High,

Am finishing up the front fence today. Will take pics over the weekend and share if the all has recouped from the hail. Your garden is in the same planting level as mine with many options for additional plants. I am proud of all who are into xeriscape and many more seem to be using it. Now hearing more news our summer is going to be short on water.

I just off loaded about 300 pics, but most are definitely not xeric.

Xeric or not, how about sharing a few photos of your favorites here, Cnetter? We all know you have some fantastic gardens.

Ooops, wasn't pushing xeric. It has been the easy garden for me and the water bill. Front is xeric, back is old cottage and believe me, I'd love to have a backyard looking like all the non-xeric gardens being posted. Working on it, long way to go yet.

It's going to take me awhile to go through all this pictures, so I'll start with some xeric or near xeric flowers.
Calfornia poppies:

Cnetter, thanks for sharing those pics! I love your terraces, it allows you to plant a lot of things that are similar in height and have everything be seen. Your lavendar looks awesome. I tried to start some from seed this year, but didn't get any germination. Not sure what I did wrong.

Here are a couple more shots of my Achillea 'Walter Funke'

Here it is next to Coreopsis 'Creme Brule'

Coreopsis 'Creme Brule'

And another of Echinacea 'Sunrise'

Keep those pictures coming!

Lavender is another one that I start outside in flats in March or April.

I sowed mine outside in a plastic container the first week of May. Do they need cold stratification? Maybe I planted them too late. I still have some seeds left, so maybe I'll try again in the spring.

I think cold stratification might help your lavendar, High. Mine reseeds all over the place, but it always comes up the following spring when it's been "winter" stratified. Why don't you stick some seed in the fridge for a few weeks and get it started this year yet so you'll have pretty nice plants and flowers next year. If you wait till next spring to start them, you won't get too much till the following summer.

I've taken more pictures too, that I need to get into the computer yet, but I'll be back with some pictures. My garden if FINALLY doing well after three years, and I'd love to show it off!

Skybird

Here's a pic of my center rose garden a week ago. It's even more coloful today. When Jennifer and Nancy saw it, it looked horrible - still full of dead wood and junk, but 4 days later, it was completely cleaned up. "Transformed" was what an artist friend of mine called it. Not as good looking as previous years - it suffered quite a bit during the wind storm:

Ok, I finally got everything into the computer, so look out RMG, here I come!

But first, Highalt, Im delighted to see youÂve started to really enjoy your plants. They all look wonderfulÂconsidering the HOT weather, they look amazing! Great job!

HereÂs a bunch of what I have blooming right now.

Campanula persicifolia, peachleaf bellflower  has been blooming for a month and will last quite a while longer.

Dianthus simulans  this one just finished blooming, but I think itÂs so cute IÂm posting it anyway!

Sweet peas  but the heat is getting to them now!

Veronica Spicata ÂRoyal Candles  reblooms all summer, and I havenÂt had any problem with mildew on it.

Delphinium elatum  it was labeled ÂBlack Knight" (box store!), but itÂs not! I think it might be ÂKing ArthurÂ, with Aquilegia chrysantha in the background and blackberry lily not budding yet in the lower right corner

Another Aquilegia chrysantha  pardon the mess on the deck! ThatÂs the work area!

Campanula glomerata, clustered bellflower

Acanthus balcanicus, BearÂs breeches

Callirhoe involucrata, poppy mallow, prairie wine cup  itÂs blooming a lot more since this picture was taken.

Dianthus knappiiÂyours is way bigger, HighaltÂmine was put in this spring as tiny seedlings that had been overwintered in potsÂin front of Golden Sage.

Blue Fescue

Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower  just starting

Teucrium aroanium, Greek germander  I think it smells like grape Koolaid, Cheryl (PaulinoÂs) thinks it smells like cotton candy!

Scabiosa columbaria ÂPink Mist with Campanula poscharskyana in the background

And my Scabiosa columbaria ÂButterfly Blue is just startingÂand has mildew already!

And my hollyhocks which are finally getting going pretty well -- I LOVE the light pink, ruffled one!

A hardy water lily  one of two

And a couple shots of my HUGE backyard  one from each end  I finally got the stepping stones underneath the bird feeders sunk into the ground so it looks decent again and took some pictures. I still hope I can find some way to stain or paint the "floor" under the bird feeders green or brown.

Um, well, mine aren't all that glorious, but look anyway!!

I may or may not be putting captions in the right places...

My first poppy bloom:

The poppy with the columbines in front:

The Mortgage Lifter tomatoes, two on the vine:

Thanks for sharing, all!

Thank you everyone for the pictures!

Jchaber, which columbine is that? I can't tell in the picture if it is pure white, or more of a cream color.

Skybird, the Aquilegia chrysantha seeds I planted in a container in the middle of April finally sprouted in the middle of June. It's only three sprouts so far, but I will keep them in the container until the fall then plant them out. I can't wait till I have a big clump like yours! On the lavender, do I just put the seeds on a damp paper towel in a plastic baggie then stick them in the fridge, and how long do they have to stay in there? I love the foliage on the golden sage. Is that an ornamental, or is it edible? My dianthus knappii was planted late last summer, and they were clumps about the size of yours, so they grew pretty fast.

My favourites are the coreopsis creme brule and the hollyhocks in fluffy pink and the dark one...

hmmm, not sure as I did not plant the columbines or the poppies, for that matter. Here is a better look, compared to my super white (almost blue white) plate.

Frankly, I think they are white, but they do have a tinge of greenish cream. My boyfriend says they are white. Look, see...

Wow! I never knew it took that long for the columbine seeds to germinate. All the ones I have, have self seeded, so Ive never actually started any in pots. The very first one (the second picture) was a small plant I brought from my last yard when I moved in here 3 years ago. So its 3 years old. Putting yours in the ground this fall, you will definitely get some flowers next year. It blooms pretty much all summer, tho its at its peak right now. This is the first year that Ive actually gotten a whiff of it one time when I was near it. Thats what Im trying to get! I have a couple more seedlings I moved to the side of the deck in the picture, and Im hoping when they grow up, Ill actually be able to smell it when I walk out on the deck. Dont know for sure if itll be enough or not, but itll be pretty even if that never happens. The time I smelled it just walking by at Denver Botanic Gardens, it was a HUGE patch of it. Oh, how I wish I had room for that. The first picture was a single little seedling that got dug up with a division of Turkish veronica I brought along with me, and I hadnt even noticed the columbine was with it, but when I discovered it, I just left it grow to see what kind it was. So that one was tiny, tiny three years ago, and you can see how big it is now. I did try to start another variety of columbine from seed this spring, but gave up when it didnt germinate after 3 or 4 weeks. Its old seed, and I decided Ill try one more time, but stratify it before I plant it next time.

If youre gonna stratify the lavender seeds, yes, just take a small piece of paper towel and dampen it (not sopping wet), then put the seeds on it and fold it in half, seal it in a zipper baggie, and stick it in the fridge for about 3 weeksgeneral wisdom seems to say 2 to 4 weeks. Then plant it like anything else.

The golden sage is Salvia officinalis Aurea, and it IS the culinary sagejust a different color than the standard gray/green/purplish stuff. I have a Tricolor too. Dont have a picture of mine, but heres what that one looks like.

http://www.mountainvalleygrowers.com/salofftricolor.htm

Theyre all only marginally hardy. I had always wanted those two, and a couple years ago in spring I found a really good deal on them (with the herbs), so I got one of each to try. I worried about them the first winter, but they made it just fine. Last fall I cut about half the stems down on each one early enough for them to start to grow new foliage at the base, and then I left the other half of the stems on all winter and cut them down all the way when the short stems started growing this spring. They were buried under snow most of this past winter, and, again, no problem at all to overwinter. Theyre evergreen, but the old foliage looks pretty ratty by spring. This is the first year theyve bushed out enough that Im not going to pinch them, and Ill actually get to see what the flowers look liketho Im not expecting anything spectacular.

Glad to hear your knapii grew up fast. Years ago when I heard there was a yellow dianthus, I decided I had to have one, and I FINALLY got it. Actually, I have three of them, and theyre looking a little wimpy this yearbut yours look great.

I finally got some pictures in my front yard today, so here are a few more pictures.

This is the walk from the front of the garage up to the front door. The 3 hibiscus on the left will be starting to bloom by next week. The lavender is all from reseeding. The original one died a couple years ago. The roses are all cut down right now and some are starting to rebud for the second bloom.

Heres the jumble of lavender and Siskiyou Pink Gaura lindheimeri (click to enlarge)

Heres the hydrangea. This is the first year its looked good. Because of the weight of the flowers, its always been flopped all over the place in the past. This year I got it in a peony cage when it first started growing, and Ive been supporting it with successive loops of twine since it got above the top of the peony cage. Im still debating if I want to keep it or not. It really is a lot of work to make it look good, and even now, with all the support it has, if we get a heavy rain or any hail, itll be destroyed for the rest of the year.

And heres one of my whisky barrels thats starting to get going pretty well. Its mostly annuals I started from seed, with some Wave petunias, and some things from the swap that havent started to bloom yet.

J, the dark hollyhock is called a "black" hollyhock (Alcea rosea Nigra)its really DARK redand Ill have seed for it at the Fall Swap again. And Ill have mixed seed too, but theres no way to guarantee what youll get from that. I am going to collect seed from the ruffled one, but since they cross pollinate, the seed probably wont come true.

Skybird

The blue delphiniums are blooming now, starting later than the purple for some reason:

The sweet peas are doing surprising well in the heat. I think I planted three flats worth.

Oddly enough, my pansies still look good despite the heat. But they are setting alot of seed pods, which means they're finishing up.