Not all the links are working properly. I'll try to find time to work on them some time soon. I'm still having trouble mousing.

I guess I should be outside with my camera, it's such a beautiful day! The kousa dogwood, Styrax japonica, Dawn and bonica roses, mountain laurel, iris, peach leaf (and other) bellflowers, lavender coreopsis ... what else is in bloom?

Volunteer foxgloves - I let too many of them grow every year.

Nectaroscordum siculum, a close relative of alliums - not exactly pretty, but ... interesting!

Foliage combo that I like:

Nepeta x faassenii - Walker's Low

DtD, I love that Hosta, Smoke Bush Combo. The Hosta is SO blue! How much sun is that Smoke Bush growing in? And I wish I had that many foxglove volunteers. I think the thick mulch I usually have down keeps volunteers to a minimum. I only have about 4 scattered over the yard this year.

This hosta has become my favorite this year. It's supposed to be 'June' but I don't remember 'June' looking like this.

Yes, I like the color combo too.

I wish plants would self volunteer in my yard....

Here's my Asclepia pupurea. I bought this as a little thing last summer and this is its first time blooming. Sorry the picture is fuzzy. There was a slight breeze this morning.

Here's the first lily to bloom. My sister lives in East Haven and she has the red lily beetles there. I even saw it. I reached down but couldn't get myself to crush it.

-Tina

PM2, I love your hosta, June or otherwise.

The smokebush is in full sun; that little garden is in a corner where the plants further to the right are in more shade. The hosta, Hakonechloa macra 'All Gold' and the hellebores beyond are in progressively less sun.

Tina - odd how the lily beetles disappeared in so many parts of New England but hung on in other places. I wonder what's behind that? The lily is a gorgeous color!

Thanks DtD. I should have asked you, is that 'Royal Purple' smokebush? Very pretty color! And that 'All Gold' is a nice pop of yellow!

Didn't they introduce some kind of beneficial insect that is supposed to target the LLBeetle? I still had some this year, but I've been more consistent w trying to get them early in the season.

Yes, that's Royal Purple - a little sloppy looking, with a fairly irregular growth habit. I've got 2, and I really wish they were ninebarks.

Oh, Tina, I was trying to remember where I saw the photo of the Asclepias and here you are. That is such a pretty color asclepias! I have the native that is a subdued pink and a white one, and the flowers are smaller. I wanted to show you how mine reseeds a little more than I would like. I was so excited this spring when i saw all these little seedlings before they had their true leaves. I was hoping they would be something I really wanted more of, but I have no more room for Asclepias and that is what they turned out to be. Here is a photo, and there are two more sections the same size as this....

DtD, I have two Ninebark and I'm very happy with them. I had a 'Grace' Smokebush and gave it away to my neighbor and I was just noticing today that it's only less than a foot tall and it's covered in smoke. I've thought of getting that 'Royal Purple', but I think there is just so much dark foliage you can use, so I'm trying to be restrained.

PM2, wow! The asclepias love your garden! Congrats on your babies! :-)

On the Natives forum, people want seeds. There is a discussion on hand pollination to get viable seeds and the best method of stratification so seeds would germinate. And, here you are with more than you need.

My A. incarnata self seeded too but I'm not sure which one ....the white or Cinderella (pink). And, not anywhere near as much as your. I have like four. haha Since this is my first year with the babies, will they get big enough to bloom this year?

-Tina

Oops, forgot to add the Asclepia purpurea in bloom as of yesterday.

-Tina

A variety of clematis have intermingled, although each has something other than the spicebush to climb, including Arabella, Betty Corning, Viola, and at least one other. Colors in reality are a bit more blue and less pink.
{{gwi:592640}}From June 22, 2013

Near the clemaits are several Penstemons, Nepeta, and Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue' which won't bloom until late summer, but keeps this bright gold foliage color all season.

Tina, how tall is your purpurea? So pretty! IâÂÂm surprised there is actually so much effort having to be made to get seedlings from the incarnata . I have to cut off the dead blossoms to keep it in check. And the reason I have so many this year is I didnâÂÂt get around to deadheading it last year. I winter sowed them from traded seeds in 2004, which worked out very well. I canâÂÂt believe I've had them that long. âÂÂCinderellaâ and âÂÂIce BalletâÂÂ.

Actually, I think I have native here, that keeps popping up in different spots around my property where I don't want it and I keep pulling it and it keeps coming back. I know I didn't plant any in those areas. I should let one grow and go to seed and collect them I suppose.

These seedlings I have are so tiny and the mature plants are already blooming, so mine won't bloom this year. If you have some, they should be showing buds at least, by now, if they were going to bloom this year. I'm not sure which color these seedlings are either.

Here is Asclepias incarnata with a monarch caterpillar, summer of 2004, 1st seasonâ¦.

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Sun, Jun 23, 13 at 4:40

And here's the bloom in 2007. I haven't taken a photo this year yet, but it is blooming....

Babs, great grouping of clematis. Which variety is that dark purple? And is the âÂÂSunshine Blueâ hardy there? Is that a young shrub? Wondering how tall it gets at maturity? That foliage is super! Love your Penstemon. All of my âÂÂPikeâÂÂs Peak Purpleâ died over the winter last year for some reason. The only Penstemon I have left is âÂÂDark Towersâ And my Nepeta has already flopped and has new growth in the center. We need to get out and deadhead it today.

This post was edited by prairiemoon2 on Sun, Jun 23, 13 at 4:28

PM2 - The dark purple is Viola. I love the rich color, and this is the first year it's had so many flowers as this is its third season in my garden. Sunshine blue is in its third season as well, and though it gets some tip die back which keeps it low, I don't think it's supposed to get much taller than 3'. I like it enough that since it seems to be hardy (this was my test plant,) I got three more for other spots.

This is an area at the end of the large shrub bed I often post photos of, at the top of a relatively steep hill, and the soil is fine sandy loam to which I added some manure. I was looking for things that could deal with sharp drainage on the sloped part of the bed, so have several western Penstemons, Agastache, and Nepeta. It seems to be too dry for the Coreposis I tried, though I may try a few others to see how they do. Some of the western dry-land plants I've gotten have been done in by our wet early springs (and probably some by the voles) but I am continuing to try different things to see what will survive these challenging conditions. I don't want just Nepeta here, though it is quite happy.

Babs, I do love that Viola. Not just the color but the shape of the petals. I bought a jackmanii last year and the petals are not as full. I may try to find that Viola. So, do you do the initial pruning of clematis in the first two seasons? I've been trying to do more of that, since the first few clematis I planted, I didn't realize I should and they are kind of spindly. I love clematis, but I haven't quite got the hang of getting them growing full and lush the way I want them yet.

You're lucky to have that sandy loam, but I guess on a steep hill it is challenging. I have the opposite problem, my entire lot is flat (not really a problem lol) but to grow the Penstemons and Agastaches and Salvias, it has not been perfect. Plus I have loamy clay and the drainage is good but not good enough for those plants. I've lost a lot of them, even though I created a little bit of a berm and added some gravel for drainage a foot under the soil on the low end of the bed. I can understand wanting more than Nepeta.

Such healthy looking plants.

PM2, the purpurea is shorter than the incarnata. It is supposed to grow between 2 and 3 feet. My is at 27 inches right now. The clusters of flowers are also larger than the incarnata.

Oo, I'm hoping I get monarchs here too.

If I don't see bees on the purpurea blooms, I will have to try the hand pollination method. I do want viable seeds for more plants next year.

nhbabs, the nepeta is thriving. I'm too afraid to put them in my yard because of the stray cats and outdoor cats in the neighborhood. My dog is not nice to the neighborhood cats.

I looked up the Caryoptersis. What a lovely inky blue color. Please post a picture when it blooms.

-Tina

nhbabs - your nepeta is gorgeous. Mine is just not happy here. A tiny little clump!

For those who asked, yes I did plant tithonia again. The monarda took over my planter, so I put it in the middle of my new iris bed. I started it from seed, so my plants are still a wee bit small. I have 3 of them there.

In the white garden, shasta daisy alaska is in full bloom.

And my first lillies are open - eyeliner.

In my colorful corner garden - Canterbury Bells, Sweet William and Rose Campion

Evening primrose with Canterbury Bells

Evening primrose with Rose Campion

My first nasturtium

And forget me nots down by the brook. As I've cleared the land between the pond and the stream, I threw forget me not seeds, and boy did they take!

Tina, I canâÂÂt imagine you wonâÂÂt get monarchs if you have a big enough patch of them. Why would you not get bees on your asclepias?

Pixie lou, I wondered if you were doing the tithonia again. So you must have liked it to do it again. Did you find it attracted butterflies more than any other plant? You have a lot of color in your garden now! My nasturtiums donâÂÂt even look close to blooming yet.

Oh what fun it will be to watch your tithonia grow from those tiny plants, Pixielou! I haven't a long enough growing season to raise my own, so watching yours grow is the next best thing!

This must be a great year for daisies. The wild daisies have taken over a lot of the unmowed areas here. They are one of my favorite flowers oddly enough, given the fact that I'm not normally fond of white flowers.

Ironically another of my favorite white blooms are your eyeliner lilies. I've even toyed with the idea of buying some. The name is so fitting!

Today I made the most amazing discovery. I'm not including a photo until I do my annual weeding in the daylily bed because it would be too embarrassing for anyone to see the state that garden is in right now. The bed lies underneath a utility pole in the various utility cos' right-of-ways so it is frequently trampled in the line of duty by utility workers, thus I'm philosophical about the damage and somewhat lackadaisical about the garden's care. Weeding the daylily bed is always the last task on my summertime to-do list. However, today while mowing, I came upon a healthy 2 foot tall tiger lily stalk complete with leaves and bud, growing amongst the daylilies!! I had entirely given my beautiful tiger lilies up for dead, yet one still lives! Oh thank you, parasitic wasps!! (I certainly could have never foreseen uttering those words in the past!)

These particular tiger lilies have sentimental value for me, as we dug them up near an old cellar hole long ago with my mother before she passed on. She discovered them growing. So this is far better than just buying replacement tiger lilies after the red beetles cleared the way. This is one of my original lovely flowers! Hurray!

Spedigrees, that is so fantastic to have the very lilies your mother dug up with you come back! Hurray! Sort of amazing when you think about it, that you thought they were gone and they came back. So nice when things work out that well once in awhile. :-)

That's terrific, spedigrees! Is this the lily with the little bulbils along the stem? Maybe the bulbils just kept sprouting until finally it was safe for one to grow up.

I also have tiger lilies my mother planted.

Claire

The clematis and hydrangea are starting to bloom here. I planted a Clematis jackmanii last year and it looks pretty good for it's second year. This trellis has a Duchess of Albany that is past bloom on the right side of the trellis and the jackmanii is layered over it from the left. I never noticed jackmanii blooms only have four petals.....

Clematis 'Blue Angel' was planted in 2010 and it looks better this year, but is still spindly from the base.....

Oakleaf Hydrangea blossom close up.....

That's an interesting thought, Claire, that this year's tiger lily may have arisen from seeds or bulbils from the original plants. Either that or the roots remained intact and viable. They are/were the type with black seeds all along the stem. In the past I had no luck growing new lilies from those bulbils, but that means little given my hit or miss luck with plant propagation.

spedigrees: I've never bothered with the bulbils but my mother used to collect them and scatter them around. I have the tiger lilies appearing in strange places so I figure the bulbils do germinate (or sprout, or whatever they do - germinate is probably not the right word).

My Itea virginica (Virginia Sweetspire) is blooming, to the delight of the bees. It's right next to a Hydrangea Blue Billow but that's not quite blooming yet. It's a nice combination when it happens.

There's a volunteer foxglove lurking in there.

One of many bees.

Nearby is a volunteer dogwood (at least I think it's a dogwood) that I kept because it was compact with nice branching and small leaves. It's only a year or two old so I'm waiting to see if it will bloom. The leaves did turn a nice burgundy color last fall.

The meadow phlox (Phlox maculata) are beginning to bloom and will soon be almost everywhere, accompanied by hummingbirds.

Claire

Clematis 'Fascination' is blooming for the first time and where it gets above its support is leaning against the nearby gold arborvitae. I like both the color and the shape of Fascination's flowers.

Dtd I like your Foxglove! Mine was so nice like that last year, this year almost a total bust.

Tina, I am jealous of your Asclepias purpurascens. It's beautiful! Some critter (dumb deer maybe) keeps nipping off the buds on my 2 plants each year. Sigh.

PM2, that looks like Hosta 'June' to me. Such a pretty hosta. Your first milkweed photo looks like A. syriaca, the 2nd is a very pretty incarnata. I love the hydrangea bloom.

My Asclepias syriaca and A. tuberosa are blooming like mad. I will have to post a picture later. I'm waiting for Monarchs too!

Pixie lou that white Lily is stunning!! Do you have Lily leaf beetles?

Claire do the bees love that Itea? Nice specimen.

prairiemoon - your clemati are gorgeous. I'm attempting to root portions of my 1 successful clematis. I've had so many die on me! As for the tithonia - yes, it attracted tons of butterflies. And it was gorgeous to look at!

terrene - yes, I have red lily beetles. Normally I sprinkle grub killer when all my lilies are sprouting, but didn't get around to it this year due to my broken wrist. So I have had more than the normal amount of beetles. But they do not decimate the plants. I think they released those parasitic wasps in Wellesley and I'm right near the Wellesley line so maybe that has helped?

During one of the thunderstorms last week we were blessed to see a huge rainbow out our front door.

Ok I just spent 1/2 hour trying to edit the first post in this thread to get all the links to work. If I try to add the quotation marks in my MSWord file, they get lost when I insert the link. When I edit my post here on gardenweb, I can get the links to work. However, if I have 1 mistake and I open up the file to edit again, all the links get messed up. And just because the links work in post preview, that is not a guarantee they will work in the actual file. I have no patience for this.

Babs, isnâÂÂt that a cute shape to those flowers on your Clematis. I do enjoy the bell shapes. Claire I have an Itea but your flowers are very long. Nice.

Terrene, thanks for the ID on that Asclepias syriaca. I was looking at the leaves that the Monarch caterpillar was on and they were definitely different from the incarnata. I didnâÂÂt plant the syriaca, it is evidently native to this site. It pops up in a number of places. And I did a google images search for âÂÂJuneâ and it does look like itâÂÂs supposed to. IâÂÂm very happy with it.

Thanks, Pixie Lou. I havenâÂÂt tried to root clematis, but when you have something that performs, itâÂÂs a great idea. Great rainbow!!

nhbabs: I really like that Clematis 'Fascination' - maybe it's time to try clematis again (all I have now is Sweet Autumn Clematis which is hardly challenging).

terrene and PM2: The bees do love the itea. This is Itea 'Henry's Garnet' and it's actually two separate plants, one on top of a low wall and one at the bottom. I usually forget there are two because they've grown together seamlessly.

One of my volunteer foxgloves is pure white and I love it. I don't know if the seeds will produce more white foxgloves but I hope so. They may just be assorted pink again depending on what pollinated them.

Claire

pixie lou, I love the bright white of the shasta daisies. The nasturtium is a nice color. Do you start from seeds each spring?

PM2, my patch may not be big enough. I just started last year with 3 plants. As for bees, I don't have many. I don't know why. Could be that the last owner used 'many chemicals' as quoted from the next door neighbors. Could be because there were very few flowers when we first moved in....like 2 butterfly bushes and 4 poppies. BTW, the oakleaf hydrangea is beautiful.

Claire, how does that Itea virginica smell?

nhbabs, I like that Clematis 'Fascination'.

terrene, thanks. My crazy dog has been scaring off all forms of wild life except for the occasional deer and cats. I planted some sunflowers and have been worried that the deer will find them. Putting a fence is not ideal since the sunflowers are in the front yard and they will be at least 5 feet tall. Probably, should of thought of it before planting but I wanted colors in the hot southwest spot in the yard.

-Tina

This post was edited by Tina_n_Sam on Wed, Jun 26, 13 at 18:59

Tina: I just went out to see if I could smell the itea but the allergies won out. Not much detectable fragrance (which doesn't mean it's not there, just that I can't detect it). The itea sounds nice though, with all the bees buzzing around it. They didn't seem to mind me sticking my nose in the flowers, they just worked around me.

Claire

This post was edited by claire on Wed, Jun 26, 13 at 20:15

Tina & Claire, I have the Itea virginica in my front foundation. That's the shrub that has a darn Bittersweet growing right up through the middle of it, that we're trying to deal with. I just bought the 'Henry's Garnet' two years ago, but I planted it in too small a space with too much shade so it hasn't grown much. I need to move it to a better location. Today I had to squeeze past the Itea virginica to get to the spigot out front and definitely a honey fragrance. Not so you'd notice it walking by, but if you stick your nose in it or brush up against it, it's very pleasant.

Claire, I can't believe that is two shrubs...lol.

Tina, sorry to hear about past chemical use by previous owner. If you keep working on organic practices you'd be amazed at how much of a difference you can make.

Spedigrees, congrats on your native lilies! Nice rainbow photo, Pixie.

Got some photos of the milkweed. These are out in the "Xeric" garden are in full bloom and it's awesome! The common milkweed is quite fragrant, and the Monarchs love it (as do a zillion other insects), but it's not a very well-behaved garden plant. I think it's planning of takeover of this garden and it's rapidly spreading into the path this year.

All I need is some Monarch butterflies too.

Asclepias syriaca and A. tuberosa -

The plant on the right was a yellow seedling (probably from 'Hello Yello').

Nice stand of Asclepias, terrene. I bet they attract a lot of butterflies. I haven't seen many butterflies so far this year. I'll have to keep my eyes open and notice more, I don't think I've been paying enough attention.