dianaschnuth

Here in Zone 6, the late May / early June blooms have all but faded, and the summer blooms are just beginning. At first glance, things look sparse — no wide expanses of color like I saw a couple weeks ago — but there are still plenty of blooms. More so than usual, actually, and I’m assuming I have our mild winter to thank for that.

This might be the first time I’ve seen this hardy geranium bloom, and this is my fourth summer in this house.

 

Fire poker! It’s in kind of a random spot, though. Thinking I might mark it and move it somewhere else, along with…

…these guys, who are also in a random spot. They seem like they and Fire Poker might be friends someday.

(Also, please ignore my un-deadheaded peonies in the background.)

 

These Stella D’Oro lilies come up in interesting and unlikely places. They’re another candidate for moving and consolidating. Also in that category: all the tall pink and white phlox (not pictured).

 

This rose. She’s got the longest blooming season of any on my property, reblooming from early June through late October. I finally got this decent photograph one dark and overcast afternoon; usually, her whiteness is just too much for any of my digital cameras to handle.

 

Where a David Austin Tamora rose once grew, a Dr. Huey now remains. Our ex-landscaper cut this rose to about six inches from the ground the fall before the dreaded Polar Vortex winter, and it’s taken two years for the rootstock to thrive and bloom. It’s a stout little rose, though, and I’m definitely going to keep it around.

 

This stand of rose campion loves its shady spot under the Rose of Sharon. I seriously don’t remember it having white flowers before, though, or these reverse white and pink striated ones, below.

I pulled a bunch of these out a couple years back, when they got out of hand, but I’m glad I didn’t yank them all.

 

Next to the rose campion, under the honeysuckle tree, is this stand of… bee balm? I think? It honestly looks a little ratty, and it’s got some tenacious weeds that like to grow in amongst it, but the pollinators love it. I’ll bet it would look a bit nicer if I deadheaded every now and again, and tried to rid it of its weedy companions.

 

Clematis! I’ve got this one growing up by the house…

…and this one growing along the front fence.

 

I’d honestly forgotten that this ground cover bloomed in summer. (Can anyone identify it?) I do like it, but it has a particular odor about it that isn’t my favorite. I’m not going to go to the trouble of removing it, though, especially since it turns fantastic colors in the fall.

 

There are a few peonies still hanging on, but the big display was a couple of weeks ago.

 

Lastly: strawberries! This is my first year growing strawberries, and the ones I planted in a strawberry bucket are bearing fruit, while the ones I planted in the ground are just kind of making leaves.

(Also in the category of edibles: the tomatoes are in bloom, and I even have sightings of two little yellow pear tomatoes!)

Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day on the 15th of each month. If not for this, I might forget how far I’ve come as a gardener over the past few years.