Last Hurrah - Final Blooms for the Season

I thought I'd share some of my final blooms for spring 2009. All of these photos were taken today in Wichita, Kansas - hardiness zone 6a. This may help you in selecting late-blooming cultivars. My current camera tends to enhance any red coloration, so please do not use my photos as a definitive color guide!

Sally

Joyce Terry - blooming since 5/10 - today's flower is a pale echo of the more intense color earlier in the season - highly recommended

This message was edited May 26, 2009 12:01 AM

Caliente - bloom began 5/19 - is really a deep dark garnet

Celestial Explosion - bloom began 5/11 - highly recommended

Unknown - bloom began 5/19 - purchased as Honorarium but unable to confirm that this is the correct bloom for the cultivar - it's really a gorgeous color - a bit more intense than my photo shows, and a bit more purple and a bit less pink

This message was edited May 25, 2009 6:52 PM

Sweet Musette - bloom began 5/16 - color is a bit richer than my photo shows and the color of the falls is a bit more purple and less pink

Penny Lane - bloom began 5/16

Freedom Song - bloom began 5/10 with a steady profusion of flowers - great increase - I highly recommend this one which quickly turns into a clump.

All That Jazz - bloom began 5/11 - a steady trickle of flowers

Night Flame - bloom began 5/16 - a steady trickle of flowers - the color is much blacker than my photo indicates

Celebration Song - bloom began 5/9 - lots of flowers during the entire period but down to only 2 today - flowers are less pale than my photo indicates - highly recommend this cultivar - people driving by get out of their cars to come look more closely at this one!

Yaquina Blue - bloom began 5/16 - flowers are really much bluer than my photo indicates - a ruffled beauty which has been very slow to increase - I think it actually has DECREASED!

Vibrations - bloom began 5/13 - flowers are more maroon and less pink - steady trickle of flowers

Helen Collingwood - bloom began 5/8 - reliably flowering historic with good increase - highly recommended.

Luxor Gold - bloom began 5/15 - good increase - 3 to 10 flowers every day - started with 2 rhizomes planted in 2006

This message was edited May 27, 2009 8:41 AM

Victoria Falls - bloom began 5/8 - it's bluer (less purple) and more deeply colored than my photo indicates - highly recommended if you have some way to restrain its tendency to flop - fabulous increase - quite tall

Latin Lover (the bitone - or is it supposed to be an amoena?) and Charger - both are more garnet and less pink than my photo shows - LL bloom began 5/21 - Charger: this little powerhouse has been in bloom with lots of flowers since 5/10, so I highly recommend it!

Edna's Wish - bloom began today

Dauntless - bloom began 5/8 in a very sunny bed and 5/14 in a more shaded one - still blooming in both beds but only a few buds remain - flowers are a bit darker and a bit more purple, less rosy, than my photo shows - good increase and blooms every year without fail, so I highly recommend this historic cultivar

Vanity - bloomed 5/15 to 5/22 in this bed and just cranked out this final flower yesterday - in another bed it bloomed 5/7 to 5/21 - it is my favorite pink and is less pale than this - this photo fails to show just how lovely every other bloom was before this one - reliable bloom and increase - highly recommended.

Fresno Frolic - bloom began 5/9 and really looked spectacular next to Pumpkin Cheesecake and Stellar Lights which were all blooming together for at least 10 days - FF has had fantastic increase with lots of flowers - highly recommended.

Supreme Sultan - bloom began 5/22 - falls are less red and a bit more burgundy

New Moon - bloom began 5/16 with 1 to 3 flowers blooming each day - planted in 2006, this year is its maiden bloom - planted 2 rhizomes and lost one the first winter

Stellar Lights - bloom began 5/6 - it's a much deeper color and more purple than my photo shows - I highly recommend this great increaser which has pumped out lots of flowers this year.

Midnight Majesty - bloom began 5/8 - the falls are a deep purple that is almost black, and the standards are a rich deep purple - it really glows (much like the glow of Dusky Challenger) - highly recommended.

Alizes - bloom began 5/9 - the banding is an intense blue, not the purple shown in my photo - quite stunningly lovely - highly recommended for its beauty!

They are so beautiful! I am only about halfway through the bloom season, but it didn't begin with the SDBs until May 8 -- well maybe a few days earlier that I didn't get photographed. So I feel entitled to a bit later end of bloom season. A few cultivars are just starting to show buds

Jazz Festival - bloom began 5/19

Saffron Flame - bloom began 5/16 - lots of flowers - nice clump in only 2 years

Rapture in Blue - bloom began 5/15 - all the other blooms were prettier than today's!

Swingtown - bloom began today - color is a bit more purple and a bit less rosy but still VERY intense!

Savannah Sunset - bloom began 5/15 - lots of flowers - nice clump in only two years!

Sunshine and Snow - bloom began 5/20 - no flowers the first year after planting 2 rhizomes and just 3 or 4 blooms total last year, so I may have lost one of the first 2 rhizomes - this year there have been 1 to 4 flowers in bloom each day

Unknown - bought as Sabbath Sunset but definitely is NOT SS and I like it even better! Bloom began 5/21 with 6 flowers open today!

Beverly Sills - bloom began 5/16 - after little in the way of bloom the past 2 years, this year's bloom has earned her the right to stay for at least another 2 to 3 years!

Rhein Nixe - bloom began 5/14 - fabulous increase and great bloom will keep this petite pixie in my garden - highly recommended historic.

Quaker Lady - bloom began 5/11 - like Rhein Nixe, the fabulous increase and great bloom will keep this historic in my garden - highly recommended - tall stalks with petite flowers.

Ola Kala - bloom began 5/9 - this reliable historic has a color which can be seen across my yard - highly recommended historic with long bloom season.

Natchez Trace - bloom began 5/14 - the color is more of a rusty brown than the red shown in my photo - a bit like a smaller version of Gallant Moment - highly recommended historic.

Wabash - bloom began 5/14 - reliable bloom and increase - this striking historic will always be in my gardens - highly recommended.

Vert Galant - this may be misnamed - bloom began 5/18 - the falls are less rosy and the standards are more a creamy yellow than a pale peachy pink - has been slow to increase - not many flowers.