Steve--that's a stunning display of yellow lilies, especially with the purple butterfly bush in the background!
I like that yellowish hosta too.
What else are you growing there in your white garden? I have lots of 'David' in my white garden, but it's weeks away from bloom still.

Teresa

Cat,

That's a Kousa Dogwood that has finished blooming in that pic. Also Joe Pye Weed 'Chocolate' which has not yet bloomed, Hibiscus Kopper King, Lily Cassablanca, Iris Immortality, Siberian Iris Gulls Wing, a white Salvia, Centaura 'Amethyst in Snow, Viburnum Korean Spice, Miscanthus sinensis Variegeta, Hemerocallis Gentle Shepard, Hemerocallis Joan Senior, and the following Hosta Lakeside Love Affair, Night Before Christmas, Winter Snow, Minuteman, Arc de Triomphe and Mountain Snow. I still have more room and I'm looking for a few more plants. Any ideas?

Thanks for the comments.

Steve

Steve,
Nice plants and great job on the photography!

{{gwi:5901}}

Ooh, all such wonderful photos! I wouldn't dare post any photos of my poor, neglected, dry and thirsty garden this year, lol! I will enjoy everyone else's instead.

Steve, you are definitely not helping my hosta almost-obsession. I'm trying very hard to keep it in check but you keep tempting me! And Steve, what is that dark-leafed plant in front in the white garden? Is that the joe-pye weed Chocolate you mentioned? I've never seen a white garden with something that dark in it, and it looks wonderful - really sets off the white blooms! My monitor, however, is rather dark and I'm having trouble making out that plant.

Since I have been recently sorely tempted by an Annabelle hydrangea, perhaps she would look good in your white bed? And if you like variegated foliage (and I'm guessing you do because of your beautiful hostas!) perhaps a caryopteris Snow Fairy? Mine seems to have more white on the leaves than in most pictures I've seen, and I love it. Although it does tend toward a cream at times (new leaves? old leaves?) so perhaps that wouldn't work well. And do you have any white irises, or white mums for fall color? I was never big on white blooms but I'm starting to come round.... even considering putting in a white bed of my own.

Teresa, what is that lovely pink daylily?

Dee

Teresa - this CAN'T be you last post until August. There are still 13 days left in July!

Speaking of August - I'll be posting the August thread in the next day or 2. We are leaving on vacation Saturday and won't be back until 8 August. We are all adults here, so I'm hoping I can trust all of you to not post until August.

Have a great vacation, pixie_lou, and thanks for planning ahead for the August thread. We adults will try to police ourselves.

Claire

Girlcat, your gardens are gorgeous!

I finally have some blooms after three days of torrential rains and electrical storms. I never quite get over the fact that this bee balm arrived as a single stalk stowaway in with a clump of phlox of the same color.

One of my pink phlox, a bi-color variety, and my red phlox are starting to bloom.

I'm not sure what this pink wildflower is (maybe a member of the mint family?) but the butterflies love it.

I caught up with this monarch again by the milkweed, but the tiger swallowtail I was aiming for was too quick and got away from my camera lens.

And a couple little plantings along our walking trail, impatiens in amongst old pitchfork tines, and a pot filled with petunias and hen & chicks.

My little veggie patch is taking off. A few sunflowers are open and the summer squash has blossoms finally.

And from the back, the corn is growing.

The wild chicory is having a great year. The blue blooms are spectacular.

These gerbera daisies seem to like this rust bucket atop the sawed off stump of our old quaking aspen tree. It's their third year up there and they bloom all summer long. (I haven't tried to winter them over, but have bought new ones each year. This year I'll try saving seeds.)

My pink cosmos that I save seeds from each year is blooming, pink and deep rose.

And lastly, my orange garden has had a tough go of it this year with the drought and the Japanese beetles, but it shows signs of coming back.

Dee---the pink daylily is decidedly peach off-camera. I don't know what variety it is as it was another one of plants I took from my late father's yard.
Regarding the white gardens and dark foliage, I always use dark foliage to set off the white during daylight hours. I find that sometimes a white garden can feel 'boring' during the strong light of day. I have snakeroot, black sweet potato vine, barberry(yes, invasive, but it's grandfathered),heuchera(mostly 'Plum Pudding'), any dark leaved coleus, chocolate Joe Pye weed, and I think I will be adding a dark leaved hibiscus if I can find one with a white enough flower. I had some ninebark in my white garden but it didn't do well so it had to be moved.

Not a great pic, but shows some of the dark heuchera:

Caryopteris 'Snow Fairy'??? I must check that out!

Steve, I second the recommendation for Annabelle in the white garden. I have two, but plan to add one more.
My white garden is in mostly part shade and has acidic soil. Things that have done well for me there are impatiens, geraniums, rose of Sharon, viburnum, 'David' phlox, chocolate Joe Pye weed, hardy hibiscus, sweet peas, clematis,Japanese anemone, astilbe, feverfew, white bleeding hearts, white creeping thyme, butterfly bush, and a white climbing rose of unknown variety that does well in part shade. New Guinea impatiens do well there, too, but I can't seem to water enough for their liking.
My white ballon flowers bloom but always flop and I'm considering moving them.
I am trying shasta daisies, lupine, annual vinca and datura this years to see if they can tolerate the conditions.
Which of your white daylilies is the whitest? I'd love to get some daylilies going in there.

Pixielou---if something outstanding crops up I guess I could post another pic but I am not anticipating anything new! :)

Teresa

Thank you, spedigree! I have monarda envy---yours looks so pretty. Monarda is one of the things I've always wanted in my yard but somehow haven't gotten yet. Maybe I will wintersow some.
Your little garden patch is really cooking along; that squash looks fabulously healthy. I also love your orange garden---the blue bottles complement the orange so nicely. Love the rolling hills that seem to be in your yard. :)

Teresa

Teresa, thanks for that info on the daylily (darn!) and the white garden. But yes, I've never really seen dark foliage in anyone's white garden. Lots of variegated foliage and chartruese or lime greenish, but I guess the gardeners in the circles I run in aren't creative enough, lol, to think that deeply about the foliage - guess it's more about the white blooms.

Spedigrees, thanks for identifying the wild chicory. It grows along the roads here everywhere, and someone told me they thought it was a cornflower, but they weren't sure. By the way, that unknown pink thing is kinda odd - the bloom looks for all the world like an astilbe bloom, but then you see the foliage...???

You need a little tithonia in that orange garden. :)

Dee

Dee,

As others have surmised that dark foliage plant in my photo is Eupatorium (Joe Pye Weed) 'Chocolate'. I got those three plants from Weston where they have some great specimens. I also use Heuchera 'Obsidian' and Actea 'Hillside Black Beauty' as backdrop or contrast to the white in that garden.

How big does Annabelle get? I'm wondering if I have enough room for a Hydrangea, but I would like that one. I'll definitely look for Caryopteris 'Snow Fairy'.

Oh, and here's another Hosta pic to feed your obsession.

This is Hosta Sun Power from a private garden I visited last weekend in Quincy.

Steve

Steve, my Annabelle pictured above gets between 4-5 feet high and about 3 feet wide. I cut my down to the ground this spring to keep the plant a little smaller. I have another that lives in deeper shade and it's a bit smaller.

Teresa

Thanks Teresa,

BTW, my favorite white daylily is Joan Senior. Big recurved ruffled blooms.

Steve

Very beautiful all!

I whimpered softly when I saw spedigree's phlox in bloom. My defoliated phlox are all transplanted, just in time for the torrential rains yesterday, and the woodchuck fence goes up today. Maybe I'll still get some phlox flowers this year.

The rain woke up my first true lily to bloom this year and this sight greeted me this morning.

Lilium 'Claridad'

Claire

Very pretty, Claire!

Gee, thanks Steve. Yet another hosta... ;)

Claire, that lily is quite pretty. I love the hint of soft pink. Are your lilies really just starting? That bouquet I brought to work in the rain yesterday is pretty much the end of my lilies. I did think they bloomed rather early this year, and many are in crates, which may make them earlier than in-ground lilies, but even my in-ground lilies are pretty much done. Just the tigers are left, and they started blooming about two days ago.

Dee

Dee: I just checked my lily photos from past years, and late July and early August is the usual time for blooming here. I don't have any Asiatic lilies which would bloom earlier. I found a photo of an Asiatic lily that bloomed on June 30, 2008 in an out of the way spot but I didn't notice it this year (forgot to look).

Claire

Claire, that's the thing, I don't have asiatics either! Mine are orientals (possibly a few orienpets and/or LA hybrids). Some did bloom earlier (starting three to four weeks ago up through this week) but now they are pretty much done.

I just checked my ordering records and some of these lilies should have bloomed late August! Wow. Perhaps those early hot temps really made more of a difference than I realized.

Dee

Dee: Maybe so - we had early hot temps but on the coast they're tempered by the ocean, so nowhere near as extreme as inland. I'm seeing mostly differences in timing - things that usually bloom at the same time are out of synch. My Hosta Blue Angel and Hydrangea Blue Billow usually bloom together but the hydrangea started much earlier this year.

Claire

Okay, I found more things to take pictures of!

The geraniums I overwintered in my basement torture chamber(as hubby likes to call it) have finally started to pick up the pace:

I thought I ripped out and threw away every oriental lily out of my yard ten years ago after the onslaught of lily beetles, but somehow this one lives on behind a fence. It is completely neglected, and as you can see has been attacked by beetles. I don't know how it keeps going every year:

Little Lamb Hydrangea just started blooming, and is not so little anymore:

I love these yellow lilies. They were the only flowering plant on this property when I bought it fifteen years ago:

I've been witing for this double hanging basket that I filled with white blooms to start filling out. It's finally making progress:

I just picked this guy up two days ago. I don't know the variety; the owner of the garden I dug him from is passed away. It looks a little orange in the picture, but it is really a beautiful dark red in person. I love him:

I started these short red zinnias from seed, I think they are 'Dreamland Red'

I don't know why this pictures are so big! They were resized...must be a photobucket thing.

Teresa

This thread is like a gardener's recital. Beats those Sunday afternoon dancing school recitals! Lovely flowers everyone. Interesting to see so many styles and the various characteristics of our gardens - all so very individual.

It's now 12 feet tall and I can see the top of the new blossoms from inside my house. This is Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum) arriving just a bit earlier this year.

Naturally, it has spread from the time I planted it about 7 years ago at which time I thought for sure I'd been ripped off at the nursery sale because it looked so pathetic.
Now it has traveled to under my office window some 20' away and I think how lucky I am that I don't even have to get up to see the top of a flower! Lazy, or what? One beauty of a 12' flower is being able to see the bees and butterflies supping without having to leave the house. When the blooms are fully out, the bees literally sleep in Joe Pye overnight.
In bud today

Jane

Ha ha ha, girlcat! I have a winter basement torture chamber for plants too! Coincidentally red geraniums are the primary residents of my torture chamber. They look truly pathetic when I first put them out in their wine barrel homes for the summer, but, like yours, they bounce back after about a month.

I like both your yellow and your deep red daylilies.

I bought a packet of Joe Pyeweed seeds last fall and scattered them along one of our unmowed borders. I had forgotten about them until I saw your photos, Jane. I hope some will grow, but I may end up actually having to purchase a few plants. Time will tell I guess. Yours look great!

Spedigrees and Teresa - do you hang your geraniums upside down, bareroot, from the ceiling in your torture chamber?

That's what I used to do, and the first time I couldn't believe it worked! Haven't done it in a few years, but maybe this fall I'll save my geraniums.

Jane, saw some eupatorium in bloom along a road running by a small lake this morning, intermixed with Queen Anne's Lace. So pretty!

Dee

Teresa: Your red daylily looks a lot like my 'Pardon Me'. It was blooming a few days ago but I just went out to get a pic and naturally there are no blooms today (wrong day for the daylily). A very nice daylily that's been around for a while so it could easily be found it that wonderful garden you visited.

Jane: My Joe Pyeweed isn't blooming yet - a volunteer from the plant next door.

Claire

Wow, these gardens are wonderful --- lush, colorful and well-loved (yes, even the neglected lily behind Teresa's fence). My gardens really took a hit with all the hot weather we suffered through.

Teresa: your HF Young clematis is beautiful whereas most of my Clematis vines are crispy and brown. And your Joseph's Coat rose looks luscious. Except for my Knockouts, all of my other roses have really died back --- beetles have been feasting. This year I noticed mostly those brown striped ones, not the Japanese beetles. I also like your combinations with the zinnia Green Envy--- do I see Queen Anne's Lace there? I started some Envy from seed and they're doing well. Here's Envy, up close. I think the center elements are so striking.

Pixie: I love, love, LOVE Indian Pipes! They would crop up periocially at my first house, which was on a woody, shady lot. I always appreciated their surprise appearance. Also your lilies ---mine (the one I almost pitched when the RLBeetles arrived) are on their way out, but yours are lovely.

Your Echinacea 'Hot Papaya' is a standout and one I've been thinking about. This year my Echiniceas aren't doing too well. My favorite one, 'Fatal Attraction' has been eaten by beetles, maybe the same ones that got my roses. The way my 'Fatal Attraction' is growing now, she looks like a completely new variety!

Here's a close view of what's been done to her

Claire: No wonder Frans Hals is a favorite daylily (among all your favorites, lol!). Very striking blossom. Some of my other favorites are now in full flush. Here's my Delia O'Bryan Brown, which I probably can divide this fall.

And here's H. 'Canadian Border Patrol' intertwined in an Ivory Halo dogwood.

the blossoms from a front view

Sorry about your Phlox, Claire --- drat those darn woodchucks--- but I'm sure they'll come back. They're pretty tough plants from my experience.

Steve: I'd like to get my hands on a Hosta 'Lakeside Paisley Print'. I love their dual greens and the wavy pointed leaves ---- also 'Fire and Ice', which I hope to scoop up (along with a Frosted Mouse Ears) later this summer when we visit a Hosta nursery in northern CT. That's a beautiful lace cap Hydrangea. We found several large hydrangea plants growing along the side of the house when we moved in. They're huge and I'm not up to removing them, though I'd love a lace cap.

And finally, here's one of my newest babies --- Coreopsis 'Galaxy'. I love it's orange center and the fact that it stays relatively short.

Molie, that Delia O'Bryan Brown daylily is gorgeous, if a bit of a mouthful, lol! I will have to look out for one.

I bet it was those dread Oriental beetles that got your echinacea. They devastate my coneflowers and daisies terribly.

Dee

I see the August thread has been posted, and I will follow instructions and not post on it. However, I really like that Today's Date site pixie_lou included.

Claire (pretending to be an adult)

Lovely photos everyone! You've inspired me to head out with the camera once it's too hot to work in the garden.

Spedigree's unknown pink wildflower is a wild spirea, and looks to me from her photo to be Steeplebush AKA hardhack, Spiraea tomentosa. If it is S. tomentosa it has sort of brownish or golden-tan fuzz on the leaf undersides and tends to like damp old field or wet meadow conditions. Like other spireas, it's a shrub, but it tends to have fewer, upright stems.

Steve, my Annabelle hydrangea stops at about 4' in height, the shortest of my hydrangeas except for Endless Summer which gets winter killed to the ground every year. Annabelle hits the same height for me whether she is growing from last year's stems or if she has been whacked to the ground (due to damage from snow falling from the roof overhang in heavy snow years.) Mine is about 10 years old and does sucker some which I keep under control by a combination of competition from surrounding shrubs and giving away suckers. She also flops some if rain has been heavy, but her neighbors (a Rhododendron roseum elegans and a medium sized spirea) support her well, or a low fence put in when she is sprouting works well to keep her off the ground and is soon covered by leaves. I've also seen her used effectively at the top of a stone wall, gracefully arching over the top. Her flowers are a light lime to creamy white, not a white like phlox david, so keep that in mind if you are putting Annabelle in a white garden.

Thank you, nhbabs. Steeplebush rings a bell, so I must have looked this up in the wildflower book at one time. I also have some similar plants with fuzzy white flowers and I imagine they are related, probably of the spirea family too.

Molie, I also love your Delia O'Bryan Brown daylilies. The Canadian Border Patrol lilies would be worth growing for the name alone! So sorry that your echinacea has been a meal for the beetles this year. They're pretty despite the damage.

Molie: Those Delia O'Bryan Brown daylilies would fit nicely into my garden.... another potential favorite on my list.

Among the favorite daylilies already in my garden:
H. 'Autumn Minaret', earlier than usual and not as tall as in past years.

A no-id daylily inherited from my mother's garden:

and another true lily popped open:
L. 'Arabesque'

I know I already posted a photo of L. 'Claridad', but this morning the lily was backlit and I loved the sight. I couldn't quite capture the translucence, but this is close.

Claire

I just walked out to water the gardens and discovered that my cherry cheeks daylily is blooming. This is the queen of all daylilies as far as I'm concerned! I bought two plants several years ago and only one survived, but I'm hoping it will spread.

And out in my perennial beds on the hill my double daylilies are blooming.

I meant to comment on your ultra austere torture chamber for plants, Dee! I've never heard of hanging geraniums upside down, bareroot! Yikes, that really sounds like torture!

My version just consists of storing them in pots atop my laundry machines where they get a stingy amount of sunlight all winter and usually too much or too little water. It's really a wonder that so many of them survive to live another summer. I just overwinter them one time, then toss them out, as they get stem-y if I try to keep them longer.

Corunum--your Joe Pye weed looks so pretty through your window!

Dee---yes, I do hang my geraniums bareroot upside down. I leave them out in the open, not in a paper bag or anything. They don't all make it through the winter, maybe they would if I misted them. I think I'll try that this winter.

Claire---I think you are right! My red daylily does seem to be 'Pardon Me'. And more pictures of your gorgeous lilies! How many varieties do you have?

Molie---my HF Young is thriving for some reason this year. I never water it, and we are in a drought around here. Seems strange for it to be doing so well. Nice shot of 'Envy' you posted! I have ammi majus/lace flower(not the weedy Queen Anne's Lace!) growing with my Envy zinnias. I really like the combo and will definately plant it again next year. I wish the salvia in that bed was doing better, though. Those Delia O'Bryan Browns are stunning! And the Canadian Border Patrol against the dogwood is perfect!

Spedigree---that 'Cherry Cheeks' is lovely; is it really that pink?

Teresa

Teresa: I have fewer lilies than I've planted over the years. Some probably succumbed to the red lily leaf beetle when I wasn't looking; others just weren't very vigorous and couldn't compete with my jungle. I guess I have four varieties now, at least there are four blooming - Casa Blanca, Claridad, Arabesque, and lancifolium (tiger lily). I can't rule out a surprise lily or two sitting out this season.

These two Casa Blancas got beaten down when a huge pokeweed fell on them during a rainstorm. I staked them up (and pushed the pokeweed aside).

The tiger lilies are left over from my mother's garden and seed around in unexpected places. This one was hiding under a barberry and a rose, and the beetles got to the lower stem before I saw them and sprayed.

My new hardy begonias, planted this spring, are doing well and beginning to flower. The flowers are supposed to come in long panicles but I'm not seeing that yet. I don't know if these will get longer this season or if they need to be better established. I have them in with hostas and miscanthus (and of course the ubiquitous meadow phlox and Siberian iris) and they seem happy there.

Begonia grandis 'Heron's Pirouhette'

Claire

Claire, what do you spray with to kill the red beetles on your lilies? The sight of your beautiful tiger lilies makes me wonder if it would be possible to salvage mine next year, if they have not all been killed by the evil beetles. I do miss them.

spedigrees: In the past I've used Bayer's Advanced Rose and Flower Spray or anything containing imidacloprid - sometimes the spray and sometimes the soil drench. This always worked very well. However, the last few years I've haven't seen many beetles at all, and I assumed the parasitic wasp has been established here. I don't like to spray any more than necessary because beneficial insects are also killed.

This year I saw a few adults and immediately did a spot spray using what was closest - i.e., Bonide Eight permethrin spray, only spraying the beetle. I keep permethrin around as a not-too-harmful insecticide for whatever. I would have used Bayer's but all I had here was the concentrate and I wanted to move fast without stopping to dilute the Bayer's concentrate.

When I noticed the tiger lily stem leaves had been infected, I dribbled the permethrin on the stems too, although this may not be as effective on larvae.

UMass has a good fact sheet and they also recommend products containing spinosad.

Our FAQ also discusses controls for the beetles.

In your situation, I would use Bayer's products containing imidacloprid and do it NOW, don't wait for next year. The beetles are still active and you want to kill as many as possible before they dive into the soil to pupate. You also want your current lilies to be able to grow enough to replenish the bulbs for the winter. Treat again next spring, soil drench around the lilies is good, and you should be able to protect any lilies that make it through the winter. After that, treatment every month or two should be fine.

Claire

Glad you asked the question, Sped, very useful info, Claire. And, you two have pushed me over the edge to get white lilies and the Cherry Cheeks really is a lovely specimen. Twice this year I bought the boxed specials on sale at HD and BJ's and naturally, don't remember which lilies they contained. Just planted them this spring, so next year will be a surprise. Lovely photos of lovely flowers, all. Aren't we lucky to be able to share all this?!

Jane

I do love those lilies! If it weren't for the fact that my gardens are so close to a tidal river (and I worry about pesticides), I would plant more of them in my yard---- especially the Casablanca. I've always admired that one.

I also appreciated all of these photos because they make up for what I don't have. I guess it was the heat spell that got to my flowers and caused many of them to "go under" at least until the cooler weather. My clematis have perked up after I cut them back. But I'm most worried about my roses ---- Just Joey, Tamora and even my old faithful Queen Elizabeth. All of them are sad looking sticks.

Molie

Ah, Molie, I love, love, love Just Joey and Tamora. Sadly, I've never gotten either to last more than two years for me. I'm certain they died of pure neglect! Hope yours - and her highness - make it through this season.

By the way, I almost choked this morning while driving to work - goldenrod in bloom already! Did I miss a month somewhere?!

Dee

It's just me trying out the new picture upload feature.

WOW! How easy this is!! Thank you, Gardenweb! No more Picasa middleman. Neat.

BTW, it's a Livin' Easy rose bud.

Jane

Okay, Jane, what did I miss about this new GardenWeb picture upload feature? Guess I should check out FAQ. Btw, I'm very jealous of that Livin' Easy rose bud. Tomorrow I'm going take my cellphone out to the garden and show this pic to Just Joey and Tamora ---- as a little incentive.

Dee, I wonder if my two favorite roses won't make it through a second season either. Very sad news. Queen Elizabeth has been with me for many seasons so I expect her to pull through, especially since this is the "other" queen's Diamond Jubilee year. She's a pretty tough gal, my QE --- been through a lot of winters with no special help from me.

Molie

I'll have to try the new upload feature. Jane, your easy livin' rosebud is a lovely shade of orange!

Thank you Claire for reposting the info about controlling the red lily beetles in answer to my question. I'd forgotten about imidacloprid and the parasitic wasps. I remember now that I had resolved to let nature take its course and hope that the parasitic wasps would make their way here. They weren't released in my state but they were in neighboring states, so hopefully they will be coming. I haven't even looked for my poor lilies this year or last and they may well be deceased. I guess I should go out and have a look.

Teresa, thank you. The 'cherry cheeks' daylily is very pink/rose colored. I love the contrast of the pink with the orange on the underside of the petals. It is as if someone took an ordinary orange daylily and painted its face with blush-on. Someone posted a photo of one a couple years ago, on either this, or perhaps the perennials, forum and I searched for it everywhere locally and finally found it at a single on-line place. I bought and planted two plants; one survived and is thriving, and the other died out, so I'm hoping this one plant will spread. Anyways this discovery is one of the many reasons I'm thankful for the garden web.

Oh, Sped, as an 'orange blossom' gardener, you'll have to try Livin' Easy. I have it in a large pot on the deck so the deer don't eat it, but also, because of the fragrance. Close to me means it gets more attention and I get one of the best rose fragrances I've smelled. This rose literally seems to glow from the inside because the center is a muted, gradient of yellow.

Jane

Oh, Jane, what a beautiful flower!! In general my roses are climbers, but I love the orange/yellow combination in general and the glow of this rose is captivating! Now I'll have to go check to see if it will be hardy enough.

I did see a comment somewhere that only one photo per post could be uploaded through the new GW photo upload, but I haven't tried it. Has anyone tried to put several photos in a post with it?

Spedigrees - You are probably right about the white fuzzy blooms being another Spiraea since there's a wild white-flowered one called meadowsweet, S. latifolia.

Also, with regards to red lily beetle, I have found that while my Asiatics got decimated (and so I no longer plant them) the oriental-trumpet AKA orienpet lilies don't seem to be much bothered by them. I've only planted those for about 5 years, and have found the RLB grubs only once on one plant. This is only my experience, but might be worth a try for folks who don't want to use pesticides for whatever reason.

That is a lovely rose, Jane. I simply drool with envy over that and also Claire's lovely climbing roses, but I fear I am a zone too far north for roses to really do well. My neighbor has a few, but she grows them next to her house foundation (now that is a thought of a way I could grow some!) and she covers them during the winter months. I believe that most winters here (because of our altitude) reach conditions closer to zone 3, although we are supposed to be zone 4. I do have some micro-mini roses, because my Dad sends me one every year on Valentines day, and they typically last outdoors only about 2 years on average. Covering them during winter doesn't seem to increase their cold resistence or longevity.

I laugh about my orange garden! All my other flower beds contain multi-colored specimens, and that garden was supposed to as well, but only orange flowers have survived there. Marigolds over-ran and choked out the red geraniums intended to share their pots, and pink and purple flowers met a similar fate. Anything orange thrived, so rather than read my orange flowers the bill of floral civil rights, I just gave up and let my bigoted orange flowers have their little gated community. I give them disapproving looks from time to time, but no longer try to integrate hapless blue, red, or purple blooms. I know what will happen.

I really, really want to try growing a tithonia/Mexican sunflower, Pixielou, but I fear I am a zone too cold for them to ever flower. The plants in my orange garden would definitely embrace tithonia, but I don't think it would really fit there. I'd like a row of them along the back foundation of my house, but with sun only half the day, they'd be at an even further climactic disadvantage. Still I keep eye-ing them. Maybe I should start them early in pots.

And lo and behold, as soon as I saw the photos of Indian pipe I was struck with nostalgic longing, not having seen those since I was a kid. Then what do I spy on a walk around our wooded path, but two Indian pipe fungi growing under a pine tree! I didn't have time to get the camera, but there they were! I wonder if this is a particularly favorable year for Indian pipe here in New England.

Spedigrees, what about the Explorer series of roses? I have no personal experience with them, but I believe they are supposd to be quite hardy in the more northerly zones.

Dee
who is supposed to be painting a ceiling right now and not looking at pictures of flowers...

Last day of July and I took a quick look around the yard to see what's blooming. Most roses still doing well but the Knockouts are taking their mid-summer break.

Daylilies are front stage

My Frans Hals daylily is having its best season ever with lots of buds still to open!

Daylily Autumn Minaret is in too much shade and needs to be moved this fall.

American Revolution has one bloom but is mostly over.

Double Ditch/fulva is thriving in part shade:

A little digitalis volunteer just appeared, long after all the others have gone to seed.

And the new ceratostigma has a few lovely blue flowers:

Claire

All kinds of things! The front garden looked even better than last year. My Graham Thomas rose got a humongous basal break and had almost 50 blooms on it!
{{gwi:1083120}}
I planted a lot of containers this year, which I love and are still going strong.
{{gwi:1083122}}
{{gwi:1083125}}
{{gwi:1083127}}

Here is a link that might be useful: Heritage Garden

Chardie, I love all your colorful container plantings. They are beautiful!

Thanks! They've done well this year--no slugs!