Bloom Day greetings from the far west U.S. outpost of Astoria, Oregon! Here, and in my Portland, Oregon garden, the weather has finally turned from cool, cloudy and wet to dry, warm and generally sunny. I and my gardens are very happy about the change!
So what's blooming in Astoria, you ask? Let me show you.
I moved three plants of Kniphofia 'Timothy' to Astoria several years ago, and they have rewarded me with beautiful salmon-colored blooms every year since. They had stopped performing in my increasingly shady Portland garden.
Several Santolina chamaecyparissus from Skyler at Tangly Cottage Garden are being the perfect, easy-care survivors of my limited ability to attend to them. I love their bright yellow button flowers and their silver-gray foliage.
Campanula punctata punctata was in the garden when we bought the house, but it has responded to our wet spring with lots of blooms this year.
Verbascum bombiciferum is drawing to a close, bloom-wise. It responded well to life in Astoria, and I want to get multiples next year.
Verbena bonariensis is such a great punctuation mark in the garden. This year I have some that are very short and I'm wondering how that works; do they get tall in their second year? They're happy, whatever.
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| Will you grow up next year? |
The brilliant color of Penstemon heterophyllus 'Electric Blue'.
Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate'. I'm hoping the little seedlings to its northeast are its babies. I love this unusual foxglove.
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| Baby digitalis parviflora seedlings? |
Grevillea 'Poorinda Leane' is one of my best Astoria plants. It has out-competed the deer and blooms nearly year round. It's a total winner in its exposed spot on the south side of the house.
Berkheya purpurea hitchhiked in with another plant from Alan at Mardi Gras Gardener. I couldn't be happier to have this odd, thistle-y plant in the garden. The deer certainly have no interest in it.
Lavender figures prominently in the Astoria garden, and July is its month. It's another deer-resistant, drought-tolerant, easy-to-grow plant that looks good a lot of the year and really lovely in bloom.
Bloom Day is hosted monthly by the lovely Carol of May Dreams Gardens. Skip over there to see what's blooming in gardens all over creation.
Happy Bloom Day, all!
Wish I had enough sun and water for a big Escallonia hedge. It was one of the very few shrubs in the yard I grew up in, known only as “the bee tree” then.
ReplyDeleteReally beautiful! And good work. You've done a lot in a short time.
ReplyDeleteOh, what a wonderful post! Happy Bloom Day (just a bit belated)! Your Campanula punctata punctata is lovely. :)
ReplyDeleteLooking fab, Jane! Thanks for ID-ing that Kniphofia. I passed one very much like it, loved the color, and wondered which one it was. It's wonderful!
ReplyDeleteGorgeous blooms including several that are new to me. I also love that electric blue penstemon. It’s so vibrant!
ReplyDeleteI think 'Poorinda Leane' needs to try out life in my garden, what a stunner. And so exciting you might be getting parviflora seedlings! I found this foxglove and ferruginea at Portland Nursery in 4-inch pots, such a find because they're not easy to source. I wasn't sure if that verbascum would work either. In SoCal it always collapses just when the rosette is most beautiful, no chance at all for blooms. For all your deer travails, it looks like you're finding a way forward!
ReplyDeleteI've hemmed and hawed over that Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate' for years, perhaps I need to find a place for it in my garden as I love that photo! So glad the deer are leaving your Berkheya purpurea alone. I wish I could say the same for the rabbits in my garden.
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