What’s Blooming: Everything!

It is the 15th of the month, that means Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. A wonderful forum where everyone shares what’s blooming in their gardens. So, what’s blooming in the Violet Fern garden? Just about everything!

Here is a bird’s eye view of the Bird & Butterfly and Woodland Edge borders. The entire garden hums and soars with bees and birds during the day and crickets and bats in the evenings. Cabbage whites, and occasionally other butterflies (I saw a Monarch the other day!), flutter and spin skyward. This is why I let it grow wild with natives and don’t use any types of herbicides/pesticides – all is blooming and alive. It is music to my eyes and ears.

In the Bird & Butterfly Garden we have perennial sunflower, Helianthus Microcephalus which has spread itself around a bit; Black-eyed Susans; Joe Pye; Mint; and a new feature somehow, a Lemon Balm edging which the Wool Carder Bees are guarding.

Joe Pye Weed

Black-eyed Susans

In the Woodland Edge, Phlox; Nodding Onion; Flowering Raspberry; Great Blue and Cardinal Lobelias; Persicaria; Cup Plant and Rudbeckia Laciniata bloom on and on. Turtlehead is just peeking out of its shell. Jewelweed is also in bloom and is almost constantly visited by either Hummingbirds and / or Bumblebees.

My Grandmother’s White Phlox

Nodding Onion

Cardinal Lobelia

Great Blue Lobelia

Cup Plant is at least 10-12 feet tall this year!

Rudbeckia Laciniata and Cup Plant

Pink Turtlehead

Jewel Weed

Corkscrew vine is blooming! – but WAY up there! (It still smells divine down here, though.)

I got out a ladder so I could zoom in.

Corkscrew vine flower

Corkscrew vine flower

Talk about vines – trumpet vine continues to bloom and impress!

Polite Clematis Claire de Lune is putting on a show this year.

Clematis Claire de Lune

In striking contrast, our big brute, native Clematis Virginiana, has them all beat! In full bloom now and rambling among Hosta Row into the Hostas and Hydrangea.

Clematis Virginiana

Out front a pink phlox blooms against Karl Foerster, and Russian Sage against Black Lace.

Karl Föerster grass

Russian Sage in bloom, Black Lace in background

I know that it’s the grand finale of Summer because Obedient Plant is just beginning to paint the Nice Driveway in purple.

Obedient Plant

Normally this would make me sad but this year I am looking forward to cooler weather and spending some quality time in my garden neatening it up a bit and reinforcing a few paths through the beds for easier maintenance. After that I will be spending a whole month (!) moving my office/studio to a different room of our house that is a little bit larger and putting together and organizing my seed starting set up. We will be escaping again this winter to Cedar Key, but I want to be ready the minute I get home to start seeds which I will begin indoors this time before moving out to the little greenhouse. I’m going to start them in my new office/studio space which will be clean, organized and welcoming when I return home. The hornet’s nest in the greenhouse now looks inactive and I am dying to get in there to clean it up – it is full of weeds ):

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What’s Blooming: Vanilla Spice and Everything Nice

Bloom day already! We have Carol of May Dreams Gardens to thank for hosting this virtual bloom day the 15th of each month. And this is THE month for those of us in the Northeast – the grand finale. With a taste of Fall in the air, I am reminded, sadly, that Summer will end. The skies have been dark and stormy with rain and cooler temps. And yet again, I am reminded of the beauty of Autumn and late Summer. The deep dark sky shows off the golden hues.

Joe and Susan are really getting it on this year!

There’s gold in ‘dem ‘dere hills! Well, my garden’s not much of a hill, but there are plenty of golden blooms: Cutleaf Coneflower and Cup Plant are loaded.

Bees love Cutleaf Coneflower, Rudbeckia Laciniata.

I’m not sure, but I think there’s more than a bee in this capture.

The Potager is more flowers than vegetables this year due to my lack of attention. Trumpet Vine has gone wild but I don’t mind. Wasps seem to be attracted to it, but I also observed a Bumble Bee and another smaller bee all within a few seconds. It keeps things busy, anyway. I am seeing more hummingbirds this year than I ever have – due to the plantings? But I am sorely lacking in Butterflies even though I have been planting native for six years now.

Borage among the tomatoes. I purposely planted seeds in 2009? I have not planted it since then yet I always have a bumper crop of Borage. The bees love it.

Grandpa Ott’s Morning Glory – another reseeder – among the Sun Gold cherry tomatoes. You know, this is a rather striking combo!

And so is this – Lemon Gem Marigolds with a back drop of Purple Perilla (now classified as a weed in my Potager but oh so pretty).

The Woodland Edge has been taken over by violets but I’ve been adding a few taller things to compete with them. Turk Cap Lily seems to have made itself at home. I received these from our local garden club.

An irresistible purchase, Kopper King hardy hibiscus, stands tall among the violets, too. It is no longer in flower but I noticed these eggs on one of the beautiful bronzed leaves. Anyone?

When it was in flower, yowza!

Another recent purchase that’s been on my wishlist, Summersweet, Clethra ainifolia ‘Caleb’, Vanilla Spice! Oh, she’s nice and I wish we had smell-o-rama so you could smell her! She should get along with those violets, too.

Everything will be so nice! Culver’s Root is always a display come this time of year. It’s buzzy, too.

The Culver’s Root is flanked by Ornamental Onions.

Great Blue Lobelia, Persicaria Firetail and white Phlox remind me of July (now gone by)!

I couldn’t pull all the Jewelweed as the hummingbirds love these … but as a consequence, I will be pulling more again next year!

Hosta Row is becoming a favorite spot of mine even though I have yet to plant some of it and the weeds have moved in. I just love the colors of this calendula with heucheras and Quickfire Hydrangea – they are somehow soft, pink and girly (so unlike me)!

For the first time in Hosta Row, hops are in bloom! I just love them.

But the star of Hosta Row is definitely our native Clematis Virginiana. It went wild this year (as most of my garden does)! It has completely covered its new trellis and is roaming among the Hostas looking for more. Just look at all these blooms!

And that’s it, pant, pant … I have to stop! There’s more, more, more like Russian Sage, Rooguchi, “Sublime” Nicotiana, Perennial Sunflowers, berries but … there’s also next month, next year, and foliage followup!

What’s Blooming: Hey Joe and Here Comes the Sun

Yet another Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, celebrated the 15th of each month and hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. My garden is looking “tired” – a reflection of me? I am tired. Tired and struggling with allergies. The garden is beating me down. I have managed to cut a few things back, tidy up a bit, add a few small paths but that’s about all. Not much harvesting going on either – fresh salad, herbs and cucumbers.

Joe Pye is everywhere! But I love, love its big floppy, purple heads – all loaded with sleepy bees. I am going to move some of the volunteers to a new corner of the garden.

Joe Pye in the Potager

The Susans are also prolific even in spite of the severe rabbit pruning they received earlier this summer. They are taking over the Bird & Butterfly Garden (along with Joe). I will need to thin them this fall so the bee balm and coneflowers have more room to grow. My asters are buried and so is Husker’s Red – more moving around.

Joe Pye and Susans in the Bird & Butterfly Garden

Nodding onions are the star of the garden now. Great blue lobelia is just revealing itself.

Great Blue Lobelia and Nodding Onions along the Woodland Edge

Nodding Onions up close

Iron Weed has just come into bloom – flop. Lots of flopping going on. Don’t you just hate that?

Well, I wanted more flowers in the Potager and I have them!

Calendula and marigolds blanket the paths. Trumpet vine gone wild. These marigolds are 3-4′ tall!

Sunflowers are also beginning to bloom. I didn’t think any of them would make it given the rabbits’ taste for sunflower sprouts!

Mexican Sunflower

This Amaranth is taller than the sunflowers – almost 7′!

I find most of the action – blooms and birds, bees, etc. – in the Potager and Woodland Edge, but there is more going on in the new Hosta Row. Clematis Virginiana is blooming for the first time! Too bad the wind wreaked havoc on its trellis. That’s just the way it goes in gardening it seems. The snowball hydrangea bloom on and on and on (along with the Dogwood shrubs this year), in Hosta Row and along the Nice Driveway where the wall of grape and hydrangea has filled in completely.

Native Clematis Virginiana

Dogwood and Snowball hydrangeas in Hosta Row

Wall of grapes and hydrangea

New Hydrangea ‘Quickfire’ is blooming alongside Heuchera ‘Pinot Bianco.’

White Phlox that belonged to my grandmother also bloom along the Nice Driveway. Fresh against the fading Bee Balm.

Pink phlox blooms out front through a veil of Karl Foerester Feather Reed grass.

Mints are coming into bloom throughout the garden. Catmint blooms non-fail all summer in the Riverfront.

Soon to be outdone by the Russian Sage.

I don’t look out front too often but I’ll have to keep an eye on it as things are coming into bloom like this young NJ Tea and butterfly weed. This sheered off Mt. Bluet Centaurea is reblooming, too.

Mt Bluet Centaurea reblooms

New Jersey Tea Buds

Butterfuly Weed Buds

Of course, the honeysuckle blooms all summer until frost and even into December!

This is the home stretch. Not much more blooms from hereon out but beautiful Fall color to look forward to. Nights have been cool and some of the trees are already going dormant. Early fall this year? Obedient Plant is just starting to bloom – have to love a late bloomer like Obedient Plant even if it is a thug.

Be sure to join in Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day by visiting Carol at May Dreams Gardens.