All of the Oakleaf Hydrangeas (H. quercifolia) are in bloom. My favorite variety is 'Snowflake'.
'Snowflake' has unique double layered flowers. Based on my experience Oakleaf Hydrangea is tolerant of drought and poor soil. This plant grows in one of the worst parts of my garden on top of a stone retaining wall.
Earlier in the week, I blogged about my blooming Clematis. 'Huldine' is pictured above blooming along with Hydrangea paniculata 'Dharuma'.
Here is a closeup of Dharuma's flowers. What a great little H. paniculata for small garden spaces.
Leptodermis oblonga is an interesting plant. It stays in bloom to a certain extent all summer but blooms heaviest in June.
Every shade garden should have a Spigelia marilandica or two scattered about.
Penstemon 'Dark Towers' is still blooming.
Hydrangea 'Endless Summer' is kicking it off.
And this gorgeous monster is 'Guardian Angel'. Every year I have to expand the edge on this bed to accomodate it's increasing size.
Lysimachia 'Alexander' is eye catching early in the season but gets ratty for me by mid summer.
Syneilesis aconitifolia is not generally grown for it's flowers. Usually they fall over and I end up cutting them off but this grouping in my front garden has been catching my eye every time I walk by the window inside the house.
Corydalis lutea happily seeds itself around. Here it has found a home at the base of Clematis 'Polish Spirit'
Don't you love it when I garden vignette turns out as planned? The rose is Oso Easy Paprika. Last year it barely bloomed so I never got a feel for how it would work. Echinacea 'Hot Papaya' is just getting started and appears to be a perfect neighbor. If I didn't hate painting so much the shed trim would be orange by now too.
A Geranium sprawls all over part of the patio garden and makes the perfect skirt for a Knockout Rose.
I love Aruncus aethusifolius, a dwarf Goatsbeard. The lacy foliage holds up all season-long after the flowers fade.
With any luck I'll get my act together earlier for bloom day next month. I don't claim to be a photographer and had to battle late afternoon sun to get many of the pictures. And then just before the sun started to cut me some slack, the battery in my camera died. I know, wah wah wah, right? Happy Bloom Day everyone! And TGIF!
Absolutely fabulous Sue! I was going to blog about that great dwarf aruncus but you beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteI would still do it, Deanne. All I did was feature it here as part of Bloom Day. And besides, your pictures would be better.
DeleteOh what a gorgeous garden with so many beautiful combinations of flowers! Thank you for sharing the photos on this Bloom Day. I'm growing 'Huldine' and 'Polish Spirit', too. Two of my favorites.
ReplyDeleteThank you for reading and commenting Dorothy. Despite our zone differences, we can grow many of the same plants.
DeleteSo many beautiful photos and a wonderful post... the clematis is marvelous! Larry
ReplyDeleteThank you Larry. Many of my clems are thriving on neglect. I need to start treating some of them a bit better. Thanks for reading.
DeleteCongrats on your first Bloom Day post, Sue! The smoke tree, Huldine and Dharuma hydrangea grouping is fantastic -- so glad you included a wide shot. So many gorgeous plants. That syneilesis really speaks to me!
ReplyDeleteSyneilesis has been a great plant in my garden, Denise. It multiplies somewhat rapidly so I've been able to pass quite a bit of it along. Next month I'll know to get going on this Bloom Day post earlier. I had alot more plants I wanted to include and more I wanted to say.
DeleteI never think about your garden as having alot of flowers Sue..maybe because I've always seen it in mid-summer instead of spring.Everything looks great ! I love the Aruncus--I wonder if it would like it here ?
ReplyDeleteKathy, what I like about the Bloom Day and about blogging in general is it's forcing me to spend time smelling the flowers, so to speak. Not just in the garden, but everywhere. I had alot more I wanted to include but was unable to get decent pictures and just ran out of time. Maybe next month.
DeleteWhat a gorgeous post! You're able to grow a few things I cannot...like Oakleaf Hydrangeas. But I'm glad to see that I have several of your choices too, such as the Corydalis lutea, and the goatsbeard. In fact, the goatsbeard has been seeding about lately, almost as much as the corydalis and the hostas!
ReplyDeleteI have a tiny Spigelia marilandica in my "plant ghetto" and was happy to see what size it may attain. Wondering where to plant it. It is still hard for me to introduce red in my gardens.
Just do it, Marie! :)
DeleteHow I love those Indian Pinks. I've tried to grow them and can't. I'm going to try again. I saw a beautiful natural stand of them in shady woods at the NE Wildflower Society's garden in Framingham yesterday. Sigh. At least I can ogle yours.
ReplyDeleteI waited five years for my little dwarf aruncus aethusifolius to do anything, and finally they are impressing me. Yours looks great too, with its lacy leaves and fuzzy flowers. I am also growing the dioicus, the large one, and it also appears to be a slow, slow grower.
Happy bloom day. You have some delights there and I enjoy seeing what's up.
Thanks for visiting again Laurie, I've found the Spigelia to be very slow to emerge in the spring but fairly easy to grow otherwise. They seem to bloom longer in more shade sites. If I'm up to speed with the dead heading I usually get some sporadic rebloom.
DeleteBloom Day was fun to document. I plan to start earlier next month so I don't feel like I'm throwing it all together at the last minute.