FESTIVE JOUSTING

First established daylily to bloom each year; ORANGUTAN

ABSOLUTE RIPPER: FFO, a huge flower blooming on a tiny fan

MARIETTA WARRIOR, ffo

not sure how I feel about this flower given as a single fan bonus, since patterns are not a favorite:

ELEMENTAL SHADOWS

FFO; BALI WATERCOLOR

GRAPE UMBRELLA, newly acquired

More things blooming in my yard:

brand new, blooming on tiny fans planted in May: ALABAMA SWING

UNKNOWN YELLOW from Steve Moldovan's garden

FFO on JAMIE DOCKERY

DELPHINIUM

foxgloves

clematis

first seedling to bloom: Green Spill x Rose F. Kennedy

rose 'Quietness'

old gallica rose 'Charles de Mills'

clematis 'Betty Corning'

Wow! I only wish Thunder Glow looked like that for me. Here TG is very much a red purple. The weather-related splotchiness was so bad this year, I never got a good photo of it. Your first seedling to bloom looks like a winner - great color, nice watermark, and big green throat. Beautiful photos of Absolute Ripper and Jamie Dockery! For being in a drought, your roses and perennials look fantastic! Those temps in the high 90s must be awful. I know what you mean about feeling you have too many plant children. I'm going to have to do more downsizing this fall.

Debra

Celeste, so sorry you are still not getting much needed rain. A headache for gardeners! That being said, your flowers look great, especially the border. Marietta Warrior is always so pretty. Grape Umbrella has a nice color. The roses are lovely. The seedling is probably only the first of many more exciting ones. Good to see you posting. How is your husband faring?

I have Quietness, but after four years, the own-root plant still has done virtually nothing. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a grafted Quietness. I have not had much success with own-root roses, and from comments elsewhere, I am not alone.

Such a striking perennial border! Is the blue veronica? And we envy the delphinium.

Green Spil x RFK looks like a good cross.

Your daylilies are nice, but I always am attracted to my first love - roses. Your rose border is delicious. I remember the conversation about Quietness from back in the day, and it seemed to do very well for those up in the more northern sections of the country (such as NH). Do you all get much black spot up there?.................... I'm sorry about your drought continuing. It's either feast or famine it seems. ...................Maryl

Thank you for the kind comments! Debra, Thunder Glow opened up 2 blooms this morning and they are unblemished as well. Apparently it likes hot, dry conditions! LOL. Kate, hubby is doing excellent. The doc gave him the ok to ditch the crutches last week and he can put full weight on his leg now. He's hoping to return to work on a limited basis after the holiday. Mantis, my Quietness is remarkably huge (5 feet tall) and does wonderfully for an own-root. But I agree with your assessment of own-root roses in our climate. Most of my own-roots are now gone because of lack of vigor. They never did well here. The blue closest to us in the photo is perennial salvia and the blue clump further back is catmint. I have had to divide those clumps up nearly every year because they get huge. Thankfully they are drought-resistant. Maryl, I very rarely get blackspot on my roses.... after years of dealing with the ones who were afflicted by it and subsequently getting rid of those....those which remain are not prone so I never have to spray. My roses are naturally healthy but fall prey to the japanese beetles which will arrive like clockwork on the 4th of July. Therefore, I only get to enjoy them for 3 weeks!

I wish I could send you some of our rain.

Before commenting on the daylilies, I want to say I love Foxgloves and your purple ones are fantastic. I need to plant some sometime; I always forget to. I also love the blue and style of the DELPHINIUM [I need some of those too--Ilove blue!] and that is a nice yard shot.

Grape Umbrella and Jamie Dockery are my favorites of the Daylilies.

Brad