Bloom Day June 2016


 Anigozanthos 'Velvet Gold' above.  Not my garden, but jeezz-loo-eezz, how can I resist posting it?  The gorgeous yellow, the rust-red stems, the green interior, the fuzz...since Bloom Day is a Wednesday, we'll call the above a Wednesday Vignette.

Salvia 'Blue Hill' goes on blooming, and will until Halloween. 
Another flush of flowers from the Leucospermum--okay, just three flowers, but they're still awesome.  The lighter green foliage is all new growth.  I'm going to have to move the 'Ivory Curls' Agave before it is engulfed. 
   Dudleya has benefited from the extended May-Grey June-Gloom and burst forth with frosty yellow-green flowers.  Unexpected from--honestly--an ugly plant. 
 I've read if drainage is sharp, Dudleya will take summer water and look better.  I'm going to try it this year.  This plant, scruffy now, looks even worse in August. 
 Big cluster of flowers from Echeveria 'Misty Violet'
 Dwarf Hydrangea snuggling up with Fuchsias and Begonias.  The red-foliaged 'Queen Victoria' Lobelia in front has flower buds.  A splash of water has become a daily ritual.  I want to see the flowers!
 I've tried several times for a photo to get Cistanthe flowers to drape gracefully over neighbor Agave parryi truncata;  this year it finally happened on its own.  An unexpected kind of pink and blue.
 Dahlia 'Arabian Nights' is having its best year ever.  I know not why.
 A little drizzle coated it with sparkle.

 Hemerocallis 'Gold District'.  It doesn't repeat bloom, but it puts on a glowing show for that one moment in June.
 The combo of orange Salvia with Agastache 'Blue Fortune' works for me.


 Another orange/lavender blue combo,  Big box cheapo Dahlia and a blur of Geranium 'Rozanne' behind it.
 Ethereal old day lily, the pinkest.
 Ever-reliable 'Molineux'
 Pink and blue again, the Cistanthe with a background of Agave marmorata this time. 
A fair bloom day to you all.

Comments

  1. That Velvet Gold is stunning! And so is a lot of the plants in your garden.

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  2. Wow, you have already Dahlias and Hemerocallis blooming. Your photo of the Echeveria ´Misty Violet´ is a gem, so beautiful. The Anigozanthos remembers me to bygone days when I had got seeds from a friend in Australia. They germinated well and I had one year a lot of pots with kangaroo paws. They did not last long because winters are too cold here and at that time I stopped already heating the greenhouse.
    Thank you for sharing your wonderful photos!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for having a look at them!

      Anigozanthos from seed. You have much skill with plants.

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  3. A gorgeous bloom day post. I love the chocolatey dahlia, very similar to one I have 'Karma Chocolate'.

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  4. Wow! It's all so lovely! Your garden is such a different one than mine here in the coastal rain forest climate. I love the combo of purple and orange. I have a pot of blue Agapanthus with some orange alstromeria which looks fab together...amazing how those colours in nature work where you would NEVER combine them in clothing...then again, you never know if you're so inclined!

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    1. Agapanthus and orange Alstroemeria--oooh, that must be good. "Coastal rain forest"--that sounds so cool and comfortable as we here face the heat of Summer. Enjoy it for us.

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  5. Flowers with agaves...a most excellent combination!

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  6. I have similar aspirations for my Cistanthe but we're not quite there yet. I'm in love with 'Molineux' and the'Arabian Nights' dahlias. I've never done especially well with dahlias but, if I can find some in the right color, I just may try popping a couple into the pots near the front door again this year.

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    1. My experience is the place for them is in the ground. Find a sunny spot where you can really loosen up the soil in a large area, get a cheapo 2 pack of dahlia tubers late next winter from the big box store along with a tomato cage, and try a couple. I don't have any plants that are not easy, easy, easy. They MUST have support of some kind. They need regular water but they are not hydrangeas, not that thirsty.

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  7. I've never been a big dahlia fan, but after seeing dahlias on your blog month after month, I'm beginning to reconsider. Maybe you could do a post on which are the most heat-tolerant, water wise, etc.

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    1. Perhaps I like them because the flowers with their orderly rosette forms resemble Agaves?

      See the comments to Kris, I would only add in your HOT summer climate give them full morning sun but shade after about 1 pm.

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    2. Thanks! Will look for dahlias in the winter. Finally I'll have a reason to peruse the bulb displays!

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  8. I think I like S. 'Blue Hill'.And 'Molineaux' -I would never be without. And I especially love the last photo with the (newly minted) Cistanthe.

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    1. Molineux is one of the best Austins here, maybe the best. It keeps up with 'Iceberg' for blooms, which is high praise. If it only had the fragrance of 'Jude the Obscure' I'd have a garden full.

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  9. So funny about the dahlia advice, to plant them in the ground. Mine are never any good in the ground. This year I gave last year's dahlia a stock tank. It's no good there either. I thought it might be the marine layer. And this year's dahlia is a fleshy pink, so I'm not very motivated to figure out what it likes. And funny we both mentioned cistanthe -- so cool with blue agaves!

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    1. Could indeed be the marine layer--they like warm soil, not cool, not hot, Dahlias. One of mine that did not reappear for the longest time this year is just now coming up, and I think it was soil too cool in that particular spot.

      So you being coastal pots would be warmer soil, me being inland pots are too hot. The Swan Island instructions say best in the ground.

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  10. Cistanthe draped over Agave is pure genius! So many wonderful things in your garden - but I'm a tad bit surprised to see you managed to keep a Hydrangea alive. I always thought they were real water hogs...

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