Sunday, June 19, 2016

What's Blooming In My Garden This Week: Foxgloves, Daisies, and the Last of the Spring Perennials.

Tomorrow starts the first day of summer:  my second favorite time of the year!  Spring is my absolute favorite time of the year for I love the promise of hope it brings after a long winter.  

By now, all the spring bulbs have not only finished but even their leaves have withered and dried up.  But spring is not over yet, it still has one last hurrah with the last of the spring perennials.  My foxglove is looking especially stunning this year!


Because Foxglove is a biennial it is a very unpredictable plant.  I never know from one year to next if I will get a huge amount of blooms or just a scattering.  This year's showing has been one of the best in years and has made my neighbors green with envy!


You can buy foxgloves as a plant from a nursery, but I grew mine from seed.  It is the easiest plant I know to grow from seed.  The first year it germinates, it does not bloom.  It is just a large, leafy plant.  The next year it blooms, then it dies.  If you want plants for the following year, you have to let the tall flower stalks dry up and become seed.  If you like a tidy garden, this will be hard for you.  You will want to cut them down.  But you must wait until you can shake the plant and see all the tiny seeds fall out, or you will have no flowers in subsequent years.


 You can very easily dictate where you want foxglove plants to grow.  Just place a bag over the seed head portion of the plant, then cut the stem.  You can now carry the seed head to the portion of the garden where you want more plants.  Now, just take the seed head out of the bag and shake the plant...scattering seed.  That's it.  No raking involved.  The plants will just pop up naturally.  This is a great way to share your plants with your neighbors too...something I might have to do this year!


Foxglove grows so easily I often find it has reseeded onto my gravel path.  I just dig the little plant up and put it where I want it.  If they are little, they are very easily moved.


 Now you may wonder if Foxglove grows so easily is it invasive.  I would say "no" because it is a biennial.  And if you find it invasive for your yard, all you have to do is cut the flower down before it goes to seed and you will not see it again.


Foxglove is one of the few flowering perennials that grows in shade.  I have mine in part sun, where they receive morning sun.  The flowers turn to face the sun.  They grow about three feet tall.

The bees absolutely love foxgloves, I am always surprised to see how far into each blossom they venture.


Now miniature daisies are also in bloom in my garden right now, and this is a plant I do find invasive. They have not only completely taken over one of my gardens, but they also reseed and grow aggressively in my garden paths.  I am constantly pulling this plant up, yet it always seems to reappear.  I swear, it multiplies during the night!


It is a pretty flower though, so I will forgive it.  And they are very easy to pull up.  Like foxgloves, they reseed regularly and vigorously, so you have to cut them down before they go to seed or you will have more daisies than you want.


 Here the daisies transplanted themselves from one garden to my pond garden.  I left a few of them in because they looked pretty bordering the pond and with the tall foxgloves behind them.


The perennial geraniums are in bloom now too.  I have white, pink, and blue perennial geraniums but I only took a picture of the white ones.


The blossoms are very delicate and lovely.  The plant has nice foliage and grows in a neat mound habit.  It is not invasive at all, though you will find a few strays from seed here and there.


Lynchis (Campion) is another plant that I love this time of the year.  It is also a biennial that spreads from seed.  It seems to reappear in the oddest of places for me.  I planted this flower deep down in my yard, and somehow it ended up in this upper garden.  I didn't mind one bit, for it looks lovely up against the white foxglove.


 It has beautiful hot pink blooms and silver foliage.  It is a two foot tall plant.  The flowers seem to dance above the base of the plant.


This is another plant that you have to let reseed if you want to see plants next year.  They are a lazy gardener's dream plant and a tidy gardener's nightmare.


I do not find lynchis invasive for they do not reseed that prolifically.  They love part sun and moist soils but well draining soils.  Their leaves are prone to leaf spot, which is their only drawback in my opinion.


 This pretty purple flower is Campanula Glomerata.  It is a native plant that you can find in nurseries and in the wild.  It multiplies quickly by reseeding, but I have never found it invasive.


I have a lot of Spirea bushes in my yard with all different shades of pink flowers.  My favorite is The Little Princess.


Unlike other Spireas, it doesn't reseed and rapidly grow...it behaves like a little princess:  staying small and within it's boundaries.  It has the prettiest flowers too!


This sedum I use to have bordering most of my gardens, but unfortunately most of it has been choked out by Creeping Charlie.  As I slowly have been restoring my yard to it's former glory one garden at a time, this little plant has been making a comeback.  It has the prettiest yellow blooms in the spring, doesn't it?


And I was surprised to see my Stella de Oro day lilies in bloom already.  I love this plant!  It is so neat and tidy and blooms most of the summer.  When it first blooms for the season, lots of bright yellow flowers cover the plant.  The rest of the season, it just blooms sporadically.  If your consistent with deadheading the old blooms, you will see a lot more flowers.


I have a row of these daylilies planted in front of my south porch and I also put them in a row along my driveway.  They are excellent border plants because of their neat growing habit.


And finally, I decided to try Zinnias this year.  I fell in love with priscilliablain's garden from her Instagram profile.  She uses a lot of Zinnias and Petunias in her garden.  I loved the look so much, I decided to try them for myself.  It's too early to tell how they are working as I only planted them a couple of weeks ago, but I've already noticed what a huge butterfly attractor they are.

I bought them in yellow, red, and orange.  I love their huge bright blooms.


I have tried zinnias in the past and always had difficulty with bug damage on the leaves, so I gave up on them.  So far all I've noticed was some slug damage, so I quickly put out some slug bait.


I hope my pretty flowers have brightened your day!

Have a Happy Father's Day!  Amy

Linking Up with these Fabulous Blogs HERE.

5 comments:

  1. Our home is in a very woodsy area with tons of trees and shade. We are having 5 large trees taken down this week. I'm hoping it opens us up to a bit more sun so I can incorporate more sun loving beauties! Thanks for sharing yours :)

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  2. OH.MY.STARS! That foxglove is absolutely stunning! What a beautiful vista you have to look at each day.
    I love zinnias and grow them each summer. They don't mind our heat and humidity. Have you ever tried cactus zinnias? I grew them for the first time last year and fell in love!
    Your garden is so cheerful and must be loved by all the nearby pollinators.
    Thank you for joining us this week on The Maple Hill Hop! Enjoy your blooms!

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  3. Stunning flowers and wonderful photos, Amy!
    Many thanks for participating in the Floral Friday Fotos meme, I look forward to your next contribution!

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  4. A wonderful selection of cottage garden plants, Amy. All of these do well in Melbourne's climate and we often see them in Victorian cottages that have been lovingly restored. Great shots!
    Thank you for taking part in the Floral Friday Fotos meme.

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  5. Amy your garden is so lovely! I love the walls that I can see some of in the first picture. I'd love to see more!
    :) gwingal

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