Beautiful flowers Babs and spedigrees!

here are some of mine:

Pretty pictures, kali_c!

The very wet spring was great for the garden but it was followed by a few weeks of hot dry weather and the plants were blindsided. Heavy rain yesterday brought relief and my Blue Billow hydrangea is blooming happily next to a Blue Angel hosta. The itea are gone by now.

The hosta is valiantly fighting off the spread of the hydrangea, viewed from my porch.

That'a a rose 'Zepherine Drouhin' nearby.

The Cape Cod rambler rose 'Excelsa' blooms once, around July 4. Years ago, before I moved back, I found two tiny rose sprigs left over from my mother's garden and I nurtured them, then moved them several times. They've since formed little colonies in the yard in unexpected places.

These I planted along the alley. I had to cut them back severely this spring when the winter winds and snow knocked them onto the path. It's a really tough rose and bounced back.

And this one I'm encouraging to climb into a sour cherry tree (since I had to direct it away from the tool shed so the shed could be painted).

Soapwort is everywhere; beloved by hummingbirds. And that's an oak behind the house that was severely defoliated last year by the gypsy moth caterpillars.

Here knocked over by the rain yesterday.

I've pulled out a lot of it but the soapwort is easily winning the battle. It is pretty and woodchucks don't eat it so it's a good barrier next to tasty phlox.

Claire

I haven't been here in a while. I had cataract surgery on both eyes weeks apart and haven't been able to read well until I could get reading glasses after the final doctor's visit. Plus, I've been getting ready to go see my grandchildren who live in France .... getting them surprises, etc. I figured I should post before my trip.

I enjoy all the roses. Mine are just awful this year with shriveled leaves and few blossoms. I've been too busy to do anything about them except cut back. The lace cap hydrangeas are beautiful. Mine mopheads are blooming now, as well as my Japanese Iris.

What variety of soapwort, Claire?

Sped, I keep telling my DH about nematodes ... trying to convince him.

I love your clematis, NHBabs ... always have. I should look up/search down'Venosa Violacea' next season.

Here are some of my flowers from photos the other day.

H. 'Light the Way'

H. 'Royal Eventide'

H. 'Indian Giver'

Phlox and Filipendula along the fence.

H. 'Victorian Lace'

H. 'Larry Grace'

H. 'Raspberry Winter'

Unnamed lily and Coral Bells 'Blackberry Ice'

The end of the long garden in the "dry" area

It's good that you got the cataract surgery over well before you go to Paris, Molie. The grandchildren should look clear and sparkling now.

Your daylilies are lovely and H. 'Light the Way' is particularly striking. Your phlox are ahead of mine. I can just barely smell the phlox buds when I walk by.

I have no idea what variety of soapwort I have. I inherited it from my mother's garden and for years I thought they were a phlox, probably maculata (she called them sweet William). At some point I got suspicious when I was researching a P. maculata cultivar and it just didn't match mine. After a lot of huffing and puffing I admitted the plant was probably a soapwort, AKA Saponaria officinalis, AKA Bouncing Bet. A pretty thug in my garden.

Claire

Molie, it's always a pleasure to see your garden, and I especially like the Light the Way daylily. Glad your eyes are working better. Enjoy the family visit in France!

Claire, your Blue Billow is one of my favorite plants in your garden. I have a similar one that only rarely blooms here, but looks like it will this year. I got both it and Zepherine Drouhin rose based on your photos.

Kali, your roses are lovely! Do you have issues with beetle eating them? I have 4 kinds, so I try to get early bloomers that have finished by early July. Are they scented?

Here's a ground level view of the garden posted above, about a week further on. A couple of Japanese irises, Veronicastrium, Coreopsis 'Golden Gain' and Clematis Venosa Violacea again.

Clematis 'Prince Charles' is at the opposite end of the same garden and is visible from the back patio.

NHBabs,

thank you! I'm just starting out so my garden is still a bit scraggly but hopefully in a year or two it will look like the lovely gardens posted here! I somtetines get beetles but I haven't noticed very many this year. They are particularly drawn to the sweet drift as opposed to the other roses. Though I think they must get stuck in the petals and suffocate because all the beetles I find are dead and crammed inside the petals.

Yes they are scented, sweet Drift is beautiful and perfumey! My JFKs are not yet old enough to make a smell, and the Peppermint Pop also has a sweet scent that's not quite as heavy as the sweet drift.

Your clematis in particular is lovely!!! I love the color contrasts with the yellow flowers at the bottom :)

NHBabs, I'd love to know how you keep your clematis so lush-looking. If could tell me a bit about the care they receive and their growing environment, I'd surely appreciate it.. Mine aren't producing many flowers and some plants have browed out a lot. Thanks!

Molie

Molie, I think a lot of how nice they look is I mostly choose easy ones, and I don't post the ones that look bad. All the ones posted here are summer blooming, and most are hybrids that include Clematis viticella as part of their heritage which to my mind are the easiest to grow - hard prune after hard freeze and they just grow back to full height. I have perhaps 5 type 2 prune, large early flowered types, but I've killed a bunch of them. Rebecca, HF Young, Asao, Guernsey Cream, and Piilu all do well for me, but not many other of the type 2 I've tried. This particular garden is consistently moist (but well-drained) and has a fairly good organic content; I think consistent moisture is helpful, and high soil organics and a good layer of mulch will help with this. I get the best bloom with good sun. I have a few that get perhaps 4 hours of sun and all are a bit scrawny with meager blooms.

Do you know what varieties you have or even the pruning type?

Nice surprise this morning - my first poppies! Lauren's Grape. Started from seed on the deck in a large planter in mid-April.

The next morning 7 appeared!

My poppies are just starting also, Jane. One of my favorites for their voluptuous blooms, resilience, textured foliage and cool seedheads. And then so easy to pull out when they start looking tatty - what's not to love!

My poppies are starting to bloom also, but I'm waiting until the pink cosmos also bloom to photograph them. They complement each other so well.

Mostly just the usual standbys here, with daylilies front and center.

H. 'American Revolution', with some soapwort in the background

H. 'Rosy Returns', accompanied by soapwort

The double ditch lily is beginning to bloom in varying levels of doubleness (duplicity?).

H. fulva double, with 'Excelsa' rose and soapwort

The garden phlox are beginning to bloom! That's an 'Excelsa' rose beginning to fade to the right and you can just see the soapwort in the background.

Did I mention I have a lot of soapwort? Most of it is pink, but I have one clump that's very pale pink and close to white (the usual pink is in the upper right). I'm considering trying to vary the color in different patches.

The hummingbirds really love the soapwort (if you squint you can see the female hummer):

There are a few, small areas of the yard which don't have soapwort. Here is an inherited adenophora (I think). The adenophora actually looks good with soapwort when they happen to be together, but Miscanthus rules over soapwort.

Claire

I forgot to post this picture of a Hosta 'Blue Angel'. This is an early bloomer; my other hostas are just beginning to show flowers.

I've gotten most of the soapwort out of that bed but there's a small stalk lurking under the hosta leaf.

Claire

Jane, that poppy is spectacular, especially because it's seed-grown. I think I'll order some seed and try this next spring.

Claire, your H. fulva double is striking ... is it a tall variety? If not tall, well... your Blue Angel certainly is. I've always loved that hosta but just don't have the room for it.

Thanks, Molie: The H. fulva double is about four feet tall - not the tallest daylily in my yard but close to it. The taller ones seem to bloom later and should be blooming in the next few weeks and some in mid-August. I'm seeing buds on most of them.

I probably shouldn't have so many tall plants but I just love them.

Claire

what poppies bloom now? The big ole reds and oranges bloom mid-late spring

Marie, they are the self-seeding annual bread-seed poppies, Papaver somniferum.

Well,it it takes my breath away.

I have been gardening since I was a teenager and haven't met a flower I didn't like. Vines? many I don't like that kill other plants and itch, but not flowers. But, by George, nothing has captivated my attention like these poppies. The life cycle morphing alone is mind-blowing. Within 48 hours, they go from pretty crepe-like petals to a hard pod with a gold crown. Only when raising Monarch butterflies was I THIS enthralled. Lotus ranks high as well, but we don't have a pond. Going to order different kinds of poppies for fall planting.

Jane

My cosmos are beginning to bloom in amongst my poppies. Usually they bloom simultaneously but this year the pink cosmos are lagging a bit. I think the lacey look of the poppies complements the lacey foliage of the cosmos, and the pink blooms of both complete the picture. The two co-exist well together, but I had forgotten how they over shadow the tall snapdragons I sometimes plant with them. This year I forgot to give the snaps a space of their own so it remains to be seen if the poor things will be able to flower. All 3 like sun, and there has been precious little of it so far.

Also in my veggie patch (above) is a hill of crookneck summer squash at the back on the right with a half row of orange cosmos in front of it which will bloom later, a couple volunteer sunflowers, some dill on the far left, and the stems with tiny yellow flowers are mizuna that self-seeded. The mizuna is loaded with seed pods. I'm not sure if they are edible. The plants themselves (before they bolt) are a cabbage-y sort of vegetable.

My orange garden (below) is getting quite orange, and the weeds (mostly horseweed) have taken over the little patio. The hubby likes the semi-abandoned look it gives the garden, and while I share his view to some degree, I worked too hard creating the patio to let nature permanently repossess it, so I'm planning to reclaim it with a few kettles of boiling water. We've had approximately one sunny day per week for the past month, and we allot that to the task of mowing, so weeding projects have fallen in arrears.

I have been collecting and replanting seeds to these marigolds and nasturtiums, along with those of the poppies and pink cosmos, for at least 10 years now. They are like old friends.

This perennial bed is dominated by volunteer black-eyed Susans (well I help a little by scattering their seeds each fall) and old-fashioned daylilies.

... while bee balm is the main focus of this perennial bed.

This red daylily looks almost artificial.

And this little garden at the foot of our wooded trail is something that just evolved. Who would think that milkweed and daylilies would go so well together? I have seen a single monarch butterfly this year. Very sad considering how much milkweed awaits them here.

And one other gift from Nature is a colony of fringed loosestrife that has sprung up along the bank of our brook.

PS Molie, I love your daylilies. Best of luck with the eye surgery, and have a lovely time in France.

I don't have many picture-worthy things in my garden this year since it is basically seedlings and new plantings, or older beds that were overrun and need rejuvenation. I've been rescuing some good plants from those and turning the largest into a pollinator bed. For now all I have is poppies, which I plopped with desperation in the only available spot at the time while we waiting on our stone mason. I thought they were ruined becaue they stayed in their WS jug way too long. But, now they're looking very pretty, and I will surely WS more very year. I just love the colors and forms.

Also, I have a bougainvillea (named thus just to provide spelling challenges every time I have to type it) that I got last year and will continue to overwinter. I get a flush of summer flowers and another flush in lighter pink in December. (The winter flush is dependent on how much sun it gets, and an earlier plant that didnt' survivewas a light salmon, but was still so beautiful even in that faded color.)

Where will you order the poppies from this fall? Seeds for winter sowing?I've never been very interested in ws, but I could get it together to produce those poppies!

These came from Select Seeds. I planted Feathered Mix, Heirloom Mix, Frosted Salmon, Peony Black, and Danish Flag. Another seed, California Poppy Mikado, came from who knows where. I'll be Wintersowing them again. I think they look even better today! Definitely a happy spot in the garden. One of the blacks is blooming today. Will try to upload a picture this weekend. Not a big fan of black. I know it's a desirable in the garden, but now I've tried it and found it uninspiring for me.

Actually, I am not sure if winter sowing in pots will work all that well for these breadseed poppies since they resent disturbance, though Deanna's look great. I just make sure that mine are sown as the seed ripen somewhere in the garden with bare soil (need light to germinate) where they have a bit of room but the bare spot won't be an issue after they fade and I pull them.

It is too cold where I am for winter sowing most things. I save seeds in the fall and start them in small pots in early spring, outdoors in the day and on the enclosed porch at night.

The theory I heard with WS is that with poppies they do very well since you transplant them before the taproot develops. I was afraid these poppies were a goner since they already had significant root development in the pot, meaning significant when your are talking in WS terms, not significant when you are talking 4" pot terms. Compared to 4", 1/2 gallon, or gallon pots the roots were still young. But, they did very well, even though I literally dumped big mounds of them in the only area the stone mason wouldn't be disturbing (the area he finished last fall).

Many people WS poppies and seem to do very well because they are transplanted so early in their growth cycle.

I like these so much I'm going to WS more to dump all around in the many many empty places that still exist in my new garden.

Meanwhile...I could start a whole thread on that "bare soil" thing, and I just might do that. The allure of seedlings sprouting on their own in bare soil vs. the protection of mulch from excessive weed germination has me confused about which is best. These annual poppies in my pictures could germinate (though maybe not true to type) on their own next year, but I doubt it because of the mulch.

Unfortunately, in the space of about 3 days, my poppies have all been destroyed by powdery mildew, which has also attacked the foliage of my perennial black eyed Susans in another bed. I'm going to pull them out and burn them. I think I will attempt to grow poppies in a container next year, and hope I can keep them safe that way..

On a less depressing note, my perennial beds are thriving. Photography does not capture the 1000 watt fluorescent appearance of this "Primal Scream" daylily. My husband has dubbed it the "Screaming Mimi."

My bee balm is attracting many bumblebees and hummingbirds. To their left are my "Cherry Cheeks" daylilies and phlox preparing to bloom. (The bee balm arrived here originally as a single stowaway stem, hidden in a clump of phlox of the same color.)

My sedum (keeping company with a volunteer daisy), newly planted this year, is developing buds (or whatever these are called).

And I finally managed to reclaim the little patio in my orange garden, with boiling water and an edging tool... for now at least, until the weeds regroup and stage another coup.

That 'Primal Scream' daylily is startling, spedigrees - I'm trying to imagine a whole border filled with them...

My daylilies are rolling along, with some taller ones just starting up.

H. citrina 'Yao Ming'

H. 'Frans Hals'

I inherited a No-ID daylily that is always reliable.

'Pardon Me' is a smaller daylily that's been blooming for a long time.

The Phlox Protection Zone has several different types of mid-size phlox blooming. I think there are four different varieties there.

And I have blueberries on one plant - I've never seen so many and I doubt if I'll see them much longer once they get a little riper.

The true lilies are budded and should bloom soon. I've seen (and dispatched) maybe five adult lily leaf beetles in the last few weeks. No larvae.

Claire

spedigrees, have you been wet? We have been so dry dry dry that i assumed powdery mildew wouldn't be an issue this year. wondering if you've gotten decent rains this year. We finally got a nice rain last night, first in a while.

Just the opposite, Deanna. Last summer we had drought conditions, but this summer it has done nothing but rain. We had flooding a few weeks ago that was as bad in places around the state as during Irene. What state are you in? I had just assumed that all of New England was enjoying decent rainfall this year, but it sounds like it has been localized.

As far as the powdery mildew, I'm going to add many bags of limestone to the soil this fall, in hopes that it may inhibit the mildew next year.

We're in the midcoast of Maine. It rained and rained and rained and rained in late April, all of May, and the first part of June. And when it stopped it stopped cold turkey. Rain since then has been sparse and we are dry. The rain hindered early tourism but at least that is being helped by the constant sunshine. We were also cold during the rainy period but now it's much warmer than usual. We're not dry enough to lose established perennials yet, but my new plantings would be toast without the well.

Too wet is a possibility, NHBabs. Apparently poppies are extremely susceptible to powdery mildew, although mine never have been. A bit of research revealed that much of the commercial crop (grown for major pharmaceutical cos) have been decimated by the disease, and a solution has not been found. I also learned that there are many different varieties of powdery mildew, so whether the powdery mildew affecting my poppies and perennial black-eyed Susans is a different strain from that which usually attacks my squash and sunflowers late in the season, or whether it is the same strain drawn to more susceptible species, I don't know. So far it hasn't touched my summer squash or volunteer sunflowers; usually they are not afflicted until late in the summer, and the squash harvest is unaffected.

The bed where I used to grow poppies, cosmos, and other annuals (successfully and without mildew) has become too shady for these flowers to grow well there. I thought these annuals would be happy in the full-sun vegie patch, and they were for a time. All the plants seemed very healthy until the dreaded mildew struck. Most of them still are, but the poppies look like they were singled out and sprayed with a weed killer.

My usual solution if something does not grow well, is to stop growing it. I haven't grown tomatoes since mine were destroyed by late blight some years back, for instance. So, after pulling out and burning the diseased plants, and adding half a dozen bags of limestone to the soil, next year's crop will be sweet corn, dill, mizuna, and those annual flowers unaffected by mildew. That way the spores will remain in the soil, inhibited by the limestone, and hopefully I can grow poppies in bagged organic potting soil in a container elsewhere. I'm not even saving seeds from this year's plants, but using seeds from last year. I'm going to pull out the perennial blk eyed Susies (in the orange garden), burn them, lime the soil there, and sow seeds from their unaffected bi-annual (tri-annual?) wild cousins for next year.

As far as other pests, it looks like your "phlox protection zone" has been a great success, Claire. You have a lovely collection of flowers there, all thriving. I remember when you had removed a few plants to the "zone" and uncertain if they would stay safe there, but it looks like that did the trick.

A whole border of "primal scream" daylilies had never occurred to me! It would be electrifying!

I agree that Primal Scream is pretty eye-popping in color, Sped. I have a soft spot for orange, especially when combined with blue, so I really like that garden of yours.

Thanks, spedigrees. I haven't seen any woodchucks this year, just a lot of foxes, and the neighbors reported seeing a mink a few weeks ago so the woodchucks may be eating (or eaten) elsewhere. The phlox may have lucked out (the Phlox Protection Zone was established as a sanctuary against woodchucks).

I know July is almost over but some of my lilies couldn't wait until the August thread, and the buds started opening this morning.

Lilium 'La Claridad' overlooking some sansevierias outside for the summer.

Lilium 'Arabesque' with hosta 'Blue Angel' barely visible behind it.

Claire

From my walk around the garden today:

Stokes Aster 'Blue Danube'

Echinacea Sombrero Salsa in the front, Echinacea behind (and I forgot the name of this one which is too bad since it glows!), and some Bee Balm behind that. I'm not a fan of the golden cypress in this spot. I think it clashes with the red. What do you all think?

Daylily Going Bananas with Geranium Rozanne behind.

Veronica Royal Candles (look past the weeds!)

One of my new favorites Achillea Laura. It stays compact and doesn't flop.

Andy, I like the gold with the red, but your garden should bring you joy, so move it if you don't like the combo. Color preferences are really personal at least based on my work experience making maps for different people.

I agree with NHBabs, Andy. I think the golden cypress looks great with the red flowers. I would be tempted to put in more gold/chartreuse colors nearby so it doesn't look like an isolated bright splotch.

Claire

I vote yes for the yellow with the red too! Also the Veronica Royal Candles are beautiful. I am planting some Veronicas in my garden this fall, and if they succeed, I may search for some specimens of this lovely blue variety.

I think the combination looks good, too. If you don't like it I wonder if thee's something in the surrounding garden that isn't included in the photo which keeps it from hanging together. What we see in the photo looks very nice.

I'm still in love with the poppies, and this one in particular, the 'Peony Frosted Salmon' poppy. The black peonies are in the background. They're OK, but in my opinion they don't draw my eye nearly as much as salmon one.

My outhouse flowers, aka rudbeckia laciniata Golden Glow, have spent the summer growing to grand heights. I'm hoping they will spread along the length of this old wire fence.

I planted some of these a few year ago in a partial shade area. They are still there, stunted and miserable. I'm thinking I should dig them up and move them to this full sun area so they can thrive along with their more fortunate brethren.

Double Coneflower and Rudbeckia

Hydrangea - no idea what kind, but I love the different colors!

Daylily

Stokes Aster

Trumpet Vine

Hydrangea - the only bloom of this variety on 3 plants :(

Another daylily

Lamium - finally planted a bunch of this in my shade beds and hoping it fills in!

White coneflowers and Rudbeckia

Hydrangea Cityline Venice

Rose of Sharon

Lastly, I want to thank everyone here for encouraging me to look into Hydrangea Arborescens Annabelle! I purchased a 4 inch pot less than 2 years ago and am thrilled with how well it's done in less than ideal conditions. I'm researching how to propagate from cuttings for the rest of my shade beds.

LOVE!

Annabelle is a real performer

I fear it has fallen from the heights of its popularity because newer flashier one have come on the market

it booms early and reliably

It keeps producing blooms throughout the season. We don't have to live with extensive regrets if we misprune

I think it an excellent basic garden plant!

spedigrees, the rudbeckia look great! I had some in NH, loved them, but am not sure where to put them in my current garden. That's going to be a lovely fence when you're done with it!

On a side note, hope your knee is healing well, though. Knee troubles--what a pain!

Marie, I just discovered Annabelle recently and I can't believe the newer ones are considered more desirable. The huge blooms are stunning. I've seen it in gardens, but didn't know the variety. I love the look, and your comments about her performance make me more determined. Now to figure out where she fits into the plan...

I love Annabelle as well - the color that goes with anything, the long bloom time, and the full heads. I find the newer ones look overblown to me with bloom heads as big as my head. I don't find that most years Annabelle takes much to keep it from flopping, though this year it is a bit splayed because of the many hard downpours and even a hail storm with 3/8" stones that lasted something like 10 minutes. It has a lot of company in the group of "could look better" plants.

yes, because of all the rain Annabelle's splaying more this year than in the previous half dozen or so

Are there any other hydrangea varieties that do even better in nearly FULL shade? I've read a bit on the Hydrangea forum that Incrediball doesn't flop as much, but I fear that most other hydrangeas won't work in my dry, shady bed.

I just wanted to say how much I like that pairing of the Double Coneflower and Rudbeckia, Suzabanana!

Thanks for the concern, Deannatoby. The knee wrap is mostly to prevent further injury to my worn out knee, and it helps a great deal, so it has become part of my regular gardening gear when carrying watering cans or string trimmers across the vast landscape. Too bad there is not some similar support made to protect my deteriorating hips.