Ty! Here’s another combo that I like: Heuchera Obsidian, an unknown pink mini astilbe that came from a friend, and Hosta Permanent Wave. :)

The first flower open on my favorite daylily: Black Eyed Susan

Beautiful flowers everyone. Luv the hostas..keep ’em coming.

hydranhea and water hyacinth.

rouge you are correct that I do not give supplemental water to Astilbe (or anything else). I do have lovely moisture retentive loam but that is it. I have not topped up on compost for them in decades... So really no secret to divulge I am sorry to say.

As an interesting aside I was recently upped to zone 5b yet Ottawa stayed 5a. I am less than an hour SW of Ottawa.

"Peachie's Pick" Stokes aster (Stokesia laevis):

PC I ‘used’ to have a group of 5...unfortunately they petered out due to lousy soil 🫤

Buttered popcorn…. my only daylily

Coneflowers, oh so tall. Back one just short of 5ft

Hostas and friends

Balloon flower with selfseeded allium

Wine cups, one of my faves that I’ve spread around the gardens

Stopped in at Lowes for the first time in forever as my beds are packed and dont need anything, well….my timing was perfect as they were just marking these beauties 1/2 off 😍 of course I could not resist these tall phlox! I plan to divide them…just need to figure out to put them all

Love July…Hydrangeas and phlox are just starting to bloom🤗

@porkchop_z5b_MI, the flowers on Stokes aster plants is so beautiful. I tried them many years ago but they didnt last for me :(.

Gorgeous plants @gardenho_z5.

(If you lived closer to me I would politely ask you for a clump of those "Wine Cups"...beautiful).

Thanks Rouge and I would gladly give you as many clumps as you’d like! In return I’d politely ask for a clump of that tall orange plant of yours. You know the one your friend gave you a starter of one…cant remember the name of it lol.

Fragrant Angel Coneflower really is amazingly fragrant!

The vaguely surreal looking flowers of Cardiocrinum cordatum, red form. They are actually darker than this - reminiscent of dried blood actually - but I can't capture even playing around with a color mixer and hue control. The upper-most petal is what they all look like. If you want a 'goth garden', this is the Cardiocrinum for you!

Hydrangea 'Preziosa' - one of my favorites

Colorful second flush of growth on hybrid Acer 'Hot Blonde'. I'm a little worried about that leaf spotting, the plant came that way in late April so it wasn't heat related. It was in hot house, so maybe this is a pathogen that favors those humid conditions? I've never seen anything like it on a JM.

Finally got Stewartia 'Scarlet Sentinel' to bloom. Droopy Juniperus rigida in the BG.

If the unidentified petite pink astilbe is lightly fragrant it might be ”Maggie Daley”

Pretty, tough little plant that stays good looking.

Finally, a cool, cloudy day, so I captured some July photos:

Canna Tropicanna Black with Tropicanna in the background, Fuchsia Cardinal, Hydrangea Blaumeise, Helianthus Earthwalker, Stumpery with various plants, Linum with Helianthus background.

@artinnaturez8b, your pics are always A1 👏

Its starting for me @Jay 6a Chicago......

What about for you?

This tiger swallowtail butterfly showed up today but was so hyperactive on the phlox that it was impossible to get a good photo.

Actually excellent pictures @party_music50.

Beautiful photos everyone!

Once again, despite my best intentions, my garden is not what I hoped it would be this year. But, as I said in another thread, as messy and unkempt as it is, there is a lot of beauty out there and it brings me joy. I just wish my phone took better pictures. I see beauty but my phone sees.... bleh. Lol. But here are a few:

Right now daylilies are the stars! They really are beautiful this year (if beaten down a bit by the rain)

Big Smile

Peach ones I can't remember the name of, with my beloved larkspur

I thought this was Big Blue, but a google search looks different... Color is much nicer in real life

Primal Scream. I can't tell you how many pictures I took trying to capture the absolute vividness of this bloom. Aptly named! Here are three attempts lol

Hyperion and liatris (with Scene Stealer (I think) in the background upper left)

A shot of one of my beds - camera never does well with the wider shots. Hyperion dayllies on right, the white blob is Ice Carnival, Queen Anne's lace tall and spectacular all over my yard this year, pink phlox, and in the background my large White Dome hydrangea, with the blooms rather fried from the recent heat wave.

So as I stood at one end of my long garden along my property line, I was really taken with the wild beauty of it. I tried a photo, which as usual stinks. Except for the helenium Mardi Gras and the larkspur, there is absolutely no definition - in real life you can make out the plants and blooms all the way back

Then suddenly the sun peaked over the horizon through the trees, and I took it as a sign that I should post the photo anyway hahaha!

Oh, and a beautiful hydrangea from my daughter's garden. Beacause despite trying for almost thirty years, I cannot grow a purple hydrangea in my yard!

:)

Dee

@diggerdee zone 6 CT, I respectfully say you are a........fibber. These pictures taken by your phone are amazing which is reflective of your gorgeous garden ❤️.

As one who has always resisted the appeal of daylilies I am becoming more and more receptive to including them in our garden. Your photos might have tipped the balance.

Oh my gosh, rouge, who's fibbing now lol? No, I know these photos aren't great. No definition at all, colors don't translate.... I went to school for media studies (film, photography, tv, etc.,) and worked in television production in a former life, (hubby still does) so while I may not know a lot about the newer technology, I know enough to know when things aren't good haha.

My husband has a better phone (lol or at least a much more expensive one!) and his takes MUCH better photos. Sometimes I'll ask him to take a photo because I know it's just not worth it with my phone. We have several old, broken cameras - digital and manual - but haven't gotten around to buying a new, good quality one, although we talk about it. But we're both cheap lol. And phone cameras are so convenient (and his is pretty decent!) I used an old Pentax with a broken light meter for 25 years because I knew how to adjust it and most of my photos came out pretty good. Even used it on travels where I had one chance to photograph because I had to wait to get the film developed to see if I set things correctly (couldn't jump back on a plane for a do-over lol!) Boy, I miss the old film technology, but then again I am a Luddite. But I digress.....

However, all that being said, THANK YOU for your kind words. I do appreciate them and just wish I could truly share the beauty I see in my garden more properly.

I DID run out this morning to take photos of MORE daylilies, but between the fact that the torrential rain yesterday beat them down even more, and today's haven't opened yet, I couldn't do it. But I plan on trying later. You've persuaded me to consider so many plants I feel obliged to return the favor!

:)

Dee

P.S. Oh, I did take these few photos though

My heat-fried, rain-drenched daisies with phlox behind them. The phlox I planted there 25 years ago or so was David. I don't know what happened to it lol

This virginia creeper was not even there yesterday. As pretty as it looks I tore it out immediately. I have nothing against VC in general - I've seen it used beautifully in gardens - but it's just too aggressive to let it have it's way, so I have to nip it in the bud

Just noticed this this morning. This is on the wall of my landing/steps to the back door. I've seen reseeders in the cracks on the ground and the steps (see weeds lol) but never coming out of the SIDE of anything!

Wise choice on the virginia creeper!

Due to bad spring weather, I only got a small amount of cherries from one of my trees this year. I made one jar of cherry jam. :)

Virginia creeper has 5 leaflets; poison ivy has 3 - isn't that a pic of poison ivy? Either way, good job getting rid of it.

Not sure which helianthus this is but it is for sure yellowy ;)

party_music, I bet that jam is the best jam you'll have this year!

indianagardengirl, yes that is VC. I have tons of it in my woods. Admittedly I have a lot of PI too, but I am VERY careful after a horrible reaction last year, so I checked three times before touching it lol! (with gloves!)

rouge, helianthus is one of those plants that every single time someone posts about it, I say to myself, why don't I have that? And I really don't have a good answer! I need to move it to the top of my list!

I ran out after work to take a few more pics of some daylilies. The rain really did a number on them, but here they are:

These first three have names somewhere (I think one of them is Scene Stealer) and they are all in this bed together and look nice together. Much more on the peachy/salmon side as opposed to pink/red

This one below is really a stunner - which you would see if I had a decent camera lol! IMO the color is quite unusual and unique.

Rocket City. Almost as nice as Primal Scream. Definitely more orange than in this photo, but not QUITE as vivid as Primal Scream

Frans Hal. Ties the yellow and orange daylilies in the bed nicely together

After going out this evening, I think THIS is the real Big Blue. This poor guy just survived what I think may have been voles. Monday morning it was looking pretty weak and it came right up when I touched it. I replanted and I think the rains yesterday helped the plant, if not the blooms!

Unknown (well, really "forgotten") yellow

Another forgotten yellow, possibly Glory

Some peachy/apricots

And I think this is Pardon Me

You might not guess it from this post but I have a love/hate relationship with daylilies. Well, a love/eh relationship lol. I do love the blooms, I love that they are so hardy and easy. I wish the blooms lasted more than a day but on the bright side, those #%$@! asiatic beetles go for them, but they can't do much damage in a day, so I'd rather have them on the daylilies that other blooms.

But, I'm not a big fan of the foliage, especially when it can get ratty later in the season. So I don't want to add TOO many because then my garden is all strappy foliage. And my goodness, can they PLEASE stop coming out with new ones lol? I think dayllies have to be the plant with the most new introductions in the world. Not only is it too much temptation, but it seems to me that there are SO many that the ones you bought a few years ago are "obsolete" and never to be found again.

Lastly, I have been meaning to take a photo of this row of hydrangeas for YEARS. In the supermarket driveway lol. Finally took one today. Wish I could get closer without getting run over lol, but here it is. Quite a nice planting!

:)

Dee

Agave ovatifolium Frosty Blue with Ricinus Impala,

Hydrangea quercifolia Gatsby Moon

Abutilon Orange Drop

Pink summer blooming azalea 'Louisa Duemling' - I will have a less pink one in a week or so. These are definitely novelties because honestly I'd prefer my azaleas (and rhododendrons) bloom in spring when it's not uncomfortable outside, but having a few around is nice.

UPDATE: odd discovery, she's still alive. (the person this was named after) She's a Dupont who was involved with Mt. Cuba center. I guess that's what wealth and power bring you.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/reliable-source/post/surreal-estate-louisa-duemling-home-is-dcs-most-expensive-on-market/2013/01/29/73772898-6a65-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_blog.html

Also, a kniphofia seedling sprouted and grew next to another one. It has these interesting flowers that appear not to open, so far, and are widely spaced. I know there are cultivars that look like this, but I don't know of their names off the top of my head.

I had a K. thomsonii that bloomed a few years ago, but died - that was my second try and I gave up on them. It's really not zone 7 hardy. It is possible that it pollinated the poker next to this one? But it's triploid so that shouldn't be possible! At any rate, happy to have this new one. Debating about whether to separate it out now, or in the fall.

Magnolia 'Genie', so confused, it's blooming now in late July. 🤷‍♂️

Finally, this post needed some yellow!

Pyrgophyllum yunnanense. This is very rare and I'm letting it size up quite big before even thinking of trying a division outside.

last addition 7/28!

Pampas grass, before it was ruined by today's much needed heavy rains. NOT an invasives concern here, in fact, this is the only one of 4 clones to have reliably persisted in the garden. ('Andes Silver')

Cotinus 'Grace' being crazy behind it.

Art I love that orangedrop.

UBG thats crazy tal!!

The Phlox are blooming now. Plan on dividing some of new ones into these beds.

Back fenceline

Driveway bed

Lovely, gardenho! Just lovely!

:)

Dee

Dee thank you so much.

I’m liking the driveway bed so much better now since removing 4 LARGE hostas. They took up so much space and always ended up getting crispy and ugly. Bad placement on my part, but I didnt know what I was doing when I put them in. My first hostas ever in the first bed I made after buying the house. I watched those crisp for waaayyy too long lol. Opted for some color of yellow, blue and red. Also put in 2 hybiscus…which I hope I dont regret. Time will tell….

Rouge , one of the several new Standing Cypress is bolting already. I may have some of those hot red flowers this year after all. Can you show a pic of that very yellowy Helianthus you showed a few days ago, so I can ID it?

Aztek Zinnia

I have a question. If you grow mixed colored Zinnia and collect seeds and grow them for several years, will the colors begin to look dull and muddy?

Spotted Horse Mint, Monarda punctata.

A lot of new native plant gardeners assume this plant is perennial but it's an annual.

Ashy Sunflower, Helianthus mollis

Like with the asters I want to explore every Helianthus species that's native to my area. Same with violets,Trillium and just about everything else.

Northern River Oats. The name is changed from Sea Oats because they are mostly found growing by rivers, not seas. The seedheads are beautiful but this grass is a major thug and Ive eliminated most of them but kept a couple that will be deadheaded from now on. It might be useful for erosion control. This graminoid pushed back a monoculture of extremely agressive Wood Nettle.

Kitchen sink garden. Ive thrown everything into it except the kitchen sink. The Sawtooth Sunflower is on it's 3rd lifetime and it's come back with a vengence. Sawtooth Sunflower vs Yarrow. Who would win? Don't ever underestimate how fast yarrow can take over a garden. Achillea millefolium is the thug. I haven't grown any other species. I love those ferny fronds and can't help myself.

Cats seem to like my gardens. Mabe it brings out their jungle instincts?

This is a new experiment. Marsh Fleabane, Camphorweed, Pluchea odorata. It's more of a southeastern plant. I'm not detecting much fragrance yet. I hope it is dripping with aromatics when the flowers pop. Very velvety foliage.

Cowpen Daisies lounging on Blue Mistflower. Verbesina encelioides and Conoclinium coelestinum

I wonder if Greg's Mistflower, Conoclinium greggii starts blooming earlier the C. coelistinum?

Selfheal doesn't mind growing in the shadow of giants, and it enriches the bed by providing its little, blue landing lights.

Native Selfheal is Prunella lanceolata formerly Prunella vulgaris var lanceolata.

It can be somewhat weedy but it's not tenacious.

Compass Plant, Silphium laciniata.

The southwest has its Agaves, us northerners have our Silphium.

Spiraea latifolia alba

This is so so cool like spring cherry blossom time in summer. A nice break from those tired japonicas.

Halberdleaf Rose Mallow, Hibiscus laeve

An absolute water hog but worth it.

Largeleaf Aster, Eurybia macrophylla

It is rhizomatous and it can handle a lot of shade.

Beebalm, Monarda fistulosa, Annual sunflower, Helianthus anuus, False Indigo, Amorpha fruticosa, Marsh Marigold, Bidens polylepis.

SSSawtooth

I don’t have much summer flowerers but my meadow garden has never looked better in all these years imo. Patrinia scabiosifolia, lilium lancifolium, agastache rugosa, lysimachia clethroides, and hard to see but my red sanguisorba offcinalis is to the right of my lilies.

July is a busy month, so much going on in everyone's garden. I'm just getting under the wire for July... and have ONE photo...lol. Not a lot going on this year.

This is a pot that has had no attention. Watered that's it. You can see on the lower left, the pansies have gone by long ago and have not been replaced. The feature in the pot are the light purple feathery flowers. First time trying that, and don't even remember what they are, but I love them. I will grow them again! I wonder how well they would look with a little fertilizer. [g]

Heruga- can you tell me more about patrina?

this is its second year in my garden and it is nearly 2 feet at the base which is bigger than expected. it bloomed this spring which was strange. after cutting it back it is starting to send up flowers again. I dont know what will be flowering with it by time it blooms. I think from land of giants we might have NY aster (6 feet tall with purple flowers) maybe boltonia, hibicus I’ll just have to wait and make a note that i can find next spring. (fat chance)

Prairiemoon I thought that was an ornamental clover, but image search says "Ptilotus exaltatus" https://www.anniesannuals.com/products/ptilotus-exaltatus-joey

UBGardener - Thanks!! That's it! First time I've seen it for sale in the spring at my local nursery. And actually, I asked my son and daughter to come to the nursery on Mother's Day and choose their own plants and pot up two big pots. Which they had fun doing and that was one my daughter picked out. Really worked out well.

Oh.... I just took another look at the link @ Annie's Annuals...and it's called 'Joey' ?! That is amazing....name of a family member. Now I like it even more. Thanks for that link!

Todays photos.....

Surprise visitors…tossed seeds around several years ago and forgot about them.

The garden persists in spite of me and the weather. Phlox and Agastache, Roses and Nepeta. Hopefully the dahliad will join the party soon.

Opuntia

Aruncus Horatio

Oenothera macrocarpa

Delphinium Double Innocence

Amazing plants @peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada.

I love seeing Oenothera macrocarpa. That bright yellow always makes me smile.

Thanks rouge. I call them sunshine.

Asclepias tuberosa

Actaea rubra with its berries

Lavender Jean Davis is the softest pink

Daylily Highland Lord

Platycodon

Daylily Think Pink

Lilium lancifolium

D. Ikebana Star

Clematis virginiana

Eryngium Blue Hobbit

Peren.all - You have SO many interesting plants and a lot blooming right now! Do you have any combos you like?

I'm enjoying my yarrow, although I might be leting it spread too much - story of my life, I'm not able to control mother nature

The thrips are so disappointing on my peonies ! I did have a beautiful bouquet to bring in earlier, no thrips ! That was during our rainly spell

This is a former log round pathway, but I've just let everything move in... even the Iris have flopped but I'm happy to still have a sedum surviving (the former look had been sedum all around the log rounds- I enjoyed that for 2 summers

these Lauren's grape poppies are lovely, they are growing in the planter box where I want my parsley, lettuce etc. to be, oh well!

I'm trying to establish a lovely shade garden like so many of you have and my epiphany was that I need more and more hostas, they survive and are slowly established even in competition with birch tree roots, where I've had lots of failures like foamflower. My husband is helping so much with the weeding - along with the horsetail, grass is moving in but this summer we are on top of the edging and the grass is under control.

My husband mowed a heart in the grass for us .

Wow! I haven’t posted here for quite a while, so it is wonderful to see familiar names and to catch up on how your gardens are looking! Lovely photos, all!

I am just sneaking under the wire for July. I ended up selling my former house and gardens am spending summers in what was my husband’s woodshop in NH, along with winters near my sister in south-central Wisconsin. I am modifying my inherited garden in WI during the shoulder seasons, and am working on a mostly new garden in NH. I have 3 large veggie beds plus I have second year perennial gardens across the front of my porch with a goal of summer interest and attracting hummingbirds and other pollinators. They are still a bit sparse so I have a mishmash of pots as well. Plus I still have the shrub border that I put in 15+ years ago that is in some need of rejuvenation.

This bed I view largely from the deck, so I have a great view of visitors. This Culver’s root/Veronicastrium is much loved by a whole range of insects, but strong storms have broken several stems.. I will add support structures for next summer.

I think I need to move that panicled hydrangea because it is a seedling from two larger shrubs, and this is a smallish bed. What was I thinking?!

A humming bird visited this phlox as I was taking the photo. It is right in the photo center but camouflaged by its green back against green leaves. I also have a couple of salvias, a colored leaf geranium with tiny flowers, and some cuphea that they like, and I have at least three hummers that visit on and off all day, one male and two warring females..

A few overviews:

A couple of shots from the much overgrown shrub border, seriously in need of maintenance:

The blue spruces hate the humidity here and drop needles from a fungal infection. They will be the first plants culled.

This chubby little clematis keeps getting shaded out, but it has reseeded itself into sunny pockets and surprises me every year.

Nice to see you posting again, Babs. I love your shrub border even if it needs work - your photos from years ago have stayed with me as a standout example of what a good border looks like. Welcome back!

Downy Skullcap, Scutellaria incana

White Meadowsweet, Spiraea latifolia alba

Cardinal Flower, Lobelia cardinalis

Flowering Spurge, Euphorbia corollata

Aquatic Milkweed, Asclepias perennis

Eastern Swamp Milkweed, Asclepias incarnata var pulchra.

Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia sifilitica

Bush's Poppy Mallow, Callirhoe bushii in a whorlwind of Wild Senna, Senna hebecarpa

Tall Thistle, Cirsium altissimum

The leaves aren't prickly though they appear to be.

White Rattlesnake Root, Nabalus/Prenenthes albus

Cosmos, Zinnia, Gaillardia and Chamaecrista.

Decurrent False Aster, Boltonia decurrens

Endangered in the wild. This has a much higher petql count than asters and the white fliwers have pink hues in various degrees.

Pale Indian Plantain, Arnoglossum atriplicifolium.

A native alternative for Patrinia scabiosifolia.

Vollunteer Brown Eyed Susans and Cowpen Daisies and Sweet Potatos. A patch of Golden Alexanders puts on a show here in spring.

Prairie Dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum

Cow Parsley, Sium sauve

Manroot, Ipomoea panderata

A perennial morning glory.

The Gynostemma pentaphyllum is doing well. I hope it starts sending out vines.

Virginia Snakeroot, Endodeca/Aristolochia serpentaria var convolvulacea

New Prairie Rose, Rosa setigera

Babs so good to have you back!

pm here are some combos I like.

I really need to trim out the old stems on Salvia Caradonna to make it look great again but I like it with Coreopsis Moonbeam & Echinacea 'Prairie Splendour' compact white.

I rarely show the shade gardens here.

peren.all, you SHOULD show your shade gardens! They are lovely.

Babs, so good to hear from you! You must have your hands full - I can barely take care of gardens on one property lol. I can't imagine having to maintain two! But I hope you are having fun and enjoying it - both the work and the results!

:)

Dee

Peren.all - Thank you for posting combos, I am always considering whether to move things around to get a better combo. I love white Echinaceas, and your coreopsis is huge!

I agree with Dee…your shade gardens are SO well cared for and look great for August 1st! I am a sucker for variegated hostas. My favorite photo is #3 from the top. Beautiful arrangement!

@peren.all Zone 5a Ontario Canada, as you know I wish we were closer to you as clearly your gardens, even in pictures, are wonderful. In person they would be incredible.

Thank Dee & pm!

I wish we were closer too rouge!