Earlier this month in Zone 6a/6b…
Clematis were blooming by the end of May
Pink peonies (and white ones, too) were in bloom by the end of May, as well.
These come up at the base of my tree peony. I can’t bring myself to yank them out, though, just in case they’re not actually suckers.
My poppies may have been killed with Round-Up or smothered under mulch by well-meaning landscapers. Only one bloomed this year.
Usually, this front fence is also filled with purple Siberian irises and orange Oriental poppies. This year, they were smothered by new mulch at bloom time. I think.
Blooming today…
Pink lamium popped up amongst the purple that flanks the sidewalk up to my front door.
Tall garden phlox is popping up here and there. At least, that’s what I assume it is.
Hallelujah! I’ll get at least one mophead hydrangea bloom this year! Last year, this particular bush didn’t bloom at all.
I love the purple contrasting against the chartreuse leaves of this Spiderwort.
I have a love-hate relationship with the lambsear. Sometimes I welcome the shock of color, and sometimes I feel like it looks overgrown and out-of-place.
The only lilies that don’t end up on the deer buffet are the ones that are hiding behind a peony. Anybody have a good method for keeping deer from eating the lily buds?
This is a horribly blown-out photo, but this white rose is always the first to bloom in early June and the last to bloom in October.
Next to the white rose is this red miniature Dortmund rose.
All of my roses are less than happy right now — they look like they’re being chewed on by bugs and underwatered (my bad), if not also diseased. I’m working on getting their soil healthier (yay for a nice, dark mulch!) and pruning them properly. Next year, I’ll also protect them from the winter chill, in hopes of preventing some die-back.
Heritage and Dortmund aren’t looking very happy this summer. I also have two roses in the midst of a bed of pachysandra, and I can’t imagine they’re happy there, with the pachysandra crowding them so. Their foliage looks OK, but they’re not blooming yet. We’ll see how they fare this summer.
I’m not sure exactly what this yellow thing is, but it reminds me of the firepoker in another border that the deer must have munched.
I know I already posted a clematis picture, but she just looks so happy!
I saw this spot of color in a shady place while I was doing the walkabout with my camera. Not sure what it is, and there’s only one of it, but there it is.
As always, many thanks to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th of each month!