(Linking to May Dreams Gardens.)
Happy June Bloom Day! Since last month's Bloom Day, my zone 9a garden here in Southeast Texas has seen a lot of rain. During one twelve-day period, it rained every day. And not just light showers but real gully-washers. And then it stopped and the 90+ degree F weather started and everything dried out. Today the high temperature is forecast to be 98. Now we need rain again.
All that rain sure encouraged the weeds in my garden but the May showers also brought flowers and quite a lot of them.
Portulaca blooming in a pot on the patio table.
Just before the rains started, I had transplanted zinnias. The poor little plants were completely beaten up by the heavy rains and they still look rather battered. But they are blooming!
Here's the yellow variety.
The summer phlox is in bloom. I wish you could smell the wonderful scent.
The purple echinacea is just starting to bloom.
There's quite a bit of variety in the shades of purple. This is a much more vibrant one.
Cosmos. What would summer be without it?
I thought I had lost this buddleia in the February freeze, but it came back from the roots and now it is in bloom.
This buddleia is called 'Pugster Amethyst.' It was just planted this spring.
The birds planted this sunflower, along with several others around the garden.
'Laura Bush' petunia that reseeded itself.
'Bees' Knees' petunia just recently planted. I have high hopes for it.
Bergamot, just beginning to bloom.
Four o'clocks come in many colors.
I quite like this gaudy one.
And then there is this more sedate-colored one.
This is a wildflower, tickseed, that reseeded itself in one of my beds.
But it is being stripped by a posse of Black Swallowtail caterpillars. That's okay though. They are one of the reasons I plant it.
'Caldwell Pink' polyantha rose just beginning its second flush of blooms.
'Lady of Shallott' rose. Always beautiful.
Asclepias tuberosa, the native butterfly weed. I'm growing it in pots and it seems to do very well there. Better than it did in the ground here.
'Starcluster White' pentas in a pot with lemon coral sedum and red cordyline.
This is the dark blue variety of plumbago.
The vitex has been absolutely glorious this spring. It has been in bloom for about a month and is on the wane now. This picture was actually taken about a week ago. That's yellow canna in the foreground and some of the old orange canna in the back.
The quirky little blossoms of the buttonbush.
As they age, the blossoms of the oakleaf hydrangea start to turn from a creamy white to a creamy pink. I think they are still beautiful. If only we could age as gracefully!
Thank you for visiting my garden. I hope you and your garden are flourishing this June and I look forward to visiting you there.
A beautiful assortment of blooms! Hard to pick a favorite, but... "Julia Child' Rose!
ReplyDeleteHappy Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
'Julia' is always a winner for me.
DeleteWOW! SPECTACULAR!!
ReplyDeleteJune may be our bloomiest month.
DeleteThere's a lot blooming down there in Texas. I know what you mean about the purple coneflower. I wonder what makes some of them darker and others lighter. Maybe it's growing conditions since the plants stop producing darker ones as the season wears on.
ReplyDelete-Ray
It's a mystery to me. Those I showed are in the same bed and yet some are quite pale while others just glow with brilliant color.
DeleteWhat beautiful flowers. Especially the Lady of Shallot! I bought a white rose last year from a local nursery that was labeled Lady of Shallot. I was stunned to see your beautiful rich Lady of Shallot. I can hardly describe the color. After seeing your rose I googled the David Austin site and saw that the Lady of Shallot not only had rich color - she was tall! Now I'll have to see if I can keep my white 'Lady of Shallot under control - whatever she is. I am very glad I got to see your garden.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize there was a white version and yes, they do grow quite tall. I deadhead mine severely to try to keep it within bounds. I got a white rose from David Austin last year called 'Tranquility.' Actually, I bought three of them. They never bloomed. They were in a partially shaded spot and I decided they were not getting enough sun so moved them this spring to full sun, but so far they still haven't bloomed. However, hope springs eternal.
DeleteI'm in 8b, so some of my things are behind yours, but some are right up there the same. Very pretty four o'clocks!
ReplyDeleteI'm quite fond of those old four o'clocks. Old-fashioned but always pretty.
DeleteIt's amazing how quickly everything dried out and started suffering from the heat, but from the looks of your pictures your garden is having a pretty spectacular season so far. Beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI didn't show you the weeds. They are doing REALLY well!
DeleteThat is the prettiest Portulaca I've ever seen - it looks like a tiny rose. Your zinnias and sunflowers are well ahead of mine, which are just now popping above the soil line (entirely my fault as I was late in sowing seeds). I look forward to having a Vitex that looks like yours - I planted V. agnus-castus from a 4-inch pot a couple of years ago and it's still probably only 6 inches tall. I envy you the rain too, even if it did come down in buckets.
ReplyDeleteWe needed the rain because it had been a rather dry year. Would have preferred it be spread out over a longer period, but we gardeners always have to complain about the weather, don't we? My daughter picked out that portulaca for me. I'll tell her it is a hit!
DeleteYou are ahead of my zone 5b garden in some ways, but I don't mind, because it's coming attractions! Love your roses and your petunias. And your plumbago, which isn't hardy here, so I always enjoy seeing yours. I've been seeing the reports on the Weather Channel about all your rain. I used to grow four o'clocks; for some reason only the plain purple ones did well. I haven't grown them in years, though.
ReplyDeleteThe purple four o'clocks seem to be the toughest and most dependable, although I'm not sure why that is.
DeleteI can see that, in addition to all your other talents, Dorothy, you are an accomplished gardener. Well done!
ReplyDeleteNot nearly as accomplished as I'd like to be; nevertheless, gardening brings me joy.
DeleteLovely assortment to brighten your yard. I love the purple cone flowers and black eyed Susans and all of the roses, phlox and zinnias too - What I meant to say was they are all gorgeous:)
ReplyDeleteThank you, Diane. Best of all, we got some more rain last night so I didn't have to employ the sprinklers today.
DeleteHow I would love a stroll through your beautiful garden! Nothing cheers quite like flowers!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing!
Thanks for visiting and for your comment.
DeleteYou should be proud of this marvelous garden. It's astonishingly beautiful. I bet you get a splash of happiness every time you look at it.
ReplyDeleteI'm just learning about flowers. We traveled to our naturalist group's (mostly) native plant nursery a couple of times this spring and planted salvia and (I think) native hibiscus and Blue Sage and some coneflowers. I wish I knew more about flowering plants.
My garden still looks a bit bedraggled after all the heavy rains and now the heat of the last several days, but it's coming along.
DeleteEach one is so beautiful but I love the sunflower!
ReplyDeleteWhat's not to love about sunflowers? They shout, "Summer!"
DeleteGorgeous! So lovely to see all the different flowers. I'll take the Julia Child rose! Pretty. We've had about 2 months of pretty heavy wind here ... it's not easy on the plants! But I've planted the sturdy geraniums and the petunias which usually do well here.
ReplyDeletePetunias and geraniums are always winners.
DeleteWow! That vitex is glorious indeed! It's like a lilac colored explosion. So many wonderful blooms in your garden. Weather has been crazy in the upper midwest too. I am ready for some seasonal June weather spell.
ReplyDeleteThe vitex was a Mother's Day gift from my daughters several years ago so it has always been special to me, but it has really out performed this season. I actually think it may have been helped by the extreme cold weather we had in February.
DeleteI LOVE these posts! Keep 'em up! Your roses are gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteWe just recently plated seeds that grow flowers that the bees love and we added some lavender this week.
Last Wednesday night we had a BBQ outside and the bees kept flying around feeling totally at home in my new flowers, it made me so happy!
Thank you for supporting bees and other pollinators. They need all the help they can get.
DeleteYour garden, as always, is beautiful!! I forget, but do you grow fruits and vegetables too?
ReplyDeleteI recently watched a video on YouTube about unique fruits and came across something called a Texas Persimmon... I'd never heard of it before, but it is a small, black persimmon that grows readily in Texas and is commonly made into a jam. It sounds intriguing. Have you heard of the Texas Persimmon before?
I do grow a few vegetables and fruits, although not as many as I did in the past. I lost my citrus trees in the February deep freeze this year, but I still have pear, plum, and pomegranate trees, as well as muscadine grape vines. I have heard of the Texas persimmon. It is a native plant that does well in a pretty wide area of the state.
DeleteWow, you have quite the green thumb!! Your fruit trees sound fabulous. A friend of mine has fruit trees and makes jam with her excess fruits.
DeleteBeautiful blooms! I really need to grow some phlox and that plumbago is a new one for me, I’m going to have to research that one. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDelete