Right now the only things blooming are the chaste trees and the 'Blue Satin' rose of sharon I planted back in March (and the tomatoes, obviously). They're still only about 18 inches tall, but I am totally in love with the chaste trees. They're gorgeous when they're in bloom, and the leaves smell good, too.

They are stunning trees - and sooo easy from cuttings! I love plants that I can grow 100 of at will!

Ok, who is going to grow a hundred chaste trees for the Fling next year? I want one.

Finally, something about flowers! Yippee! I am doing the happy dance!

Butterflies are finally becoming more numerous and taking advantage of my blooming Florence Fennel, the False Nettle, and the Virginia Creeper (sphinx moths).

Getting ready to bloom:

Passion vine (native, P. incarnata)
Flame Acanthus
Salvia 'Lady in Red'
Salvia 'Forest Fire'
Tropical Milkweed
Cleome
Dwarf Pink Cosmos
Cosmos 'Cosmic Orange'
Texas Star Hibiscus
Fantasia Hibiscus
Eupatorium 'Little Joe'
Salvia darcyi

Blooming:

Red Zinnias
Purple Zinnias
Peppermint Zinnias
Maximilian Sunflower
Regular sunflower
Verbena bonariensis (Verbena-on-a-stick)
Summer Phlox (hot pink)
Phlox 'Wanda'
Pyramid Shrub
Dicliptera suberecta (Hummingbird Shrub)
David Verity Cuphea
Dwarf Red Porterweed
Gazanias
Borage
Gaillardia suavis
Gaillardia 'Oranges & Lemons'
Pearly Everlasting
Datura wrightii
Mistflower
Mountain Mint
Dill
Monarda fistula
Oriental Lily, unknown, white/yellow blooms
Red Pentas
Dianthus
Illinois Bundleflower
Echinacea - pink flowering species
Buddleia davidii 'Royal Red'
Buddleia 'Ellen's Blue'
Buddleia 'Bicolor'
Liatris spicata
Salvia 'Black & Blue'
Salvia 'Hot Lips'
Daylily - unknown, large golden yellow flowers
Mum - yellow
Pink Candytuft

Lots of bloomin' goin' on........

Susan

Susan your yard must be stunning with all of those in bloom! hummmm might have to come visit with my cutting scissors ready! lol I have just found a place and took some cuttings of Flame Acanthus - I cannot wait to see this in my garden again!

Sooner Grandma - If I still have a tree like in Texas I would for ya - no tree here but I am looking for a place to get cuttings - once I find on I will be more than happy to root one for ya.

I live a balance - 75% flowers 25% food... I think it just makes a better yard... to me at least!

I know Dawn has a large chaste tree that might not miss a few cuttings. *hint hint*

If I took 100 cuttings off my two babies, there would be nothing left of them!

lol.... Anyone else do a ton of cuttings? Mine dont all make it ... I am not the best cutting father in the world but if it blooms it gets cut - or at least I try to cut on it!

Daylilies are the biggest blooming item in my garden right now. They are gorgeous at the moment.

Carol, I have a chaste tree...... :) I'm not very good at cuttings, but if I see some seedlings, I'll see if I can pot some up this year. I usually have a ton of seeds, so I can surely get you some of those.

I love, love, love my chaste tree. It's rather a pain in the neck where I have it, and I frequently have to trim it, and at the same moment usually wish I had got the bush version, but then it blooms and all is well...

Anyone in the OKC area who can do cuttings is welcome to come try my tree, it could handle a hundred cuttings! I cut down a bunch of branches a few weeks ago.

Susan, you have butterflies? Blow a few of them a couple miles north! My yard still has zilch. I was weeding in the zinnia (wild thing) bed the other day and I should have a bunch of zinnias this year. I'm hoping they will lure a few in when they start blooming.

OHHHHH. Also, does anyone in the metro want a pot of hardy hibiscus? I can't promise the color, because they are all seedlings, but the mama is hot pink. I had a bunch of seedlings this year and I couldn't stand to just weed them out.

Where in okc are you? I would love to come take some cuttings and pick up a hibiscus :-)

Quote:
"Ok, who is going to grow a hundred chaste trees for the Fling next year? I want one".

I second that request.

The only thing I have blooming right now are some wildflowers, a couple of butterfly bushes, and a few onions that bolted and I left because the flowers are so pretty.

Now that someone has mentioned wildflowers, I remembered that my backyard is currently covered in these daisy-like weeds (I'm guessing from google that they're oxeye daisies but I'm not sure):

I guess that's the nice part about completely neglecting our lawn. You can't play golf or croquet on it, but the array of blooming weeds we get keep things interesting. I love all the bluish green little bluestem that we have back there, too.

Here's a pic of one of my itty bitty chaste trees:

They are really short for Ox eye daisy - do you have a pick of the leaves?

Natives and wildflowers are my much haves here - I them in the garden and Blanchard is FULL OF THEM,,, so I stop here and there and take a clipping and get a root... and before you know it I have 40 some local wildflowers here in my gardens the cost of them in total was - 0! I love it...

Here are some pictures of one of them. It looks like the underside of the petals have pink streaks on them, and the buds are actually pink before they open.

Susan, you must have sent me a few butterflies! I saw a gorgeous Eastern Tiger Swallowtail today nectaring on my purple coneflowers. I also caught sight of either an American Lady or Painted Lady. I can't tell the two apart at a glance. I also saw one or two dragonflies.

Lisa

That is in the Aster family - see the small petals, adding to the leaves... this is an Aster. Stunning one at that - might have to come and dig some up to grow besides the Fall Aster here... hehe...

A great native and wonderful wildlife plant. Ox Eye daisy forms a rosette of leaves at the base very lyre like looking and narrow stalks about to a foot in the air to bloom.

Here is a link that might be useful: Ox Eye Daisy

I've been looking at pictures of daisies since last night, and I think I might have figured out what it is. Arkansas Lazy Daisy? The flowers do close at night, and they seem to thrive in this dry heat. That would put it in the Aster family as well.

Here is a link that might be useful: Arkansas Lazy Daisy

Looks like a perfect match - wonder how it would work into a garden...

You're welcome to take some and try! I think we only live about two miles away from each other, lol.

Wow really? I am in the center of town near the Burrito Grill, would love to set up a time to come see your gardens and try a little :-)

A lot is blooming here despite a serious lack of rainfall (well, this evening's rainstorm-hailstorm helped a little in terms of moisture).

I know I won't think of everything that's blooming out there, but here's the ones I can remember:

TREES:
Chaste Tree
Desert Willow
Mimosa (planted for the hummingbirds and they sure do love it)

VINES:
Yellow-flowered Trumpet Creeper
Orange-flowered Trumpet Creeper
American Cross Vine
Coral Honeysuckle "Pink Lemonade"
Morning Glories

PERENNIALS/RESEEDING ANNUALS:
Texas Star Hibiscus
Swamp Mallow (in the swamp and in the garden)
Hardy Hibiscus--Southern Belle and Disco Belle raised from seed
Cannas--yellow and salmon
Autumn Sage
Texas Hummingbird Sage
Salvia farinacea
Datura inoxia
Datura straemonium
Datura wrightii
Datura metel
Verbena bonariensis
Malva sylvestris 'Mystic Merlin'
Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina'
Rose 'Graham Thomas'
Four O'clocks in shades of pink, fuschia, white, yellow, including TeaTime Rose
Butterfly Weed
Both corn poppies and larkspur are just finishing their bloom period this week
Laura Bush petunias in shades of pink and purple. I have them in containers, in flower beds, in the veggie garden, and even popping up in the pasture.
Gomphrena 'Strawberry Fields'
Celosias in shades of yellow, orange and red
Zinnias in various colors and sizes
Crinum Lilies (the extreme heat burns up the flowers as soon as they open though)
Gladiolas (same issue with heat burning them up)
Veronica 'Sightseeing Mix'
Dahlia 'Bishop's Children'

IN THE WATER GARDEN:
Pickerelreed
Narrowleaf Cattail
Water lilies in white, yellow, red and pink

ANNUAL BEDDING PLANTS:
Bronze-leaf begonias with white flowers
Moss Rose
Periwinkles
Salvia coccinea
Marigolds
Nasturtiums

NATIVES:
Sunflowers
Indian Paintbrush
Texas Bluebonnets (poor bloom in April went immediately to seed, then rain in May revived them and they are nearing the end of the bloom cycle that followed the May rains)
Lazy-daisy (they grow everywhere here in our fields and are amazingly drought-tolerant)
Yarrow--finishing up, or at least burning up in the 104 degree highs
Gaura
Pink Evening Primrose
Plains Coreopsis
Lemon Balm (flowering early due to high heat, I think)
Chamomile
Clasping-leaf Coneflowes
Mexican Hat
Meadow Pinks
Green milkweed mostly is finishing up blooming, but a new flower opens every now and then
Winecups
Gaillardia
Fragrant mimosa
Prickley Pear cactus are about to finish blooming but have been gorgeous this year
Prairie verbena
Greenthread daisy

In the veggie garden, these are blooming:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Bush Beans
Watermelons
Corn
Cucumbers
Strawberries

Some of the native grasses are flowering or have just finished flowering, including buffalo grass, blue grama, and eastern gama grass. Some weed grasses, including Johnson grass, dahlis grass and bermuda grass are blooming.

That's all I can think of right now. Some of the flowers are out of sync--blooming either earlier than usual or later than usual, probably because of the drought and exceptionally dry conditions since our last significant rainfall in May.

I'm watering all I can, but feel like I'm fighting a losing battle. Everything here is burning to a crisp, the ponds are almost empty now, the ground is cracking and the wildlife is flocking to our yard in large numbers.

Lol, there's not much to see in my yard yet, unfortunately. Just a single bed of tomatoes, some foundation beds, and some young trees and shrubs. I'll be putting in a veggie garden this fall, though.

We're east of town on a little dead-end street near 290th and MacArthur Ave. Since the daisies are annuals and propagate from seed I suppose I can start looking for the spent blooms and save the seeds from them.

I know what you mean by things blooming "out of sync", Dawn. My mums never bloom until fall, nor does the Blue Mistflower, but they are blooming now.

A friend brought me a new butterfly bush that I have been after for a few years now - 'Ellen's Blue'. I am so excited I can hardly stand it. It is the bluest flower on a BB ever, and is a medium height version that doesn't get out of control like many of them.

Lisa, congrats on your EBST. I have BST eggs and babies right now, and a couple of sphinx cats - Achemon and Pandora.

Susan

Here is a link that might be useful: 'Ellen's Blue' Butterfly Bush

I know more less where ya are - there is some stunning areas out that way I hunt between 250th and 270th off Cole Road heading in All directions looking for Natives... there is some stunning spots in there!

Dawn the green milkweed - is it the Asclepias virdis, variegata, or asperula?I have some virdis and some asperula getting bigger in the yard - might bloom next year but never sure!

Susan, I had noticed your out-of-sync mistflower and mums. We have a friend whose mum is blooming too,and it looks like it has been pinched to keep it compact, so I just blamed the early bloom on the weather. The sea of mistflower on our creekbank likely is blooming now too, but I would have to walk thru the snakey woods to check and see, and I'm not stepping foot in those woods. I'll assume mine likely is blooming since yours is.

Mitch, It is the Asclepias viridis. They are as common as blades of grass around here. They're about the only green thing left in our back pasture as everything else has burnt to a crisp, turned brown and gone dormant.

Dawn