Lots in Bloom

Lots of blooms in the garden now. I took these photos just before the big downpours finished off the rhododendrons. Here's a close-up of the same plant.

It's a roseum elegans that I planted about twelve years ago. It's shady here in the north yard and we have a light mulch of chopped leaves at the base of the rhododendrons.

The red one is nova zembla and it's a smaller bush but very bright.

We added this pink one just a few years ago, but it's already blooming pretty well.

The beauty bush (Kolwitzia amabilis) was already here when we bought the place sixteen years ago and it just keeps getting nicer every year. It's a very tall bush, located in more shade than it would prefer, but it blooms every year. The small white blossoms have orange freckles inside ... very charming.

We have two of these red honeysuckle (Lonicera) vines, both of which were labeled "Dropmore Scarlet." But this one is earlier blooming and redder than the more orange one. This one has finished already, but yesterday I saw a hummingbird on the later one. The tiny birds love the long-necked blossoms for their nectar!

Some plants show off flowers, but for others foliage is the name of the game. With all the rain we've had, the ostrich ferns are looking good this year, as are the hostas. The white flowers in the photo above are meadow rue (Thalictrum).

The siberian iris are lovely this year and we have lots of them. They are easier to grow than many other irises and they have delicate, tall leaves that are attractive even after the blooms are finished.

The siberian iris are especially pretty next to the early blooming white peonies. I need to take some more pics, because now all the lactiflora peonies (i.e., "regular" peonies as opposed to the earlier woody tree peonies) are in bloom.
But it was the white ones (very fragrant) that started this show.

This bright red peony is a hybrid I bought many years ago from a daylily, iris, and peony breeder who lived in Monticello, Illinois. It is named Eliza Lundy.

I can't cook without onions, and I can't imagine a garden without some of these giant onions (Allium giganteum). I bought three bulbs many years and two gardens ago, and they have moved well, spread well, and bloomed well with no coddling whatsoever ... very reliable plants.

I love all the "pinks"--Dianthus, the family that florist carnations hail from. They come in a wide range of sizes and coloration, and some are very sweetly scented.

I also love the columbines (Aquilegia). The native ones are yellow and red, but the hybrids come in all colors and sizes. I was once told by a plant friend that columbines were very "promiscuous" and so they cross and cross and nobody knows which hybrid is which in their garden.

These tiny but charming flowers are from a dwarf shrub called Deutzia nikko. The whole thing is only about six inches tall and puts up with a fair amount of shade and neglect but blooms every year in late spring. I just love it.

Even though the forget-me-not blue flowers have finished on all of the Brunnera macrophylla  in my garden, the "Jack Frost" hybrid is still pretty showy because of its foliage.

The Japanese painted fern also has very striking foliage. There are a number of varieties of this fern on the market now and they are all nice to have.

There is just one northern maidenhair fern, to my knowledge, but with its black stems and oh-so-dainty fronds it's one of my favorite plants.

Well, already many of these beauties have finished their season of flowering and others have come into bloom to take their place (turn, turn, turn), so I will need to go out with the trusty digital sometime soon again. In the meanwhile, I have been busy planting annuals in all the containers and buying some perennials to fill in beds that are going to be weeded. Below is the first annual planter pic. I'll take pics again later as the annuals grow and fill in the pots more.

So ... happy summer! Happy gardening!