Monday, July 14

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: July 2008

On the 15th of every month, Carol over at May Dreams Gardens takes a break from planting plastic spoons and filing quarterly gardening reports to host Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. I am usually late to these gatherings, so this month I decided to get ahead and post a day early instead.

Walking out into the garden this morning, I realized 2 things almost immediately: 1) My garden is showing the effects of having gone for 3 weeks without any attention from me, and 2) "July" and "Jungle" may have a few different letters between them, but they are one in the same in my main backyard garden bed:


Yikes! Crazy, huh? Ligularia, eggplant, blueberry shrubs, creeping thyme... no wonder my garden has a bit of an identity crisis going on! Most are foliage and edible plants, but there are a few things in flower. Like this 'Yubi Red' portulaca and light purple Russian sage:


And at the feet of the Russian sage, this cute little Hardy Ice Plant from Mulberry Creek Herb Farm is a color echo for the portulaca blooms:


Walking further back, I am reminded that I have not yet dug up the little strip at the side of the driveway, in order to start my lavender hedge, by these 'Grosso' blooms:


The bees (and I) enjoy the drumstick flowers of allium sphaerocephalon:


And I wonder why the butterflies continue to ignore my bronze fennel, and my butterfly weed:


'Cinderella' asclepias, wintersown with seed shared by the wonderful Colleen, isn't even enough to tempt them, it seems:


At the end of the garden, my 'Copper King' lilies brighten up one of the grape arbor posts, although they appear a bit washed out in this early morning light. They are just about done blooming:


Around the corner, the first of these pretty lilies--which bloom like stargazers but stay dwarf--has just become fully open:


Nearby, a shrubby little clematis weaves its dainty blue blooms amongst the strawberries and sedum:


In the front yard, the garden is mostly quiet. The Spanish foxgloves are finished, and there are only a few snapdragons and verbena to keep the lovely oakleaf hydrangea blooms company:


Containers carry their weight here, though. In addition to the big urn, chock full of stuff, and the porch planter with New Guinea impatiens and lots of coleus, the rescued crown of thorns plant is happily blooming away at the bottom of the steps:


Since my digital camera is so old, it doesn't take good pictures at dusk... so I didn't get good shots of the other containers this time. Here is where our tour of July's blooms ends in my garden--but check out May Dreams Gardens on the 15th to see what's blooming around the world!

-------- My full July Blooms List:

Shrubs, grasses and climbers: Oakleaf hydrangea, clematis integrifolia, lonicera sempervirens, 'Rotstrahlbusch' panicum virgatum

Perennials and bulbs: 'Caradonna' salvia, Spanish foxglove (almost finished,) 'Chubby Fingers' sedum, 'Fuldaglut' sedum, 'Marcus' salvia, hardy red ice plant, Russian sage, various hosta, NOID artemisia, asclepias tuberosa, 'Cinderella' asclepias, drumstick allium, NOID dwarf lilies, 'Copper King' lilies, linaria, Mom's dianthus, 'Walker's Low' catmint, various heuchera

Annuals, herbs and vegetables: 'Bonfire' begonia, 'Totally Tempted' cuphea, 'Black & Blue' salvia, various snapdragons, purple verbena, everbearing strawberries, all tomatoes, sweet peppers, salvia officinalis, 'Infinity Orange Frost' New Guinea impatiens

18 comments:

chuck b. said...

Hurray for the jungles of July!

Frances, said...

Hi Kim, your jungle is great, we have one too, and it is not as photogenic as yours. I have to remark on your Copper King lilies, they appear to be Chinese trumpets, where did you get them, for I have never seen that variety in the catalogs? I am letting my golden splendor and regale go to seed to try and grow them that way, have you ever done that?
Frances

Lisa at Greenbow said...

Kim your jungle is terrific. It is funny how when it gets hot the garden really gets going in more than one way. Your butterfly weed is gorgeous. I have tried to start that so many times. I have a small start going again this year. I hope it takes. The butterflies will come. They seem to be just emerging in our garden.

Cindy said...

There is nothing wrong with a jungle. I love your ice plants and the butterfly weed.

Carol Michel said...

I love a good gardener's jungle! And I must, must, must, must get one of these blue shrub clematis. MUST! I'm going to stop reading bloom day posts, search for it online, and order one now.

You have a lot of great flowers right now, and oh, yes, I have some Allium blooming, too, and forgot to include them on my post!

Thanks for joining in for bloom day.

Carol, May Dreams Gardens

Mr. McGregor's Daughter said...

Thanks for giving the Latin name of the Allium. I have that one & I never knew the name as they were bonus freebies. You must have some dumb butterflies to pass on such gorgeous Asclepias(es?).

Gail said...

Kim,

I love your garden! First I saw the white clematis at Carols and now this blue...they are both lovely! I mentioned several times at other GBBD that looking at bloggers' gardens is akin to thumbing through garden catalogs; every page I turn down a corner to remember where I saw the plant(s) I want! Here it's alliums and clematis...and ice plant and ....

Gail

Colleen Vanderlinden said...

I'm with Carol...I need one of those shrub clematis. My butterflies have been all over my butterfly weed, but have ignored 'Cinderella' as far as I can tell. Weird that they're not going for it in your garden, either.

And you've reminded me that I need ice plants. I have so many hot dry spots in my garden in which they would work perfectly.

Gorgeous as always, Kim :-)

DP Nguyen said...

Your garden does look a little cluttered, but I do like the variety of colors and plants that you have in the jungle. There's nothing wrong with letting your garden grow without your attention. It looks like there's still a path there!

Unknown said...

chuck b, you made me smile. :)

Frances, I sincerely doubt that your jungle is not photogenic! Not based on what else I've seen in your garden...

I replied to Frances' questions about the trumpet lilies on your blog, but just in case anyone else is wondering, they were labeled as "trumpet lilies," and I know that I bought them as a package of bulbs at a local garden center. I'm going to search for the original label to see what else I can find out about them.

Greenbow Lisa, it really has--all of the weeds have gone gangbusters in the last two weeks! lol. And I really hope you're right, and the butterflies are on their way...

Thanks, Cindy! :)

Carol, that's what I thought about your white shrub clematis!!! If only mine wasn't such a baby still, I would have asked if you wanted to trade divisions... *sigh* I'm also glad to see that I'm not the only one who looks at other GBBD posts and thinks, "Oh, no! I forgot X Plant!"

Mr. McGregor's Daughter, you got those drumstick alliums as a bonus freebie?! I'm so jealous... I stalked them for a while before I found them anywhere locally. :)

Thanks, Gail! And you're so right about the whole GBBD=gardening catalogs idea. I get sooo many ideas from looking at other people's GBBD posts. And from yours this month, I learned that monardas are natives--and that gives me license to plant more!

Colleen, if mine were only big enough, you could have a start... :) I still owe you for my 'Cinderella' seeds, I think! And how funny that butterflies are ignoring your 'Cinderella' too... do you think they're just waiting for their butterfly prince to come along? *grin/groan*

DP Nguyen, thanks for stopping by! There actually isn't a path through there at all, but I like the idea that it looks like their might be. Maybe this jungle can be tamed after all. :)

The Diva said...

Kim, I think your garden is beautiful. I grow many of the same plants in mine, all drought hardy. I love the salvias and sages too.

Growing Lavender escaped me for awhile. I couldn't get it enough drainage, but a friend helped me figure it out. I like the way it smells when I brush by it while weeding.

That clematis is stunning. I want one.~~Dee

Anonymous said...

July is a jungle indeed down this way - we've had more rain than last year (which is a very good thing) and I was just thinking today how much things...grow...down here. Vines - unwanted vines - all kinds of vines. It gets crazy.

It's always interesting to compare where things 'are' in your garden, compared to mine. The oakleaf, the lilies - it really is a big difference!

Unknown said...

Dee, I know what you mean about the lavender. I have very well-drained soil here, but at my old house I failed with it a few times before someone told me to mound up the soil and plant the lavender at the top of the mound to help the water drain away... and now I tell everyone that when they buy it and I'm working at the garden center. :)

(Oh, mine is planted at the corner of my driveway so it gets brushed past quite a bit, too. I love that!)

Pam, isn't it interesting to compare? See why I was so jealous of your "early" oakleaf sightings... *grin*

It's amazing what kind of... I don't know what to call it, biomass?... that our gardens produce in the course of a season, isn't it? Right now I'm throwing all of the perennial weeds into bags for the city to compost (their piles get hotter than mine, to kill roots and seeds) but I regret not being able to return the nutrients to my own soil.

Entangled said...

Kim, have you visited Mulberry Creek Herb Farm in person? I was planning a visit to Ohio this summer and thought I might stop by there, but it looks like it's not gonna happen. Anyhow, I've mail-ordered from them in the past and I always enjoy their catalog.

I don't know why Asclepias tuberosa is called butterfly weed. I've rarely seen any butterflies on it. Mine's sometimes been defoliated by tussock moth caterpillars, but that doesn't count in my mind.

gintoino said...

Great looking jungle! Is that a Miscanthus sinensis at the far end of the "jungle". That's a lovelly grass, I want to try it one of these days in my garden, I hope it can stand the drought. And the blue clematis...lovely!

Unknown said...

Entangled, no, I haven't been there in person. I have received their catalog and was lucky enough to find a local garden center that carried their organic herbs and a few of their alpine plants this year, though. They aren't too far from where I live, and I would love to have an excuse to visit them--and meet you--so if you happen to revisit that visit idea at any point, let me know!

gintoino, it is a miscanthus. Variety unknown for sure, but it's either 'Zebrinus' or 'Strictus' because it has the horizontal gold banding. (I'm leaning toward the latter, but not having seen 'Strictus' in person before I am not sure if mine is quite upright enough.) Either way, it can definitely stand the drought!

WiseAcre said...

clematis integrifolia

I want some of that next to my Clematis tangutica 'Radar Love' The blue would go nice with the yellow.

Blogs are like catalogs. Sooner or later you'll run across a plant that you just have to have. The only problem is blogs don't have an order form.

lisa said...

Boy, I have been away from the internet a lot this year...gotta catch up! Thank you for that ice plant link, they sure have a big selection! They have one that I could grow, Iberis sempervirens 'Snow Cushion'. I have found that zone ratings vary widely for these, but the only one that actually comes back for me is the yellow. 'Snow cushion' is rated to z4, so it's right up my alley! "Blogs are like catalogs"...oh yea, and that combined with Ebay and beer has led to gross misappropriation of my descretionary funds (for the last 2 years! :) But thanks to you, I can now wintersow sucessfully, so my indulgences don't hurt (quite) as much. ;-)

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