exploring for the corn. I won’t go into the peaches, pears, and apples — more about those in the future. But the wildflowers in the pasture are quite striking right now.
We mowed them down once because of the poison ivy, but the flowers seem to be outgrowing the poison ivy at the moment. And finally, it has rained now and then for which I’m quite grateful.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day June 2023
Although it’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day I am leading off with a flower that finished blooming last month. It came into bloom at the end of May and I was so frightfully impressed that I have purchased yet another of these trees. I promise another posting on the Stewartias because they are well worth sharing.
Currently the Stewartia japonica which we’ve had for years is just now coming into bloom
In the meantime the other striking flowers at the moment are the lilies. Just a few of them are showing right now but they are lovely
There is also a very late and very large Azalea at the front of the house
The rest of flowering is more or less normal roses, penstemon, and annuals. One exception is the Evening Primrose out on the bank to the pasture.
This wildflower came along on its own and appears anytime we don’t mow to close or too often on the pasture hillside.
We have been busy picking and eating fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and cherries). Mostly it’s what we expect but for many of them they are bit on the small side given the extremely dry weather we’ve had (can we say drought?). The exception is the wild cherry tree at the entrance to our forest.
This tree is just one of many wild cherry trees in our forest. Most of them seem to have come from bird-planted seedlings from the original orchard that we planted forty years ago. They all have reasonable taste and the birds love them.
This gives some idea of the density.
But the really surprising thing is that one of the smaller trees with branches actually close to the ground has absolutely marvelous cherries and they grow without being sprayed. Just pick them.
This is one of the bowls he brought in the other night.
Of course the other thing we get is as a bonus is all the birds visiting at this time of year.
I’ve even seen the bluebird in the cherry tree, though he spends most of his time harvesting grubs in the grass.
Life is good. Now if we could just get some rain…
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day May 2023
Well it’s a late posting for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, but what can I say. This time of year I’m in the garden…
Rhododendron are in flower in multiple places in the yard but this year we have also added them to the woods (courtesy of the new deer fence)
I am fully engaged in adding new and unusual flowers to the woods (leading to lack of care for some of the plants in the yard). But we still have a few things worth sharing. We inherited this lovely ground orchid in a plant exchange last year.
One can’t help but notice the roses at this time of year. And this David Austin rose is having a great showing.
Right nearby is a longtime resident, the Klondyke exbury Azalea
Moving across the yard to the Monument bed there is a lovely herbaceous Peony
and some lovely little allium
One neighboring bed has the last of another allium relative
You have to look a little more closely to see the flowers that appear under may apple relatives
Another shade lover is the Pinellia
I feel like I have to share some things from the greenhouse and the alpine bed
And also the Phyteuma that I first met while hiking in the Alps
Let me close with an image of the planting of the dahlias and glads
Which leads to harvesting the strawberries in the neighboring row
And then finally what we do with the harvest
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day March 2023
Well it’s two days past Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day but as you can probably imagine Spring is bringing forth not only tons of flowers but springtime chores as well.
As shown above the Hellebores are everywhere and together with the Daffodils they are providing an abundance of flowers.
This is one of my favorite Hellebores but I’ve lost the name. It sits upright and shows those lovely crinkly flowers.
Daffodils are one of our favorites for the Spring. We began planting them 45 years ago and here are the results for those first ones.
Of course it’s hard to not to admire the individual flowers as well.
Of course not long from now we will see many members of the Rhododendron family, but here is an early bloomer.
I spend a lot of time looking up the little guys that are poking up in the yard and woods.
The first of the Bloodroot popped up yesterday.
I planted a hundred Scilla sibirica in the front lawn last Fall and they are just showing their marvelous blue color.
Nearby the Primula vulgaris are continuing to spread into the lawn.
I also love seeing the Hepatica with their colorful flowers.
We even have one Hepatica in the woods that seems to have taken hold.
Also in the woods we also have a number of Corydalis that are slowly spreading.
To help them spread I put in a hundred of the red ones last Fall.
Another successful spreader is the Ranunculus sometimes called Lesser Celandine
In the Alpine bed we have a couple of small plants just coming into flower.
And in the greenhouse itself there are number of plants seeking attention.
But the real stars right now are the Clivia that I’ve taken into the house.
Everyone should have Clivia. So colorful, easy care, and blooming twice a year. What’s not to like?
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day February 2023
Well it’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day (or was yesterday anyway) and February really marks the serious start of spring flowers. Adonis, Winter Aconite, Crocus, Daffodils, Snowdrops, Witch Hazel, Primrose, Camellias, and Hellebores are all in flower. We spent three and half weeks in California and it was delightful to see the flowers that had popped up in our absence.
Adonis remains one of my favorite flowers but only the early-blooming ‘Fukujukai’ is currently in flower.
The biggest impact flower at the moment is the winter aconite.
We actually have several Eranthis hyemalis cultivars with different shades of yellow.
They are all quite willing to expand and I am finding new specimens each year in the yard and forest in places where I did not plant them.
Another highlight at the moment is the Crocus tommasinanus (which also keeps expanding it’s spot).
The witch hazels are all in bloom
We also have numerous clumps of snowdrops that are not only clumping nicely but also spreading out into the lawn
The Camellia japonica that I brought back from California on my lap in the 70’s continues to put out early flowers.
And as I mentioned the Daffodils and Hellebores are beginning to do their thing.
The first early primroses (Primula vulgaris) are now showing up. I don’t know why more people are not growing this lovely British wildflower which is anything but vulgar.
Meanwhile in the greenhouse there are many South African plants beginning their season
Yeah, I know the name doesn’t match the color in this Freesia but it’s all I have to go on at the moment.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day January 2023
Just a quick post for the month with the least flowers on display. Our Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day finds that the winter has been mild but most plants are just fattening up there buds for the months to come. There are a few exceptions. The Witch Hazel shown above is joined by several others on the hillside but none are as spectacular in bloom as ‘Diane.
The snowdrops are popping out. Even a few that have migrated into the lawn.
And the first of hybrid Hellebores is now in flower (not counting ‘Jacob’ which appeared a month ago)
There are othe plants just on the verge
And I can see colorful buds on the Peonies.
The cyclamen are also noteworthy for the lovely patterns they create as they continue to spread in the yard.
And in the house we have steady stream of flowers from the greenhouse (especially Cyrtanthus) and some new orchids that arrived as Christmas and birthday gifts.
Finally I should point out that we did plant the Christmas tree last week to provide a future landmark in the pasture.
This is also the month for planting the seeds obtained from the NARGS seed exchange.
As always there are great expectations.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day December 2022
I’ll begin this seasonal GBBD post with an image of the Christmas greens and flowers over the fireplace. The Japanese quince has been flowering on and off again all Fall. The the red Camellia sansanqua continues to provide a regular supply of beautiful blooms.
This is what the full plant looks like.
and the individual flowers
Nearby is another fall Camellia that we brought home from Camellia Forest some years ago.
In the front yard (risking deer damage) is another fall bloomer.
There are only a few plants in flower besides the Camellias and the Quince. One is the first of the Hellebores (also known as Christmas Rose).
I noticed in walking the yard that some of the plants in bud are well worth thinking about as we wait for Springtime. The Edgeworthia is almost better in bud than in flower.
And there are several other plants starting to bud up
But it is December so one of our seasonal events is to buy a balled and burlapped Evergreen for our Christmas tree. In this case a Canaan Fir seemed to be the most attractive in our size range.
After our Christmas elves finished their handiwork it really looks quite splendid
It will head for the forest in January.
Also inside right now is a pot of Cyrtanthus (like miniature Amaryllis)
Besides prepping for Christmas the other thing that goes on this time of year are the various seed exchanges. On December 15th every year the North American Rock Garden Society releases the listing of seeds available through the seed exchange. This year there were 2400 different seed varieties available and the contributions came from all over the world. In my case the seeds I’ve requested came from contributors in the U.S., Canada, England, Scotland, Finland, Poland, Germany, and the Czech Republic. If you have any interest in growing unusual plants from seed I highly recommend exploring the NARGS seed exchange.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day November 2022
As it turns to Fall (wintertime temperatures are on the way but we have been spared a hard frost so far) this GBBD post has to focus on Camellias. It is always amazing to me what a long season we have with the Camellias. Between the C. japonicas and C. sasanquas (and the various hybrids) we usually have Camellias blooming from October through April. I began growing them with 1 gallon pots that brought on airplane rides from California and then put them in the basement each winter until I realized they were actually hardy here. We had one really cold winter that seemingly killed this red sasanqua to the point where i actually cut it back to the ground. And then the next year it came back vigorously. So this bushy flowering plant is actually the second rebirth of our Fall Camellia.
Some of the others in bloom right now are shown below.
Elsewhere in the garden the Cestrum continues it’s flowerful display
Pretty special for a plant that dies back to the ground every winter.
Right next to it is the Japanese quince that has no business blooming in November (but it often does).
We have had a very extended Fall and the roses are still putting out blossoms.
And out at the front fence there are a continuing sequence of flowers on the Daphne I planted there several years ago.
In the pasture I still see spots of color from the gaillardia that have volunteered from wildflower plantings.
In the alpine bed there is still a single Moroccan Poppy remaining from the many that flowered there this year.
In the vegetable garden we not only have flowers of various sorts but fall peas and lettuce still coming in.
And then lastly let me close with an indoor flower. We see flowers twice a year from the potted Amazon Lily and once again it is doing its thing with a minimum of care.
Highly recommended as a wonderful houseplant that can play outside in the summertime.