Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

I must apologize in advance for the poor quality of a lot these photos. My neighbors employ a service to cut their grass. The service was there with their heavy equipment while I was trying to take pictures. I only had a small window of time before heading off to work and I ended up literally running while snapping pictures because my ears hurt from the terrible noise and I was choking on the exhaust fumes. I just wanted to get back inside my house as quickly as possible.

Kicking off the tour of my yard are the pansies. This marks their third GBBD.

I don’t know where Lowe’s gets their pansies, but I’m definitely going back there next year to buy more.

Next up are my poor squirrel-ravaged containers still hanging tough.



Shhhhh . . . don’t let the squirrels find out, but I have a pot of petunias in the backyard by the composter.
In the background, next to the coffee filter is one of my wintersown Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate.

This hanging basket begged me to take a photo from its “good” side. The squirrels got to it on the other side.
Those are Nikko Blue hydrangeas in the background. Despite being closer to the ground and one would think more accessible to the furry fiends, this basket is unscathed.
More Nikko Blue hydrangeas in the background. Oh, alright. Stop begging. Here’s their own personal portrait.
A blurry photo of the first wintersown Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate blossom.
Last year I ordered one of those astilbe collections. A few of them bloomed last year. Of the original eight, seven survived the weird winter/spring we had this year. The white one is always the first to bloom.

Ballerina got her own post earlier in the week, but she asked me to tell you that she is still blooming.

The yarrow that I rescued from the veggie garden at Davidson Mill Pond Park has really taken off this year.

It’s hard to believe that these were once tiny clumps destined for the composter. My lavender also likes its new home in the Entry Garden. The Munstead has gotten huge and is covered with buds and blooms.
The Hidcote is smaller but also merrily blooming away.

Now, if you will just follow me around the side of the house and through the gate to the backyard, I would like to draw your attention to the semi-shady garden, specifically those primroses. Remember the first GBBD back in February? The primroses lining the windowsill? After they finished blooming, I planted them outside where they bloomed again with the established primroses. And here they are blooming for a third time!


They definitely deserve their own Weirdness Chronicles. Moving along, the dwarf Bleeding Heart is struggling to hold its own behind a huge clump of Sweet Rocket.

I’m not concerned about it. It’s been growing in that spot for years and the Sweet Rocket will die out this year after it sets seed. I’m pleased to report that the heuchera that I got at the Master Gardener Picnic Plant Swap came up this spring and bloomed briefly. No pictures though because the flowers became squirrel food.

I’ve been trying to establish Straw Foxglove in this garden. (See the “landscaper” in the background on his “mower”? Cough, cough.)
The transplanted plants grow and bloom fine, but they don’t seem to multiply or set seed like they do in the border along the Ugly Green Fence.
My Ipswich pinks, originally grown from seed, are dying out. Thank goodness. They were taking over every bed they were planted in for a while. Only a few greatly diminished clumps are blooming.
In the Shady Garden, my Kmart rose still bravely blooms every year.
And now (drumroll, please!) here it is . . . a blurry picture of the first wintersown Black Prince snapdragon:

I love the reddish foliage. Here’s an updated Weirdness Chronicle, the foxglove that I planted backwards.
Apparently, I planted it facing in the correct direction when I moved it last fall. It was two plants that have multiplied to four plants. I will divide this in the fall.

Behind it you can see more yarrow. This yarrow has an interesting tale.

Two years ago, I was seduced by a Michigan Bulb catalog and ordered a whole lot of plants from them before checking Garden Watchdog. As predicted, the box that arrived was a mess, a significant number of the plants dead or dying. But some did arrive in good condition, including six of these yarrow. Three survived the winter and are now growing and blooming.

Here’s another success from that order:
Lady’s Mantle. This is one of six. They have all become large, healthy plants that have been blooming their heads off for weeks.

Not from Michigan Bulb, but also successful, a miniature rose that just gets bigger every year.

Yes, I know. I desperately need to weed my gardens.

Check out the Sweet William
All from seed, probably courtesy of the birds. Also from seed but less successful are the Breadseed poppies.

One scraggly flower. I don’t seem to have much luck with poppies. The pink ones I sowed in the Entry Garden haven’t done anything. The poppies I grew last year were also a disaster. I think I’ll stick with the free ones I get in the mail. They do great. I saved so much seed last year that I ended up with this:
Oops! I thought that the bigger ones would crowd out the smaller ones who would then have the good sense to die. No such luck. They all grew and now they are all trying to bloom. Also pictured are a white coneflower, a mystery iris, money plants and almost invisible hyacinth bean vines.

Most of my readers can skip this next photo.
I’m one of those rare gardeners who likes the blossoms on Lambs Ears. Those are sages in the background. If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you will also see my nemesis, poison ivy.

Can anyone ID this weed, er wildflower?

It grows 18” to 24” and looks a lot like St. John’s Wort. Every year it pops up next to this mystery aster-like flower.

Looks like an aster, perennial like an aster, blooms in the spring unlike an aster.

I can finally stop complaining about how I am the only gardener ever who can’t get Johnny-Jump-Ups to naturalize.

There is a sea of them under my butterfly bush. Right behind the Madonna lilies.

This is the original one I planted two years ago. It bloomed for the first time last year. I planted another one last year and it has sent up a flower stalk this year.

The Zebrina (Malva sylvestris) is doing exceptionally well this year.

I don’t’ think I’ve ever had any get this tall before.

Sorry, I can’t resist another photo of the Canterbury Bells.
You can see all four colors in this picture. Pink, rose, purple and white.

Some Nigella reseeded itself from last year.

I tried this last year for the first time on the recommendation of my partner from the Master Gardener class. I really didn’t care for them.

Sombreuil continues to bloom despite my neglect.

Those weeds are growing in my neighbor’s yard through the fence and into my garden. As long as I’m complaining about them, I’ll also add that in the winter, when they shovel their driveway, they toss the snow over the fence and into my yard. Grrrrr . . .

Our tour ends back in the Entry Garden with “Old Reliable”.
No matter the weather, the weeds or how many times it gets moved, The Fairy blooms every year.