Longview Blooms: May 2005

This is a new rudbeckia, planted for now in a pot on the patio which gets full sun / late afternoon shade so is perfect for sun-worshippers

The yellow sedum in the fern garden is just starting to flower

The ferns are sooo thick in May, June and July

This bleeding heart isn't showy but has been blooming for several weeks now

This is the second year for an ever-blooming hyacinth called Endless Summer. The buds are more cream than blue this year, I fed it aluminum phosphate today, let's see how long it takes to blue out!

The new Knock Out rose (golden showers, I just love the name!) has this one bud right at its very tippy top

And look at the red fountain - it is happy-happy-happy

So is the pink one, this one stem has four more buds, some have nine and ten

Many are simply perfect

Eight astilbe (some pink, some white) are fat with blossoms

The blue hills salvia is thick with butterflies today

A better shot than this of the Ohio spiderwort.

A true perennial foxglove - most are biennials. The 'dog' is one of two that had to suffice until I got Lady. Their heads move and tails wag! They're named Rusty V and Rusty VI after Rusty I - IV who were childhood border collies. We're not very original with pet names ...

The bud of a pincushion flower ...

... and after it opens up. More familiar, yes?

The blossom of a paprika yarrow, the first year it's been happy enough to really bloom. What's visible in the the photo is only an inch or so across.

A Missouri native, spiderwort, about the only one I've planted that's lived. Even then, it's been slow to establish, this is the third or maybe even fourth year and there's still only a half dozen blossom stems.

Cheerful sundrops (they'll grow anywhere!) and blue hills sage (it'll bloom for several weeks, then I'll cut it way back and in another couple of weeks, it'll bloom again!)

A foamy bells (heucherella) kimona 'inspired by Japanese kimonos' - the blooms aren't showy but look at those glorious leaves!

In April, these were thick with fragrant grape hyacinth blossoms but I like how they look now, too.

The big project of the year, putting in a huge euonymous bed in front. It's an evergreen ground cover that I hope will mean never again having to fuss (unsuccessfully) with grass in the front that faces north, is covered with shade from two very thirsty sweetgums and is one of Lady Dog's favorite racing spots!

A basket of million bells with a clematis that I hope, finally, will bloom this year.

The blossoms on snow-on-the-mountain are so small they're visible only up close

Up North, snow-on-the-mountain grows in drifts on the north side of Dad's garage ... though whether the summer's green-white drifts are taller than the winter's white ones is debatable!

This climbing rose is now filling with perfect pale blossoms

This red fountain is just getting started -- it's thick with buds. This is one of two planted several years ago -- this one in morning sun and late afternoon sun does much, much better than the one planted in full sun, that is, the one I nearly killed last summer when moving it to a secluded spot with less direct sun. There's still no comparison between the two: one's in ecstacy, the other gets by.

... and here is the first bud on the pink rose, one here when I moved onto Longview eight years ago this fall. With attention, it blooms and blooms.

... and here a bud from a Knock Out climbing rose that's good in shade. I love its name, Golden Showers. It was planted only three days ago, I thought I'd clipped back all the buds but this one sneaked through.

Blue salvia and sundrops are a glorious combination. Both will bloom and bloom and bloom.

A white nettle that was in far too much shade but loves its current spot beneath the light in the front. The silver-white leaves are spectacular.

A red lady hydrangea that's in a pot on the patio where it gets direct, hard sun. It seems to grow like this, a few flowers opened wide, others in tight buds. The leaves are spectacular!

Who knew that tiny holly blossoms are so lovely ... or so fragrant!

The fern garden getting a good soak

The dogwood garden, the dogwood is new this spring since the very old one was destroyed last year when a limb from the cherry tree came down after a storm.