Viola pedata, Bird's foot violet. New from seeds this year. Winter sowed. We're kept in pot until larger, but they decided to bloom. Unexpected surprise.

Truly perennial, winter hardy Gaillardia , Dry loving, ever blooming, nice edging plant Helenium amarum, Tiny sneezeweed, Nasella tenuifolia, Mexican Feather Grass love it!

Verbena stricta sets it all off.

New Jersey Tea, Bush's Poppy Mallow, Mexican Hat, Purple Coneflower

Eryngium yuccifolium, Rattlesnake Master

Jay those unexpected surprises are the best arent they?!

I threw down some Larkspur seed last year but never saw any signs of them...

Spotted this vibrant blue one yesterday...I’m hoping it reseeds like others experience.

There is lots going on in the garden here - but it is too hot to do anything out there! Gardeners in hot climate areas must be tough indeed! I went out to take some pictures but could not stand it when I was in full sun areas. So I didn't get as many pictures as I planned, plus saw a lot of weeds that need pulling but it's too hot to work out there. Here are a few pictures of some things that particularly pleased me or were talked about on recent threads here (to see the complete image you may need to click on any 'portrait' images that Houzz seems to cut off....):

The backyard is definitely always 'green and white' and a bit cooler than the front garden due to the shade from trees:

Hydrangeas mostly do well here (Bobo doesn't!) especially near the garage wall where they get most shade and the ground doesn't dry out as fast. (there is a patch of Veronicastru (Culver's root) just past the pink hydrangea - you can see that it is not yet in bloom here but will be soon.):

Tiny Tuff Stuff is really tiny here and from the pink color you can tell that the soil here is NOT acid! I'd love to have some blue ones like the pictures posted earlier on this thread, but it won't happen here....!

I always forget about the Brodiaea bulbs until they bloom - here with the coneflowers just starting to bloom:

Serviceberries are having a very good crop year here! I expect the birds will get most of them and I need to prune off the low branches after the leaves are off this fall:

That's enough pictures for today!

Such wonderful pictures everyone! Loving them!

GardenHo your daisies are absolutely pristine and gorgeous. I mentioned on another thread how this is the first time in literally 20 years (maybe a few more!) that for some reason my daises have not been bothered by the asiatic beetles. My daisies don't look as wonderful as yours, but considering every year they are tattered and ratty and eaten, I am soooo enjoying them this year!

Your lovely purple larkspur was waiting for the pink phlox to bloom - he knew how good he'd look next to it!

Mxk, loving the heliopsis. What is the tree with the gorgeous bark - some kind of river birch, maybe? It's wonderful!

Jay I've tried a few times to establish gaillardia but it doesn't seem to like the bed I want it to be in! I do have helenium though, which I didn't even know was blooming because my feverfew is trying to take over the world this year, and is quite tall. Noticed the helenium in bloom under the feverfew just yesterday.

Woodyoak your garden always looks so cool and inviting. I'm jealous of your beautiful lilies. I guess you don't have the red lily leaf beetle in your area?

Not much going on in my yard except daylilies, reseeding rucbeckias, the world-dominating feverfew, and a small patch of monarda. Have lots of gorgeous larkspur that is past it's prime, lavender in bloom but can't get a good pic, hydrangeas in various stages, veronica, actea... Well, I guess that's a fair amount of stuff lol, just meant lot a lot of stuff that I haven't already posted pics of.

Here are a few pics of my wild area. Kind of the same thing from different angles lol but I couldn't decide which picture to post so posting them all!

Rudbeckia Indian Summer (love the Virgo feverfew - the one with the little white puffs! It doesn't reseed as freely as the others but I think I've actually gotten some crosses!)

With monarda Jacob Cline, newly planted last year

A bee enjoying the feverfew (in the middle of the photo)

Too hot to be in the garden today! Better to stay in and enjoy everyone's pictures!

:)

Dee

Diggerdee: Yes, that is a river birch! I love river birch, and I also have a paperbark maple -- another one with gorgeous peeling bark, I'd like to get another one of those if I can find a nice specimen.

Dee - lily beetles were a major problem here. I gave up on planting any more lilies... Then, last year I noticed far fewer beetles and this year there still aren’t any! The lily in the picture was usually a mess, so it is great to see it looking clean! If the cursed beetles stay away I might even consider planting lilies again.

Watch out for that feverfew! 'World dominating' is the right label for it! When I started this garden back in 1999 I used feverfew as a filler. It seeded around like mad! I started ripping it out and using it as mulch on the ground if I got it before flowering started. Fifteen years later I still have feverfew appearing in the garden! Pretty plant in fresh flower but, like many daisy-looking plants, it does not die back gracefully or behave well re spreading.

LOL, woody, you had a lily miracle! The beetles just disappeared! Kinda like my asiatics and the daisies I guess haha. But seriously, that is fantastic! I hope for your sake they stay away. I know they released some kind of parasitic wasp in I think northern New England a few years back. It hasn't reached me here in CT yet but I have heard that others north and east of me seem to have fewer of the red beetles. I would love to grow lilies again - or at least have the ones I still have not be poor pathetic things!

Yes, just yesterday I decided I had to be ruthless with the feverfew and cut lots of it down, waaayyyy before it is even thinking of setting seed. I have plans to add some new shrubs and plants to my beds this fall, so any feverfew plant in the way will be taken out. That and the perennial foxgloves (digitalis grandiflora) and the columbines. They've had free will in my garden long enough!

mxk that tree (trees?) is really gorgeous. Funny story. I have a small river birch sitting in a pot out in my veggie garden. As you've probably seen me mention here on the forums, three summers ago I had to take down my beloved triple-trunk oak and have been completely lost and indecisive as to what to replace it with. Another oak? A maple? An ornamental like a weeping cherry? My friend has a river birch in front of her house and she often gets little seedlings. She gave me one two years ago because I had decided that's what I was going to plant... and then waffled lol So it's still sitting in its pot, about two feet tall. I think my daughter is going to take it to put in her horribly bare landscape at her new house. I read a few things about it being hard to garden under and didn't want to plop it smack in the middle of a garden! Admittedly those negative things were in the minority, but you know how it is - one reads three thousand positive reviews but it's that darn one bad review that makes you hesitate....

:)

Dee

"I read a few things about it being hard to garden under and didn't want to plop it smack in the middle of a garden!"

They can't be as hard to garden under as maples...they just can't. The one in the pic is in its third season in the ground; I had no trouble whatsoever planting the perennials around and behind it last summer, although admittedly two years doesn't constitute establishment in tree terms. But I don't notice the area becoming rootier (is that a word?).

"...They can't be as hard to garden under as maples...they just can't..."

Oh no, not at all! That's the reason I nixed the idea of a maple! I really wanted a maple - had maples on my street growing up and they have sooo much nicer fall color than my drab oaks. But I have heard how difficult it is to garden under them so I decided against a maple.

I am leaning toward a weeping cherry. I wanted another oak, but would never live to see it in it's full glory like my old one. But I do need to replace the shade I lost, or move the whole garden. Since I love my shade, I'm going with the replacement plan. Now I just have to decide what to replace it with! And I'm so bad with decisions lol!

:)

Dee

Dee - I missed something re the tree you lost and what needs you have re a replacement... but consider a Heptacodium. There’s no problem gardening under ours (remove low offshoots in the early years to keep it to a single trunk), it is an Asian tree but monarch butterflies love it because it blooms in September as they are migrating, hummingbirds and bees love it too. It is fairly fast-growing so will provide shade relatively quickly. In areas warmer than here the calyxes turn pink/red after the flowers drop so it looks like it is flowering again! The bark is tan colored and does some peeling in vertical strips. Unfortunately it has no particular fall colour. But it is a great tree that should be planted more often I think.

It felt like my garden was slow to start this year, but my 3 year old delphiniums are looking great. I like them so much that I planted about 15 more this Spring, different colors though:

Siberian iris Pink Parfait:

Rose Olds College: I was so happy to find this color in a rose hardy to zone 3!

Also planted rose Morden Blush this Spring, love it too!

woodyoak thanks for that suggestion. I am looking at anything anyone suggests. I am leaning toward a smaller (than my oak!), more ornamental tree, so this may fit the bill. Thanks!

Mazerolm your delphiniums are gorgeous! I adore that color! I don't grow delphiniums (I'm a little afraid as I hear they are finicky) but I get my fix of that color from my larkspur. And those irises are show-stoppers! Wow! (bet they would look great in with the delphs!)

:)

Dee

Thanks Dee! You should try delphiniums, I don’t find them finicky at all, if you don’t mind having to stake them!

Spigelia

Becky Shasta Daisy and Blue Paradise Phlox:

Fire and Ice Hydrangea:

@mazerolm_3a those delphiniums are spectacular and like @diggerdee zone 6 CT I have always been hesitant to grow them. I live in a location which has very humid summers and so I have used that as an "excuse" to not try them but your pics have got me thinking again.

@GardenHo_MI_Z5 I love "Big Blue" (I appreciate that it doesnt flop). I have grown it in the past but slowly and surely it seems to peter out over a few year (for me).

Heliopsis "Tuscan Sun" and "Venus" in the front of the house:

@porkchop_z5b_MI I think we have "talked" about this previously....ie dont you find that TS is such an incredible bloom machine?

heavy rains in past few days have caused a lot of droopy mess. plenty of gladiolus, rudbekias and coneflowers blooming all around but none picture worthy. here are notables others who stood out to rain quite well.

1. daisy eye mum and malabar spinach…

I know it’s not mum season yet, but she is a survivor from last year in an unprotected container. who am i to stop her from blooming now 😀

2. Moonbeam that never stops blooming

3. the ultimate hummingbird magnet (at least in my garden) red crocosmia…

4. One of the favs- pirouette pitunias blooming their heads off without any fertilizer…

5. and highlight of my patio this morning:

Maz I love those delphiniums and the iris too!

Rouge your pruned fire and ice is unique..I like it! Those big blues of mine are happy in that spot. Unfortunately some that I relocated are not...

Drumstick allium with QF hydrangea just starting to blush

Huerchera ’silver gumdrop’ blooming (looks slightly more purple and much better in person)

Veronica ‘sunny border blue’. This is when I like them.... before the tips start splitting off as you can see on the tallest spike just forming...

Surprise Rebloom on ‘Pink Fizz’ foamy bells

I really love these monthly garden photo threads. Everyone’s gardens are looking really lovely! It’s nice to see the wide variety of plants everyone grows. It gives me ideas for my own yard :)

Lots blooming right now!

I’m having problems with the Cat’s Pajamas nepeta I planted last year (it’s the brown thing in the bottom right). I think it needs to be watered more during high temperatures than I think it should. I have 3 and they all have a little bit of green growth so hopefully they bounce back. I tried growing breadseed poppies and shirley poppies from direct seeding this year. They dont look so great. I think my clay might be to heavy for them? Also, a baby bunny living in my yard has been snacking on them. I’m sure that isn’t helping.

Sweet peas, Nigella and Zinnias starting to bloom. My zinninas are looking kinda rough this year so far. They have insect and bunny damage. This is the first year I’ve had problems with those plants. It’s a little frustrating.

Lisianthus has buds!!

With our quite wet July our ligularia is having a good season:

And similarly with the extra wet "Painters Palette" is looking its best:

My ligularia NEVER did well...I have no doubt that this rainy year would have been the exception....

@GardenHo_MI_Z5 if my location again had a dry summer I have no doubt I would have removed our ligularia as I have with other water needy plants the past few years eg astilbe

Gorgeous everyone!

Sorry rouge. Astilbe are happy in this corner. A. c. 'Superba' (back right) will be in full bloom as the others are fading.

Lavandula 'Jean Davis'

Long shot of one section.

Crocosmia just starting makes me & the hummingbirds happy.

Ligularia 'The Rocket'. Those are not really weeds but next years Forget-Me-Not.

Lobelia cardinalis is allowed to grow pretty much wherever it chooses.

Lots of Daylilies blooming but I do particularly like Think Pink.

Always a treat to see your gardens peren. Love all of your astilbes and that stand off crocosmia is stunning! I’ve been tempted many times to buy some but then I remind myself... no more perennials, only shrubs!

Wow, everyone's gardens are so lovely.

Few more from my garden as we are approaching end of July…

Heart-throb…just started blooming 2 days ago. one of the best thrillers i have.

My gold finch magnet….traditional tall echinacea (deliberately planted by patio to watch the little guests feasting on fresh seeds)

new addition - lobelia starahip alongside stoke aster that decided to bloom again after two years of hiatus

Calycanthus Aphrodite blooming since late spring

And finally my favorite - hummingbird buffet 😃

Beautiful! I saw a Calycanthus Aphrodite last year and passed on it. I’m kicking myself now...

Amazing @peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada. You must be so grateful for this wet July eh?

Just like @GardenHo_MI_Z5 I have often mused about planting Crocosmia. Is it a 'tricky' plant to have? (When you have time can you elaborate on the requirements of this plant?)

And finally my favorite - hummingbird buffet

Excellent @natureinspiredM_ 6B NJ!

I spy your "vermillionaire"? For the first time we bought one and we planted it in a pot. It is very healthy and we do like the look of the plant BUT I have not seen even one 'hummer' on it :(.

But very nearby is our stand of Scarlet Gilia and it has attracted at least one hummingbird. Here are our two stands of this plant this morning:

(See our vermillonaire in the back, on the left side, on the bench?)

@rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a) your gilia making me desperate to buy one right now.i have not seen this plant for sale in our local nurseries. will look up online.

you will not regret the vermillionier (don’t we love proven winner plants!!!). mine is on its 4th year. realiably blooms for at least 2.5 months and doesnt mind the 6 months stay indoors. (though look pretty dead when inside).

My hummingbirds love this plant, as much as they love the red cannas behind. maybe gilia has much sweeter nectar and so they get full nefore getting over to vermollionier in your garden?

FYI, crocosmias are also loved by humminbirds. another carefree plant and totally deer and rabit resistant in my garden. you can prettymuch plant and forget them. the bulbs multiply like crazy, plus the seeds are easy to get new plants from. i planted only 6 red flowering bulbs in group of two in different locations 3 years ago, and now there are at least a dozen plants in each area. the wiry stems are attractive long after blooming ends. this year i bought three other colors. can’t wait for next year when they will start blooming.

In my Zone 6b garden they are done blooming by mid July.

They tend to get taller (reached 4’ in my garden), but much stardy unlike glads. here is a decent picture from early July…you will notice some new pups at the base.

@GardenHo_MI_Z5, thanks!!! don’t kick yourself, buy one from Burpee (or any other online proven-winner plant saller).. that’s where i got mine from. she took about two years to establish, this year all of a sudden taking off. gets about 4 hours of afternoon sun and yet blooming without fuss. i think by next year she will reach full heigh. this is one of those rare all-desired-features-in-one plant that should be part of all native gardens i think. This cultiver has attractive flowers with mild fruity fragrance, no deer, no desease, tolerates wet feet, even tolerates full shade it seems, native, loved by butterflies, ideal nesting plant and i think is a host plant for certain caterpillars (not 100% sure), dried barks can be used as flavoring agent…what more can we ask of a plant?

My understanding is that Crocosmia is NOT a source of nectar for our hummingbirds because their straight bills cannot access the nectar in the curved tubular flowers. They are seen visiting the flowers because of the color but cannot actually reach the nectar.

Crocosmia is native to South Africa where the birds have coevolved curved bills.

I have it planted because I love the shape of the foliage and the graceful arching of the flowered stems but always feel bad when I see my hummers poking at it, I believe fruitlessly.

Thanks Anna, thats informative. i see them always hovering over the flowers, but did not know they cant get to the nectar.

I picked up a Crocosmia Lucifer last year on clearance and plopped it into one of my full sun beds; it was past its bloom at the time, but I had long admired it in a neighbor’s garden. This year, when it bloomed concurently with my nearby Rasberry Wine monarda, it was a sight to see, and not a very good one - talk about clashing colors!!! It’s good to know that it does well in part-shade, because mine will be moving to a new location very soon.

Blue chiffon now in its glory...bees love it too!

Smoke bushes to compare...

Grace (I believe) hard pruned early spring

Dwarf ’winecraft’ Only second year so not sure how big it will truly get yet

Such great pictures everyone! I'm so enjoying seeing your gardens!

Not much going on here, mostly daylilies and some reseeded annuals

I thought these were my Chicago Apache, but they're not looking as red as I expected. They're definitely redder than in this photo (looking very pink here) but if they're not Chicago Apache I have no idea what else they could be lol.

Unknown orange - loving this one!

This might be Gracious Living on the left and Daiquiri on the right but not sure

Cosmos Bright Lights

NOID daylily

Queen Anne's Lace from the back - saw this and thought it looked like a snowflake!

:)

Dee

Thanks GardenHo and rouge!

rouge yes thank goodness for some rain in July but we have not had nearly enough here. Crocosmia is very undemanding, just give it full sun. It can handle a bit of shade from the late western sun. You should be fine but here everyone had said they had to dig them in the fall and store them. I was not going to do that so I planted them deeper (about 6") and they have thrived for well over a decade.

GardenHo are you sure you could not make one exception??? lol.

Anna my hummingbirds visit them multiple times a day and go from bloom to bloom. They pretty much ignore everything else including Lonicera and Monarda. They have a very long tongue apart from their bill. They are a well fed and feisty bunch.

Platycodon 'Hakone Blue'

Asclepias tuberosa and Achillea 'Coronation Gold' is a favorite combo. So many Monarch cats this year.

@peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada and @natureinspiredM_ 6B NJ, your pics and description of Crocosmia has convinced me to get one (likely Lucifer).

Love these threads.

Crocosmia just starting makes me & the hummingbirds happy.

After seeing such nice pics of this plant in this thread I was able to pick up one this morning! Thanks all.

@rouge21_gw (CDN Z5b/6a): which variety of crocosmia did you get?

A few more pics from my garden:

@mazerolm_3a I got Lucifer as it seems to be the consensus that it is the more hardy variety.

(I saw an excellent potted specimen of "Orange Pekoe" but I passed on it.)

'maz' is the last picture an Agastache? I really like these plants as their flowers are very appealing to bees and the like.

@rouge: A public garden nearby has had Lucifer for years, so yes, it's very hardy.

The last pic is Agastache Blue Fortunr, good eye! I planted them this Spring, I hope they overwinter!

Rudbeckia Indian Summer likes sun, heat, and drought it has in abundance at my place. I planted one plant in 2009, since then I have it growing everywhere, it reseeds itself, but not aggressively, looks like it especially likes the path around my edible garden. It is never boring, the flowers have different shapes and different combinations of browns and yellows on every plant. I love their cheerfulness.

Wow Wb talk about a plant that keeps on giving!! They are all so cute and unique.

”GardenHo are you sure you could not make one exception??? lol.”

lol Nope!! I’m staying strong. I remind myself each time I go out...”no more perennials! Shrubs only!!” (although I couldn’t pass up those burning heart heleopsis)

Rouge, I love agastache too!

As do the bees! This little fellow was working very industriously

While this one was taking a nap or drunk on pollen lol. He's asleep practically hanging off the bloom!

:)

Dee

My ligularia NEVER did well

@GardenHo_MI_Z5 I was actually recalling your post when I removed our two ligularias just this morning. I like them but as you know they need lots of moisture to bloom and continued moisture subsequently to keep the foliage looking good.

Crocosmia is very undemanding, just give it full sun. It can handle a bit of shade from the late western sun. You should be fine

UPDATE June 2022:

Although I knew where I had planted my one and only LUCIFER last late summer I was unable to check in detail as to its survival in 2022 as the area is ripe with alliums and their strappy leaves.

But today I took a closer look as the allium leaves are inevitably dying back.....

Those of you with a crocosmia in your garden, does this look like it when it emerges in the spring

No, that looks like a dahlia or a peony. Something along those lines.

Crocosmia has sword-like leaves, they are unmistakable (in my opinion).

Anna you are so right! It is the last remnant of a peony that I "removed" last summer after it had bloomed. The peony was large and well established and clearly I missed a bit.