Melting in Maryland. Heat wave droops just about everything in the garden. These are some of the survivors.

Purple Balloon Flower (Platycodon) is now in bloom. The heat doesn't seem to bother it to much. I love the color and star shaped flower.

One of two Echinacea that survived the groundhog feast this summer. I don't know why it hasn't been on the menu but I'm glad it's still here. 

Lavender Phlox survived the feast and lived to tell about it. This is the tallest Phlox we have grown (about 5 feet).  It was pushed over by the groundhog but it is being held up by roses.

Pink Phlox next to the Monarda that flopped over in the monsoon a few weeks back. I wish this plant wasn't so tasty to critters.

A nice combo of Phlox and Mardi Gras Rose with Monarda in the background. I wish the lawn was in better shape!

It has taken the Loosestrife (Lysimachia punctata) several years to bloom but it still isn't fully realized.  I think it needs more sun.

Stokes Aster is doing well in the heat. We planted two this year to see how they will do.

This is a first year bed with two different Bee Balm varieties and Hyssop. The bees love both but usually the bumblebees swarm this combo. Not so this year.

Hyssop with a honey bee munching away. We have so few bees these days.

Crocosmia is an easy to grow perennial bulb that produces a tropical looking flower in a non-tropical locale. Give it plenty of sun or it won't be happy. It's cheap, winter hardy, loved by hummingbirds and has vibrant color. We will introduce the yellow and orange varieties next spring.

Early April and Spring is in the air

I know that Cherry trees get all the love in Spring but I believe you can make a strong case for Peach trees in peak bloom. The color is rich, lightly fragrant, and it lights up the garden while the deciduous forest in the background is still barren.

Forsythia is a striking Spring bloomer. We trimmed it back this season and it has filled in quite nicely. They can get a little scraggly so pruning the runners helps keep it looking full. This plant is in the olive family but produces no fruit.

We planted a Magnolia Betty three years ago and it just stood there, almost dormant. This year it woke up, bloomed nicely and is now producing new limbs to about 5 feet.

The Bridal Wreath Spiraea (Spiraea prunifolia) is another Spring beauty. Pictures don't do it justice. We have one that is 6 feet tall and about the same wide.

Daffodil Chromacolor has been a solid performer since we planted them a few years ago. This variety has even out performed the classic yellow Dutch Master. The blooms last for several weeks.

Yellow and Red Emperor Tulips and Dutch Master Daffodils. A classic combo. Orange Emperors are starting to bud in the right foreground.

Lucky Strike Tulips and Misty Glen Daffodils. Lucky's start out with yellow edges and mature to bright white. Like Red Emperor they glow in the sun. Lucky's are also very inexpensive in bulk. The bulb is small so you can really pack them in tight.

April showers bring May flowers

Clematis Nelly Moser showing off as usual. This is a striking flower in person.  This year it climbed six feet up the fence so we hope the entire vine lights up next season.

I picked up two Declaration Lilac this season. The fragrance caught our nose at the garden center and I just couldn't leave without them. I planted two. One died within a month. I think moles tunneled through it's root system and killed it. This one survived and is doing well.

I decided last year to try Dames Rocket (Hesperis matronalis) from seed. It's a biennial so I scattered the seeds last year and it bloomed this year. It did quite well, bloomed heavily and then started to look stringy and scraggly. They have a nice light scent and pollinators found them tasty.

This little oddity is called Shooting Star (Dodecatheon).  I planted several a few years ago and basically wrote them off as a failed experiment. They are very small plants and easily overlooked. I planted these next to a Hydrangea and I guess they were a bit protected. One day while pulling weeds I noticed a bloom head. A few days later, this is what we saw.

Classic white Bearded Iris. The fragrance is clean with notes of citrus.

Miss Kim Lilac (Korean Lilac) has finally started to produce larger blooms. I moved two of these to the back of the garden to get more sun. I expect them to bloom heavily next year.  The fragrance is nice but not as pungent as the classic variety.

Another Mid May bloom fest

Rose Cookies and Cream. Not sure how they came up with that name. I picked this up at Home Depot. It's been in the ground for three years now and it really took off this year.

Scotch Broom Lena (Cytisus Scoparius) was quite showy this season. We have two Lena and one Gold. We've had two Gold die but Lena seems to be a bit tougher. We had some get mangled in last year's blizzard and it has come back very strong.

Good old Snapdragons (Antirrhinum Majus) and Midnight Iris.

Mid May is full of color

We've planted five Clematis in the past couple of years and although everyone says they are difficult to grow, we've found them to be rather carefree. As long as you put them in their preferred environment they grow with minimal care. Unfortunately, two of ours were munched by voles. This is the Proteus variety. It has two distinct  types of flowers on the same vine. This year it had the single blooms instead of the fluffy double blooms. Still very nice.

Coral Bells Firefly (Heuchera) is a nice border plant.  It comes in many colors but I like this variety for the flowers. Plant them in tight clusters and you get a mass of tiny red lights set high on  1 to 1 1/2 foot spines. They bloom for a solid month or so. 

I decided to try orange and yellow Foxglove (Digitalis) because we had such an amazing display with the standard purple mix. I'm not sure but I'm guessing this was the Orange.

This was our display last year (May 2009). All from seed. We just randomly scattered seed and let them grow and compete with each other.

The Rose bed was redone this year. We added Pink and Yellow Knockouts.  We clipped everything back this year and they came back very strong.

This Rose is Mardi Gras. The picture doesn't do it justice. Once established it's a heavy bloomer and the flower changes color as it matures. They glow in the sun. 

Red White and Blue

As I walked through the garden I noticed a pattern in two of our beds; red white and blue. This is Bee Balm (Monarda), Gooseneck (Lysmachia) and Nikko Blue Hydrangea. Notice the brown pile of leaves in the background? That will be mulched into a veggie garden next year.

This the other bed with red white and blue. White Annabelle Hydrangea, Nikko Blue and Pink Endless Summer Hydrangea. Large Liberty Hostas encircle the bed.

This is the fragrant bloom of Astilboides. We added another this year. When it's warm and still, the fragrance hangs in the air and surrounds the bed. Can't wait for this plant to mature and flower heavily. We bought ours from Herronswood

Although a bit hard to see in this image the Bear's Breeches (Acanthus) is happy and blooming; in the middle and just to the right.


This side of the bed was redone this year. We added about 5 yards of compost to raise the bed height, improve soil quality and include the Plum tree to the right (not seen in this image).

Weather and critters be damned! The resilience of plants...

The Golden Stargazers reached 7 feet this year. It must be the 100% compost they are planted in. One bud cluster was so heavy (about 8 pods) it broke and flopped over. It didn't kill the blooms so I left it in place.

Monarda (Bee Balm) is in peak bloom. We had an extremely heavy rain storm and it knocked most of the bed over. It smothered some phlox, lysmachia and echinacea but I let it go. On the left you see how tall it is, the middle open and the rest laying on its side. It still looks nice.

The Phlox and Crocosmia were attacked by a #(@*&$#%$ groundhog. They devoured our veggies and other plants. Nothing is more frustrating than working all year just to have a critter eat and trample your plants.