Home of the Practically Perfect Pink Phlox and other native plants for pollinators

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day

The Sunny Border with Columbine, Ox-Eye Daisy and Peony.

Thanks, Carol (May Dreams Gardens) for your wonderful job of organizing Bloom Day....and now the blooms.




Spring's fabulous rainbow is fading just as the hotter colors of summer begin to move in...

The Spring Garden is not completely gone...
native Columbine still has a few blooms scattered about....but during this transition time one looks toward the texture and color of leaves to bridge the time between Spring's abundance and Summer's exuberance.



What ever would a late spring garden be without Peony?
I have seen many peonies, beautiful singles and fabulous doubles, but what makes Peony one of my favorites is fragrance. My Peony, General something or other, has the perfect rose fragrance that every Peony should have. Now, don't show me a pretty face and distract me with hundreds of blooms on one plant, a Peony has to have fragrance! I am firm on this!

Speaking of pretty in pink, isn't this...You did think for just a minute that I was going to flash a big photo of PPPP , come on admit it, you did didn't you?Showy Evening Primrose (Oenothere speciosa) is another plant with a sweet face, fragrance and long bloom time (March to August). This could be a Practically Perfect Pink Plant except for its tendency to want to be the life of the party and shove everyone else out the door. Very naughty girl. She arrived accidentally, piggy-backed on another plant. One plant and now there are a dozen! I shall be pulling her out for years!

Spiderwort has a large presence in my garden...even larger since it has produced so many babies!


Who couldn't love this face...the yellow and blue are stunning together.
Sweet Kate is known to produce lots of off-spring that look nothing like her.
It's hard to tell which are Kate's children and which are plain old Tradescantia virginiana... since Spiderwort has successfully naturalized all over the place!

I love this pink and have no idea from whence it came!


Whites can brighten the shade or glow in the sunshine:

Bluestar....doesn't it look white...it's a very pale blue, rather underwhelming; if it wasn't for the fall coloring this one would be out of here! The fall color is brilliant.

Sedum ternatum, a native of Tennessee, prefers moist shade, but stays here anyway!

Epimedium Nevium


Thalictrum aquilegifolium alba

Western daisy in the sunny front lawn.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have waited long enough, let me introduce Practically Perfect Pink Phlox ... Ms P, please take a bow!

You have been a wonderful gift for almost a month...
and you are beginning to fade, the rain and wind have taken their toll.
Thank you for beautiful color, food for bees and butterflies and your sweet fragrance.



A few yellows:

This is either a Thermopsis or a Baptisia....I have forgotten, The yellow is lovely and never lasts as long as I wish.

Yellow Star Grass, new to Clay and Limestone and very happy in glade conditions. She's leaning against a pot I set in the garden last fall of Russian Kale gone to seed...pretty flowerettes.

Golden Ragwort glory days are fading. Check out the fluffy seed heads...this guy has no trouble spreading about here and there...a very nice ground cover if you have the space.

Do you think this might work?

Clematis Jackmanii...I am going to use this photo to convince Mr. I Don't Blog to paint the house gray! "Honey, the flowers would look better with a painted background!" What do you think?



There are more lovely flowers, but this is the second time I composed this post. The first having been eaten by the ogres that live under the bridge at Blogger. I shall say good night or good morning depending upon when I do post this!

Gail

"If at first you don't succeed, try, try again." Thomas H. Palmer, Teacher's Manual

57 comments:

  1. It is a wonder that you didn't start out with PPPP, that phlox is quite pretty. I've got some of those thug spiderworts, too, but none of them bloomed in time to get their pictures taken for bloom day! Ha!

    Your garden looks like it is a wonderful place to be right now, with lots of blooms to send someone like me running in every direction.

    Thanks for joining in for bloom day,
    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

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  2. Hi Gail, you are a trooper, soldiering on to redo your post. It is wonderful, you have so many wildflowers in bloom, the bees and butterflies must love it at your place. The peony is a beauty, I like the pink ones and am glad to hear it gives you the fragrance you desire from a peony. We bid a fond farewell to the PPPP? Or will it live on to be displayed some more?
    Frances

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  3. No, keep the house brick. No spring garden would be complete without peonies. I have an awesomely fragrant one I got at the Franklin Lawn and Garden last year. It is Duchess de Nemours. It perfumes the whole house. It is cream colored. Thought I'd pass it along as we don't always know which ones do smell great. Immaculee smells ok, kind of wimpy compared to the Duchess though. ttyl

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  4. Gail,

    The phlox looks great no wonder you like to show it off! I think we can can you a "Phloxy Lady!" Anyhow you've got some nice natural looking spring flowers. My wife's grandmother told me to take some of her peonies this fall so I'll be looking forward to adding a few of them. Nice pictures!

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  5. Gail, your blooms are gorgeous, and you have such a nice variety of them. I lust after Sweet Kate, but have avoided her to avoid so many seedlings. I'm still tempted though.

    It's hard to tell about the brick - maybe a picture that shows a larger expanse of it would convince me. I do think your clematis looks lovely against the brick though, and based on this shot, personally, I'd leave the brick au naturelle.

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  6. I think the yellow is a baptisia. Mine is blue, but the foliage looks very similar and mine is also about to bloom.

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  7. Those darn trolls need a good talking to! But thanks for taking the time to do it again for us to enjoy.

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  8. Mmm, I love those peonies and wish I could grow them here. I'm a big fan of spiderwort too for a woodsy garden, though mine blooms much earlier, even before many plants have leafed out.

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  9. Everything is just beautiful. I understand your MPG..especially visiting the blogs. Last night I kept thinking about the garden..what I should move..what I should delete..what I should add..then today I looked at it..and it was beautiful just the way it was. Your flowers are beautiful. I love my spiderwort..thought I adore your pink one..I have purple..right now it is just huge and I'm going to have to cut it back already..keep doing what your doing...it works.

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  10. Sigh. We in Austin have no choice but to have a garden without a peony, and for those who once gardened where they grew, the garden does seem incomplete.
    You have so much in bloom, Gail - and so many plants with interesting leaves like the epimediums and probably baptisia. Condolences on whatever Blogger critter ate your post - and I'm also glad you made a second one!

    Annie at the Transplantable Rose

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  11. I so agree, a Peony without fragrance is like a Lilac without fragrance - what's the point? While I prefer gray to brick, from a practical standpoint, leaving it unpainted would be much less maintenance. Also, that Clematis doesn't clash with the brick the way PJM Rhododendrons do (I've seen that combo WAY too many times, barf-a-rama).
    You need Celadine Poppy (Stylophorum diphyllum). It blooms in spring but keeps on blooming off & on through summer. Do you have any Toadlilies? The earliest blooming ones can take you through a good chunk of late summer.

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  12. What a beautiful Tennessee garden. The clematis is enormous. I definately am going to have to get me one. I wonder if they like Texas. Thanks for sharing on bloom day.

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  13. My dear fellow bloggers,

    I returned to wonderful visitors and their comments. Thank you, I will be
    commenting myself soon1

    G

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  14. Carol,

    With all the rain we have had...it is very green!

    nancy,

    It is a cute flower isn't it...a cousin of Thalictrum. I am feeling pretty good about the bloom right now, we are having more rain than usual, maybe we can catch up on last years drought and have a decent summer.



    Frances,


    You know that I will post it again next week if it is still blooming!...the wildflowers have been especially lovely and if my garden coach wasn't such a purest I would have more of everything else!
    I already have a lot of everything else!

    Gail

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  15. tina,

    I love peonies with rose fragrance and if it is rose colored that helps, too! Your cream colored one sounds like a keeper! I have divided this one and they are all blooming! I have to put all flowers up high to keep the kitty away!

    Gail

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  16. Dave,

    Would you like some of the phlox? I will be more than glad to dig up some for you and Tina. We just have to figure out an exchange point...maybe a PPS meeting?

    Hope to see you, I will be over to your blog in a bit...my computer has been down!

    gail

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  17. gardengirl,

    Go for Kate! She can be tamed! Do you think if we cut off the seedheads it would keep her from being the Little Old Woman Who Lived In the Shoe?

    It is a nice Clematis isn't it...not bad against the orange brick!

    Gail

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  18. matriarchy,

    Thank you for identifying it! Now I remember where the Thermopsis is hiding, too! The Daylilies have swallowed it!

    I also have the purple version and a friend has bi-color...they are all lovely!

    Glad you happened by,

    Gail

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  19. jean,

    hello...how are you this evening? Has bloom day been fun? Tina had a great post, wow, she has some wonderful plants! You raised her well!

    I can't wait to get out and see all the blogs..I am a bit slow today, combination computer trouble and errands.

    Take care, dear.

    gail

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  20. Pam,

    I think the hybridizers ought to work on a Peony for Austin! While they're at it they can make it Yellow...Might be impossible kind of like the blue rose!

    Gail

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  21. rhonda,

    I love spiderwort, too. The pink one may be a variety I bought or just the offspring. I have read that they can have pink to purple blooms...The pink is great!

    So very glad you woke up and admired your garden and knew it was beautiful!...I am going to stop by and see it!


    Gail

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  22. Annie,

    Thanks, Annie, when the troll came out from under the bridge I was completely surprised! But rallied and posted anyway!

    Peonies are special...I feel fortunate that they like the conditions at C&L! We don't grow Lilacs well here...often the early warm weather tricks them into budding and then a frost wipes them out.

    None of us has an Eden!


    Gail

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  23. mmd,

    Just planted the celadine Poppy from a friend..Toadlilies were here and gone. I have white ones and then I planted a few Pagodas! When we moved here they were growing everywhere in the neighborhood, but as the older folks moved away and younger people with a desire for green lawns have weed and fed the wildflowers away! Many sighs!

    We both love a woodland!

    Gail

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  24. Gail, I hope you stamped your feet and shook your curved horns before you flipped that troll into the water! [unless you told him to wait for your big brother]

    Annie

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  25. LMCG,

    I am heading over to see your cottage garden right now...glad you stopped by..if I could give you TX gardens anything...it would be Peonies that thrived in your heat!

    Gail

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  26. That Sedum ternatum is very interesting. I do wish more people would take some interest in their native plants. Thanks for sharing that.

    We grow that Oenothera speciosa out here too and it's one of my favorite summer pinks. I know it's invasive in the south, but not so much up here. At least not yet.

    They say yellow is the best color for a house with a garden, but gray would be nice too.

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  27. Couldn't you confine the naughty primrose to a nice timeout place like a whiskey barrel or something? What a lovely little thing!

    Gorgeous blooms as usual. Here I was all proud of my 3 naturally growing blooms in my yard and then I find all of these other lovely gardens overflowing with blooms.

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  28. Chuck,

    Natives make sense, they just do...I am glad you stopped by, I loved your Bloom Day post and shall look around at your earlier ones.

    gail

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  29. cinj,

    Yes but when my bloom is all gone you will still have some!

    gail

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  30. I do love that native Columbine. We can grow it, too but I've found it much more finicky than the Hinckley's Gold. As for the evening primrose, I believe I'll be pulling them out for years to come. Their dainty appearance belies their aggressive behavior! I love that pink Spiderwort: I found mine on an empty lot in Round Top, Texas during an Antiques fair. Oooohhhhh-aaaahhhh over the Clematis! You're right, it does look different from mine. Wonder whose is the real Jack and whose isn't? If only we had the tags ...

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  31. God, those peonies are drop dead gorgeous. I might have to consider some- can I grow them in Austin do you think?

    By the way, those darn trolls ate my post as well.

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  32. Yes, paint the house grey! And I'm going to forever remember you as the phlox lady. I'm working on some good gardening clothes for you so you don't have to garden naked. Stuart has a post going about naked garden statues. I'm going to make some clothes for his naked garden statues.

    Your blooms are beautiful. I can't believe how much is growing around your home. You do a great job keeping it all going and working too. it looks beautiful.

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  33. Gail: Finding a perennial with the bloom length of that phlox is a coup! Your pictures reminded me that my wild columbines have not yet started to bloom. More to look forward to at this time of year! I like the brick and have to agree with MMD on PJM and brick. YUCK! Thanks for letting me stroll the garden with you.

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  34. Cindy,

    I am going to look at my tag collection and see what I can find!
    It has been raining for days and everything is pretty saturated, sigh! Will you remind me this summer when I complain about the drought!

    Glad you came up for a visit.
    gail

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  35. Bonnie,

    I had started mine two days before Bloom Day...it saved that part but not the parts I wrote on Wednesday;...odd, it kept saying it was saving and I kept hitting save...

    I think peonies need a cold period, ask Annie she would know!

    Gail

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  36. Anna,

    I have given up naked gardening...the ticks and mosquitoes are too familiar!

    The garden is very wild, when we added a screened porch we decided to let it be a Ken Druse Natural Garden! It has some nice color a good deal of the time but there are green times!

    How's your gardening coming along?


    Gail

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  37. Layanee,

    Spring is pretty much over here and we get to enjoy it again with our Northern friends. I love blogging!

    Not sure what we will do with the brick! It's rather low on the wish list!

    Have you seen the Olga Mezitt PJM, a truer pink and small...quite nice. We are trying her here...but don't expect her to survive. It's important that gardeners have a good balance of hopefulness and fatalism!

    Gail

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  38. I'm going to follow the advice of your quote, because I just left a long comment and now it's disappeared!
    Lovely blooms; I especially like the fact that you don't just show the showy flowers, but take the time to point out all the little blooms that many people might miss.

    I understand your case of MPG, but I think you've already found your niche. What I like about reading gardening blogs is seeing all the different styles of gardening and the unique gardens. Your wildflowers and of course your perfect phlox are special.

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  39. Hi Gail - thanks so much for visiting my blog :)

    You have a gorgeous garden - so many flowers! I especially like your pink peony photo. What a stunner :)

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  40. Gail - Just love that first photo - so wild and natural looking - and that Ox-Eye Daisy is just delightful. You do have a nice hold over of the Spring Garden - can't say that here. Your pretty in pink peony is lovely - I so wish we could grow them here. Spiderwort is also one of my favorites - I need to plant 3 that have been sitting around - they are Tradescantia Glue and Gold that I ordered from Heronswood. Sorry about the ogres under the bridge - I'm so glad you won. Thanks for sharing.

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  41. Hi, and thanks for visiting my blog!
    Your garden must be heaven right now - so many lovely plants!
    I haven't got 'Sweet Kate' or any of her relatives in my garden - hm, I wonder why? Such adorable blue...
    /Katarina

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  42. Amsonia and spiderwort, two of my new favs. I've been hearing sweet kate spreads, and spreads not like herself--that stinks, the second part.

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  43. Rose,

    The disappearing comments and posts has been happening frequently, so glad you tried again. Thanks, for noticing the small blooms I like to show...my garden is entering a transition time and will be greener for just a bit, so the small blooms are important!

    Amy,

    I highly recommend the Phlox pilosa..,I would send it to everyone if I could. Thanks for returning the visit!


    Gail

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  44. Diana,

    I don't know that Tradescantia....and will check it out. Spiderwort is a mainstay in this wilderness. I liberated the Ox Eye from behind a construction site!
    I'm tickled Practically Perfect Pink that you like the garden.

    Gail

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  45. benjamin,

    I will keep her even if she misbehaves, every party needs someone like Kate and Primrose.

    I need to move the Amsonia to a sunnier spot!

    gail

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  46. katrina,

    What is the climate zone for your garden...Tradescatia may be perfect!
    So glad you came by to visit Clay and Limestone.


    gail

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  47. You have a wonderful collection of plants. I quite enjoyed my visit. I have the native columbine, too, but it hasn't yet bloomed.

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  48. Kathy,

    You are quite a bit further north aren't you!!! Glad you stopped by,
    gail

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  49. I love peonies if when they are not fragrant. Next to roses, they are my favorite flower. I have so many that have been crowded and lack enough sun. Oh my gosh, Evening Primrose. It just about took over my garden when I first started and I haven't had it since. It is awfully pretty though. You have such a wide variety of blooms this month.

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  50. I swear I left a comment here on Bloom Day. I SWEAR! (But really, don't believe me--I've been losing my mind a lot lately for some reason, thinking that I've done things I didn't actually do.)

    I can see what you mean about that blue star. It's very white star looking instead... but still pretty. And I love the native columbine with the fancy heuchera nearby--that's a great combo!

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  51. Phillip,

    If I had the roses you had with all their wonderful fragrance a few Peonies without fragrance would be fine by me! My Peony is a substitute rose, please don't tell her!

    Editing is a BIG problem here and I need to take out the Primrose!


    Gail

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  52. BSG,

    No problem, as you can see it is my post for the weekend! I did the same with several posts, could pinkie swear I left comments...none before that an ogre or some such creature ate my first and best draft of my Bloom Day post.

    The Amsonia hubrichtii is the one I have, I recommend it for the needle like leaves and the golden autumn coloring.

    Enjoy your weekend!

    Gail

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  53. I enjoy looking at all the different kind of flowers you grow in Tennessee. Spring without peonies isn't hard for me to imagine. Spring with peonies is harder. I don't think I've ever seen a peony (although if I say that, someone is bound to correct me.) And that they have fragrance too is intriguing. We are so deprived down here in Austin.

    At least we have two plants that are the same in our gardens: spiderwort and pink evening primrose.

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  54. Gail: so many wonderful and colorful blooms. Isn't this the best time to be in the garden? Love that peony... and I'm not sure I've ever smelled one... I know, gasp. Thanks for all the pretty shots of your phlox... it has been perfect to see it in your garden!
    Meems @Hoe&Shovel

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  55. MSS,

    It's like people who haven't ever experienced snow hard to describe....

    Tennessee is green, a lush green with tall canopy trees, in a good year we get about 50 inches of rain. Austin is green but with out the towering trees of woodland forests. I have a few more flowers that you might have, Salvia, the Echinaceas, and Iris.,,,we do garden in very different spaces.

    Gail

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  56. meems,

    My peony smells like a classic rose scent....isn't that a wonderful fragrance! You would love it!

    we have lots of bloom right now and more organized gardeners than I am plan for the future....late July and August when blooms are scarce!

    Actually, I am learning...I have sown Zinnias, Cosmos....etc to fill in the late summer blanks until fall asters shine!

    Gail

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  57. Good morning Gail, the peonies will have to be a spring experience for me someplace NORTH of here... someday... I'm certain I would love the fragrance. I'll have to imagine it for now.

    It is SO intensely hot here in July and August during the day and night there aren't many blooms that survive well even with good planning. I sowed zinnias in March (for the first time ever) and I'm wondering how long they will last. I'm also wondering if I should sow some more for the summer... more trial and error just to see what happens.
    Did I ever mention to you my sister lives in Lieper's Fork? She is just now planting her tomatoes which gives me a good idea of how very different our zones can be. Enjoy your Sunday!
    Meems @ Hoe&Shovel

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"Insects are the little things that run the world." Dr. E O Wilson