What’s Blooming!

Blooms and blooms and blooms!  I woke up today to a temperature in the upper 50s, can you believe that? In July!  That is not so unusual for later in August, but wow.   It felt so refreshing!

Let’s start with a shot of the whole shebang.  The lawn is neatly mowed and edged here.

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 The grass is nice and green. Too bad it is mostly clover and crabgrass LOL, but it looks green, so I don’t care.  John also did a lot of touch-up paint this spring, so thank you John!!

The last of the old-fashioned daylilies this year.

 

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The orientpet is also just about done.

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I have a terrible case of red lily beetles this year, although it is not just me.  This area is being hit hard by them.  One of the garden club members said the beetles stripped her lilies to the stems with just a blossom on the top!  Guess I am lucky they just are chewing them.  I don’t spray, so this is the result.

Tiger lily heirloom:

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I love these so much.  I feel like you could put one of these on a present as a bow!

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Those little black balls on the stem are part of the plant. I don’t know what purpose they serve, but they were there last year and this year and are attached to the plant.

These are quite tall, too>

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My butterfly bush has a bloom on it now.  This is very stunted this year, probably 3.5 feet tall instead of the usual 5+.  The bloom is huge, though!  I have never seen one this long.

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Maybe some butterflies will come now.  There haven’t been many this year. 🙁

My sweet potato vine took over the pot this year.

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It’s only July and I wonder how long that will get LOL!  Gonna strangle the mail carrier.

Surprise black-eyed Susan in the armeria.

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Those blue dots are petals that fell from the delphinium, FYI.

Razzmatazz.  This plant is coming with to the new house.  I don’t care if I have to dig it up in the dead of winter LOL!

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I just can’t express how happy this garden makes me.  Even when parts of it frustrate me, I love the challenge and I also love how stuff pops up where it feels comfortable.  Like this snapdragon:

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I haven’t actually planted snapdragons in years.  They are all volunteers. All I do is deadhead and let the seeds go where they will.  I never know where they are going to pop up.

My first experience with a spike plant has been a success.  This is a traditional pairing, but I have never done it before.

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Have a great weekend everybody!

11 thoughts on “What’s Blooming!

  1. debby

    Oh your Razzmataz is the best! I was going to say something about the coneflowers must like your climate better, but I looked them up and they actually like it hot and dry! What’s wrong with me???

    1. Lori Post author

      It’s funny, coneflowers are always touted as these drought tolerant plants perfect for xeriscape, but they actually really like water.

  2. Helen

    I love the long shot of your house. You and I live in similar neighborhoods, other than the fact that I live on a hill that is. Did John end up putting pavers in place of your sidewalk? It looks good whatever he did.

    I was just thinking last night how each year I find some things are doing really well (tomatoes are crazy!) and then others (like my fuschia) that might have done well last year, are really not this year. I guess it’s the cycle of gardening, even when the gardening is in pots.

    1. Lori Post author

      We are actually at the top of a hill and biking up to our house from what is the right in this picture is a bear LOL!

      John used a mold for cement that looks like pavers. Each square uses 1 bag of cement. It’s a neat product, although having to redo some of them was annoying. I don’t know if I would recommend Quickcrete, but some other cement product.

  3. Kim

    Wow – I love the front shot of your house and yard – all beautiful!!!
    Wish we could have had just a bit of your cooler weather the past couple of days – 100 is way to hot for doing a garage sale!!

  4. Cammy@TippyToeDiet

    I’m playing catch-up on my reader today. So sorry your work has been so stressful. How great, though, that you have biking and gardening and John to help with the rough spots!

  5. Michelle F

    I also have the Tiger Lilies and wondered about the black bits. I don’t remember what they are called, but you can propagate new lilies from them, although it sounds like it’s not easy. I guess they can be planted like bulbs if they are collected at the right time. So, the black things have to do with making more lilies.

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