Not strong enough to prevent everyday from being a Bloom Day at OutsideClyde. Before we leave the deck of the resident gardeners house, two great big Begonia blooms pose for the camera.
The Texas Bluebonnets I sowed from seed decided to bloom before I planted them out. They are essentially an annual so I just left them in the trays to be enjoyed on the deck. I managed to get two of them into the ground at my place and sowed the remaining seeds on the hillside below my cabin. The recent rains have gotten many to germinate. They are really an intense deep blue.
The Ox-eye Daisies, Leucanthemum vulgare are the most abundant wildflower for June.
The compact form of the pink Spirea blooms in the ridge top garden.
The first of the Coreopsis verticillata is opening.
A late blooming Iris.
Bulbarella cursed these Asiatic Lilies. "These are not what I bought and planted and not what bloomed here last year. Damn things turned plain pink." I have the proof from July's Bloom Day post of last year. It is a month earlier. Maybe the good Lilies are yet to bloom, but where did these pink ones come from?
More pink in the native Thimbleberry, Rubus odoratus.
And the Daylilies have begun. The common orange are the first of thousands of Daylilies to bloom over the next couple of months.
A pretty grass in the meadow.
Look at that! A yellow squash bloosom.
Complimenting the yellow Coreopsis that surrounds the vegetable garden.
The Penstemon 'Ruby' was purchased and planted last year. It has returned safe and sound.
A rose that was supposed to climb thirty feet up a tree and never has. It is blooming nicely this year.
The Eremurus. I am liking them.
All six root stocks I planted last fall have come up. Four have bloom stalks. Two are on the small side and might not bloom their first year. Of course they need to prove they will survive on this mountain and keep coming back.
The meadow will be changing colors and players all season long. The Ox-eye Daisy and Soapwort, Saponaria officinalis are round three since early spring.
The butterflies add to the floral display by the dozens.
Deep in the forest shade lurks the Wild Ginger, Asarum canadense.
The cool green is a nice balance to the wildness of the floral extravaganza.
That is just some of what is blooming OutsideClyde for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day June 2008. For more please visit the lovely Carol at Bloom Day headquarters.
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12 comments:
The ox-eye daisy has such a classic look, it's hard to imagine it as a wildflower. The Texas Bluebonnets are fantastic and look right at home. I've had a terrible time germinating lupine seeds. Just not the right vibe for them in San Francisco, I guess. I like the cursed pink Asiatics. The simplest lilies are the best, imo. Too much razzle-dazzle in a lily make it seem like it's trying too hard. A pale lily with some fragrance is all that's needed. (Dark lilies are nice too.) Your native thimbleberry is rather different than my native thimbleberry. So the species name is odoratus--what's that referring to? (Pleasant and interesting article about thimblberry here.)
So when and how did the forest shade come back? Gradually, or all of a sudden? As a daily reader, it seems sudden.
What a surprise to see a Texas bluebonnet on your Bloom Day post. It does look happy there. Best to keep it in the tray, I expect. They can be picky about soil, although a sharp-draining mountainside might do the trick.
The forest came back gradually over a six week period from a little before the first of May to mid June. Different species leafing out at diffrent times, the Black Locust being the absolute last. There is a day though where it feels complete and like it happened all of a sudden.
The Bluebonnet seeds have a very wide germination time. Some came up almost instantly, others have taken weeks and weeks. Seeds are still germinating in the trays I sowed in Feb.
This week some of the Dierama pulcherrimum you sent me is germinating.
Pam my saprolite subsoil is well drained if it is nothing else. If the seeds can survive the winter and germinate in the spring, maybe they will naturalize here.
I love all the shots but the woods are glorious this time of year. I have noticed the heavy blooms on grasses this year. Maybe CO2 levels are having an effect! Nice Ribes also!
Hi Christopher, after reading back to catch up, so much reading to catch up on after only one week away, your mountain is looking glorious and mysterious at the same time. Your roof looks ready to go, how soon until lift off? The storms you wrote about earlier must have hit here the day we left town, our TV dish is out of order, we are using rabbit ears to get one channel. Not a problem for me, but the golf nuts were bummed about missing Tiger's big day. We have lilies that were sold as Chianti, a dark red that are that exact color of yours. I call them not Chianti, to go with our non stella daylilies. The eremurus are terrific, no success here after three tries. Good job with the bluebonnets!
When the forest leafs out in the spring, it can be so dark under that canopy. Have the night insects started their chorus yet? When I camp in the mountains, I have often found it hard to sleep from their songs.
I have always wanted to grow the Eremurus, but got the impression that I would not like it here. I like the Rubus too.
The Rubus is a nice shrub. It has arched canes a bit like blackberry, a bit shorter, with more branching and no thorns. The flowers are widely spaced. The blackberries were a solid mass of white when they bloomed. Driving down the road you couldn't tell which was wild rose and which was blackberry. It will be time to pick blackberries soon.
The name Desert Candles may be a clue to what the Eremurus needs. On a slope with plenty of rocks and a saprolite soil, I think I qualify as well drained soil.
Les I saw the first firefly last night. The cicadas didn't start until about August last year it seems and then lasted till frost. I liked the cicadas, they drowned out the footsteps creeping through the forest sounds at night that I found unnerving at first. Asheville had the seventeen year cicadas this year. They came out earlier, like the end of May.
Love all those blooms Christopher.
I'm not familiar with the native thimbleberry, but I really like the almost antique-rose shade of pink - and those grasses are gorgeous.
I also read your post about fresh woodchip mulch - I spread it before (mulch obtained from when my live oak trees were pruned). I didn't have any problems, and was told not to do it. Do you have your own mulcher, or are you thinking about getting one? I was thinking that you didn't have one - I have so many branches/biomass that could be mulched from time-to-time, but just don't know anything about the smaller ones (like, for example, if they work well at all).
Your bluebonnets look so beautiful - makes me want to try them next year!
(Oh, a pepper comment: yeah, they love it hot. I have trouble here in the coastal sandy soils with nematodes - really tough getting them to do much in the ground).
Pam I had a RETIRED client with a fairly large Craftsman wood chipper. It was finicky about what it would chip. Hibiscus and Heliconia braided into rope in the machine. It would take up to about 2" diameter wood. He used it regularly, repairing it himself when needed and mulched 90% of his green waste. It made a very fine textured mulch. Maybe it had a setting for a larger chip?
Anyway from what I saw, the time it took, he was RETIRED, to stand in front of a horribly loud machine and run it all through wasn't worth it when you could buy a full load of chips for $85. Yes on Maui it became a valuable commodity that was sold and there was competition for the best loads.
I've been ripping out the ox-eye daisies in my garden, not enough space to let them be the wildflowers they want to be!
I enjoyed seeing what's blooming on your mountain, and agree that this time of year, there is a lot of bloom going on.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
Do you ever get to eat your thimbleberries, or do critters beat you to them? They are freakin' delicious! I bought a pink-flowering variety from Forestfarm, and it's very vigorous compared to the white-flowred one.
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