It’s Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day thanks to May Dreams Gardens!
The first set of pictures are of the Lower Garden. Most of the color comes from the annuals, but a the hydrangeas provide food for pollinators and graceful blooms. Or, rather, Limelight provides blooms. The Endless Summer hydrangea gave me one pink bloom. I suspect it was pruned too vigorously this past spring. The Rose of Sharon is turning out its usual lovely blossoms that will turn to seed pods that will turn into a zillion little sprouts that will have to pulled out. Or not pulled out until they form little trees. Oy. The little brush footed butterfly (I think it is a “staff sergeant”) finds some of the zinnias quite appetizing.
In the Secret Garden the echinacea are in full bloom. I seem to have lost Fragrant Angel to our hard winter, but Pow Wow White is doing well, as are the pink phlox. The daylilies are finished, but the Tardiva hydrangea is providing lots of nectar for the many pollinators that rely on it. Monarchs, swallowtails, bumble and carpenter, mason and leaf cutter bees, as well as several varieties of wasps are regular visitors. In the little bed by the garage a family of house sparrows are busily feeding their latest brood. The daisies are just about finished, but the anemones are getting ready to pop open. And the little hibiscus that I planted a year ago is showing off its saucer sized dark pink flowers. The Rainbow’s End hosta under the Kousa dogwood is blooming. Most hosta blooms are a bit boring, but a few varieties like this one have lovely flowers. The pots of annuals light up some of the more sparse spots in the Secret Garden.
The Entrance Garden greets passersby with an explosion of rudbeckia. The Walkers’ Low catmint was cut way back and is now forming lovely mounds that, I hope, will send out lots of blossoms to feed native bees. In the meantime, they dine on the rudbeckia and the Blackberry Lily. The pots of annuals are starting to show their age.
And that’s it. GBBD, August 2019.
Garden 337 