Text and photos ©Nancy J. Ondra
It’s Bloom Day again: time to present a bunch of pretty pictures from the mid-June garden here at Hayefield. Above, Allium schubertii with ‘Brookside’ geranium. Below, Allium azureum (A. caeruleum).
‘Dropmore’ Italian bugloss (Anchusa azurea) with eggleaf spurge (Euphorbia oblongata, a.k.a. E. palustris ‘Zauberflote’).
Campanula ‘Sarastro’:
Delosperma cooperi against ‘Summer Sunshine’ germander (Teucrium chamaedrys):
‘Fireglow’ Griffith’s spurge (Euphorbia griffithii) against Mellow Yellow spirea (Spiraea thunbergii ‘Ogon’) and Diabolo ninebark (Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Monlo’):
A closeup of the buds of Hydrangea arborescens subsp. radiata:
And the plants in the garden, with seersucker sedge (Carex plantaginea):
Iris ‘Gerald Darby’ (just about finished) with Sedum rupestre ‘Angelina’ and golden catalpa (Catalpa bignonioides ‘Aurea’):
Kniphofia ‘Border Ballet’:
‘Black Knight’ sweet pea (Lathyrus odoratus):
Lilium ‘Lollipop’:
Linaria purpurea with Euphorbia oblongata:
Mallow (Malva sylvestris):
Giant fleeceflower (Persicaria polymorpha):
Bowman’s root (Gillenia stipulata [Porteranthus stipulatus]):
Blushing Knock Out rose (Rosa ‘Radyod’) with rhubarb (Rheum rhabarbarum):
Flower Carpet Amber rose (Rosa ‘NOA97400A’):
Rosa ‘Zephirine Drouhin’:
Silver sage (Salvia argentea) and Salvia ‘Caradonna’ with Geranium ‘Brookside’, giant fleeceflower (Persicaria polymorpha), and silver willow (Salix alba var. sericea):
Clary sage (Salvia sclarea var. turkestanica):
Dusty meadow rue (Thalictrum flavum subsp. glaucum [T. speciosissimum]):
And to finish, Carolina lupine (Thermopsis villosa):
To see what else is blooming today in gardens all across the world, check out the abundance of GBBD links at May Dreams Gardens.
What a lovely mix of colour and shape.
June is THE month, isn’t it?
Our Summer lasted three glorious days, and is now over.
Those hydrangeas are showing a lot of promising buds.
BTW, do you reckon Flowercarpet ‘Amber’ is as good as Noack’s ‘White’ (NOAschnee) ?
Nan, you are about 3 GBBD posts behind (nudge, nudge).
Or maybe I overlooked you.
Hey there, Jo. Nope, I haven’t missed a Bloom Day since I started almost two years ago. Here are March, April, and May.
I can’t give you an honest assessment yet for Flower Carpet Amber. I planted it last spring, and it’s just now starting a full bloom season. I do love the color of the buds, though the open flowers seem to turn pale very quickly.
-Nan
Nan … if you had heard me here while reading your post … well, you would have LAUGHED !
I went ooh ! ahhhh ! and a lot of “I want that too!!” .. I have Zephirine .. in fact I bought a second one to keep the first one company .. hoping to train it up to the railings of the new deck .. your picture inspired me to be patient thankfully : )
All beautiful plants, and combinations girl !!
Thanks, Joy! Good luck with ‘Zephirine’. I’ve had mine for about 8 years and moved it three times. I think I’ve finally found the right spot, because I’ve never seen her look as pretty as this year.
-Nan
Beautiful photos.Beautiful flowers.Beautiful garden.And the roses are spectacular!
Welcome to Hayefield, Chris. Thanks for your kind comments!
-Nan
I always know where to come to discover plants I want to add. I’ve been saying I need some alliums, but you remind me that there is a lot more to the allium family that the dramatic but more common giants. Thanks. My GBBD post doesn’t have nearly so much bloom, but wait til the end of the month!
Hi Pat. Oh, if you only knew how much I’ve spent on Allium schubertii bulbs over the years; they normally don’t like my damp soil. But seeing these finally bloom made it all worth it!
-Nan
Those Allium schubertii look like some alien space plant. Your placement of them shows them off wonderfully. I also like the way you’ve set off Campanula ‘Sarastro’ with chartreuse foliage. Mine are set next to green & white variegated plants, which isn’t quite as satisfying. I’ve never seen that Gillenia, it has beautiful flowers.
Thanks for stopping by, MMD. I’m glad I didn’t use the other photo I took of ‘Sarastro’, then. From one direction, the plant shows against ‘All Gold’ lemon balm; from the other, it’s against a variegated brunnera and silvery lamb’s ears. I liked both, but the chartreuse did seem a better choice.
-Nan
I loved visiting your garden. I have the Allium schubertii too, and mine got only about 18 inches tall. I put them in the back of my border because the package said 30-36 inches. Well, they sorta peeked out from behind everything else. Should I move them, or will they be taller in coming years?
Hi Kim! Maybe they look taller because of the perspective, but mine are barely 1 foot tall at the center of the globe. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them reach 3 feet tall (thought it would be awesome if they did). I think you’ll want to move them closer to the front of your border once they go dormant.
-Nan
Happy bloom day, Nan! Love the blue with the lime green, what a great way to show off blues.
Hey there, TM; thanks for checking in. I’ll be over to return the visit and see what’s blooming in your part of the world.
-Nan
All I can say is WOW. You don’t need any narration with blooms like these. Happy GBBD.
Thanks, Lisa. Yep, the pretties speak for themselves, don’t they?
-Nan
oh your garden is just exquisite! really beautiful..:)
happy gbbd!
Welcome, cat, and thanks for visiting. Happy Bloom Day to you too!
-Nan
Hi! I just found an old post you did on sod removal! What a live saver for us right now. :-) Your garden is beautiful! Now, I’m off to check for a manual sod remover. :-)–Randy
That’s great, Randy! I hope you had luck finding one. They seem to be pricey, for some reason, but they’re worth every penny, I think.
-Nan
Nan,
Was the Gillenia once called Gaura? I raised something from seed labeled Gaura lindenhamerii that looked very like it. Hard to keep up with the shifting names, especially the alliums. Thanks for sharing. Your pictures are inspiring.
Gillenia and Porteranthus are synonyms (can’t remember which is preferred at the moment), but Gaura is different. The flowers kind of do look similar, though!
-Nan
Like music. A symphony of color and texture. Thank you.
How kind, Miss R. Sadly, the symphony has stopped for the moment, due to a severe storm that blew through last evening, dumping 2 inches of rain and quarter-sized hail. It’ll be a little while until things recover. But, hopefully all will be well by the next Bloom Day.
-Nan
What wonderfully colorful photographs of your beautiful flowers and color combinations! :-) Your Euphorbia oblongata reminds me a bit of the effect blooming Lady’s Mantle gives. I have Lilium Lollipop and it’s blooming here, too! :-) Happy Day to you!
Good to “see” you, Shady! You’re right about the euphorbia – it’s a similar effect to lady’s mantle, with the advantage of being taller and somewhat longer-lasting.
-Nan
I LOVE the euphorbia/ninebark/spirea combination! (And most of the others, too, of course… that particular one just really knocked my socks off today. :)
And I was grinning about your allium schubertii and woolly thyme combination… because I have allium karataviense (sp?) ‘Ivory Queen’ growing up through a bed of woolly thyme! If we could come up with an allium that has the thick leaves of mine, and the fun flowers/seedheads of yours, that would be my ideal to grow through the woolly thyme, I think. :)
(Here’s a link to one of the posts that show “my” allium/thyme combo, in case you want to see it:
http://blackswampgirl.blogspot.com/2008/05/saturday-project-bordeaux-garden.html)
Thanks, Kim – I really liked that one too. And hey, isn’t it cool that we both have almost the same combination? Thanks for sharing the link! I’ll be over to check it out. I agree that your idea of the perfect allium sounds even better.
-Nan
I love your Allium schubertii! The thought that popped into my head when that picture came up was, “Oh! Those look like magic! How fun!” LOL.
Welcome, Dreamybee. It just doesn’t look real, does it? And you’re right – it would be perfect for a Harry Potter garden.
-Nan
Wow! So many beauties to choose from! I love that Catalpa biginoidies aurea. I saw that live for the first time in the gardens of Joy Creek Nursery (Scappose, Oregon). Stunning!
I’m also glad to see you have one of my favorites- Salvia sclarea. Whenever mine bloom I get lots of people saying “WOW! What IS that?” Pretty much how I felt the first time I saw it in full bloom at the Denver Botanical Garden. It reseeds enough to have plenty of plants to share though.
I’m amazed that the clary sage grows as well as it does in our humidity and winter wetness. The self-sown ones always are superior to the ones I try to set out or move.
And yes, the golden catalpa is beautiful. Keeping it a reasonable size and not too damaged by leaf diseases has been a challenge, though.
-Nan
Love that first photo. Those alliums remind me of 4th of July sparklers.
Jan
Always Growing
Yes! That’s a great comparison, Jan!
-Nan
i am fairly behind in my blog paroozing, busy in the garden of course. one of my goals this year was to figure out what the name of plant in my garden was…lost the tag. low and behold first time back on your blog in a while and there it is! Gillenia stipulata! i had a guara beside it that didn’t make it but the Gillenia, willowy with those delicate starry flowers is thriving in my crummy soil, partly shady spot! thanks!
Glad I could help, Cindy. I love it when stuff like that happens to me when I’m checking out other blogs and web sites.
-Nan
wow – what amazing photos! I love the one with the Euphorbia and the nine bark – time for me to do some transplanting to bring mine together. Also loved the Flower Carpet Amber – mine’s loaded with blooms now – about 2 weeks earlier than my other roses and 3X the number of buds.
I’m glad you mentioned that, Judy – mine is behaving the same way. The Red and Pink are just now coming into flower, and they don’t have nearly as many buds as Amber.
-Nan
Hi Nan, The alium schubertii is quite the clown, isn’t it? They look like tiny aliens :)
There’s lots going on in your June garden! I must check out the Diablo Ninebark. It looks great with the euphorbia and spirea. Love the Malva Sylvestris. Great color! I have that same lollipop lily…not yet blooming. That’s a wonderful pink rose, and the amber one is a beauty too.
Lovely June blooms! Thanks for the walk through. I always love seeing your wonderful garden.
How about that, Kerri – ‘Lollipop’ seems to be making an appearance in many posts this month. I hope yours is in bloom by now; mine finally dropped its petals. Thanks for visiting!
-Nan
Thanks so much for sharing your garden pics. I perused them closely! Lots of inspiration there. Great color combinations. Your borders are beautiful. I really enjoyed your garden. ~~Rhonda
Great to have you visit, Rhona. I’m glad you enjoyed the mini-tour.
-Nan
So great to see the Allium schubertii in a garden, I have been lusting after them for a few years but they keep getting cut off the $500 bulb list (so I can have a bulb list I can actually afford). Loved the sages too, I’m a big fan of all sages. The euphorbia/ninebark/spirea combination is especially choice, I unoriginally note. And the Carolina lupine, I must look into that.
Thanks for an inspiring garden tour!
Holy cow, Pomona – $500? You really need to sneak a few Allium schubertii in there somewhere. Just a few of them are all you need!
-Nan
I love these GBBDs if only for the education they give me about of all kinds of plants I’d never heard of before.
It was great to see the ninebark again. What a cool plant that is! And I am so jealous of your allium. That is wild.
I agree, Elizabeth: what better resource for plants and combination for every month of the year? Carol certainly has given us all a great gift with this brilliant idea.
-Nan
As always, you have such a great plant selection.
Thanks for stopping by, HG!
-Nan
I’ve been enjoying your blooms, Nan. I, too, have that allium blooming at the moment in my own garden. It’s always a conversation piece, isn’t it? The dried seed heads are fun to use in various ways, too.
Everything looks wonderful there in your garden! I just love this time of year!
So do I, Kylee – there’s just so much to share!
-Nan
That shooting-star photo of Allium schubertii is just incredible, Nan! You really should have saved it for July 4th!!!
Hey, yeah! Well, it’s a good thing the seedheads last for quite a while, so they’ll be around for that event – maybe even for Labor Day, too!
-Nan
I have seen your picture of the campanula sarastro. I am trying to locate a flower which may indeed be this one. Mine have a large heart shaped leaf. I cannot tell what type of leaf yours have. I would be very happy to send you an attachment with a picture of the leaf and of course the flower and exact dimentions. I have been unable to exactly name my flower in order to purchase more and several friends wish to locate this flower also. Thank you Jacquie Thomas
I’ll be in touch with you by e-mail, Jacquie.
-Nan