What's in full bloom now? MAY 16th - MAY 31st

Ok, well although I haven't had a chance to update our bloom database on cubits, I finally do have time to start the new thread myself.

What is in full bloom/color in your yard now? Help me build our bloom database by sharing what you feel is at it's peak right now.
Pictures are not necessary, but are always very much enjoyed. Snipets of other people's gardens are always a joy, and what a wonderful way to discover new plants that you simply MUST have!

The warm weekend brought my Lem's Cameo rhodie into full bloom by Sunday morning.

This is the first time in seven years that this rhodie has bloomed for me. It is supposed to be Yaku Prince, and although it seems darker in color, it may be because it is in almost full shade. It has hard a hard life between fighting for water with a large cedar (finally is on the route of two soaker hoses) and fighting weevils (don't look at his leaves please), but it is very pretty this year.

Girard's Crimson is in full glory along my driveway.

My Lithodora diffusa is also in full color right now. I have a combination of "Grace Ward" (pure blue) and "Blue Star" (white edged) coming down my rockery.

This one should go in a "combos gone bad" thread or the "what was I thinking when I planted this?" thread, but here are my Girard's Crimson and Girard's Fuschia together along my creek. The healthier they get, the more garish the combo becomes, but I won't brave moving either one, so I just try to focus on one at a time rather the overall effect......

And this is a horrible picture, but I can only do the best that I can on the move. This is some variety of clover that is along the overpass that I take off of the freeway. I just love it, and may sneak out there some night and steal some for my terrace as it stays fairly low (about 8") and well mannered all summer.

One more for today, to prove that I can do good combos too..... My perennial geraniums are starting to show color, but this white is blooming quite nicely now, and I am happy with it next to the forget me nots.

Lovely photos, RJ. I think your hot combo looks like a couple of southern belles out for a saunter. If my camera was working, I'd try to capture a pic of the cottonwood snow that is currently in full bloom at the moment, much to my neighbor's dismay. I have a stand of them on my NE corner which blow their fluff directly into her yard every year. I apologize annually but refuse to cut them down as they are a wonderful screen and majestic trees, growing on the banks of my seasonal front creek.

Beautiful color Julie! Love the Lithodora. I have columbine blooming - several different colors.

Lupine 'Gallery Pink' just opened, should be in full swing soon.

Julie - that looks like Crimson Clover, which I use in my veg garden as a cover crop. It is not horrid like the white clover & provides a nice tilth.
Lots in blooms here - I tried to get some decent pics:

Meconopsis

geranium renardii

clematis asao

Astrantia & Corsican Hellebore

oops

thalictrum roch. alba

columbine Origami

clem Ken Donson

Incarvillea

Veronica - can't remember which one. Very different from the others...

verbascum p. Violetta

one of the entrances to the veg garden: hypericum Albury Purple, Euph Fireglow, lilies, berberis helmund Pillar & mahoghany & apricot daylilies

This message was edited May 17, 2010 4:31 PM

a rhody I like - it's a survivor, so you'd think I'd remember the name (!)

Rh. Ponticum

Heuchera green spice & more berberis Helmund Pillar

helianthemum Henfield brilliant (boy - that doesn't sound quite right...)

helianthemum Cheviot

if you like blue - this is a wonderful plant: Pericallis (related to Cineraria)

OK, I'm boring myself!
There's more, but I need to get out & get some things finished, so I can get some other things finished - on & on it goes...

Forgot this one: Ridgeback Buns.
She can't decide whether to go down the side path or take the steps to the concrete walkway. Such a princess.
It's all about where the Bees are, mind you.

Bonehead, I laughed when you talked about your cottonwood snow. I have a love/hate relationship with those trees as we have bunches where our natural springs are. They smell so good in the early spring, and the birds love them, but DH has hayfever pretty severly and I know he is in for a bit of misery when our "snow" showers start. We are still about a week away from them I think...

Judi, I bet your columbine collection is lovely. They are such a graceful plant.

Katye, You have lots of color right now! I picked up clem. Asao last year, and Mom got it this spring, so your picture was a nice preview. I bet it looks stunning with the columbine that looks about to open! I was also really drooling over your meconopsis and veronica (along with everything else!). Is your rhody possibly 'Furnivall's Daughter' ? I have always loved that one, but haven't managed to get one to survive for me. About the clover... when you use it for a cover crop, do you start with seed? I don't know if I could seed my terrace as there is just too much grass, etc, but I would love something that would keep the grass down and hold the soil in place, and looking so beautiful for a month in the spring is an extra bonus!

Oh, BTW.... loved the ridgeback buns as well! It is nice to know that others have pictures that are full of dog butts or heads or ears or tails.... whichever happens to be flash in front when the shutter closes!

That's my guess. Mrs. Furnival's Daughter or Mrs. Furnival. I have the daughter and it is growing but not well.

I love Mrs. Furnival, haven't liked the daughter. My Mrs. is just starting to bloom and should be full open soon.

It's been 'snowing' in my yard for the past two days now... It's quite lovely.... and the baby ducks love to eat them as they fall upon the pond... Sometimes I forget the pretty fluff is carrying seeds... ;) That is, until they germinate everywhere! I love it though... Snow in Spring! :)

And I LOVE Pericallis!! Got to get me some of that....

I'm liking the delphinium with the penstemon here... :)

I have fond childhood memories of Cottonwood snow. There was a tree across from my bedroom window that I could watch the squirrels chase up and down, and it was my bit of respite from the concrete jungle all around. The mid-west cottonwoods grow huge. I think I have posted this picture some other time, but I love it so here it is again...my son and niece hugging a tree in the park.This was quite a few years ago, and they were little then.

As an addendum, that park was created at least 15 years after I left home. It was an ugly, littered vacant lot when I was a kid. The city of Chicago did a good job rejuvenating the parks a little while back to make them inviting to all ages and family friendly. Just out of the cameras range in this picture is a small pool and fountain with benches around, some small shade trees and surrounded by a border of flowering shrubs. You see the older folk gathering there to talk. Further on is a well designed children's playground with play equipment for both toddlers and older kids and an umbrella shaped fountain they can run through in their bathing suits. That spot had been a scary place I ran to get past when I was little because it only had a few broken swing sets and a lot of broken glass along with some unmentionable other items. A big difference.

This message was edited May 17, 2010 8:09 PM

I forgot to say, Katye, you've got some absolutely amazing flowers, and such a fabulous sense of design combining colors and forms.

Julie - the photo is not Mrs F's daughter - but I do have 2 of those & quite healthy. if you want one, let me know. they are about 4' tall x 4.5'+ wide, but very dig-upable. hard to tell from the pic - this one is more pink (to the blue side) with the throat markings more maroony. Mrs F's DD (!) has more red-pink tones.

It's hard to get red tones correct in a photo, and taking them in the afternoon doesn't help. But the only time I can get morning shots is the weekend.
One of these days I'll do the requisite garden tour. Right now, my life is dominated by rocks - stairs & walls.
I am almost loathing them...I can't believe I said that.

Pony, your delph./penstemon combo is very nice. I am truely jealous of those who have slug free enough yards to grow delphiniums. Sigh.....

Holly, I still have a seriously hard time imagining you ever living life as a city girl, even after hearing your stories about growing up and going to school there. I love that picture!

Katye, I feel you with the "hard to photo red tones". That is the reason that I bought my new camera... it has a "sunset" mode that allows me to get the reds and purples a bit truer. I still haven't decided if I am happy with the rest of the pics, but the one that started this thread was the first time that I have been able to get close to true color on a photo of Lem's Cameo. If you ever decided that you absolutely needed to get rid of a FD rhodie, I would give it a happy home, but I would hate to have you dig a happy plant just for me. I am looking forward to seeing the end result of your rock projects. I am sure that the final product will be worth the current agony....