What's Blooming in My Garden - July 14

Sorry about the missing post last week...life was crazy and nothing much had changed in our garden! But this week we have some great new bloomers!

• Asiatic Lilies - I love lilies....and these are looking fantastic! I have pink, red, and a deep reddish purple type. They grow from bulbs and take care of themselves, multiplying every year. Mine came in a cheap-o package from a mail order place...most lived. A few were overrun, but that tends to happen in my garden.
• Sunflowers - The true heralds of summer! What kind did I plant? I didn't. These are all self or bird sown seeds and I love them all.
• Hollyhocks - In many shades of pink and red, also a yellow one I ordered in the mail. Hollyhocks are one of those plants meant to be enjoyed as you drive by! Up close, they have many imperfections, but they are full of cottage garden charm from a distance. Some of my leaves are showing signs of rust, and a bunch of obnoxious little bugs have eaten off many flower buds, but they still look really pretty from across the yard.
  
• Four-O-Clocks - Yellow, red, pink, and white trumpets. My mom grew these large annuals (almost every year) along the east side of our house. We used to sit out there and wait for them to open so we could see the "hummingbird moths" come and visit the flowers. Now I have some along the east wall of my home...I just let them reseed themselves there. I also planted a few in my garden, but they aren't big enough to bloom yet.
  
• Cupid's Dart - These are superb flower to have in your garden for several reasons: The translucent papery buds are very showy. The bright blue to purple flowers are beautiful. The seed heads are pretty like the buds. Drought tolerant. Fine textured foliage...I could say a lot more. But really you have to see them to love them!
• Cilantro and Dill - Yup. Some of my other herbs are already blooming. That's o.k. - I planted more cilantro because the tomatoes aren't ripe yet, and I can still use the dill. Besides, should I become possessed by some strange desire to make pickles, I'll be needing that dill seed.
• Zauchenaria (Hummingbird Carpet) - Another drought tolerant beauty, this one is low growing and has trumpet shaped red-orange flowers. It's very showy and has survived 2 winters here, so I think it's going to be a permanent resident in my garden.
• Echinops - Ornamental globe thistles...I've been watching and waiting for almost 2 years now and my patience has been rewarded! These are neat! The spikey grey-green pingpong balls are turning steely blue! I like the interesting texture and color. Too bad the earwigs are eating the leaves off. Earwigs are eating pretty much everything around here...they rank high up on my list of creatures I don't ever plan to include in my creations. Should I ever be so blessed to someday have a say in such things!
• Miss Wilmott Potentilla - This relative of the strawberry is a bit sprawly. It creeps between the other plants and shares it's cute ruffled blossoms where you least expect to find them. It really isn't a common plant, but I think it's a fun addition to my garden.
• Blue Ensign Convolvulus - This is a bush type morning glory bearing large bright blue flowers with yellow stars in the center. I really like them because they are well behaved in the garden. They don't take over everything, germinate easily, and don't reseed like weeds!
• Hen and Chicks - So these would fall into the "Whoa, those are strange flowers" category. But my boys love them, and flowering chicks are happy chicks!
• Perennial Black-eyed Susan - I've always like these flowers, but have had a hard time getting them to return year after year. Now that I have the easy to grow annual type, I don't think I'll bother with babying these anymore. The annuals have more flowers and bloom longer. Plus their foliage is much prettier.
  
• Daylilies
  
• Zebrina
• Lambs Ears
  
• Purple Coneflower
  
• Snap Dragon
• Evening Primrose
  
• Mexican Hat
  
• Annual Coneflower
• Coreopsis
  
• Nicotiana
  
• Red Orach
  
• Shasta Daisy
  
• Wine cups
• Larkspur
  
• Oregano
  
• Lavendar
  
• Pike's Peak Purple Penstemon
  
• Fever Few (and some blue flax...I think it's a great combination.)
• Chicory
• Sedum
  
• Raspberries
  
• Calendula
  
• Bachelor Buttons
  
• Centaurea
  
• Yellow Primrose (Sundrops)
  
• Indian Blanket Flower
  
• Yarrow (red, yellow, and orange)
  
• Lady's Mantle
  
• Primrose
• Salvia
  
• Yellow Iceplant
  
• Dame's Rocket
• Columbine
• 'Walker's Low' Catmint
• Soapwort
• Blue Flax
  
• Lamium