Favorites as We Move toward a Summer Garden



Sammy Russell daylily

I'm always glad when I can show more than one blossom.

The groundcover is dichondra. I let it grow or pull it

depending on my notion for a particular spot.

Salmon Sheen contrasts with Blue

Hydrangea against the white of H. Quercifolia.

Brugs remind me of Ballet Dancers

I've given them companions including

'Halcyon' Hosta just emerging.

'Siloam Ury Winniford' with Echinacea

A single white-throated Corn Poppy

among the dark centered ones. Papaver

rhoeas is scarcer than usual this year. Blame

the scarcity of poppies on a mild winter. I know

some P. somniferum died from hot sun as

very small winter seedlings.

 The first Black-eyed Susan blooms in front

of Calfornia poppies and Larkspur.

White California Poppy -- seed for this came

from Carolyn in California.

The cudweed in front could be a host for

a butterfly, or I could pull it.

Ratibida and Lantana montevidensis.

Ratibida can get weedy. Weedy flowers get haircuts when

they're out of control -- that works for me, too.

A good haircut always encourages me to behave.

When I went to the mailbox, I noticed how well yellow

Lantana is starting to bloom. As the yellow picks up,

lavender may cut back a little in the heat.

Larkspur, California Poppies and Ratibida.

Soon there will be Tithonia and Melampodium here as

seedlings are coming on quickly from last year's Tithonia seed pods

left on the ground where they were to grow. Melampodium are

self-cleaning, self sowing, heat and drought resistant. The only

thing about Melampodium is, butterflies find no nectar on it.

Butterflies are still infrequent visitors. Those who do visit find plenty of nectar and hosts.

Pipevine is plentiful in the far back yard. Asimina awaits Zebras. Many of the host plants here are self-planted. I contributed Parsley scattered throughout nectar plants for Black Swallowtails.

Ike and Julia and a Backup Plan

Ike the Cat followed me around the garden. I heard Mockingbirds scolding. I couldn't see Ike, but I saw Black eyed Susans waving. Ike was hiding while he chewed a bit of Lemon Grass. Cymbopogon is a fav of both the cat and dog. I pot up a clump for the greenhouse and they chew it all winter.

Lemon Grass is a fav of mine, too. I've had a hard time

taking to grasses. Cymbopogon makes a pretty bluish clump.

Julia Child is my fav Floribunda.

Another look at Julia

I moved two Mariesii Hydrangeas at the beginning of summer. What I thought was a shady spot got middday and early afternoon sun. Despite copious watering, they dried up and died. I had a backup plan. I've killed these before when I moved the first cuttings that had rooted so well when I stuck them in the ground. I took cuttings again. These have put on new growth. Now to make a plan for keeping them alive through the winter. When they reach blooming size, they have blue lacecap blossoms.

Mariesii in a previous year, cutting grown 

Flowers and text are from the garden of Nell Jean blogged on Dotty Plants Journal in hot, humid Southwest Georgia.

First Blooms: Magnolia, LA Lily, Hydrangea

First blooms are always high out of reach. "Little Gem." 

You can see stamens that shed through the translucent petals.

I don't remember its name. I do remember that it is an LA hybrid.

Maybe it is 'Easter Bonnet.'

This is the first mophead hydrangea to bloom.

It was a cutting that I stuck by the birdbath a few years ago.

The little sign says, "Welcome feathered friends."

The birdbath leans so that it drips into the rock below for

the convenience of little birds and thrashers who like low water.

First Daylily might be Stella

I know better than to buy daylilies in a bag. It's how I met Sammy but it doesn't always turn out so auspiciously. These were supposed to be 'Little Women' -- a pink. Pink daylilies are apt to be somewhat melon colored but this one is definitely not pink. It bloomed for a long time last year so I suspect it is Stella or one of her offspring, maybe an unknown seedling but a prolific bloomer nonetheless. I moved the three clumps to the front bed where yellow fits in well.

We've been in a dry spell and I put off watering as long as possible. So long in fact that I almost lost some of the chartreuse alternanthera. So dry that pink poppy pods are already opening up. I cut some into a pink bowl so I could remember what they were. Now I need a red bowl and an orange bowl for later poppy pods and an orange bag for collecting California poppy pods.

The variegated Hydrangeas I transplanted will appreciate the rain shower (0.1 inch) we got. They were in a dry place under a live oak and never reached the size they should. Two are now beside the ornamental pomegranates. Halcyon hostas that match the gray-green variegation are yet to move. There is leaf mold to scoop up and then the mower can make a curving sweep under the live oak where Virginia creeper threatens to take over as evidenced in the pic below.

Hydrangea Mariesii Variegata pic from a previous year.

I grew these from cuttings, starting with 6 pieces that Miss Billie broke off  saying, "Here, stick these in the ground, they'll root. I killed 3 when I moved them after they rooted. When I moved two this week I took cuttings again.

I looked through Ruggiero's book Annuals with Style last night and Iversen's tropical plants book The Exotic Garden for new plantings with old favorites like alyssum and petunias.

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Heading toward Hydrangeas

Hydrangea macrophylla var. normalis 'Mariesii Variegata'

 Blue-gray leaves of 'Halcyon' hostas echo the same color in hydrangea leaves.

I can hardly wait until the blue blooms open.

The oakleaf hydrangea (H. quercifolia) is one of two Hydrangea species native to the U.S.

Oakleaf hydrangeas here are about to bloom.

Big blue mophead hydrangeas are getting ready as well,

 but not quite ready for photographing.

Since my hydrangeas are all blue or white,

many of my roses are pink.

Pink Roses of 'Gene Boerner' floribunda against loropetalum.

I like floribundas that make a big shrub. Gene Boerner is one of the biggest.

I didn't know the history of this rose and its hybridizer when I bought these.

Gene Boerner died before he named this rose.  It was posthumously given his name.