Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day: June 2008

Usually, gardeners wax poetic about the blooms of this month, but the middle of June is kind of a weird time in my garden. The irises are already done, including my gorgeous 'Samurai Warrior' red iris, and the only other typical mid-June bloomer that puts on a show for me is my 'Dortmund' rose.

Here you see 'Dortmund's lower blooms, the first ones to open, partially obscured by bronze fennel foliage. Outside of the rose, the only other really showy thing in my garden is a stand of goatsbeard (aruncus sinensis 'Zweiweltenkind') plants. The goatsbeard is very pretty, but even if you don't like the flowers themselves, they are amazing to see in bloom due to their size. The 6-strong clumps flower at about 4ft in height!

My 'Samobor' geraniums still have a few delicate blooms holding on, but most of the flowering stems were cut back a week or more ago.

One of my lady's mantle had to be deadheaded when its great chartreuse blooms turned brown. A second lady's mantle is sporting a new haircut ever since I decided to move it (which was cause for a huge pouting--er, wilting--episode) last week. But the other alchemilla mollis is still blooming nicely, with the variegated sedum behind it picking up its color for a 1-2 punch.

The abutilon megapotanicum that I grew in the house over the winter was cut back severely this spring when it was shipped outside, but it seems to be much happier in its new, sunny situation.

Across the driveway from the pot of parlor maple, some cute little rock garden plants are starting to cover up the retaining wall block nicely. At left and bottom is the 'Chubby Fingers' sedum album, and in the middle top is a pretty gray creeping germander that I bought last year from High Country Gardens. To the right is the woolly thyme that makes me smile when I step on it to weed the bed behind--it has a very pretty, light scent. It's got scattered blooms in a color similar to the germander, too.

More rock garden plants are blooming in the backyard. Inside one of the "locks" is 'Metallica Crispa' ajuga and silene maritima.

Behind the locks, the perennial snapdragons, saxifrage and 'Cape Blanco' sedums are settling into their new home, with the linaria not really missing a beat in terms of bloom.

The front yard has some interesting blooms, too. On the left side (streetside) of the Japanese maple, you can see the pretty contrast between the lacey Japanese maple leaves and the 'Purple Dragon' lamium that is planted underneath it.

Moving around to the left (house side) of the maple, its lowest branches have started to grow together with my 'Northern Halo' hosta. I usually cut off hosta flowers before they have a chance to really bloom, but for some reason these really work for me in conjunction with the cream-edged hosta and the Japanese maple foliage. So they get to stay. Other flowers that usually get cut before they can even bloom are those on my coralbells, but a few heuchera flowers got to stick around this spring as well. Maybe I'm getting soft in my old age?

At the other end of the soft spectrum, the most unusual blooms around here are a funky little pink blossom on my cobweb sempervivum, and the little clustered flower/seedheads from my carex buchanii. I couldn't get a really good picture of either (in the second shot, you see a few clusters cascading into the other sempervivum, below) but I think that this will look really interesting once the hens and chicks fill in. It has a natural xeriscape look to it that I really like.

Make sure to check out the rest of what's blooming around the world via the June GBBD Post at May Dreams Gardens (hosted by the lovely Carol)... here my full blooming list:


Shrubs, climbers and grasses:
- 'Black Beauty' sambucus nigra
- 'Sykes Dwarf' oakleaf hydrangea
- 'Dortmund' rose
- unknown dark purple clematis (probably jackmanii)
- carex buchanii
- carex 'Beetlemania'
- physocarpus 'Diabolo' (almost done)

Perennials/bulbs:
- cobweb sempervivum
- digitalis parviflora
- allium ostrowskiana
- 'Walker's Low' catmint
- 'Ivory Queen' hellebore (kind of--faded blooms with seedheads)
- 'Doone Valley' thyme
- sedum 'Angelina'
- 'Northern Halo' hosta
- 'Purple Dragon' lamium
- 'Samobor' geranium
- 'Chubby Fingers' sedum
- alchemilla mollis
- salvia officinalis 'Newe Ya'ar'
- salvia 'Caradonna'
- no-tag thornless blackberry, probably 'Navaho'
- 'Cape Blanco' sedum
- linaria 'Mini Lights'
- asclepias tuberosa
- silene maritima
- 'Metallica crispa' ajuga
- salvia plumosa
- aruncus sinensis 'Zweiweltenkind'
- heuchera 'Silver Scrolls' (the only one whose flowerstalks I leave)
- gray creeping germander
- salvia 'Marcus'
- salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout' and 'Purple Volcano'

Annuals, vegetables and houseplants:
- 'Infinity Orange Frost' New Guinea impatiens
- 'Flora Showers Lavender' bicolor snapdragon
- dark purple verbena
- 'Totally Tempted' cuphea
- NOID red bedding begonia with white flowers
- 'Yubi Red' portulaca
- crown of thorns
- abutilon megapotanicum