Blooms in the Front Yard Bed for Bloomin' Tuesday

I am just loving this time of year, even though I am behind in everything I do.  Heidi and I are outside for the final session of writing this post.  The birds are chirping up a storm, and the neighborhood dogs are barking at the mailman.  I'm not seeing my robin friend, but a couple others have come close to see what I am doing.  I better get this posted and go link in to Jean's Bloomin' Tuesday post.  The link to her blog is in my sidebar.

This is the third season for the front yard bed, that I call the "Bed of Many Colors".  It's still not as full as I want it to be, but I've been adding plants from other spots in the yard, as well as more watering cans and pots.

The drumstick alliums have color now. 

The three plants along the fence, to the right of the Joe Pye weed are kiss me over the garden gate.  Some have done searches of what the young plants look like.  I had one that had grown larger than these, but critter of some kind knocked it down.

The Gateway Joe Pye weed in the corner is in bud.  I wonder if I should cut them back so they don't bloom yet.  Some of the late summer, fall bloomers are trying to bloom early this year.

I think this daylily is 'Gentle Shepherd'.  It's one I got on sale last summer when putting in the new curb planting area.  I sure like it.

I've mentioned going out each morning to see what new daylilies have opened.  I'm noticing that some "wake up" sooner than others.  I think I'm going to start taking some photos in the evening to get the blooms fully opened.

These alliums have more foliage around them than the ones on the other side of the bed.

I included some photos taken from different spots inside the bed, for some different views of plants.  I tipped over the pot to prevent mosquitoes from developing in the rain water.  We're finally having some days without rain, so I could put it back upright.  The 'Octopus' bellflower  is about finished with its first flush of blooms.  I am pulling little plants from the edges to keep it in check.

This is either 'Petite Delight' or 'Marshall's Delight' bee balm.

I have a couple of these coreopsis that I forgot I'd planted.  I put a pink threadleaf one nearby.  Hopefully they won't clash, not that that's stopped me from some other mish mash combinations.

The 'Paprika' yarrow has different colors at different times of the bloom.  It's quite pretty.  I clipped back the foxglove that was finished blooming. The 'September Charm' anemone is getting tall.  I'm not sure if you can clip it back like you do other fall bloomers.  Do you know? 

The snapdragons from last year are on their second flush of blooms.  A salvia has come up very close to one of them.  There are some self sown coneflowers coming up in this area.

I'm not sure what the name of this pink yarrow is, but it looks nice in the garden.

Here's another different view taken from inside the flower bed.  I need to look up how to take care of the repeat blooming irises this time of year.  I'm thinking they need to be thinned out a bit.

This is the view to the other direction from the above photo.  The coneflowers and poppy seedheads are bedraggled, but still provide color and some height.

Turning a bit to the west, this is the spot where I'm hoping the annuals, some planted from seeds start growing faster.

Nigella is one of my favorite flowers, and the seedheads are lovely, too.  I bring some in to dry, but there aren't very many growing this year, so I'm not picking many.  I'm hoping more come up next year from this year's seeds.

The clematis, 'Purperea Plena  Elegans' blooms are starting to fade.  I'm thinking they had a second flush of blooms last year.  I'll have to check.

I'm not liking this part of the bed.  I think I'm going to change some things around.

I had high hopes for this lupine I bought at the farmer's market.  The leaves were nice and full, and I thought it may bloom this year.  The rabbits thought I planted it for their delight.  They can probably get inside this little structure, but at least, I'm putting a bit of an obstacle in their way.

This is the daylily that's in the photo before the last one.

I almost went to the day before photo of these plants.  The 'Wally' daylilies had more blooms open.  I hope the helenium blooms all summer, since it's blooming early this year.  I've never had that many blooms on the red hot poker plant.  I'm tickled about those!

Here's a close up of Wally.  This is the one I mentioned falling in love with on the Cottage Garden Forum, and ordering it online.  This is its second summer here.

I had way too many forget me nots in this area, and replaced them with a cleome I dug up because it was too close to my baby asparagus patch.  I placed the pot right next to the clump of cut back yellow blooming yarrow that I started to just give a trim to to allow more light to get to the red hot poker plant that is not blooming.  It was leggy at the middle, so I ended up cutting it to the ground.  Hopefully, it will regrow.  Another cleome, I moved out of the veggie garden, is in the ground.  The little plant by the stake is a zebrina mallow I moved from another spot in this bed. 

Here's the daylily in the above photo.

The little violas I put here by the daisies are doing well.  I hope they come back next year.

I cut the daisies back after they finished blooming.  Here's the lovely hydrangea, 'Pia' that only had one clump of blooms the first two seasons in the garden.  Oh, and there are the little newly planted cleome and mallow.

The cleome didn't like being moved, but I cut the main stem back some, and now it's getting ready to bloom.

Here's another angle I don't usually take a photo from.  I posted it because I like how it shows the edge of the bed, the curb daylilies, the fire hydrant, and the intersection.  People go too fast down that gravel street and stir up dust.  One of these days, I want to do a post about the neighbor who lives down the street, and carves wood sculptures with a chainsaw.  Some of the trellises I have were made by him and his mother-in-law when he first started making things with wood.  We also have a piece of his on our deck.  The rattlesnake master is not as tall as last year, but it seems content in its corner.  The campanula of some kind is almost finished blooming.  It's another one I'm not allowing to spread like it wants to.

This hibiscus is taller than it is supposed to get.  Soon, those buds will be opening to nice sized blooms.

I am pleased that this swamp milkweed is growing so nicely alongside the hibiscus, drumstick alliums, iris, and agastache that came up from last year.  It seems like the agastache had a woman's name.  They have mildew or something on them, but seem to be blooming fine.

Well, we made it around the bed.  I had trouble figuring out which of the way more photos than this I wanted to post.  I've told myself that I need to spend less time blogging, and one way of doing that is to post fewer photos.  As it is, this post has been done in a number of sessions, and I am determined to use better self control next time.

After I posted these photos, which were taken Monday,  I looked outside and saw that more daylilies were blooming, so I went out and took their photos.

This one was in the bargain bin, in water, no soil, a number of years ago when we had a lily farm a few miles from my city.

The one behind it in the above photo is this one, named after a woman I don't remember, was a $22.00 splurge the same day.  I just divided it this spring, and this is the clump I dug out of the original clump.  Both are blooming, so all is well.

This  'Double Pom Pom' was purchased along with 'Wally' and a few others from Daylilies by the Pond. 

While out there, I took a photo of the bud that I noticed today on the little Queen Anne's lace plant that I figured wouldn't bloom until next year.

I realized I didn't have a photo of the dianthus blooming again after being cut back, and one of the strawflowers that I have been popping blooms off of to dry.

I also noticed that there are new flower stems on the foxglove.  This is my favorite, and I was going to allow it to go to seed, but I better cut the larger stalks off and let these go to seed.

I hope you are enjoying your summer!  Thanks Jean, for hosting Bloomin' Tuesday.

My Friend, the Robin, and a Few Other Critters

I have not been on the computer much today, like I thought I would be.  I am late for the Camera Critters party, hosted by Misty Dawn, but I wanted to post photos of the robin who likes to hang around with me.  I posted some photos early on, when it first started coming around when I was gardening.  Well, it has continued to be my "friend".  There was a day in the veggie garden when I heard some rambunctious singing, and couldn't figure out where it was coming from.  Then, I looked up, and there it was, looking right at me.

These photos were taken a few days ago.  You can see the place in the chest where the bird was injured at some point in its life.

Right after I took the robin's photos, I heard a commotion and saw two squirrels in the street.  They were too far apart for a close up photo.  I'm not sure what this one was eating.

A few minutes later, there was a dove at the curb.

This evening, when Grandson and I were getting water out of the rain barrel for some plants, his mom, our daughter-in-law, saw this baby dove in the curb area, by the milkweed.  I took several photos.  It must not have been able to fly yet, as it just stayed there.  I decided I better leave it alone.

Well, by now, there are likely lots of links to blogs that have participated in Camera Critters.  Click on the button in the sidebar to see more, or join the party late, like me.

Friday!

I am going back to the curb beds for Tootsie's Flaunt Your Flowers/Fertilizer Friday.  I put some Coop Poop down in April, and since I found some more in the garage, may go ahead and put it around this weekend.  The plants in this area were all put in last July or August.

These, what I believe are Mary Reed Daylilies have been blooming steadily for a few days.  The flowers are smaller than others, but they sure are adding color to the bed.

The Canadian Border Patrol has one or two blooms a day.  It will be fun to see how these daylilies do their second season to bloom next year.

This "Fooled Me" has been blooming for a couple days now.

The Prairie Splendor coneflowers are looking good.  They don't get as tall as other kinds.

I couldn't find the name of this pink blooming betony.  There is a 'Pink Cotton Candy' but this looks a bit different.  The leaves are smaller and the flowers shorter than the other wood betony I have, which has purple blooms.  There's a sedum trying to blom to the left, too.

Here's the path between the new bed to the left, and the one to the right that's been there several years.

I moved the 'Fireworks' goldenrod from the back, and the plants I put in there are not fully grown, so I have a gap in the area.  I planted a few annuals that should grow and fill up some of the space soon.  I cut back the Jupiter's beard after the first flush of blooms faded.  It is blooming again.  I cut the lavender back yesterday to deadhead it.

I don't remember the name of the red yarrow, but I've picked some to dry.

The Stoke's asters are blooming.  The winter savory on the right is starting to bloom.  I cut some to dry before it started to bloom.  I don't dry a lot, because I don't cook with it that often.  I will cut it back after the flowers fade, and it will regrow.

The knautia, baby's breath are full of blooms.  That's the purple blooming wood betony with larger leaves than the pink kind.

I like sea holly.  I've had several kinds.

Here's the view across the sidewalk.  That lovely blue paint put there when they marked the water lines is still there (in the lower right corner.)  The knautia on this side doesn't have as many blooms. 

I moved this daylily from somewhere else in the yard when I was doing some dividing.  I moved several early enough that they are getting ready to bloom.

I don't remember what kind of rudbeckia this is, but I found a tag that said 'Tiger Eye'.  I couldn't tell if that's what this is from an online search.  It was sold as an annual, as were some others I got that also survived the winter and are doing quite well.  I planted it right next to where a bulb was, so it started growing up through the fading foliage this year.  They were a bit crowded for a short time, but I'm glad I was patient, because it's looking fine now.

Stoke's asters used to be one of my favorite flowers.  They still would be if they had a little longer bloom time.  Lantana is one of my favorite annuals, both for their looks, and for attracting butterflies and bees.

The white blooms are on a perennial limonium, statice of some kind.  I like to dry some and leave the rest on the plant.  Next to it is a germander.

Like the winter savory, I'll clip this back after it blooms.  Here's a link to a post on a blog I'm not sure if I've visited before, "Rock Rose".  I found it when checking to make sure I had the right name and spelling for this herb.  The post is from June of 2009.  I'm going to leave a comment.  If you check it out, it would be fun for Lancashire Rose to see you were there.  She said you can stick a stem in the ground in the shade, and it will root and grow.

The perennial geraniums are still blooming, but slowing down.  The sedum between the 2 geraniums is a stem I stuck in the ground a few weeks ago.  I also put one in another near by spot.  They seem to be doing fine.

Here's a close up of the above butterfly milkweed getting ready to bloom.

Last of all for today, are the lovely daylilies around the curve of the curb.

I have been enjoying going out each morning, taking off the finished daylily blooms from the day before, and seeing what new ones are blooming.  (I took pictures first this morning, though.) I hope you are having quality gardening time, and are having time to visit gardens through blogging, and maybe even getting some housework done.  I've been doing all 3, but the rain has kept me from spending as much time outside as I'd like.  I have so much clutter, that this really needs to be the summer I get more organized.  We donated several boxes of things we don't use that I was finally able to let go of.  I'm feeling hopeful.