Wildflower and Siberian Irises in the Smoke

The smoke from forest fires has been getting thicker all week, with even a few fires in and around town. The water bombers have been busy; we see them flying continuously over our house. We had our upstairs smoke alarm go off in the middle of the night, triggered only by the smoke that had wafted in through open windows. It was a brand new smoke alarm and quite a terrifying sound at night, but I suppose we are assured that it's effective. We'd better be careful making toast from now on. I'm hoping the weekend rain clears up the air so that our weather forecast doesn't call for conditions described as "smokey" anymore.
Aster alpinus "Goliath" blooming in a raised bed:

I noticed this wildflower growing in semi-shade among a grove of poplar trees. Its leaves resemble a tiny version of my Bergenia cordifolia, though the flower is unique. I have no idea what it is. Any ideas from the fine readers out there?
Unidentified wildflower:

The harsh winter cold wiped out several of the perennials, trees, and shrubs this year and certainly did some damage to the compact highbush cranberries (Viburnum trilobum) in the yard. This is remarkable, considering that their native counterparts live in a forest all around us, so they should be very hardy.
Two highbush cranberries, with the one on the right only showing a few live branches:

This siberian iris bloomed for the first time in the 4 years I've had it, possibly matching up to the identification tag "Caesar's brother". All the others I bought with it bloomed in a pretty pale blue and probably were wrongly labeled. This iris has been in this spot for three years and just bloomed for the first time this year. Irises, like peonies, require patience!
Siberian iris, "Caesar's brother":

The large raised bed nearly brings pain to my eyes this year, with all the bare spots from dead plants, but I am madly transplanting seedlings from deceased mature plants into the bare spots. At least the larger plants are making it look mostly green, now that July is almost here.

Now in Bloom

Now in full bloom here are Aquilegia (columbines), Aruncus dioicus (goatsbeard), Dianthus deltoides, Polemonium caeruleum (Jacob's ladder), Iris sibirica (Siberian iris), Dianthus barbatus (Sweet Williams), Lupinus polyphyllus, Digitalis grandiflora and one lonely Oriental poppy.

I fell in love with the pictures of these Songbird Mix aquilegias on the Swallowtail seeds website and started some last year. Here is one of the products, a long-spurred, upwards facing flower, small plant (less than 2 ft tall). I have another that flowered a pale yellow, but no blues.


My in-laws are in town visiting and I enjoy leisurely tours through the garden with my mother-in-law, who also enjoys gardening. She mentioned that her Siberian irises are doing nothing much and I pointed out these pale blue ones of mine, which have taken three years to start blooming! About half of mine still have no blooms, but I'll generously give them another few years and a "talking to", as another gardener friend admonished.


The sloping rock bed is full of color with Aquilegias, Digitalis grandiflora (yellow foxglove), purple alpine asters, pink dianthus, and the start of thyme's season of purple blooms.


The yellow foxglove (at the top of the picture) is extremely hardy and requires ordinary garden conditions. It does very well here, but of course is very poisonous. Like the drug digitalis, it can slow the heart to the point of stopping it altogether.


Two grey plants do fabulous in my garden: Lamb's ears (tall grey plant on left) and Artemisia "Silvermound" (fluffy moundish plant at left). Both need no special care, full to part sun, and low to moderate amounts of water. The lamb's ears creeps outwards while the silvermound does not spread.


Here's a moth the dog could get along with. It has a furry white coat!


Alpine asters amid three colors of Dianthus deltoides. All are great rock garden plants, though I need to shear the flowers off after the blooming season to keep them tidy-looking.

Pink, White, and Blue in the Garden

Today's blooming of my Pulsatilla vulgaris "dissecta" was a suprise. Not just because this is a little late for Pasque flowers, but because it certainly isn't a "dissecta". I ordered two of this plant and obviously, this plant was mislabeled or the seed didn't come true. Anyhow, does anyone have a name for this lovely pink Pulsatilla? Otherwise, I now have white, two shades of purple, and red ones. This one is distinct from all the others and the company I bought it from doesn't even sell pink ones!

Mystery Pink Pulsatilla

I dug all the rest of the Siberian irises out of the bank of sedum this spring, thinking they'd get more water in the raised beds. Somehow I missed this one, a "Snow Queen" Siberian iris. It seems to be doing fine though. Ironically, most of the irises planted in the raised beds in fall 2005 have not bloomed!

I let my group of cornflowers spread seed last year and now I have this pretty blue haze of annual cornflowers (Centaurea cyanus) among the perennials. I notice that several little birds are starting the enjoy my forest of flowers too, because there is always some fluttering and rustling among the plants when I go out to the big raised bed. Come to think of it, that's probably why I also saw a cat slinking around there last night...
An update to the rest of you southern gardeners -- I am still waiting for my first daylilies! They have buds though, and I promise to send pictures. Karen in Ontario has the most amazing collection of daylilies - seventy of them! I'd definitely have to dig up the lawn to make room for that many daylilies...