Native and Exotic Blooms For May GBBD

Let me put you on the spot!

Isn't native Iris versicolor pretty. Versi has loved the rain that has parked itself over my garden all spring and refuses to move. It's well established now, so it will make it through the droughts that will arrive in July!

A dramatic deep purple Iris germanica that looks black across the garden

The other stunner in the garden is a tall nearly black bearded iris with a slightly sweet fragrance that already needs to be divided. Music to my ears with a flower this gorgeous!

Penstemon X (P calycosus) continues to bloom everywhere.

Penstemon calycosus native to the Central Basin

Letting it go to seed means the Garden of Benign Neglect is a sea of hummingbird and bee favorites flowers for at least a month...

Photo from my missing post Take A Chance On Me

The noid peony was blooming earlier this month. It has the tiniest bit of fragrance, but the single bloom with the intense golden yellow stamens is what drew me from across the nursery to grab this plant clearly marked~'red peony'. Tell me the truth! Could you have resisted its charms?

Spiderworts are blooming in full force~This is cultivar 'Sweet Kate' of the lime colored foliage.

and who planted this pretty little flower? "Not I!" said the innocent gardener! But, it looks sweet among the rampaging pink Evening primroses.

Evening Primrose with agastache foliage

Noid daylily

Monarda bradburiana~ Who knew I would have to go all the way to Chicago

The Lurie summer 2009

and the Lurie to find a Middle Tennessee native monarda that can take the dry soil that Clay and Limestone dishes out.

Proven Winners Superbells® Cherry Star is being trialed in a container in full sun

I wish you all a marvelous week and a delightful May 2011 Bloom Day. Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day is brought to you by Carol, of May Dreams Gardens. Stop by her blog for links to blogs and blooms all over the known blogasphere. You're in for a treat~it's Spring (and Autumn in the Southern Hemphisphere) and gardens are dressed in their finest.

xxoogail

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.