Tuesday, July 03, 2007

More Early July Bloomers

This is the landmark view of July: the sedum growing on the bank blooms bright yellow. I know people who recognize our house only because of that sedum! It gets even more more yellow as the blooms continue to open. I have no idea what type of sedum it is because it was here when we bought the property. It is extremely hardy and needs no watering other than the rain. Here is a shot of my shady area under the mountain ash tree. I started these Viola cornuta "Sorbet Lilac Ice" this spring. I hope they come true from seed and multiply a bit. Geranium pratense "Black Beauty" has great looking foliage. I had it in my head that Geranium pratense was not hardy here, but this one made it through last winter at the front of a raised bed with no mulch, so it's certainly hardy enough.
Finally, I had success with a lupine! All the previous lupines died or never flowered. This one seems to have seeded itself around last year, so hopefully, I'll get a little group of them!

My Aruncus dioicus (Goatsbeard) finally flowered. I started it from seed three years ago. I have several plants, all interspersed along the back of this perennial bed. However, I think they would look better in clusters. They appear a little like Astilbe with their feathery blooms, and similarly like shade. Mine gets morning sun and afternoon shade. They are said to need moist soil and grow 4-6 feet tall. Currently, my plants are all 2 to 3 feet tall. At the right is Stachys byzantina (Lamb's ears) and the pink foreground flower is a dianthus.

4 comments:

Philosophical Karen said...

Goatsbeard is nice in small quantities. Can you imagine an entire suburban garden full of it? (For some reason, one house -- thankfully not too nearby -- replaced their lawn with plants. I'm all for doing that (we have almost done that), but not if all the plants are goatsbeard!

I love your 'Black Beauty' (I'm glad you had success with it). It looks similar to 'Hokus Pokus'.

Gardenista said...

Yeah, too much of anything can be overwhelming. Besides, I like to leave room to try out a wide variety of plants, or at least, I hope I have some room left...

Anonymous said...

Hi, in answer to your questions:

'Little Business' starts the season out looking very red. My plant is a few years old now, and quite a prolific bloomer. As the season progresses, the flowers seem to go more towards a very reddish dark pink.

I have always favoured pinks and purples in the garden (with purple, the darker the better). However, I'm not that great at sticking to a fixed colour scheme, since I like to mix things up a bit and get a "mosaic" look.

Gardenista said...

I just realized that the label on my lupine identifies it as Lupinus polyphyllus 'Gallery Yellow', a hybrid. I wonder if this means my seedlings will be quite different than my original plant???