Bloom On for May 2013

Practically Perfect Pink Phlox pilosa is blooming on for Bloom Day~It's my favorite spring plant and I am happy to say it's made a marvelous comeback from the last years droughts.

Although, it's an adaptable plant it needed more moisture than we have had the last many summers to set seed and spread around the garden. This year has more than made up for those disappointing years.

Next up is Penstemon. I am having a marvelous love affair with P 'Prairie Twilight' and P 'Prairie Dusk'.  Both plants rescued from a big box sale rack last summer. Experts often tell you not to buy late in the season or off the sale racks because plants are root bound, etc. That has never stopped me, I've gotten my best bargains from the racks and I am careful to choose plants that can take a good root pruning. I rinsed the potting medium away from the roots, trimmed the roots, making sure none were circling the plant and then planted them in good soil (or in this case, a fast draining rocky soil that these penstemons require). (Go here to read more about Penstemons and Bumblebees)

Also blooming are Western Daisy/Astranthium integrifolium~I discovered these cutie pie daisies in my way back 'meadow' many years ago...and they have been moved all over the garden. WD is a winter annual that blooms heavenly in the late spring and on and off all summer. The flower is small by daisy standards, but, it carries a lot of wow factor when allowed to naturalize in your native plant lawn or as a ground cover beneath later blooming perennials.

Golden Alexander has been in my garden several years, but this year it's been outstanding. I think I need to take a page from Fairegarden and plant a pretty purple flower to compliment the golden yellow and help it stand apart. In my garden it's made a lovely two foot mound and smells of  honey. It evokes memories of my childhood when my good friends and I had the freedom to explore neighboring overgrown fields in early summer. If you get a chance, lean into Zizia aurea and catch that delicious fresh summer fragrance.

Camassias continues to bloom on. I adore them and will be planting more this fall, in fact I have already put a reminder in my calender to order more. One thing I won't do is underplant it with the Tommies. The chipmunks have dug around trying to get the tasty Tommie corms and damaged several of the Camassia quamash.  (But true to advertising the squirrels don't touch it, which is perfect if you garden where there are no chippers))

Verbena canadensis is looking more beautiful than you can imagine. The plants survived our non winter and have been blooming their hearts out.

Phlox 'Minnie Pear' is new to the garden. Research reveals that Minnie is a naturally occurring hybrid between Phlox maculata and Phlox glaberrima. I've placed it next to species P glaberrima, it needs the same moist soil and I do want to see any offspring from this union.

Two-flowered Cynthia is still blooming. You can read about this dandelion imposter and pollinator attractor Krigia here.

Oenothera speciosa

Showy Evening Primrose is just working up to a big show~I love its colonizing ways. I'll pull up the spent flowers, but there's no stopping this plant once it's in your garden.

I fell head over heals in love with Monarda bradburiana while at Chicago Fling several years ago. It blooms faithfully each year and doesn't require a moist soil. Take that M didyma cultivars that tempt me in the nursery and fail to bloom after the first year.

The non-native alliums are gorgeous and as always a nectar treat for all the visiting pollinators.

The last Columbine bloom of the spring 

All in all the garden has enjoyed the long spring and extra rainfall and now, summer is coming on strong. There's a lot more in bloom, but I have to hold some flowers back to post about later! I know you understand.

Happy Bloom Day my dears,  now take the magic carpet ride to May Dreams Gardens and host extraordinaire Carol's links to gardens all over this great big beautiful world.

xoxogail


Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone. She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

May Blooms For Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day-2012

A few blooms to help us all celebrate the marvelous and magnificent month of May.

Iris 'versicolor'

Blephilia ciliata (Downy Wood mint)

Oenothera fruticosa (Sundrops)

Penstemon calycosus affectionately known as Penstemon X

Gillenia stipulata (American Ipecac)

Aquilegia canadensis

Spigelia marilandica  (Indian pink)

Tradescantia 

Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' in the Susans' bed with Oenothera speciosa, Asclepias tuberosa in the background


Have a marvelous and magnificent May Bloom Day!
xxoogail

Now, it's time to visit  May Dreams Gardens, where our delightful hostess, Carol, has set up the Mr Linky magic carpet ride to more Bloom Day posts than you can imagine. You're in for a treat~it's still Spring (and late Autumn in the Southern Hemphisphere) and gardens are dressed in their finest.

Gail Eichelberger is a gardener and therapist in Middle Tennessee. She loves wildflowers and native plants and thoroughly enjoys writing about the ones she grows at Clay and Limestone." She reminds all that the words and images are the property of the author and cannot be used without written permission.

Wildflower Wednesday~ Favorite Colonizing Wildflowers

Oenothera fruticosa

I don't know what it says about me, but, I love native plants that like to romp around the garden and make a big statement.

Plants that might be considered a tad aggressive for a smaller garden,  fit right in with the rough and tumble wildflowers that make up Clay and Limestone. 

Oenothera fruticosa 'Sonnenwende'

Plants that might be too happy in deep, rich soil are not a problem with my  shallow clay soil. They thrive and that's  what this garden is all about~ thriving in a challenging setting. 

Oenothera speciosa

Plants like these Oenotheras! Oenothera is a genus of about 125 species of annual, biennial and perennial herbaceous flowering plants, native to North and South America (source).   I only have five four and trust me~four is really enough to  have swathes of plants for any visiting pollinators! 

• Oenothera tetragona 'Fireworks'
• Oenothera speciosa (One plant will turn into hundreds in one year!)
• Oenothera fruticosa 'Sonnenwende'
• Oenothera tetragona species
• Oenothera macrocarpa~Dead after a very wet winter!

Halictid bees and Syrphid flies are attracted to the abundant pollen 

Take a close look at the Oenothera flower and you will see a large X covered with pollen!  The extra large size and length of the stamens and stigma

see the large X in the flowers

 suggest  that hummingbirds, large butterflies, or day-flying Sphinx moths are more likely to pollinate the flowers while seeking nectar. (source)   I have seen small bees, flies, bumbles and small beetles visiting the Oenothera....but, never have I seen a hummer.  I'll keep an eye out for them now~Especially on the Showy Pink Evening Primrose!   Eastern Goldfinch and Mourning Dove occasionally eat the seeds; while the foliage is sometimes eaten by rabbits, groundhogs and deer."

Look at those X's~They are loaded with pollen!

Love them, hate them, swear at them!  Just don't call these native beauties invasive! They’re colonizers.  Which means their roots and rhizomes spread to make a large and dramatic impact in a garden. I like to save  invasive for exotics that are on the state noxious and invasive species list. (source)

Okay, I admit it! I do spend a little time editing some colonizers from the garden!  But,  I also, pass along a few of them  to friends!*  All in all,  there are more pluses then minuses for having colonizers in my garden. 

xxoogail

*Practically Perfect Pink Phlox pilosa and  Penstemon X are two colonizing plants that have found there way to bloggers across the USA!
  

Welcome to Clay and Limestone's Wildflower Wednesday celebration. WW is about sharing and celebrating wildflowers from all over this great big, beautiful world. Join us on the fourth Wednesday of each month. Remember, it doesn't matter if they are in bloom or not; and, it doesn't matter if we all share the same plants. It's all about celebrating wildflowers. Please leave a comment when you add your url to Mr Linky.



This post was written by Gail Eichelberger for my blog Clay and Limestone Copyright 2011.This work protected under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.