What's Blooming in My Garden - June 23

Our garden is making the transition from mostly cool colors to the warmer colors of summer. Quite a few plants have started blooming this week!

Here are a couple of the new bloomers:

• Wine cups - This plant is a low growing spreader. It isn't dense and plays well with others, growing between instead of overrunning it's neighbors. It's also known as poppy mallow or Callirhoe (spelling?). I love the bright flowers and the stamens look like fireworks to me.

• Red Hot Poker or Kniphphia - This bright plant totally lives up to it's name! The leaves resemble yucca and aren't anything to write home about. But the flowers...neat! My boys want to pick them (and when the plants are older and make more blossoms I'll let them), but for now I'd rather enjoy them in the garden instead of watching them spar off with flowery swords! The flowers are about 3 feet off of the ground.
  
• Larkspur - I like this happy self-seeding annual because it reminds me of my Grandma. That's where I dug up my starts and next year I'll probably have a bunch coming up everywhere. There's something about bright, glowing blue flowers that just makes me feel cheery.
• Oregano - It would have been blooming right about now, but I chopped it all down because it was almost 2 feet tall and had flopped over on everything! It'll grow back!
• Lavendar - The spikes of flowers rise up over silvery folliage...and they smell so good! One of my favorite herbs.
  
• Pike's Peak Purple Penstemon - This penstemon is liking my garden too! Yipee! The flowers are more purple than the Rocky Mountain Penstemon and the foliage looks like it is going to be more evergreen. I guess we will see what happens to it in the fall.
  
• Fever Few - My mom hates this plant; she calls it stinkweed. Granted, it stinks, but the bright little daisy flowers are cute. I have two types, one with single flowers and one with double. The single variety is much prettier and I believe I'll chop out all the double ones...although my neighbor gave them to me, so I might leave a patch out by the road where he can still see them! It self sows like crazy, which can be a good or a bad thing.
  
• Chicory - Relative of radiccio and other greens, the leaves of this plant look just like prickly lettuce. I first learned about it in my Weeds of the West class. But the blue daisy flowers are beautiful and it's a well mannered weed! The blossoms are about an inch and a half across, with jagged teeth on the ends of each petal. I'll have to get a picture of this one so you can see what a lovely weed it is!
  
• Sedum - Rapidly spreading groundcover. I have several varieties...blue spruce, dragon's blood, green with little leaves, and one that looks like blue spruce except that it's bright yellow touched with orange. The flowers range from pink to white. I grow it for it's foliage, but the blossoms are nice while they last and the seed heads are interesting on some types.
• Garden Peas - We've even been able to pick a few of them! Yum!
• Japanese Iris
  
• Raspberries
  
• Calendula
  
• Bachelor Buttons
  
• Centaurea
  
• Yellow Primrose (Sundrops)
  
• Indian Blanket Flower
  
• Yarrow in many colors.
• Rocky Mountain Penstemon
  
• Dianthus
  
• Lady's Mantle
  
• Wild Roses
• Primrose
• Sage
  
• Salvia
  
• Oriental Poppy- the red ones are finished, the peach one still has another week or so.
  
• Yellow Iceplant
  
• Dame's Rocket - winding down now...time to cut it back before the seed ripens! -
• Columbine
• 'Walker's Low' Catmint
• Soapwort
• Strawberries - Well, my neighbor's strawberries are blooming. I think some bug is eatting my flowers because the plant my boys moved to the front yard is blooming and has fruit. My large patch...no flowers.
  
• Blue Flax
  
• Lamium - Still going strong! It slowed down for a week or so and now it's covered with blossoms. What a great plant!