Tuesday, June 17, 2008

I'm late. I'm late, for a very important date...June Bloom Day up'n passed me by, I'm late, I'm late, I'm late! Ack! My weekend started with some crappy vertigo on Friday, and I wasn't worth a dime until late Saturday, the rest was a blur. Within that somewhere it was Bloom Day, so late but not forgotten, here they are...variegated solomon's seal... Annual dianthus earning its' keep. I've had good luck with many of these re-seeding and returning the following year as well.
Doesn't look like a bloom? Aw, I think "dog vomit fungus" on my composter lid deserves to bloom, too! :)

It's even edible! Sure looks like it, huh?
"May" flies? But this is June, so where have you guys been? Well?
I'll tell ya where they are now...all over!
Not blooms but the driving force-rain!Along with the rain come some interruptions in power.......causing no interruption in Gizmo's stalking techniques....(see the ears just below the window?)......and here's a squirrel trying to stay dry, wishing he had an umbrella (or a circular saw for that birdhouse!)
Nice spider...I know, not flowers, but I garden so I can see these guys, too....
...here we go, oxalis 'Molten Lava' blooming nicely (as if the foliage weren't enough)...
...and her "pot-mates" are filling in too...maybe too well!
Another annual, large-flowered portulaca...I love the white "starfish" in the middle.
Alright, I'm gonna stop comments from me here for now, I gotta go. So enjoy the busy gardens, and I'll be back later! Happy Bloom Day!
Okay, I'm back! Now where was I...oh yea! Yellow Ladyslipper blooming....
....a peek inside the "slipper"...
...this is a geranium, but I'm not sure which one...sorry! I'll have a look at the tag and edit it in...
Update: This is geranium macrorrhizum.
....annuals doing their thing. I really love this geranium, and I'm gonna get cuttings to grow if it's the last thing I do! (I'm sort of a "cutting moron", but I'm trying to conquer and overcome).
This is 'Little Song' Peony, and it's only about 12" tall. Very cute to have a smaller peony, and my source, Klehm's Song Sparrow Nursery has a lot of them.
Even the pasties ...er, seed formations are pretty, IMO. :) Some flowers (this is the aforementioned dianthus) are pretty as they unfurl, too....
...white iris blooming nicely. I planted this in a group with a purple-and-white, as well as an all-purple. Naturally they won't bloom all together, as I'd hoped...oh well. Apparently they didn't get the memo!
Alliums blooming away...
....attracting pollinators too. See the little comet-like blur to the right of the flower? It's a bumblebee, with places to go!
I love this little truck planter, the panel atop the cab stores solar energy so the headlights can come on at night...fun!

This annual was called "goldfish", but I forget what it really is. It has a daisy-looking flower...
....this Leopard Frog is "pretty like a flower", IMO.

Here we have a sucker from my snowball bush , growing behind the "intentional" one, but it's the one that blooms! Once the blooms fade, the sucker will be history. These Red-Winged Blackbirds stop by the sunflower seed feeder regularly. I really like it when the males have "wing-flashing contests" with each other while asserting dominance. I wonder how they decide who wins?
This big peony came with the house, and I never knew the name. It's mostly a white "bomb"-type, with pale pink petals surrounding the outside, and these red thingys in the middle. Smells great, and that's good enough for me!
Bicolor salvia....

....heuchera/coral bells, this one is 'Firefly'....
.....weigela 'White Knight'....
...bees love these blooms, too. I kind of collect these bushes, I still want to get 'My Monet' , and since it's smaller there will be more siting options.

More annuals...this old wicker chair is almost a goner. Guess I'd better cruise the curbs on trash day again! ;-)

And look at this! A hellebore I planted last year, and it's blooming right now! Poor thing must be confused...the other two aren't doing this, either. Strange.
My not-dangling hanging basket...I really thought the orange-flowered stuff to the right would hang down more, but oh well.
Another heuchera, I just call it "Old-fashioned", because I got it from my mom and it's the only kind I ever knew about until I got the "gardening bug" years later. It sure is pretty though, and the hummingbirds love it! Update: Okay, I looked at the tag, and this is not the "old-fashioned" one, it's called 'Patricia Louise'...sorry! This is some kind of wildflower that I've never known the name of. It has very fine, dianthus-looking foliage that forms a tangled "mat", and only blooms in the early summer. The flowers are tiny, maybe 1/4" diameter. Update: This is Lesser Stitchwort - Stellaria graminea per WiseAcre...thank you!!
Lupine relocated from a wild group by my driveway, they come up in white, too. I have a pink that was bought last year, but it's not blooming yet.

Flowers of the Bristly Locust . This is a cute little tree that forms a "grove" if left to their own devices...
...as you can see, bees adore the flowers. Despite the name, the stems are bristly but soft, not thorny like many locust trees. I had a real hard time getting this established from suckers my mom gave me, but once you have them, you have them.
Wild columbine...
....pink-flowering Thimbleberry , which is more vigorous than the white-flowering one that I have. I'm watching this very closely for berries this year, because they're too tasty to sacrifice to birds! (Yea, right....I know they're faster and have more free time, but I can at least try :)

Purple columbine from seeds "acquired" off plants at the courthouse in Green Bay...they say that "stolen plants grow best", and this apparently applies to seeds as well...
....although I did "pay" for them in a way!
This Five Lined Skink is probably an adult male (from the description in the link), and he was not afraid of me at all! In fact, I had to be careful not to step on him or bean him with the hose. I guess when it's time to bask in the sun, you gotta bask!
Cute little annual vine, I don't remember what it's called (I'm getting bad about that lately, I think it's the meclazine I take for vertigo...makes me a space-cadet!). Update: This is "Firecracker Vine"...thanks Kim! :)

But this I remember! This is achillea , and the cultivar is 'Paprika'...super-red!

Annual (biennial?) stocks, which smell terrific!
Pretty spider, and she was pretty big, too...body the size of a nickel, anyway...
....these may look like her eggs, but I'm pretty sure they're a fungus of some sort...
...okay, after veering way off track I will end with a bloom-this is a miniature lilac named 'Tinkerbelle' and one of the "Fairytale Series" of hybrids. (Heh, I'd like to collect the whole series of these, too...it's a sickness :)
So Happy Bloom Day everybody!


17 comments:

chuck b. said...

What! A! SHOW! Hubba, hubba!

I'm speechless.

meemsnyc said...

Eck, those flies are gross. Cute frog and is that a salamander?

gintoino said...

Nice, very nice blooms, very nice animal pics. A great post with lots of things I had never seen before. What are those beautiful birds?
And the truck with the snapgarden?...so funny!

Shirley said...

Hi again Lisa, what a wild posting for bloom day :-D

Ah… but what a great lot of flowers too. Great selection! I loved the pink pea-like blooms with the bee :-D

I was late too with my post too but it is the taking part that counts – and you certainly did that! Thanks, I enjoyed your post!

Enjoy the rest of your week :-D

lisa said...

Chuck-Why thank you!

Meemsnyc-Heh, not down with the mayflies, eh? :) The reptile is a five-lined skink, named more for the lines on the juveniles. This was an adult, and they aren't quite as attractive. (*sigh*, happens to the best of us! ;-)

Gintoino-Thank you! The bird is a Red-winged Blackbird. They are very animated, and I happened to catch this male really flashing his wing patches for the other male on the feeder. I love the little truck planter, and the headlights come on at night! (My friend gave it to me for Christmas.)

Shirl-Thank you! That bee was flying so fast, he almost looked like a comet! Have a great week yourself! :)

Aiyana said...

Hi Lisa,
Thanks for the link! You have an enormous variety of flowers--some familiar and some I've not seen before. We could sure use some of your rain. We haven't seen drop here in months. I'm hoping we have a good Monsoon season and get some. Problem is, we also get violent storms and strong winds, and I usually have some toppled trees. Desert trees have shallow root systems if they are in a landscape, and even without watering, they draw from nearby shrubs so don't send down deep roots.
Aiyana
Aiyana

Unknown said...

Lisa, what a great post! I like the frog, lizard and spiders, too... I enjoy seeing the spiders in my garden also. And that truck planter is freaking adorable!

By the way, I wonder if your white peony is 'Festiva Maxima'? That's an older variety, and fragrant, and it also has the reddish specs in the centers of the flowers like yours does.

Unknown said...

Oh, and your vine with multicolored flowers is firecracker vine, aka Spanish flag vine. But I don't remember the Latin name.

lisa said...

Aiyana-Thank you! That would be a real drag, no rain but storms to do damage! I bet that would be especially frustrating if you have a nice old tall cactus that gets knocked over in one swipe.

Kim-Thank you! I don't think my old peony is "Festiva Maxima", because the red in the middle is the seed-head thingy, not red on the petals...*sigh*. I may never know, but the scent soothes my frustration. :) Thank you for the ID on the vine, I just can't seem to remember anything these days!

Yolanda Elizabet Heuzen said...

LOL, this is the funniest and longest post for GBBD I've read in a loooooooooooong time. Love the flowers of the Bristly Locust, they are very pretty, the dog vomit fungus not so much! ;-)

Happy GBBD Lisa!

lisa said...

Thank you very much, Yolanda!

Unknown said...

Wow. Well, obviously I asked about your peonies BEFORE I read this post. I suppose I stunted my blooms with the transplanting process. Although that doesn't answer why the one I planted LAST year still hasn't bloomed.

I love all of your blooms and things. Fabulous!

lisa said...

Cinj-Yea, peonies get pissy when you move them, and tend to pout awhile. (Especially big plants, and even moreso if you transplant any other time but fall). I'm sure they'll snap out of it, especially if they get enough sun. Thanks for the kudos on the blooms, I love em', too! :)

Garrett Sawyer said...

Love the little truck planter! That's neat!

LOL@ the squirrel comment.

lisa said...

Thank you!

WiseAcre said...

I warned you I'd be back.

I think the white wildflower (above your wild lupine photo)is:

Lesser Stitchwort - Stellaria graminea

At least that's the ID I came up with. If you check my web site's wildflower section you can see my photo.

lisa said...

I believe you are correct sir! Awesome!!! Thanks...you're my hero!