Thanks to the previous owners of our house, we've got a great show of flowers in the spring (daffodils and woodland phlox), and a great show from July till frost (various wildflowers), but there's a 6-8 week deadzone from mid-May till the end of June with virtually nothing blooming.
I planted a few McKana columbines last year and they take over from the phlox just perfectly. I'm going to plant more columbines, but we seem to have serious problems with columbine leaf miners here, so I'd like to find some other options for that bloom period, too. Any ideas? (I'm going to get lots of daylilies for late June, so it's that late May slot that I'm especially interested in.) Oh, and I've got heavy soil, and most of the garden is morning shade, afternoon sun, but I do have some patches with other light patterns.
what blooms with columbines?
Here's Tower Pink Columbine blooming along with Baptisia australis (False Indigo). I think they go together fabulously.
Oh, that's gorgeous! Yes, I will definitely put Baptisia on my list!
Very pretty combinations, there, herbalbetty!
Some Siberian Iris bloom with columbines.
Also an annual called Orlaya blooms around here with them.
How about some allium bulbs and some foxglove?
Around here, blue flax, verbascum Southern Charm, chives, digitalis, Islandic poppies.
Karen
My favorite early summer perennial, spigelia.
Blooming last year first week of June.
Butterfly weed, of course. For full blazing sun and sharp drainage.
Weerobin, how long do your Spigelias bloom? I have a small clump in a shaded spot, and they only bloom for around two weeks, which is why I wasn't considering putting in more of them. But I've read descriptions of the plant that make it sound like it should be blooming for more like a month or more. The spot they're in is a wild area mostly overgrown with white snakeroot, so maybe they're just getting crowded out.
Tabasco, I've never heard of Orlaya before -- thanks for making me learn something! :-) I like how wild and casual it looks.
Foxglove/Digitalis is definitely going on the list, too. I've always admired them in catalogs, but never tried growing them before.
I think I'll hold off on any spring/summer alliums until I try other options, first. The garden is already overrun with garlic chives, which bloom in the fall. It's lucky that I love them (edible, fragrant, and butterfly attracting!), because they are EVERYWHERE.
Off to learn more about blue flax & Icelandic poppies....
Both the Islandic poppies and digitalis tend to burn up in summer here. Both self-sow though. The Islandic poppies aren't my favorite plant, but I tend to let a few volunteers stay around each year.
Karen
My blue flax tend to stay shorter than most, shaded partly by bigger plants. After a heavy flush of spring flowers, I cut them back and then get a few new ones in late summer.
Karen
Loligo, you're probably right about the 2 wk bloom.
But I have them scattered in various exposures, so some bloom earlier than others,
which tends to expand the bloom time. I guess that's cheating.
I think they bloom best with more sun.
The post above is in quite an exposed position with several hours of direct afternoon sun.
Even though they're advertised as a shade plant, it doesn't burn in the sun and blooms better.
But I'd be afraid to put it in full sun.
Here's a pic of allium, salvia, veronica, dicentra blooming with the columbine on 5/19
Here's the same garden a few weeks later (6/1). The columbine looks nice behind my Johnson's Blue geraniums.
Dicentra and geraniums -- definitely going on the list! Thank you!
Herbalbetty,
That sure is a nice combination.
Pgt,
Yours is a great combination of colors, heights, & flowers. I love those clumpy flowers!!
Kqcrna,
I love the digitalis you show!!! I grew the flax in Dayton, Ohio that you have. Every year I lost some, gained some, and thoroughly enjoyed those flowers. Very reliable.
Karin ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I'm a bit cooler here, but my Iris bloomed right along with my columbine, as did my Johnson's Blue geranium. Nice thing about the geranium is that it gets really big, then after it blooms I cut it back to just the mound of leaves and that shrinks it right back down.
Another one that starts in June and last quite a while and also it reblooms if you cut it back is Salvia. Mine are East Friesland, but there are loads of varieties, May Night, Lubeca, Blue Sky.....
Good luck...
Actually, I have a whole patch of iris that are stuck in a shady spot where they never bloom (I didn't plant them, they were already here). If they'll help solve my late-spring problem, I will get around to moving them sooner rather than later!
I have a tiny urban lot garden so I don't have a lot of space to work with..but lupines and early roses bloom at the same time as my columbines in that late may/early june dead time.
Here's a couple photos from my garden this year on May 25. I choose allium to fill that dead time, seems like we all have the same problem. I wouldn't write the alliums off, they certainly aren't invasive like your garlic chive seems to be. My bearded iris and salvia, May night, were also blooming
Here is candytuft, a perennial, with Bowles Black viola, which reseeds itself.
This message was edited Jul 5, 2009 7:27 AM
Here are Siberian iris next to Lady's Mantle, which isn't full in this photo (again taken May 25), but still provides interest.
And a hardy geranium, not sure the variety as it was on the property when we bought the house. Behind it are peonies getting ready to bloom, they were blooming around June 6.
Thanks for the gorgeous and inspiring pics! Maybe I will give the globe alliums another look -- they're so funny-looking, my kids would love them.
Regarding butterfly weed, most of our columbines have finished blooming, but the butterfly weed is a long way from bloom. It was a hard winter - not sure if the butterfly weed was especially slow.
I am constantly tested by the randomness with which my columbines bloom. The species bloom much earlier than the hybrids, but the same hybrids are all over the temporal map.
Do the species bloom longer than the hybrids?
Also, Nemophila menzii, baby blue eyes, muscari or grape hyacinth, fritilaria, other spring wild flowers.