July 2024 Bloom Day

Hanging basket on porch.

  

It's hot and very dry here in my corner of Virginia--USDA Zone 6B--on this July Bloom Day. We haven't seen a drop of rain in going on three weeks, and June's rains weren't exactly plentiful. Despite my attempts to keep it watered, my garden is really suffering, and the local deer are more voracious than ever. So, this Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden, is going to be skimpier than usual.

 

Hanging baskets.

Fuchsia on porch.

 

Thanks to their daily watering in the scorching temperatures, the hanging baskets on the porch have about the most flowers: petunias, calibrachoas,blue and white  lobelias, coleus and a Fuchsia in one basket. There are a few flowers the deer have mostly left alone, so let's take a look.

Starting on the east side of the house, the hydrangeas 'Little Quick fire'  and 'Incrediball' have flowers that haven't been mauled--while another hydrangea, 'Endless Summer' next to Incrediball has been completely consumed.

 

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

 

My Vitex usually blooms profusely at this time of the year, but despite lots of watering, the shrub (now about 10' tall) isn't nearly as showy as in other years.

 

Vitex in bloom.

Coming around to the back yard the 'Blue Nile' Agapanthus I planted last year has produced a couple of stalks, and the red Salvia next to it is also flowering.

 

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile' with red Salvia.

The deer left me only a few blossoms of Liatris, and black-eyed Susans in my flower beds, probably because they couldn't reach them easily. The Chinese iris, formerly known as Blackberry lily or Belamcanda, don't appear very appetizing to them either.

 

Liatris 'Kobold'

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

Chinese iris (formerly called Belamcanda)

Towards the west side of the back yard, the bed with the Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline' are doing well, they seem to be fairly deer-proof. But my Coneflowers and Phlox have been decimated, very few flowers have survived. Just about every Daylily bud was eaten before it could open, among  dozens on plants: Stella de Oro, Purple de Oro, yellow and peach colored varieties, so sad!

 

Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline'

Back toward the front walk, the Agastache 'Firebird' is among the few plants that deer don't find appetizing--I must plant more Agastache in my garden, so I can have a few more summer blooms. Unfortunately, they prefer well-drained soil, which with all the clay here is just about impossible to provide, so they do better for me in pots. But the pots have to be watered on a daily basis.

 

Agastache 'Firebird' along the front walk.

Back deck potted plant  collection

 That's about it for bloom day in my garden, pray for rain in this area, plentiful rain! Then maybe I'll have more to show next month.

June 2024 Bloom Day

Texas Yucca flowering spike (Hesperaloe parviflora)

 

  Today is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, but tomorrow, June the 16th, is the actual Bloomsday, celebrated in Ireland and many other places by lovers of James Joyce's novel "Ulysses." The events in this novel take place all on one day, June 16th, 1904, as narrated by its protagonist, Leopold Bloom. Upon the 50th anniversary of the publication of "Ulysses" a group of well-known authors decided to make a pilgrimage to all of the sites in Dublin mentioned in Joyce's book and re-enact its scenes, calling it "Bloom's Day". Since then, every year the celebration has become more elaborate--Dublin's 2024 Bloomsday is scheduled to last for an entire week!

  With that little bit of esoteric literary history out of the way, it's back to the garden for us today, thanks to Carol Michel's May Dreams garden blog. Disclosure: I'm scheduled to be at a family reunion this afternoon, thus some of my photos were taken a day or two before--close enough for rock n' roll.

 

Yuccas in bloom, with my new veggie garden enclosure in back.

Yucca flowers with Red-hot pokers beyond.

  We'll start with the Yuccas--this year my Texas Yucca (not actually a Yucca) put forth its first flowering spike, and I was thrilled! Then my 'Color Guard' Yucca, which is reverting to an ordinary leaf-color Yucca (Yucca filamentosa)  put forth two flowering spikes. I'd trimmed the side shoots which carry the flowers for the past two years, in an attempt to prevent their reversion, resulting in no flowers--but I'd rather have the flowers than the yellow-striped foliage, so last fall I left the side shoots alone.

  Yucca flowers are so lovely and they always bring to mind New Mexico: my first home in the U.S., and the site of my first artist residency. I painted my first Yucca flowers as a young teen for a school mural, and sold a watercolor of another Yucca in Santa Fe as artist in residence at the Mill Atelier. I may yet paint another this summer, if I have the time.

 

Clary sage flower buds with Centaurea 'Emperor William' in back.

 

  My Clary sage (Salvia sclarea), a biennial, bloomed last year, but there are more flowers this year--must be from some that re-seeded and overwintered--it's such a statuesque plant! 

  The Butterfly weed is in full bloom, and I finally have some 'Hello Yellow' blooms, though not many yet. The deer keep eating the yellow ones back though they don't touch the orange variety, go figure.

 

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Prairie sagebrush (Artemisia frigida) with Butterfly weed behind.

 

  The deer have eaten all of my Asian lilies, and most of my daylilies, despite my efforts to keep them sprayed with repellent. They left only a few for me to enjoy like this delicate peach colored daylily.

Peach dalylily.

  I'm hoping to save a few of my Cone flowers this summer, last year the deer ate every last one of them! The goldfinches were most upset, they love the seeds.

Cone flowers (Echinacea purpurea) and garden Phlox.

  The west back bed is not very colorful right now--it's all white flowers--but the Anise Hyssop here should start to bloom soon, along with a few blooms of the Monarda 'Jacob Kline.'

Virginia mountain mint (Pycnanthemum virginianum) and white Salvia

Red-hot pokers (Knifophia uvaria) and Catmint on west side of house

 

  The hydrangeas growing on the east side of the house are particularly susceptible to the depredations of the deer, so this year I've protected them with physical barriers. Its doesn't make for a very scenic garden look, but it's better than seeing the plants decimated.

 

Oak-leaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' and 'Incrediball' beyond.

 

  Many flowers of the 'New Dawn' climbing rose are still hanging on; it's the only rose that has bloomed for me this year. All the other roses have been eaten by deer or had the foliage stripped by the saw-fly larvae.

Climbing rose 'New Dawn'

  The lavender is in full bloom in various parts of the garden, and the bees love it! I think my Buttonbush is going to flower this year finally--that is, if the deer don't eat the buds.

 

Lavender 'Hidcote' and Buttonbush 'Sugar Shack'

Lavender 'Munstead' and pink Monarda in front garden.

Lavender and pink Monarda in front yard.

   The front walk is now lined with my potted plants--the tropicals winter inside the house, and others I grow as annuals. The sedums growing beside the walk are all blooming.

Potted plants along the front walk.

  

  My porch baskets are starting to fill out a bit. I hope to have more success with these side-planters than in past years. Its seems that every year, at least a few side plants dry out and fail, and the baskets end up looking beat-up and skimpy. I'd like to see good coverage of the coconut fiber liners and fullness.

 

Hanging baskets on porch.

 

   Meanwhile, a few goodies in my indoor garden, in the orchid department. The beautiful white Phalaenopsis is blooming again, and a miniature Phal too. Another orchid in the master bath is also blooming.

White Phalaenopsis with miniature Phalaenopsis in bloom.

Mystery orchid in master bath.

       My next posting will be about my artistic pursuits and exciting events related to art. For today, Happy June Bloom Day to all!

June's Bounty of Flowers

 

Yucca 'Color Guard' in flower.

After several years of not flowering, this spring my "Color Guard' Yucca finally put out two flowering spikes. My plant seemed to be reverting to the original blue-green foliage of the ordinary Yucca filamentosa, so I cut back those shoots for several years, but of course since it's the new side shoots that produce the blossoms, I pruned away any chance of flowers.

 Last fall I decided I'd rather have the flowers than the pretty foliage, and let the side shoots grow out. Is it just my impression that these flowers droop a bit more than those of the ordinary Yucca filamentosa?

 

Yucca with red-hot pokers and lavender.

This part of the long island bed is very colorful at the moment. with red-hot pokers and a pink, or is it white lavender? I've forgotten. I have another red-hot poker variety with all-orange flowers on the west side of the house, but I think this one is prettier.

 

Red-hot pokers (Knifophia uvaria)

Red-hot pokers on the west side of the house.

The butterfly weed is is full bloom at the moment--the 'Hello Yellow' variety is finally offering some blooms but doesn't seem to be as floriferous as the ordinary wild species. The deer keep eating the  yellow flowers back, so perhaps it's not the plant's fault. Why one color would be preferred to the other in taste is a mystery to me.

Herb's bed with lavender and butterfly weed beyond.

Herb's bed with lavender, grasses and Hesperaloe flowers at rear.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

Butterfly weed and lavender in Little Indians bed.

The deer ate most of my Asian lilies despite my efforts to keep them sprayed with repellent, but I did manage to save these few to enjoy briefly. The beasts came by and ate them last night; glad I took the photos just before.

 

Pink and orange Asian lilies.

Asian lilies

 

My hydrangea 'Incrediball' is lovely right now, but I don't know if my other two hydrangeas (H. arborecens and H. paniculata) will bloom this year--I don't see any buds thus far. The oak-leaf hydrangea is making progress, let's hope the deer don't eat it back this year. The Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana) also gets eaten back, but not as badly.

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

Oak-leaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' and Spiderwort

Peeking through 'Incrediball' to the back yard.

Lavender in the front garden

 

With so many photos of flowers today, I wonder what, if anything new, I'll have to show for June's Bloom Day on the 15th?

July Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Clary sage (Salvia sclarea)

Clary sage

 

This summer the deer have been incredibly voracious--they haven't left me very many flowers to show! One they haven't touched is the biennial Clary sage I planted last year. The flower spikes are big and bold, I'm sure their musky smell is the reason they've been left alone.

 

Centaurea cyanus 'Emperor William'

The nearby Centaurea 'Emperor William' which I grew from seed a couple of years ago, has been reseeding itself ever since, but this year, the seedlings all got chomped back and only this one plant somehow managed to avoid being eaten. I love their bright blue color!

 

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

 

Butterfly weed is another plant deer don't eat much, although they managed to eat the flower buds of all the 'Hello Yellow' ones--these plants are just finishing their cycle of bloom. The Buddleias are starting their show--with the extreme drought in our area and barely enough rain to bring relief, nothing is looking too great, only a few flower spikes where normally bloom would be profuse.

 

Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)

 Buddleia Pugster 'Miss Molly'

Buddleia lindleyiana

The Buddleia lindleyiana is a native of Japan and is doing well in my Virginia garden, but I'm discovering that it likes to sucker, and needs more room. I  love the graceful arching flower spikes, and the pollinators really like this variety: butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

 

Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

Speaking of plants beloved by pollinators, my Bottlebrush buckeye is about to bloom--it's a bit late this year, it's usually in full bloom by now. My tree is now about 6 foot tall and wide, it will probably reach its mature height of about 10 feet in a few years.

 

Seven Son Flower Tree (Heptacodium miconiodes)

The Seven Son Flower Tree, which normally doesn't bloom until August, budded out very early and has started to open its small clusters of seven flowers each. This shrub is a native of China, but still attracts lots of native pollinators such as dark swallowtails, and the hummers too.

 

Coneflowers under the Seven Son Flower Tree

Close-up of Coneflowers.

The back bed with a variety of Coneflowers and other blooming plants lies under the Seven Son Flower Tree, but this year, the coneflowers have been decimated--very few are left. I really need to be more proactive in spreading deer repellent or there'll be nothing left to show for all my labors.

 

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Clematis 'True Love'

 

Again, these Crocosmia and clematis flowers above are the only ones left from the deer's depredations. The heather below grows under a wire cloche, or there would be nothing left of either foliage or flowers. 

Heather.

On the east side of the house, the hydrangea 'Incrediball' is lovely, the other hydrangeas have been chewed up a lot--only one flower left on the lace-cap  hydrangea, the one on the other side of Incrediball (behind) has not a single flower left! 'Little Quick Fire' hydrangea sustained very little damage, but the Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' is standing only because of the tomato cage protecting it.

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers'

 

Lavenders are among few flowers that deer don't go for, and the mint family is also generally spared.

 

Lavender 'Grosso'

Hoary mountain mint with Ninebark tree 'Coppertina'

 

Salvias are not appetizing to deer either, and generally spared--I bought the one below at Green Springs Gardens, where our botanical artist group had a show this spring, and deadheaded it--it's starting to re-bloom. I thought that zinnias were immune to deer too, but this year my seedlings have been decapitated.

 

Salvia

Vitex agnus castus

The Vitex above is usually in full bloom at this time, but with the current drought, growth has slowed down so much! 

The plants on the deck and hanging baskets are out of the deer's reach, of course, so I may still enjoy those flowers.

 

Cuphea 'Hummingbird's Lunch' on the back deck.

Hanging basket on the porch.

Calibrachoas on the deck.

 

The Cuphea 'Hummingbird's Lunch' hasn't attracted many hummers, but well I remember how one evening last year, in late September, a lone female hummingbird, apparently starved, came and gratefully buzzed every flower.

To sum it up, this July I'm short of flowers to show. Let's pray for some good rains in our area soon, so that I may have something in bloom to show you next month!