Hello, your bloom times do depend upon your zone. They also depend upon your soil and watering habits. There are a lot of variables. Early bloomers may bloom again in fall, such as chrysanthemums. You can keep a garden journal to help you make your future decisions as to what works for the garden you envision.

Lorna

Thanks Lorna!

How do you make decisions with new plants then? What things do you look for to help you get a good understanding of what the bloom time may be for something you've no experience with?. Or, do you just plant it and then keep track of the variables i.e. weather, sun, precipitation and plant performance?

A lot of it is trial and error. Many times you get very pleasant surprises. There will also be failures. Nature has a mind of her own. We can only work with her and go with the flow. Year by year I constantly change my mind about various aspects of my gardens.

Each yard has areas of micro climates. Over time you figure out which sorts of plants do best in the different areas of your gardens. I often end up expanding my initial vision. That always works out well.

Early on I was rather obsessive about wanting things to be my way. I learned there has to be give and take, if one is to be a happy gardener. I do try to put in variety, so that I will have flowers throughout the growing season. With unknown plants, one simply takes the risk, because the experience of learning is fun.

I've only been here for five years, and began with a blank slate. This environment is totally different from what I was used to working with. I was somewhat unhappy throughout last summer because the heat fried, or stunted many of my summer flowers. I learned that I have to add shade! Consequently, I put in a bunch of new evergreen bushes. They are all flowering bushes. I have added a lot of potential height and fullness. In future I will be able to plant heat sensitive flowers in their shade.

During summer it seemed to me I was reaping skimpy results for all of my effort. However, when fall hit, I was overwhelmed with the beauty, variety and abundance. One day, when I drove onto my property, my mouth fell open in amazement as I looked around. I was in awe that I had caused all of the color I was seeing. Fall is the most spectacular time for flowers in this area.

Lorna

Laura,
A lot of plants that are listed in catalogs as blooming mid summer or all summer will bloom here in TN in late spring or early summer and then die back so zone does play a huge part. Shirley poppies bloom here very early then turn brown so I have to have something coming on to replace them. One thing that I like to do is take plenty of pictures of the garden all during the growing season so I can look back at them and see what was in bloom at the same time. A journal would work well also but I need visual evidence. You can look back at your pictures over the winter and use them to plan combinations for the next year.

That really puts thing in perspective, Lorna. I'm going to reevaluate my ideals here and change my expectations of what I'm going to get from my efforts this year. I'm going to experience my gardens, my climate and the garden's own attributes to see what happens. I get so in depth into trying to plan things out in a pleasing way with all season bloom that I lose sight of the bigger picture.

I think you both have the same issue that I do, scorching hot summers and, at least here in So. Ohio, high humidity. I'm going to have to bring in some trees to get some shade too. And, I'm thinking I'll have the same issue as Mechele with poppies, but I LOVE poppies and just have to try them. Mechele, what do you put in their place for summer?

Notes AND pictures are a great idea for keeping track, Mechele!

Hi, Laura, my zone is 6. I've done well with poppies here, which was a pleasant surprise. The woman who suggested adding photos to your journal is right, photos are really helpful.

For me, early bloomers are crocus, tulips, hyacinths, and other spring bulbs, plus my lilac trees. They bloom before everything else has really greened up. For the bulbs, you have to be willing to let the leaves brown off before you remove them, so the flowers will bloom again next year. Then comes Alpine daisy, Columbine, and Speedwell, which is a ground cover type of Veronia with pale blue flowers. Forsythia is a lovely flowering bush, which blooms brilliant yellow early in spring, followed by the shrub roses and petunias. Then the other types of roses begin to bloom, galardia, cotoneaster, and my Red Hot Poker plant. Roses should bloom two or three times per year.

In late spring and early summer penstemons, catmint, scabiosa, clematis, hummingbird mint, snapdragons, plumbago, dianthus, lupin, sages, hibiscus, hollyhocks, yarrow, broom, yucca, poppies, allysum and iris bloom. I love the sweet scent of broom. The snapdragons, Columbine, galardia, catmint, hummingbird mint, sages, petunias and dianthus will bloom several times until end of season. Hibiscus bushes can bloom twice.

The third round begins mid-summer and extends throughout fall. I have lavender, morning glories, mallows, agastache, asters, gladioli, annual and perennial sunflowers, marigolds, cosmos, and some flowering bushes. My chrysanthemums do a small bloom in early spring, and put on a terrific show in fall.

I'm not sure about butteryfly bushes. I think they bloom throughout summer and fall. I just added a couple of those last fall, and they were blooming at that time.

Here is a photo of my largest penstemon. The plant is about thirty inches wide. It is almost two feet tall, until it blooms, then the flower spikes extend height to about forty inches. Notice the bumble bee, very aggressive little guy he was!

Lorna

{{gwi:633115}}

Laura,
Thanks for asking this question. I'm curious about how the beautiful gardens on this site come to be.

I'm a newbie to gardening, and was perplexed last summer when second year transplants from my mother's garden (15 minutes away) bloomed two weeks later than hers. The folks here helped me figure out that sun, soil, frost protection, and plant maturity were factors.

Like you, I'm working on a new bed with flowers new to me. My plan is to intermix annuals with the shorter blooming perennials to get the color combinations I'm hoping for.

Lorna,
That is a GEORGEOUS Penstemon. That bumble looks like he could nap inside. I'm not sure if I should be more nervous around him or the loveable bear looking for honey (or milkbones). Your dog is equally lovely. His coat looks luxurious.

Laura:

The cornflowers (aka bachelor buttons) and poppies may bloom at the same time, as some poppies are 10-12 weeks to bloom. Shirley poppies may bloom sooner. I didn't grow those 2 plants together last year, but a lot of people in the WS forum do--or they do poppies and larkspur. All 3 of these can be WS, or direct sown.

It is really tricky to figure out what to grow together. Although plants in my yard may bloom at a different time from others', it seems like plants that bloom in combination for them will bloom together for me, too. Of course, there are factors to consider, like one plant being a big nursery-bought annual, or a fall-started seedling vs a spring-started one. (My larkspur self-seeded, and they popped up last autumn. If I direct-sow some poppies, I wonder if they'll bloom together) I, too, started taking photos to remind me of what bloomed at which time.

Good luck with your combinations, and as long as something's blooming, you'll have something to smile about!

Laura,
My Shirley poppies are growing over tulips and I am very careful about what I plant above tulips. I got the bright idea years ago to overplant tulips with four o'clocks and I swear the four o'clocks ate the tulips! The tulips are already starting to poke thru now so the poppies don't seem to have done them any harm. Last year I planted cleome after the poppies finished blooming but it was so hot and dry it never really thrived. I watered as much as I could but since my garden is new and I have planted probably 75 small trees and shrubs (I stopped officially counting at 52) I had to focus primarily on providing enough water to keep them alive so some of the flowers suffered. I will probably mix vinca with the cleome this year, the cleome bloomed well enough to make lots of seed and I expect them to come back.

This picture shows the tulips blooming in a new bed on April 4th. This bed is still under construction but will eventually be a 40' diameter circle with small trees, shrubs, vines, annuals and perennials (a little of everything). As of now it has a couple of redbud trees, spirea, phlox, boxwood, bulbs, daylilies, dahlias, echinacea, clematis and a rose.

{{gwi:633117}}

This is the same spot on June 5. Until I found this photo I had forgotten that I had Shirley poppies and batchelor buttons intermingled, I knew they were near each other. See what I mean about pictures being helpful? This is the annual batchelor button Blue Boy. Is your Jubilee Gem an annual or perennial? I have perennial cornflowers that a friend gave me last year that bloom over a much longer time. By the way, the poppies in this bed were direct sown in late winter and the batchelor buttons were winter sown. The bb's bloomed longer than the poppies.

{{gwi:349407}}

Thanks to everyone for your advice!! And for the pics! It's so nice to be able to get some feedback when you don't have any other resources!!

Lorna, the lists of plants divided by season are a good starting point for me since you are also Zone 6. That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking at right now. I'm looking to avoid having something that will go dormant at the end of June and disappear -- and end up with nothing to put in its place -- so your lists of what you have for spring/summer and summer/fall are a BIG help. Your penstemon looks gorgeous and that bumble bee!! - you managed even to capture his wings - what a great shot!

Mechele, thanks so much for the pics of the batchelor buttons and shirley poppies together. Proof! Now I can have some confidence that I'll get those two flowering together. I also appreciate your explanation of how you layer different plants and bulbs. The 'Jubilee Gem' batchelor button is a hardy annual that should reseed itself.

I should start a thread just to find out what everyone plants in the spring/summer that eventually gets 'replaced' by something else for summer/fall.

I'll post some pics this spring so that you can see how this works out for me.

Thanks again!