Blooms in early July!

I hope you all had a great weekend! I have been busy with two baby showers over the previous two weekends and haven't had time to do much around the yard. I popped out this morning to take a few shots around the yard. 

 I'll start with my Queen Elizabeth Grandiflora Rose which has finally started to bloom.  This rose has turned out to be a tough old thing.  It's come through the most brutal winters here and keeps finding a way to come back.

 I call this my pink garden.

Dianthus

 It appears that the voles at most of my lilies so I only have a few of them.  This one on the left is a deep burgundy color.   I added some pink Celosia to make up for the lack of pink lilies. 

 I planted these "Cotton Candy" Phlox recently.  They're just starting to bloom.  I decided to try different plants since the voles love the lilies.

There are two pale pink coneflowers down on the right but hard to see because of the ornamental grass.  I expect they'll be taller next year. (Cone-fections Cherry Fluff)

Speaking of pink my Endless Summer Hydrangeas are starting to bloom!  I have dozens of flowers on the bushes and I'm thrilled about it.  Last winter was so much more forgiving!

 Out front on the island....

The Delphiniums are in full glory.... had to help them with some guides as they wanted to fall over. Delphinium, Magic Fountains (tall height/gran altura)

Hmm there's a strange shadow among the Stella D'Oro Day Lilies!

 Speedwell Veronica, Zagreb Coreopsis and Butterfly Weed.   There is some Yellow Yarrow but the blue spruce is eating all the space up and they're hidden.  I guess I need to dig them and move them to an open area.

 Coreopsis is such a cheerful flower!

Lots more blooms to come with these guys this year! 

I find the flowers fascinating on the Butterfly Bush.  I do like orange so maybe that's part of it!

 If you look real hard you can see the daisies that are starting their journey to blooming.

These guys are a lot later than the field daisies which are blooming everywhere right now!

 I had these potted with some New Guinea Impatiens but while we were gone they croaked on me so I transferred these Black Cherry Supertunias into the pots. These will look wonderful as they begin to drape over the pots.

They were in these two pots which I hated to take them out of but I decided they needed a bigger pot anyway.

These Polka Dot (hypoteses) plants have surged with new growth.  The yellow begonia in the center is in a cycle change.  Love the red begonia and they're performing well.

 Last post I talked about the morning glories and how I want them to grow on the deck railing and spindles.

 Well it's working!

 I have them on both sides of the steps and they're growing like weeds!

 These were so pathetic looking.  I ordered from a mail-order company to get this Peppermint Twist Geranium and they came in looking pretty sad.  It took a while for them to get going.

 Our deck is next to be re-stained.  We're behind on projects.

I guess this is my "farmville'

 Martha Washington Geraniums and two different coleus plants

 I moved the obelisk down to this end of the deck and layered some plants by it.

This is pretty much shade all the time in this spot so it's safe.  The Christmas Cactus seems to like being outdoors.  It's thickened up and looks really healthy.

 I've seen the hummimgbird visit this fuchsia- wish I was outside with a camera to catch a snapshot!

 Lady Slippers- Deep Blue Vein (Streptocarpus)

This is called "Albuca Namequensis"  A flower head has developed so I'm excited about that.  It's native to Nambia as I have read.  I bought it on a whim at the store.  Definitely not a perennial around here.

 These petunias are spreading now and looking better all the time.  There are some Yellow Geraniums mixed in but they too came from the mail order company and have been slow to produce. 

This is a Black Eyed Susan vine.  It's going crazy now and though you can't see many flowers right now they are there daily and it looks great.

So I guess that's all for today-

Thank you for visiting!!