Saturday, August 5, 2023

Blooming Things


Here's another roundup of what's blooming in the garden. I like to make these posts because they help me keep track of what blooms when, and what flowers are successful from year to year. Believe it or not I do sometimes wonder, for example, "When does that inula start blooming?"

And the answer is: July, because that's it above, and it's been going for a couple of weeks now. As you can see, the bees and hoverflies love it.


The big canna lily is finally sending out some flowers. It's not as big or vigorous as last year, for some reason -- maybe because the weather's been cool -- but it's holding its own. The small canna still looks tiny and terrible.


The cardoon has had a very successful year -- it's about eight feet tall and has at least six artichoke-like flower heads. The insects are all over them.


Our orange crocosmia is flowering...


...as is our thalictrum, which we just planted last year. We've never seen it bloom before, and were happy to see it survived the winter!


This is a pink geranium that lives in the side flower bed, where I have to periodically clear away all the invasive ivy to keep it and a few other flowers from getting buried. 


And this is a tiny hydrangea that lives in the middle flower bed. Dave keeps threatening to pull this plant out because it's spindly and never looks very healthy, but it still gives us flowers so I make him keep it. I suppose we should try to shape it more.


And finally, the Japanese anemones are blooming -- which we always take as our sign that it's time to go back to school. They appear every August like clockwork. This one looks a bit like "My Favorite Martian" with antennae sticking out of its head.

There are more flowers out there -- the phlox, the beach asters, the lavender, the loosestrife, the agapanthus. I could make another whole post like this! And yet the garden is on the downslope. We have a couple more months of greenery, but pretty much everything that's going to bloom this year has done so by now -- except the sunflowers. They're still growing.

I have not seen the stokesia or the penstemon. I think they are kaput.

By the way, you'll see that I have once again flip-flopped on capitalizing and/or italicizing the Latin names of plants. I'm giving up on that, unless I give the whole Latin name. It's too complicated.

20 comments:

  1. It is a good record to have at hand. My usual statement at this time of the year, that is blooming early this year. I look back at magnolias at least, and no. Same time as last year.

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  2. I used to love My Favourite Martian and last year my older sister rewatched every episode when the series was repeated.
    Your flowers are all beautiful.

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  3. "Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers." ~ The Naval Treaty by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

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  4. My Google account gives me a reminder photo montage of this day two years ago. sometimes I'm surprised at what was blooming then, and how I was cooking very similar dishes to now.

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  5. Its a good reminder.
    The sweet peas have struggled here with all sorts of weather since I sowed the seeds.may just be about to flower.

    I managed to grown on five of the red lupins from your seeds...but three were slug munched. Hopefully I can get the remaining two through the winter and have flowers next year

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  6. Such a beautiful way to start my day ... your beautiful flowers along with my morning coffee! ☕

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  7. I really did not like that show. Who knows why? But I do like your Japanese anemones.
    I think my tens of thousands of crocosmias produced possibly three flower stalks this year. Maybe only two.
    Your garden is just a wonder.

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  8. When you look back you have many things that have bloomed. They bloom at a variety of times and keep things colorful in your yard.

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  9. For all I know, you could be making up names for all of the lovely blooms in your garden. I just can't keep track of any plant names! I'm always amazed at the number of bloggers I read that know all of the fancy names for their plants!
    The blooms are lovely to see, tho, so keep up the great work, Steve!

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  10. Love seeing the flowers blooming there. I'm glad you keep a record of it here on the blog. It's a great way to keep track of things every season. I love that blooming "My Favorite Martian."

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  11. I'm impressed that you can remember all those names. All that color in your little garden, what a wonderful space.

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  12. I prefer common names anyway even though there are usually several common names for any one plant. I'm unfamiliar with thalictrum but it is a sweet little thing. anyway, lovely flowers. it's hot as hell here but the cosmos are blooming and the zinnias are still making flowers though smaller and tired.

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  13. Lovely lovely! That photo of the thalictrum looks like a mashup of Star Wars and the Barbie movie - ha!

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  14. And here I thought you were just posting these photos for our pleasure! It's truly amazing the variety you have.

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  15. Beautiful flowers. The neighbors' canna is blooming. It's very tall, and in a pot, and I keep expecting it to fall over. So far, it's upright.

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  16. I tend to lose track of when certain flowers bloom too--I think OH, it's way later/earlier than before. Then I go back and see that it's about the same time, give or take a week or so. Beautiful blooms!

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  17. I have some large, sturdy canaas in my backyard that never bloom, while my small, frail canaas in the front yard love to bloom, but then they look as if they are depressed and can't get out of bed.

    Love,
    Janie

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  18. Inula. I'll remember those -- they're really beautiful and rather different. So many gorgeous blooms, Steve. You work this hard and you can tell. Well done.

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