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 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day waterworks On this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day the big event is water and more water. Just to give you the full force you can see how deep the water is right in front of the garden shed at the back of the garden. This is the worst spot, and it is the beginning of the lake the garden has become.
 Black eyed susans in the bed nearest the back door One of my hose guard wine bottles in ready to float away.
 Thalictrum aka meadow rue Meadow rue has such tiny delicate flowers it doesn’t photograph very well, at least not for me, but I love it and don’t want to leave it off the Bloom Day list.
 Cardinal Flower, daylilies ‘altissima’ and joe pye weed Beyond the joe pye weed is the dappled willow – thriving in the flood – but it confuses the photo.
 A different joe pye weed This joe pye weed grows on the other side of the garden, next to a lavender Monarda fistulosa that is too weary and laid down to be photographed.
 Honeysuckle and morning glories Set against the south fence the honeysuckle and Grandpa Ott morning glories don’t suffer very much.
 Hydrangeas, phlox, roses These hydrangeas, phlox and roses are growing in the South Border, the driest part of the garden. the closer you get to the back garden, the wetter it gets.
 Flowery hellstrip (tree strip) in front of the house I can give a nice Bloom Day hooray when we get to the hellsrip – echinacea, yarrow, still a couple of daylilies, Centaurea montana, and bee balms. The rain has given rise to many many weeds.
 A final Bloom Day view On this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day I give thanks for plants like the blacked susans and to Carol over at May Dreams Gardens who hosts a day when we can all share the delights and challenges of our gardens.
 Bloom Day on the hellstrip The hellstrip has been ready for Bloom Day for a while. Astilbe is ready to finish, but the Achillea, yarrow, coneflowers and daylilies have just begun their bloom days. Daylilies are the major stars right now.
 Double daylily The week of days in the high 90s have not bothered the daylilies one bit. Daylilies are used to heat, and dryness. I do have a list of my daylilies but I never seem to get the name and the flower attached to each other. Here are a few of my daylilies.
 Lavender daylily  Pale yellow daylily
 Bee Balm In addition to all the daylilies, bee balm, a wonderful pollinator plant is in full bloom.
 Button Bush You wouldn’t think bees and other pollinators would find the button bush of interest, but this is one of their favorite eating places.
To see what else is in bloom all across our great land visit Carol over at May Dreams Gardens. Thank you, Carol!
 Bloom Day and the Thomas Affleck Rose is in full flower I nearly forgot Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, so I raced out in the dawn to take photos (not very good ones) of what is blooming in the drizzle. Thomas Affleck is a rose we grew for many years in Heath, and one of the first we planted in Greenfield. It is doing very well indeed. No real fragrance though.
 Kordes Polar Express At least I think this is Polar Express. I’ll have to wait till the other roses are blooming to make sure.
 Kordes Purple Rain rose This is a low growing rose and very sturdy. I have no idea why they named it Purple Rain.
 Mountain Laurel blooming beautifully on the hugel  Honeysuckle blooming vigorously  Lounging delphinium after rain. Stakes needed  Elderberry blossoms The elderberries are for the bees and other pollinators. I never even noticed they were budded, much less beginning to bloom. My eyes have been on the weeds on the ground as I prepare for garden club guests next week. Yikes!
 Lilac Tree Blossoms The most unusual flowering plant in my new garden is this lilac tree (a true syringa) that blooms at this time of the year. The blooms last a long time and are strongly fragrant, perfuming half the neighborhood. The tree is good size, a little taller than my neighbor’s house and it is full of blossoms. They do not smell like lilacs, but they are wonderfully sweet.
I thank Carol at May Dreams Gardens who hosts Bloom Day and gives us all the chance to see what is blooming all over this great land.
 Primroses on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day The Texas sun seemed to be shining on these glowing golden primroses on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. The garden had hardly any blooms when we left for Texas on May but our return on May 8 was astounding. I am going to give a thorough pictorial record of our May 15 blooms.
 Creamy primroses I’m behind on my spring clean up and weeding so you’ll likely see plenty of weeds. These primroses are increasing nicely. The tall Japanese primroses will be along soon.
 Iris reticulata These are the first irises to bloom in the garden.
 Dicentra, bleeding heart This white bleeding heart was recently given to me in full bloom. Fortunately it adjusted to its new site comfortably.
 Grape hyacinths I don’t remember planting these grape hyacinths last fall. I’m glad I waited for a while before pulling up the first shoots.
 Geum This geum is a wonderful plant. I love the color of the blooms and it is in bloom for a very long season. It also increases at a slow rate and occasionally sends a baby plant off to the side.
 Fairy Bells, Disporum flavens These Fairy Bells throw out shoots at the same time as Solomon’s Seal, followed by the yellow bells. The bells will last for a couple of weeks, and the foliage will look handsome all season. These are native to Korea, but they like damp woodlands – which describes their position in the garden.
 Wood poppy Stylophorum diphyllum Also called Celandine poppy. It looks very like, only larger, a weed that grows next to my house. More research needed.
 Zizia? Golden Alexanders? These plants are growing riotously next to the wood poppies. I thought I was planting Golden Alexanders, but one knowledgeable friend said this was not accurate. Does anyone have any ideas?
 Waldsteinia or barren strawberry I planted barren strawberry plants along the top of the stone wall, and in front of the rhododendrons. They have done just what I hope for – covering the ground with a dense mat that does a great job of keeping down the weeds. It will only bloom for a while and the very low foliage looks great all season.
 Jacob’s ladder
I just moved two clumps of Jacob’s ladder out from under the yellow twig dogwood which has achieved an amazing spread. They have adjusted nicely to their place in the sun. Well, a little more sun than they had.
 Fringed bleeding heart  Gold Heart Dicentra Now I have three different Dicentras: white, fringed and Gold Heart. I love them all.
 Leucojum aestivum or Summer snowflake Hard to know why these are called Summer Snowflakes when then bloom so early in the spring – but they are later than the snowdrops.
 Fothergilla The Fothergilla looks great – just like the one on the Bridge of Flowers.
 Korean Spice Bush, Viburnum carlesii Korean Spice bush is famous for its fragrance.
I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Go on over and see what is in bloom over our great land.
 Rain Flood Ice Bloom Day is here, but there are no blooms outdoors.
 Amaryllis But for the first time in a couple of years I have blooms in January. The amaryllis that is opening was an early Christmas present and it grew rapidly. The amaryllis with buds about to open spent the summer out in my garden and is giving me great gratification Two other amaryllis bulbs that spent the summer in the ground are coming along – slowly. I have hopes.
I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day.
 Sheffield daisies Will my garden be blooming on November 15. the official Garden Bloggers Bloom Day? Maybe not. Therefore, I went around the garden today taking photos of the flowers blooming this very unusually warm November day. We have yet to have a hard frost although some plants were bitten and succumbed. This is what’s left on this gloomy day with a temperature of 50 degrees at 4 in the afternoon
 Knockout red rose still budding  Thomas Affleck rose in a languorous pose  ” one of three hydrangeas blooming  Annual nasturtium still sending out new blossoms  Proven Winner Butterfly still blooming  Toad lilies – Tricyrtis  Winterberry – holiday color if not a bloom  English holly right by the front steps Daylight savings left, Eastern Standard time arrived and so did the 5 o’clock dark. But winter is not here yet so I celebrate this bloom day.
 Coreopsis At the moment I am celebrating Garden Bloggers Bloom Day with a burst of heat – after rain storms and night temperatures that went down to 35 degrees. But many plants are hitting their stride, like this coreopsis – one of several.
 Cardinal flowers It turns out the cardinal flowers I planted last year – are a different color than the cardinal flowers I planted this year. But no matter. My mentor, Elsa Bakalar, assured me all shades of red go together.
 Perennial ageratum and veronica The perennial ageratum and veronica are carrying on an autumnal love affair with lots of hugs.
 Firelight hydrangea The Firelight hydrangea is also being embraced by a nameless white aster and the bright pink Alma Potchke aster who just started to bloom.
 Honeysuckle The honeysuckle clasps the fence in a tight hold while its bloom are entwined with a few Grandpa Ott morning glories.
 Japanese anemone The Japanese anemone is less robust, but next year I think she’ll be more enthusiastic.
 Neon sedum This “Neon” sedum attracts bees by the dozen.
 Rudbeckia These rudbeckias were given me by a neighbor in the spring. Next spring I am going to be looking for another neighbor who needs rudbeckia, loved by pollinators
 Marigolds and nasturtiums This pot by my back door is a riot of color. Makes me so happy in my coming and going.
Click on over to May Dreams Gardens where Carol gives us a chance share our seasonal bloom. Thank you, Carol!
 Hellstrip with many pollinator flowers on Bloom Day Here is the August Bloom Day report. The summer of 2017 has been relatively cool, with only a few days that went over 89 degrees. We also had rain – almost sufficient to my desires. The hellstrip in front of the house is full of bloom – daylilies, bee balm, yarrow, coneflowers, and marigolds. Weeds and fallen sycamore bark as well.
 Folksinger rose Several of the roses are blooming again. Folksinger, a Griffith Buck rose, is the most enthusiastic.
 Thomas Affleck rose Thomas Affleck was a great rose for me in Heath, and it remains a great rose in Greenfield. I will let these two roses stand in for Purple Rain, The Fairy, Polar Express, Red Kockout, Peach Drift and Paprika.
 Clethra alnifolia with bee balm and thalictrum in background The clethra is gaining stature and so is the bee balm. That is a rain-bowed thalictrum in the background. There will have to be substantial dividing and rearranging in the fall.
 Honeysuckle and Grandpa Ott morning glory The honeysuckle has a substantial but hidden trellis while the Grandpa Ott morning glory is hanging on to a couple of stakes and the fence.
 Rudbeckia When my friend gave me some small divisions this spring I misunderstood the gift. These rudbeckias look great this year, but I think I will have to find someone in the spring to share with myself.
 Monarda fistulosa Monarda fistulosa is a wonderful pollinator plant. I have two other bee balms, one is Colrain Red, and the other is a darker, more winey red.
 Culver’s Root Culver’s Root is another plant chosen because it is a pollinator magnet, as are two types of mountain mint, still bloom and feeding pollinators.
 Asclepias tuberosa The Asclepias area is filling out, but the season is starting to go by.
 Limelight hydrangea Three hydrangeas are a major part of the South Border. The most easterly is Limelight. This is the third summer for all three.
 Angel’s Blush hydrangea Angel’s Blush is just beginning to show shades of pink, that don’t really show in this photo.
 Firelight hydrangea You can see the blooming sedums on the ground and an aster clump that will be blooming next month.
 Asters These tall asters with sprays of very small flowers are the first to bloom.
This has been the third summer for our garden. We began planting the South Border in June of 2015. We are so happy to see everything making the show we hoped for and look forward to rearranging in the fall ans 2018 spring to do a bit of simplifying.
I thank Carol over at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day. Go and visit and see what else is blooming over all our great land.
 South hellstrip On this July Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day in Massachusettss my blooms are quite spread out, although I am looking forward to clusters of blooming daylilies very soon. On our divided hellstrip we have several daylilies. I got lucky in this section with congenial wine-y colors on the bee balm, daylily and echinacea. There are daylilies in several places in the garden, but I can guarantee I don’t remember many of their names.
 North hellstrip In between the South and North Hellstrips is a strip of grass – designed to allow people onto the walkway to the house without trampling the flowers. A very wise and useful design element. Both flowery sides include some of the same plants, and all have survived winter snows, plows, salt, and dogs quite well.
 Crocosmia The crocosmia was the big surprise. I planted bulbs from American Meadows last spring and it didn’t seem as though much had happened which I blamed on my own poor planting. I was in a hurry. I was sure, even if there was some life in the bulbs, it would have been done in by the winter – and yet here it is. I will take better care of it this winter with good mulching to protect it.
 Firelight hydrangea This Firelight hydrangea doesn’t look very fiery, but it is the first of my three hydrangeas to start blooming. Limelight and Angel Blush aren’t too far behind.
 Honeysuckle This honeysuckle, planted last year, is doing so well that I have been willing to prune it in the front, and I am a very nervous pruner.
 Physostegia, obedient plant Physostegia or obedient plant didn’t do much last year, but she has made a substantial clump this year.
 The Fairy rose The Fairy is the main rose at the moment although the red Knock Out has a few blooms. I do expect a second flush – or hope for that second flush – in August
 Buttonbush My strategy for my new low maintenance, water tolerant, pollinator friendly garden has focused on large shrubs. This Buttonbush has more than tripled in size since it was planted in the summer of 2015. It is in one of the wettest spots of the garden and is blissfully happy. Pollinators love the funny little flowers.
Other large shrubs include the three dogwoods, but they are no longer in bloom, but the two elderberry bushes are blooming. These blooms are not very exciting but the result will be berries for the birds, after the pollinators have done their work.
Other plants in bloom right now are: Veronica Mountain mint Blanket flower Marguerite daisies Blue Paradise phlox Coreopsis.
Carol of May Dreams Gardens is the host of this wonderful – and useful meme. Click here and go see what else is blooming over our great land.
 OSO Easy Paprika rose On this June Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day the rose have burst into bloom. It has been a cold and wet spring, but our last couple of days have been in the 90s. The weather gods show just how unpredictable they can be. For me, this spring is is the first really floriferous June we have had. All the roses but one are new plants and they are really showing off.
 Drift Rose – Peach This peach Drift rose blooms right next to Paprika. Both of them are low growing landscape roses and require very little care.
 Purple Rain – a Kordes rose Kordes started hybridizing disease resistant roses over 30 years ago. No herbicides needed. This is another low growing rose.
 Folksinger – Griffith Buck rose I had a Folksinger rose up in Heath, but it never looked this good.
 Polar Express – another Kordes rose This is an elegant icy white rose. I love all the Kordes roses.
 Knockout Red rose Knockout Red supplies the red red rose, that’s newly sprung in June.
 Alchemyst Rose By the time you are looking at all these roses I am sure that Fantin-Latour,and Lion’s Fairy Tale will also be in full bloom. I think I have to wait a little longer for The Fairy and Purington Pink to bloom. But of course, there are other bloomers in June.
 Alchemyst rose I’m adding this closeup because the rose is so lovely – and just now in full bloom.
 White delphinium This delphinium has already lost one blooming stem in a storm, but it looked very pretty on our dinner table.
 Japanese primroses It is amazing that the Japanese primroses are still showing bloom – but it has been very wet.
 Siberian white iris I have three lovely clumps of white Siberians. And friends waiting for a piece of this dependable beauty.
 Blue Siberian iris I have three big clumps of blue Siberians, but these are coming up in a clump of weeds in the North Border. They will not give up. Of course, this is another very wet spot.
Thank you Carol for hosting Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Visit May Dreams Gardens and see what else is blooming over our great land.
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