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'

Temp Swings and Restless Plants Ready to Wake Up

I'm seeing an awful lot of green brewing just below the surface. These perennials are poking little tester leaves up before they decide to wake up for the Spring. The crocus' are also a good bit ahead of schedule compared to last year. It's looking like a good week with several days in a row above 60°F in the week ahead.

Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' putting out little feeler leaves trying to decide if it's time to wake up

Crocus today, March 4, 2016

Crocus coming in ahead of schedule, March 4, 2016

We had about an inch of snow a couple days ago on March 2, hopefully the last snow of the season. I think these two photos below sum up the past week. I'm surprised my plants aren't more confused, because I certainly am.

One more thing I wanted to post, I modified the tiny side bed with the emerald green arborvitae. The rocks weren't high enough to hold up a level mulch bed, so the mulch would slide down the side whenever it rained. I raised the rocks and added a few larger ones. Now it looks like too many rocks, maybe I'll take away some of the smaller ones. Anyway, now the bed is level on top. I noticed a ton of red roots probably from the arborvitae - that thing rooted in better than I thought. I'm hoping it puts on some vertical growth this season. At this rate it'll be years before it provides any kind of privacy.

Noticed a lot of roots as I was adjusting the height of the rocks to level the mulch bed. Mixed feelings about the smaller rocks. We'll see.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - October 2015

I've still got some color on this gorgeous Fall day! The weather has been dry and sunny, not as wet as last year. That means more watering to be done for the trees and relatively new lawn, and nice clear nights for stargazing.

It's the day after Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, so I thought I'd submit my day-late post since I have the day off on this beautiful Friday.

Let's see what we have today... My hardy pampas grass in the corner of the yard is doing great in its first full growing season. It put up one massive stalk with a wonderful feathery plume on top, and there are 2 more much shorter stalks going up. One of the smaller ones bloomed just the other day. It's odd to see one 9 foot and two 4 foot stalks, but I guess it just couldn't muster the energy to make these as tall as the first.

Smaller bloom on Erianthus ravennae 'Hardy Pampas Grass', see taller one here

Next, the all-star of my Fall garden has been the New England aster 'Purple Dome' - the flowers are maturing and drying up a bit, but from a distance the purple color is still a nice touch. I noticed the pollinators started arriving once the flowers had matured a bit rather than right when they opened.

Aster novae-angliae 'Purple Dome'

Other honorable mentions to go Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride' for blooming for a second time in their first year (I just put them in this Spring). And Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' that has been sputtering out but still holding color after dead-heading a few rounds of earlier blooms.

Finally, my Russian sage 'Little Spire' is doing a great job hiding the utility box in the front yard, but also provides a great hiding place for rabbits - so I have mixed feelings at this point. At least the purple flowers add some color to what is becoming a big messy brush patch.

Russian sage 'Little Spire' getting a little brushy

It's also worth mentioning that my linden tree out front still has a good amount of yellow leaves on it. This time last year it was completely bare. After 1.5 years of no growth, I'm hoping to see some action this Spring since it will have had plenty of time to get its roots in order.

Dusseldorf Pride Encore Performance or Just Confused

I've already commented about the long bloom time of my Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride' and now it seems this adorable plant is putting out one last bud as sort of an encore performance. It's almost September, what the heck! So cute.

Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride' - One last bud before saying goodnight for the Fall

Update 9/10/2015: A few more buds coming out, this thing is really confused! Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride'

Speaking of "I can't believe it's still flowering" check these out:

Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' - August 25, 2015

Lavandula angustifolia 'Wee One' - August 25, 2015

What's Growing in My Salvia?

One of my Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' is growing faster than the other, but maybe I've been attributing the increase biomass to a weed and not the Little Night itself. At first I noticed a different leaf texture growing on the plant, but when I saw little white buds forming I knew this wasn't part of the Salvia at all.

Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night' with an intruder right in the middle

It must be a weed that came along, and has been growing the whole time. Funny, the one with the weed is actually doing better.

Ok, you might be thinking - great blog post Eric, you pulled a weed, good for you. Well it's Saturday morning and that means I get to inspect my yard and look at it very closely and then blog about taking photos of it, which is like my version of fun!

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - May 2015

Happy 15th of the month and Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day! It's so nice to have a monthly check-in that I've created a Bloom Day tab in the navigation bar. I don't plan to use this day each month as an inventory of every single plant in my yard, but I would like to highlight the ones that have got my attention.

This Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is also extra special because I have a Ruby Falls weeping redbud arriving by UPS this afternoon! I've had my eye on this tree for a long time and I can't wait to give it a home (and hopefully it likes clay soil more than my poor Japanese maple).

Lavandula angustifolia 'Wee One'

My dwarf lavender "Wee One" is blooming. I have two of them, both ordered from High Country Gardens. One is doing great and the other is just okay - it's still alive and putting up new shoots but had about half the stems die back. It'll be fine!

Next up, my Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride' is doing amazing! I've been dead-heading the old flowers and it's putting up so many more! They just keep coming! It's amazing especially because they come out of this little lump of what looks like grass, it's like magic - how many blooms are hiding in there?

Armeria maritima 'Dusseldorf Pride'

Salvia sylvestris 'Little Night'

Itea virginica 'Sprich' Little Henry

Lilium 'After Eight'

Ok, so I like to note that all of the things I have in bloom above were bought and planted this Spring, so they are not growing from the ground up. Everything below, however, was planted last year and has grown from the ground - which gives a much better indicator of true bloom time here in Indiana.

Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' - plants are now above the knee and have buds forming!

Hosta ‘Sum and Substance’