Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - May 2013

We're already half-way through May, can you believe it! This spring has been one of the oddest I've experienced since moving here...and definitely the weirdest since I started gardening here. Usually, we can count on cool, rainy weather until at least the middle of June...but we've been lacking in rain this year. I heard on the news the other day that this has been the driest year on record...and I believe it. We actually almost hit 90° a few days in the past few weeks...ugh.

Luckily, for the most part, the garden seems no worse for wear...but I really hope we return to something akin to normal weather next year!


If April was all about Tulips and Daffodils, then May is about Alliums and Iris. This purple/white beauty is one of the Iris I inherited with the house...love it!


You know I love Alliums...I just wish they were a little more reliably perennial. This is Allium 'Early Emperor' paired with the wonderful chartreuse foliage of Geranium 'Ann Folkard'


As luck would have it, the bloom time of Alliums coincides with the Amsonias...which makes for some nice, subtle combos.


This is the oldest and largest of my Amsonia hubrichtii...now in it's 4th year...and it's ENORMOUS! I've never been wowed by the blooms before...but where there are this many, it's pretty awesome!


An asian Amsonia relative, Rhazya orientalis...love the darker blue blooms...can't wait for this puppy to get bigger.

I totally forgot that I had planted Gladioulus byzantinus around my Persicaria 'Purple Fantasy', they make a smashing combo, don't you think? I bought this Iris, 'Ominous Stranger' after visiting Schreiners Iris Farm last spring (and I'm totally going again in a few weeks). The color, depending on the light, is either that of a dingy tissue, or aged Victorian wallpaper...still, I kind of like it :-)


One of my favorite plants, Knautia...this is the variety 'Melton Pastels', which has a nice variety of colors, from the standard reddish-pink to palest mauve.


I think the plain reddish ones are still my fave, though!


I can't tell if this is early for Geranium 'Rozanne' to be blooming...but I'm pretty sure it is earlier than usual.

I'm so excited that the Phlomis my friend Ricki gave me is going to bloom...and even more excited about the seed heads that will follow...thanks, Ricki! On the right is the go-to Allium for most gardeners, 'Purple Sensation'. Again, I just wish it would reliably come back every year.


You can hardly top Centranthus ruber for easy color. This plant pops up all over town, it's proclivity for reseeding ensures it will always be around.


Perhaps my favorite Astrantia, 'Roma' starts off almost white and will darken to a silvery pink color over the next few weeks.


My favorite Allium, Allium cristophii...love those amazingly intricate blooms, like an elaborate metal sculpture.

This is the first year that I've had yellow Iris...and I know I didn't plant them...so they had to have been here all along, just waiting for a chance to bloom! On the right is a new purchase, Sanguisorbia menziesii...I'm so hopeful this Sanguisorbia won't flop like the Saguisorbia officinalis I already have.


After years of killing this plants, I've come to realize that Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' wants absolutely no summer water. I have it planted in an out-of-the-way spot along the fence where I totally ignore it and it blooms practically all year long.

Another mystery inherited Iris wet with rain this morning...and one of the neighbors chickens...romping in the Astrantia maxima.


I bought a bunch of Columbine 'Tequila Sunrise' a few years ago, and they have all but disappeared, but their progeny remains. The nice benefit of these seedlings is that they appear randomly in a nice mix of colors...this one is mostly yellow.


A new Allium for me this year, and one I'm really loving, 'Early Emperor'.

Another inherited Iris, and mauve/lavender bicolor...with the added benefit of being intensely fragrant. Taking photos in the garden while it is blooming is entirely intoxicating! On the right, can you believe that I have an Agastache blooming already...in MAY!?! This is Agastache 'Blue Boa', which never went fully dormant due to our lack of any real cold this winter.


Another great Allium, 'Gladiator'.

This is a new Iris I got from Schreiners last summer...I think it might be 'Standing Ovation'? Whatever it is, its fabulous...love those rich, wine-red falls...and the contrasting orange beard!


Another new Iris from Schreiners, the aptly named 'Hello Darkness'. I'm just totally crushing over those inky purple flowers.


Another Astrantia, 'Ruby Wedding', just starting to bloom. The blooms will continue to darken over the next few weeks, eventually turning blood red.


Another Iris that came with the house, but has just bloomed for the fist time this year...what a great surprise!

I planted Monarda bradburiana, on the left, last year out of curiosity. It's supposed to withstand heat/drought better than most Monarda...and it's a dainty little thing...love it! On the right, a plant I got from Heather at the last Plant Exchange, Sisyrinchium 'Devon Skies', which I'm kind of in love with right now...why did I not have this plant already!?!?


Another wonderful Geranium, 'Ann Folkard'. Sadly, the weather this year hasn't been to its liking...it grew big and tall...then flopped open. Sigh.


A new Persicaria...one used mostly as groundcover, Persicaria affinis. I fell in love with it at Joy Creek a few weeks ago, due to it's wonderful red foliage (a winter trait), but the blooms are nice too.


In the category of "almost blooming" is my Lupine 'Gallery Blue'. It's the only Lupine of the six I planted years ago, to return every year...and I'm so glad for it...the color is fabulous. There is a tiny Lupinus 'Thomas Church' next to it, which is also going to bloom...but it super-tiny.


Wrapping thigs up, heres the front border looking North.


The front border looking South.


The Backyard looking North.


The Backyard looking South.


And the whole shebang. For more bloomerific goodness, check out Carol at May Dreams Garden...and Happy GBBD!

Garden Tetris

Well, do you remember how earlier this year I was bemoaning the fact that I didn't have any more areas to plant, that the era of "big projects" was over. Well, guess what, this spring has been as busy and fraught with anxiety as any spring in the past. This has been due, in part, to the fact that I've been moving practically every plant in my garden to a new location. It's part of the never-ending process of editing a garden...something which we all do, right?


You might remember a few posts ago that I talked about this one spot, which is always tricky. The Agastache 'Desert Sunrise' that were planted here were languishing in the heavy clay. Over the past few years, I've realized that trying to force plants to grow in conditions that don't suit them makes both me AND the plants unhappy. More than ever, I'm embracing the "Right Plant, Right Place," mantra.


For reference, this is what happy Agastache look like. They are growing in the front parking strip in (more-or-less) full sun and in the only soil on my property that could be considered (by a VERY lax interpretation) as free-draining soil.


By comparison, this is one of the 'Desert Sunrise' plants that were moved from the aforementioned "problem area". Kinda sad, right?


Unfortunately, my garden has NO free space anymore, so moving plants invariably means a complex game of musical chairs. Here you can see that moving these three Agastaches involved a series of additional moves.


Here, on the North Parking Strip, I moved a trio of Agastache 'Blue Boa'(C) out from in front of the Anemanthele, since they were too close and hid the grass during summer. Now the Anemanthele gets to strut its stuff and is underplanted with a few Sedum 'Oracle' (A). Two of the Agastache 'Desert Sunrise' (B) were placed in the spots vacated by a few Sedum 'Matrona' that I divided up for last weekends plant swap.

Where did the Agastache 'Blue Boa' go, you may ask? Over in the front parking strip, I had stupidly planted a trio of Sedum 'October Daphne' right in front of a clump of Panicum 'Northwind'. From the moment I planted them there, I knew I would move them. Having a 6' tall grass step down into a 6" tall Sedum looked way too silly. The Agastache 'Blue Boa' reaches are more sensible 16-18", so will transition the Panicum much more smoothly than the Sedum did.


OMG...but what about the front slope where the Agastaches were, you're asking? Well, I went round and round about what to put there...and, as you may remember, my first choice was Pennisetum 'Vertigo'. Well, I thought about it some more, but ultimately decided the area needed something different and more in keeping with the rest of the garden. So, in my grand tradition of being totally contradictory, I decided to move things around even MORE. I relocated a few Lobelia gerardii (C) and have now planted a scattered trio of Deschampsia cespitosa (B). The remaining space will be filled with a few Sanguisorbia 'Tanna'(A) and random seedlings of Verbena bonariensis. Do you think I'm crazy...yes, I probably am. The good news, ALL of these plants can tolerate heavy soils.


If things actually work out the way they should (hahahaha, funny, I know), I'm hoping that maybe by next year, I'll have something like this to enjoy! Believe it or not, this is only a tiny fraction of the plants I've been moving around...soon I'll share the backyard redo. Sadly, we've been woefully short on precipitation this spring, which is especially annoying since I've actually had to water these new plants a few times. Usually, I can count on a steady supply of rain until at least June.

How about all of you? Have any of you been playing Garden Tetris?