August: Bloom Day!

I am just now realizing, I have an awful lot of yellow flowers. Oh well!

North edge garden


Rudbeckia triloba, brown-eyed Susans


Rudbeckia subtomentosa, sweet black-eyed Susans, and Agastache scrophulariaefolia, giant purple hyssop


Garage garden


The 11-foot volunteer sunflower continues to amaze us, and hosts SO many bees, flower flies, and butterflies, the rest of the neighborhood must feel left out.


Eurybia macrophylla, big-leaf aster. Remember the good old days when asters were just Asters?


Well, this is a terrible picture, but it's my prairie dock, Silphium terebinthinaceum, with flowering stalks reaching high above my head.


Foley and Lucy, my favorite two flowers of all!


Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day!

July: Bloom Day!

Is it that time again already?

Biggest. Sunflower. Ever.


Seriously, what sunflower has a trunk??

ETA: I measured the sunflower and it is 11 feet 4 inches tall, 4 3/4 inches diameter where my hand is. On 7/16 it has 4 flowers open and about 20-ish more buds. The thing is a freakin' TREE. Did I mention it's a volunteer? Why are my best plants accidental?

Monarda didyma 'Violet Queen' and Schizachyrium scoparium, little bluestem grass, in the prairie garden


The double cosmos 'Rose Bon Bon' seeds from Renee's that came with the Spitfire nasturtiums have just started to bloom.


Do I ever get tired of taking pictures of red admirals? (Answer: no)


Or swallowtails? (again: no)


Ox-eye sunflowers, Heliopsis helianthoides, in the prairie garden


Speaking of the prairie garden... This view just makes me so happy!


My favorite weed (good thing, because I have a lot of it): Commelina communis, the Asiatic dayflower


And let's not forget what's happening indoors! I lost two of my African violets and a third is in its death throes, but this guy still loves me.


Even the City of Chicago celebrates Bloom Day!


Thanks as always to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting!

June: Bloom Day

I took a bit of a gardening break for a while but decided to make an effort this Bloom Day, if only because I have a compulsive need to show off my Clematis 'Jackmanii'.

Can you blame me? Rumor has it there's a coachlight in there somewhere.

In other parts of the garden, bright yellow and orange brighten the rainy, cloudy days...

Lysimachia punctata, yellow loosestrife


Hemerocallis 'Stella d'Oro'. I know that "real" gardeners are supposed to sneer at these but come on! Look at that buttery yellow!


The northside garden, where the Asclepias tuberosa is in full bloom, the Penstemon digitalis is finishing up, and a bunch of other things are getting oh-so-close.


Coreopsis lanceolata

And it's not a flower, but a rabbit nest "bloomed" in the raised garden between the tomato and the cucumber while we (and the dogs) were out of town for the weekend. It was quite a work of art, a good 8-10 inches deep, and Mrs. Bunny somehow hauled in a soccer ball-sized wad of grass clippings for carpet and roof. You have to admire the savvy mama who made her home in a salad bowl.


Thanks, as always, to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day!

April: Bloom Day!

(l) The species tulips in the garage garden are still going strong! (r) The newly planted species tulips in the front yard are more spindly than I expected, but I love the color.


(l) Vinca minor, which I've tried without success to eradicate. Left to its own devices, it will eventually choke the entire garden. (r) Pulmonaria 'Trevi Fountain', one of my favorite plants; semi-evergreen, purple flowers, variegated leaves, thrives in shade; what's not to love?


Daffodillies! Hyacinths!


Bleeding heart, Dicentra spectabilis; eastern redbud, Cercis canadensis


And back in the house, both of my Haworthias are blooming. This one is Haworthia cooperi.


The view out the window, touched by early morning light

What else is blooming today? Visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens to see!

March: Bloom Day

After the floral glitz of last week's garden show, my own garden is a big let-down! I only have two little tufts of snowdrops blooming.


Luckily I can enjoy my next door neighbor's much more impressive display instead.


The blooms will be so much better next month! In the meantime, check out everyone else's blooms, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

December: Belated Bloom Day!

On actual Bloom Day, I was working like a crazy person on a grant application (which I submitted a full three minutes before deadline).  I was inspired by other Chicago-area people to hunt for miracle blooms in the garden this morning, but alas, nothing but dead leaves and milkweed fluff did I find.  Still, there's usually something cheerful blooming inside the house.  They're all gesneriads but one of these plants is not like the others...

First, a gaggle of Saintpaulias...

I discovered this morning that I can set the brightness of the flash on my camera.  I took a series of photos of this lavender guy and found that a setting of -1 1/3 gave the most realistic color without looking overexposed.  A setting of +2 gave a crazy yellow blob of light, and -2 actually made the photo darker than not using a flash (figure that one out!).  If I learn one new thing about my camera each month, in 10 years I'll actually be good at using it.

Aeschynanthus longicaulis, which blooms several times a year but sometimes I don't notice until the flowers start dropping onto the floor.  The flowers are cryptic but have such a cool morphology. The stamens are didynamous, the anthers coherent at their tips in pairs, while the five petals are fused into a tube, green outside, red inside.

Not pictured:  I potted up my new amaryllis ($7 at Target, with ceramic pot) over the weekend, and also bought a cheapie red poinsettia from the grocery store.  I know "real" plant people scorn poinsettias but I think they're gorgeous and buy one every year.  I try to keep it alive after the holidays but the best I've done so far is July.  They really don't like to dry out, apparently.

As always - thanks to Carol for hosting Bloom Day!

August: Bloom Day!

The August garden looks like I feel: faded, tired, and ready for fall to hurry up and get here. I've been very neglectful of the garden this summer because I've been out of town so much, and it certainly doesn't help that it hasn't rained in ages. Huge fissures are opening up in the lawn and even the black-eyed Susans are droopy. Remember last spring when the back yard was under water? Mother Nature is hilarious, isn't she?

The newly-installed butterfly garden, a tangle of ageratum, rudbeckia, lantana, and gaura. The coneflowers are totally lying down on the job. The heat must make them sleepy.


Viburnum opulus berries; Heuchera micrantha 'Palace Purple' flowers; my brand-new Viola 'Heartthrob' -- isn't it cute?


A gallery of Asteraceaes: Silphium terebinthinaceum, prairie dock; Helianthus mollis, downy sunflower; Aster macrophyllus, big-leafed aster, tangled with Heuchera micrantha



Commelina communis, Asian dayflower (one of my favorite weeds!); Hibiscus; Rudbeckia hirta, black-eyed Susan


Rudbeckia subtomentosa, sweet black-eyed Susan, and Agastache scrophulariaefolia, giant purple hyssop (purple? really?!); Agastache again; Chelone lyonii 'Hotlips'


Rose of Sharon


Beans!! My first edible crop!

Thanks as always to Carol of May Dreams Gardens for hosting Bloom Day!