Ditto to 'Catherine's' comment!

Also very dry here either 'woody'. Normally I do all I can to not get out the sprinkler but with lots of people coming over tomorrow we wanted everything to look like it had rained ;).

Bowman's Root was one of the plants Rouge posted about a few years ago

And yet I see no hide nor hair of any BR in our garden :(. I dont think any ever survived for me :(. Maybe I will try again.

Beautiful! I can't wait to see pictures of the lily. Do you have male and female kiwis? I have a male that looks like yours, and have been thinking about ordering a female. I moved the male in very early spring, and thankfully it survived. It's probably close to 20 years old - it took forever to get established (kept getting hit by frosts and dying back).

Thanks, Catherine. The backyard has been looking particularly lush - most things seem to be appreciating the cool spring we've had. We're now in a heat warning for the next few days so that won't make things too happy. All the lush growth is a bit worrisome - once Cole goes off the lawn, he totally disappears! If coyotes make it over the fences, we would not be able to see them....

Rouge - my Bowman's Root hasn't grown a lot in size but I like its delicate but wiry look. The flower shape sort of mimics the clematis beside it, and those hostas have nice almost white flowers in July so the Bowman's Root flowers fit that picture too. Here's a closer look at the BR

Ruth - I have an 'Issai' beside the male. It's supposed to be self-fertile but fruit better with a male. I tried growing one elsewhere in the garden before but it languished - too much shade I think. This one is growing vigorously. I suspect, between the two, they will overwhelm the fence so I may be regretting this planting in another year or so! Oh well - nothing ventured, nothing gained... :-)

One other picture I had meant to post - I gather tree peonies are grafted onto herbaceous peony roots. Any herbaceous growth is supposed to be removed I think. But I'm not overly fond of the tree peonies we have so I let the herbaceous growth remain to see what happened.... This is a really bad picture, but you can see that the tree peony flowers have finished, and the single pink herbaceous flowers are just fading. If the tree peony dies off, the herbaceous one looks worth keeping to me :-) (The dead stems on the hydrangea in front of the peony were removed after I took the picture!)

Woodyoak, I covet those Jack Frost brunnera. I never see them for sale in our local nurseries, one day I'm sure I'll break and order one online.

Can't wait for that lily. !

fairlywell - Jack Frost has been around for quite a long time and is generally well-liked I think. It's very easy to find here. I assumed it would be common anywhere it grows well. Is there some reason that growing conditions wherever you are wouldn't suit it?

Nevermore - me too! I'll certainly be posting a picture of it when it blooms! A question for anyone who grows Martagon lilies - do the lily beetles make as much of a mess with them as they do to regular lilies?

Really enjoyed your pictures woodyoak. Wow, that Bowman's Root is a neat plant! I like how open it is. I dig how the kiwi leaf looks "dipped" into the strawberry melted ice cream :)

Ditto what greenhearted wrote ie re "Bowman" and "ice cream" ;).

Woody, love the "wet corner" photo. Monster plants! Your rodgersia is gorgeous! I have one with such different flowers. How nice you got double the peony for your money!

Bowman's root has never survived in my gardens, however my local nursery has beautiful plants in her field beds. They really are such nice plants. Perhaps I'll try them yet again.

T2d - that double raspberry-colored peony is getting yanked this fall! A neighbour is going to take it... I'm looking for a nice dark red single (what it was supposed to be!) to replace it.

All my Rodgersias are R. aesculifolia. R. pinnata are more commonly found in garden centers here. I think the flowers are nicer on the type I have and I like their leaves better too. The one in the front bed at the base of the porch blooms the best as it gets more sun than all the others I have. The ones in shade either don't bloom or bloom later than the ones that get some sun. I was just out taking some pictures in the backyard. Here are two of the rodgersias under the oak in the backyard:

It doesn't show up well in this picture but this one is blooming now with the flower stem leaning into the sun that comes under the tree canopy in the morning.

This rodgersia is under the north side of the tree so doesn't get any sun and isn't blooming.

The 'wet corner' is indeed growing monster-sized plants this year :-) We are in desperate need of rain at the moment so they will all be stressed pretty soon. There is no rain in the forecast but temperatures are going up and we've had some very hot and humid days in the past week. More of the goatsbeard is in bloom now. Later there will be hydrangeas blooming in this bed. Looking N-S down the length of the bed this morning:

The big ferns are mostly in the south end of the bed:

greenhearted and rouge - definitely try a Bowman's root - I really like that one!