Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - August 2021

It's been hot. We've been having a slight reprise of our "heat dome" for the past five days, and I for one, am done with it. I remember long, hot August days in previous years, but somehow this year's heat seems harder to take. The garden is feeling it, too.

Case in point: Echinacea 'Sombrero Salsa Red'. The flowers should still be a vibrant, rich red. Instead most have faded to more of a rusty red, in spite of regular irrigation.

Also feeling pretty tired are the flowers of Agastache "Acapulco Orange'. They are still blooming, just not as robustly as they did last year.

But enough bemoaning of the heat; some plants are performing like they were born to it. Lagerstroemia 'Natchez" is a heat-loving summer stalwart. Some of the lower branches have formed flower trusses this year, so it's easier to admire them and grab a picture of the blooms.

Gardenia 'Frostproof ' is noticing we removed the eucalyptus that partially shaded it.

Rosa 'Sally Holmes' is taking the heat in stride with a fresh flush of blooms.

Daphne 'Eternal Fragrance'

I love the papery flower heads of Luzula nivea.

Catananche caerula.

In a pot, because we're Zone 8, Bougainvillea 'Camarillo Fiesta'. I'm thinking about planting one in the ground next summer.

There aren't as many flowers on Begonia boliviensis this year. The ones there are good, but I think it needs more feeding.

This is the third summer in the ground for this NOID Cuphea. The hummers check it out for nectar every day.

Summering on the patio is good for Clivia 'Belgian Hybrid Orange'.

 

Eucomus comosa 'Sparkling Burgundy'.

 

Pretty seedhead shapes on Cyperus alternifolia.

In the Northwest Territory, the beach daisy, Erigeron glaucus, is blooming on.

I have a number of similar Cyclamen all planted close to each other. These first little blooms may be C. 'Xera Sterling'.

Finishing with a flourish, here's Heterotheca villosa brightening up the Northwest Territory. It's absolutely covered with pollinators!

As always, I'm joining Carol at May Dreams Gardens to celebrate the flowers in our gardens for August.

Happy Bloom Day, all!

 

 

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2021. Now, with pollinators!

After incinerating us in late June, Portland weather has settled down to pleasant 70-80 degree highs for a few weeks. It makes for nice gardening, but there are multiple plants in my garden that would like more than cloudy mornings and gently warming days. Some like it hot - me among them! But since we're already halfway through summer (nooooo!) I do have some summer flowers, and a few of their pollinator friends, to share today.

Here's Echinacea 'Sombrero Salsa Red'.

These Echinacea, from around a 'Rainbow Marcella" plant, attract major numbers of Bombus to their blooms.

 

Another pollinator attractor is Helenium puberulum, with its odd little button flowers. To the left of it are the fading flowers of Salvia desoleana.

Once the individual florets on Echinops ritro open, they'll be covered with bees.

 

Eryngium agavifolium seems to attract flies. I can't detect any kind of foul odor but there must be something there...  The flower heads are cool, regardless.

The flowers in the top image, a newer Hesperaloe parviflora plant, are a softer pink and paler on the inside than the ones on my five-year-old plant. This one came from our spring bloggers swap, and I'm delighted it settled in happily enough to bloom this summer. The older plant is below, with a happy bee explorer.

Cypella herbertii keeps pumping out blooms.

Eucomis 'Sparkling Burgundy', a reliable summer bloomer.

While looking out for pollinators today, I noticed the tiny blooms of Origanum vulgarum.

 

Catananche caerulea is a nice hit of blue to lead into all my orange flowers coming up.

Agastache 'Acapulco Orange' finally doing it's thing. It wants more sun, but I love it right here near the patio.

Agastache rupestris.

Agastache aurantiaca 'Tango', I believe.

A late-blooming milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa. The earlier blooming plants had their flowers cooked, so there were no milkweed pods. I hope this one will make seed after it opens.

 

Lastly, Crocosmia 'Corona'. I grow just a few crocosmia these days, due to their thuggish ways. This one may not last much longer in the garden (I say that every year) but until I evict it, I'll enjoy its pretty, bi-colored flowers.

 

I'm joining Carol, of May Dreams Gardens, to celebrate the flowers blooming in our gardens on the 15th of each month.

Happy Bloom Day, all!

 

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - June 2021 - Astoria Edition

Welcome to my very first Garden Bloggers Bloom Day post from Astoria! No, we haven't moved here permanently, but the garden (at least the south slope I have been slowly converting) is finally flowering enough that I can put together a post for Bloom Day. It's been an arduous process with many lessons learned about deer-resistance, weather surprises, and an infuriating, entrenched population of new-to-me weed species. There's still so much left to do, but let's get to the successes!

Some of the first plants I put into the Astoria garden were multiple rosemary and lavender. I knew herbs would grow fast and be more tolerant of not getting watered regularly, and that they were deer-resistant. I love the unassuming straight species (Lavandula angustifolia and Rosemarinus officinalis) and they have rewarded me by growing robustly.

Here's another simple, happy and deer-resistant small shrub that grows in multiple places in this garden. Santolina chamaecyparissus, or Lavender-Cotton, sports these cheerful yellow button flowers in early summer. They came from Skyler of Tangly Cottage Garden and I learned from her that they should be sheared hard in late winter to keep their shape and prevent sprawl.

I added several Verbena bonariensis this spring after seeing how well one did last year. So far the deer are leaving them mostly alone.

Three Penstemon heterophyllis 'Electric Blue' planted in spring of 2020 came out of winter happier than they went in. They hung on last year after being cropped by deer but so far are avoiding that fate this year. It's great to finally have those intense blue flowers! The hover fly thinks so too.

Penstemon 'Margarita BOP' fared slightly better last year and is coming back with even more flowers this year.

Many of the plants I try in Astoria are courtesy of our twice-yearly Oregon Garden Bloggers plant swap. This Salvia 'Skyscraper Orange' came from Lance of GardenRiots this spring, and the color is fantastic. I hope it likes life in Astoria.

I visited Mary DeNoyer's beautiful open garden last weekend, via my membership in the Hardy Plant Society of Oregon (it’s such a deal, people!) After admiring Digitalis parviflora 'Milk Chocolate' in her garden, I was delighted to check my records and confirm I had the very same cultivar in my Astoria garden.

Cistus obtusifolius is in its third spring here in the garden. Sometimes the deer eat the flowers, and sometimes they don't.

I brought several Libertia peregrinans 'Bronze Sword' out from my Portland garden. They grow well and color up nicely, and the deer seem completely uninterested in them. Win!!

 

I brought all my Kniphofia 'Timothy' plants out to Astoria last spring, because they needed more sun than they were getting in my increasingly shady garden. I guess they like Astoria!

Digitalis purpurea 'Alba', another Blogger plant swap selection, has a nice view of the bay to help it flower.

This Grevillea 'Poorinda Leane' was one of the earliest shrubs I put in. Despite some "pruning" by local deer, it has outpaced their ability to eat it and has been flowering non-stop since November. Such a rewarding addition to the garden!

Lastly, two more lovely bloomers courtesy of Tangly Cottage Garden. Libertia grandiflora is happily thriving and defying the deer.

And Allium christophii provides a big pink punch of color and form near the front door. I need many more of these in Astoria.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is hosted monthly by the lovely Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Happy Bloom Day from Astoria, all!