Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - May 2015

What a relief. A long, hard, snowy winter, even by New England standards, a challenging semester at work and now, finally, it's spring like weather and summer break (I love being a lecturing professor!) and my garden is full of blooms. Here's a sampling.

 All these irises are from Rainbow Iris Farm

Want something out of the ordinary? This is the place to go.

I wish I had room for more...

Guess which bulb got in the wrong bag...

Very fragrant Viburnum - can you smell it from there?

Some annuals. I have a lot of pots around the yard that I fill with annuals. These are just a sample.

And my volunteers. The "wild" violets that I allow to grow as a cheerful ground cover.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams for this meme.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day January 2015

My outside garden is sleeping the winter away this month. Even the pansies look cold. But inside my houseplants are keeping my spirits up.

Unfortunately I didn't have much time this morning so you'll have to make do with lower quality pictures. Sorry.

I don't have tons of blooms but all but one of my African Violets are blooming.

And this Calathea shows no signs of stopping or even slowing down with blooming (even though it's not  happy with either the humidity or maybe I forgot to de-chlorinate the tap water so there's some leaf burn).

And... Well, that's actually all. None of my Anthuriums or my Hoya  are in blooms right now.

It's a good thing we got some kittens to liven up the house this winter.

Mango has discovered my house socks. 

Wren barely holds still long enough to get his picture taken.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams for this meme. Hopefully I'll have some time this afternoon to take better pictures for tomorrow's Foliage Follow Up. My houseplants have a lot more Foliage than Blooms.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day October 2014

This might well be the last Garden Bloggers Bloom Day of 2014 that features outside plants. I better start fertilizing the Anthuriums so I'll have some winter blooms to post!

A lot of my blooms this month are from annuals.

My fall pansies (that I will leave all winter and get to enjoy again in the spring). These particular ones look almost psychedelic.

And, of course, I have a couple of mums, in bright, cheerful colors.

And this annual. I'm not sure what it is, but I LIKE it. It's had a nice lloonngg bloom period, too. If I see it next year I'll be sure to buy it again.

On to the perennials.

This Coreopsis redshift has done really well this year.

I added this Helenium Mardi Gras just recently. I have one in another spot where it's kind of hidden and I wanted one up front. Does it count if I bought it in bloom just a few weeks ago?

I hope so. Cause if not I can't count this Solidago spacelata Golden Fleece. I'm hoping it's one of the less aggressive ones. I hear such good things about Solidago as a plant for native organisms (like the tiny wasp in this image) but bad things about them taking over. This one is planted in the back yard where Piper, our dog, can potentially do damage. She does sometime like to run and dig (hence the support structure -  not because the plant needs it but for protection against the fuzzy menace.).

The fuzzy menace, herself. Unlike me, she likes the change in the weather and looks forward to spending more time outside, especially when it snows!

My Vernonia angustifolia Plum Peachy is almost done but the last of the butterflies are still finding a few blooms. Like the American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis) above and the out-of-focus Monarch (Danaus plexippus) below.

And I have a very few blooms left on Buddleia. Also a nice stopover plant for migrating Monarchs (Ok, I admit it, the photo is from a week ago but I've just been eagerly waiting a chance to post it and now's a good time, right?).

My Aster (Symphotricium) October Skies is still in it's full glory.

As are most of my Gaura (which really don't photograph well except on very, very still days, which we don't often have here at The Edge).

I'm even getting some reblooming on this tiny thrift (Armeria Amada Rose) that I have tucked between the bricks edging the bed and a small bird bath.

That's it for my garden this month. Thanks to Carol at May Dreams for this meme!

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day August 2014

I was hoping to get this done before my in-laws got up this morning but I didn't get it done quite fast enough so you'll have to excuse the poorer quality of plant identification. It's partly that I don't have time to check my plant inventory database and partly I need coffee.

Hope you enjoy the pictures. If there's something you're really curious about put in a comment and I'll try to get to it next week when we don't have company (I have a tomato garden post planned, too, I didn't miss the questions about my tomato harvest this week!).

The Agastache are almost done but the bees are still finding some food. 

Reblooming on an Asclepias 

Buddleias are peaking 

Technically not a bloom but this fern is in reproduction mode 

Seldom is the wind still enough to photograph Gaura so I'm really thrilled with these photos 

The trellis is there to prevent the dogs from digging up the Joe Pye Weed before it gets established 

The bees and I are both happy with the meadow rue this year. It's the second year and it's much stronger and more floriferous. 

I usually only post houseplant blooms during the winter but my snake plant is very happy to be outside

Society garlic 

We tend to forget them but yes, grasses do bloom.

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams for this meme