Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - May 2014

It's Bloom Day once again...and it's springtime in Portland...which is pretty glorious...aside from the past few days of unbearable heat. Luckily, we are back to more comfortable temps today and should even get some rain this weekend (YES)!


I thought originally that I wouldn't have much to show this months, but then, as always, the garden surprised me...I had forgotten that the very merry month of May is the time for Alliums and Iris...like Allium 'Early Emperor' above.


I added a few delightful Pacific Coast Iris (PCI) hybrids to my garden last year and adore them...this is 'Little Survivor'


PCI 'Sea Admiral'


This PCI is an unnamed hybrid from fellow blogger Alison...the blooms start out this warm, honey color...


...and fade to an almost-white, bleached pink color...very cute!


I added half a dozen new Iris to my garden after my annual trip to Schreiners Iris last year...and I love them. This is the oddly-colored 'Come Away With Me'.


Here it is again, in slightly overcast light, you can see the rich combination of warm apricot and rich mulberry...love it!


Iris 'Sultan's Pride' was one that Norm actually picked out. Not sure I'd ever have chosen this color...but I do like how it contrast with the subtler blooms in the garden right now...and it's stunning when backlit by the rising sun each morning.


Iris 'Ominous Stranger' is another slightly off color...but I really like the sublte shading of lavender and yellow...even the buds are striking.


Another new Iris, 'My Ginny'...I can't help but love it...so charming and romantic...sigh.


I do seem to have been attracted to Iris with purple edges last year, didn't I!


If you buy a certain amount of Iris at Schreiners, they let you choose a free bonus Iris from a list of 6 or so choices, and if memory serves, this was our Bonus Iris, which Norm picked out...it's called 'Girly Girl'...which makes me laugh whenever I think about it.


'Girly Girl' again in morning light...it sure is pretty!


This extremely dark, almost black, Iris, actually came with our house...love it!


One of my goals last year was to find a nice, substantial yellow Iris. The one I originally wanted was $65 per rhizome...which was a bit too rich for my blood...so I settled on this one, 'Devonshire Cream'...which I adore.


It really is like cream...almost white at first glance...but with the barest hints of warm yellow blushing across the petals.


This one surprised me and I had to look back through my photo records to discover what it was...'Dracula's Kiss'!


This one has the baffling name 'Italic Ice'...not sure what that means...but I like it, all the same :-)


Another inherited Iris...and a winner...chances are you've seen this in at least a few gardens in your neighborhood...I see them everywhere here in Portland...totally reliable, blooms for weeks, and has a heavenly fragrance.


I think all the Columbine I planted years ago are long gone...but their mixed progeny continue to grown, bloom and re-seed.


I was surprised last weekend that Geranium 'Ann Folkard' is already starting to bloom!


And 'Rozanne' was not far behind!


A new plant for my garden, but one that I've wanted for years, Gillenia trifoliata...which I know has recently been renamed something awful...but it's still Gillenia to me :-)


And, of course, May means the Astrantias are blooming, here we have the wonderful, silvery-pink, 'Roma'


'Roma' again, in the sun.


Astrantia 'Star of Fire' is my favorite of the dark reds.


The flowers are marvels...and so much fun to photograph.


Another spring favorite, Monarda bradburiana...the best Monarda ever!


One of the few plants I grew from seed, Knautia macedonica 'Melton Pastels'. Oddly, these always bloom earlier than regular Knautia macedonica...and have really varied sizes/habits...love the variation in colors...from this soft pink...


...to the more familiar rich, berry red.


The Rodgersia grow and bloom so fast, it seems I blink and they go from nubbins poking out of the earth to full bloom in a matter of days.


Have you ever looked closely at them...they are so elegant!


Even common Chives are lovely in bloom now.


A perennial Gladioulus...the small-bloomed Gladiolus byzantinus pokes out of the lush dome of Persicaria 'Purple Fantasy'.


Clematis recta purpurea, grown mostly for it's rich, velvety purple spring foliage, is just starting to bloom as well.


My Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' is finally starting to look respectable...and is GLORIOUS in bloom right now...I wish I'd planted it in the front where everyone can enjoy it!


Another tough-as-nails garden star, Amsonia hubrichtii, is blooming it's heart out. After 4 years (I think), they are really starting to form handsome clumps...so worth the wait!


Of course, we can't have a May Bloom Day post without the Alliums, can we?


'Purple Sensation' was the first Allium I ever planted...and I still love those rich purple spheres.


Allium bulgaricum (also called nectoscor-somthing-or-other-icum) are so cool...not particularly colorful, but their pendulous blooms are so graceful.


Love them!


This was the first year I had planted some of the really big Alliums, like 'Globemaster' and it's been so fun watching them grow taller and taller...and recently, erupt in flower!


I can't for the life of me remember what this large, white Allium is...but it was the first of the large ones to bloom, and is actually just finishing up.


'Globemaster' is absolutely stunning right now...and I can't wait for those big, beautiful seedheads!


Allium christophii is actually my favorite Allium of all...there is something utterly amazing about those blooms.


While the foliage of Allium 'Graceful' is anything but, the flowers make up for it...and even before blooming, they amuse me...like dozens of alien eye-balls on stalks bouncing in the garden.


One of the Alliums that I keep planting and hoping it will come back (although they rarely do for me) is Allium purpureum...which is the most wonderful deep, rich purple.


As we wrap up this post, I couldn't help but share some cate photos too...during our recent heatwave, they were quite beside themselves. Our house seems to have become the meeting place for the neighborhood cat gang. This is our semi-feral adopted cat, Punky Cat (aka, Mr. Bates).


The neighbor's sweet-as-pie cat, Tiger Lily.


Of course...our baby, Boots.


Boots sleeping near his friend, a cat who is always around...we have no idea who his owners are.


And to finish things off...a few wide shots of the garden. The front garden from the North.


The front garden from the South.


The side garden from the East.


The side garden from the West.


I hope you're having a great spring so far...and that you're not too busy with projects that you can't sit for a bit and enjoy your garden. For more Bloom Day posts, check out May Dreams Garden!