This day lily is a special bloom today. Among all the other flowers growing in the sunken garden I spotted flash of color I had never seen before. It has taken 4 years and a move to get the plant to bloom. It was one of those sad looking plants on the sale table at Lowes. I gave it what I thought was a good home but when it failed to bloom year after year I finally moved it last fall. I think I have to do that with all my day lilies which have not done well this year.
The recent rain has been good for my flowers. The sunken garden is my most colorful garden with many self-seeding flowers.
Rudbeckia, Rudbeckia hirta, and cone flowers, Echinacea purpurea, and Monarda Peter's purple are among the most showy this year.
I think they are partly responsible for the day lily failure as they completely crowded them out.
My two jasmine plants, this first one on the pool wall, the white Trachelospermum jasminoides, and the second by the front door, with a more dominant yellow center, were badly damaged during that late spring freeze, when the temperature dropped as low as 18° Many of their stems split and the plant died back to whole wood. They have made a good comeback and are now blooming, probably the latest we have ever seen. Their fragrance fils the air in the early morning.
In the raised bed in the vegetable garden California poppies, both orange and white are blooming. Their blooms get progressively smaller as the plant ages but still make a welcome swath of color.
Wall germander, Germander teucrium is one of the few plants which I left along the pool edge when I cleaned and mulched this spring. I must remember to take more cuttings this winter.
In one of my hypertufa pots in the front courtyard, the balloon cactus, Notocactus magnificus, responded to rain by putting out 3 blooms. To bad this cactus is marred by the hail we had one day this spring.
Verbena bonariensis in the herb garden. Goldfinches love their seeds.
Clouds of pale pink blossoms on the showy oregano, Oregano pulchellum.
The Chaste tree, Vitex agnus-castus. There has been a lot of talk recently about this plant being invasive. It does seem to seed around my garden quite often so it is advisable to cut of the spent blooms.
Square-bud primrose, Calylophus drummondianus.
Water lilies are blooming in my stock tank water garden.
