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Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – June 2014

Happy Bloom Day everyone! Memorial Day has passed and summer has arrived on the Lot. Some blooms have already arrived and faded since May Bloom Day. I am going to make an attempt at taking photos at the beginning of each month as well. That way I’ll have a more detailed comparison of growing seasons.

What’s Blooming

Here come the roses! This pale pink bloom is from a monster climber at the southwest corner of our home. It is just beginning to bloom and adds a lovely fragrance to the porch area.

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When we moved into our home, we didn’t even notice this climber at first because it was squished between the yew and an arborvitae. With the removal of the overgrown arborvitaes, the rose now has room to stretch its canes. This rose is the first to bloom on the Lot and has been doing so for awhile now. Some time after its done blooming but before August, it will receive a haircut to get it more under control.

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Here is a lupine blooming for its very first time. There are several, young lupine scattered around the south bed due to me accidentally leaving a purchased, mature lupine go to seed.

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The snow angel coral bell is now in full bloom. This plant responds well to deadheading spent blooms by sending up new flower stalks. I like the combo of its leaves against the foliage of the winter savory to the right and the black eye susan (rudbeckia) to the back.

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Also blooming for its first season is this false indigo. This yellow cultivar was purchased after I fell for some false indigo gifted to me by Ms. A. Like the plant given to me, this false indigo did not bloom until its third season on the Lot.

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Among the bulbs on the Lot, the allium are now blooming. This first photo is of bulbs I planted just this last fall. Even knowing how tall they grow, I was planning on their blooms to more closely follow the last of the tulips.

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These allium in the alley bed were gifted to me by Mrs. N. I love the shape of Hesse and will leave the seedheads standing for most of the summer,

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Also baking in the alley bed is this sedum. It was purchased to fill a dry area beside the house on the east side of the Lot. It struggled because the morning sun was not sufficient to keep it healthy. Last fall I moved it to this bed where it receives full sun all day and is much healthier.

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And last but not least are the peonies. All of them on the lot are extremely fragrant bursting with blooms. Next season will require some more cages to help these plants hold up their heavy flower heads, especially after they are wet with rain.

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That is all for the Lot this month. Be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens for additional blooming news.

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – May 2014

May Bloom Day is upon us! The end of last week and over the weekend we had some warmer weather during an otherwise cool Spring. It took just those handful of days for the tulips to bloom and the trees to leaf out. My allergies have also been telling me the garden is now is full swing.

Last season we had three arborvitae removed from in front of our porch. They were planted very close to the porch and also had grown tall enough to block our view. This left a large area we decided to plant with a variety of early to mid spring tulips.

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This next little plant is Rock Cress (Arabis sturii). There are rocks placed behind our backyard gate door, so a ground cover was needed to dress up the area. This plant receives morning sun and doesn’t grow much larger than shown.

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All the Labrador Violets are in bloom around foundation in both the backyard and along the east side of the house.

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Last season Sweet Woodruff (Galium odoratum) was planted in the backyard on the north side of the house. It isn’t quite in bloom yet, but I’m not sure if it will make it to June Bloom Day. We placed the Woodruff near our finch feeder at the kitchen window to help camouflage the discarded thistle seed. This ground cover is quite content in the shade.

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This is one of my favorite plants on the Lot. The Foam Flower is so delicate and pretty, yet quite a tough plant. In the foreground of the photo, the Snow Angle Coral Bell is just beginning to send up its flower stalks.

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This is the Bleeding Heart, one of the first perennials we planted on the Lot when we moved into our home in 2008. Even after a tussle with an aggressive Trumpet Vine last season, it’s still going strong. There are a handful of Forget-Me-Not and Grape Hyacinth in the foreground.

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Here is the Cranesbill brightening up the walkway back to the compost bin beside the garage. This plant lived on the Lot before we did.

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The variegated Solomon’s Seal is in the process of blooming at the edge of Loki’s flowerbed.

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This is the remainder of that same bed. The Lenten Rose, Forget-Me-Not, and Grape Hyacinth are all blooming here.

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Here is the Mt Airy Fothergilla putting on its Spring show. The flowers are likened to bottlebrushes in appearance. Upon further inspection, this is because the flower on Fothergilla are only filaments and have no actual petals.

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Here are more Grape Hyacinth! It seems I will never have to plant a single one of these bulbs on the Lot again. Oh, there is also the lovely dandelion in the bottom left.

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That is all to share from the Lot this Bloom Day. Be sure to visit May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming in gardens around the rest of the world!