Tiny Lily Update, Can You Tell Them Apart Without the Flowers?

I'm finally learning the difference between the different lily types in Chris' collection. They all sound similar so luckily I made a map a while ago that shows me what is where. Here is a status report on the emerging lilies:

Lily 'Tiny Invader'

Lily 'Tiny Pearl'

Lily 'After Eight'

Lily 'Tiny Shadow'

Recap: Best Blooms Summer 2016

I have a ton of photos from early spring before anything was really happening, and then as soon as things really started blooming my blogging slowed down. Here is a recap of summer bloom photos that I neglected to post.

Siberian iris

Lily 'After Eight'

Erigeron speciosus 'Darkest of All'

Hosta 'Frozen Margarita'

Siberian iris

Lily 'After Eight'

Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night'

Purple coneflower 'Magnus'

Athyrium nipponicum 'Pictum'

Cercis canadensis ‘Ruby Falls’

Lily 'Tiny Invader'

Lily 'Tiny Pearl' (front) and 'Tiny Invader' (back)

Lily 'Tiny Shadow'

Lots of New Additions! Lavender Lace, Frozen Margarita, Tiny Shadow, and Bloomerang

Here are some new additions! I got 4 of these EverLast^™ Lavender Lace Dianthus 'KLEDG13146' as a backup plan when Lowe's was out of Drummond's Pink phlox. I figured I could make a sort of back row to my tiny arborvitae bed, but it looked too crowded so I moved them to the larger back bed and now I'm in love.

Set of three Dianthus 'KLEDG13146' Lavender Lace

I ended up buying some Drummond's Pink phlox on Etsy trying to match the exact color and species. Okay, so Drummond's Pink should be the exact same DNA as the one on sale in Lowe's right? Ummm... someone's playing me because these do not look like the same color at all... so who was mistaken? Maybe it's because they were in a box for 4 days, maybe they will perk up and change color. I guess we'll see! I won't name nursery and bash them. Worst case scenario, they are slightly different and the story makes it onto my garden tour as a fun fact, lol.

Mail order Drummond's Pink phlox looks slightly off but I guess we'll see if it grows in correctly

Update 4/30/16: Sure enough, after being out of the box for several days, the colors actually changed! Hey what do you know, color changing phlox! I'm glad I didn't leave a nasty review on Etsy because these are indeed Drummond's Pink.

Let's see, next up is Hosta 'Frozen Margarita' (who comes up with these names?) It's got white margins similar to Patriot, but it's supposed to be a very shiny leaf. Whenever there is a hosta on the sale table I jump on it, because it turns into multiple divisions and you never have to buy that variety again. $3 for this one, down from $9.

Hosta 'Frozen Margarita' from the sale bin for $3

I also got another Japanese Andromeda 'Passion' from the sale table for $3 (what a deal!) and Chris picked out a lily for his growing lily collection (full price) this one is called Tiny Shadow and it's super interesting looking! Can't wait for it to bloom.

Started losing track of all all these 'tiny' lilies so this is my lily collection map

Ok and here is the grand finale, it's the plant we've all been waiting for, it's a Bloomerang reblooming purple lilac!

I had to be careful not to step on any of my other plants as I carved out a hole in the exact center of my special clearing. My 3 foot by 3 foot space has been waiting for this for over a year!

I dug down a little more than 2 feet and added some pea gravel to the bottom, then a half bag of top soil, then stuck the root ball on top and used an entire 2nd bag of top soil all around the root ball. It ended up a couple inches over the lip of the hole, which was perfect since lilac don't like wet feet. I think it's going to do really well here! I'm really happy with it!

Syringa x 'Penda' on a standard

I triple checked the trunk to make sure it was straight and how I liked it, I just hope it doesn't blow over because we are expecting 3 days of rain and thunderstorms.