If there isn’t such a word as “floweriferous,” there certainly should be! This is the time of year that if a gardener skips a visit to his/her garden for a day, there will certainly be new surprises missed. New blooms open almost hourly, and the pollinators are feasting. In the photo of a section of the potager’s interior border shown above, the “Monterey Jack” daylily had two blooms open the day before, and exploded with dozens of bloom the next day. This is happening all through the gardens with the various daylilies, and it’s rather unusual. Usually there’s a steady opening of a dozen or so blooms that goes on for days and days, often into weeks and weeks. But this year, they all seem determined to open nearly at once! Are you seeing that in your garden? The cutting celery in the foreground has been providing filler for bouquets for weeks. I keep expecting the flower heads to change into brown seeds, especially in this weather, but so far the white flowers are holding steady. The hollyhocks just keep pushing upward, providing new blossoms at a regular pace. As usual, I’m tying string on the colors I want to keep and collect seed from.
Regular readers may recall that last summer, more perennials were added to the Addition Garden in an attempt to fill a large bloom gap that occurred in late May through Mid June, and also to reduce the number of annuals required. I’m fairly pleased with the results and some of the combinations. There have been many more flowers consistently, largely due to the electric blue anchusa, which always reminds me of a forget me not. These are “Blue Angel,” a short (10″) variety and they’ve been blooming for weeks. They seem to enjoy the hot, dry location. I’d forgotten I’d planted some dark blue alliums, also fairly short in that area as well, and they go well with both the anchusa and the orange butterflyweed.
The little allium also seems happy in this section of the potager’s interior border, surrounded by yellow calendula, bright orange miniature snapdragons, and white feverfew. The blue really seems to make the other colors pop, and the border would certainly be less interesting without it.
Above is another section of the Addition Garden, where the “Blue Angel” anchusa is again carrying the load, with a bit of help from “Adora Blue” salvia (which definitely seems dark purple to me.) It definitely needs a supporting cast. I’m considering a threadleaf coreopsis like “Moonbeam”. Other suggestions?
The orange “Henry Eckford” sweet peas seem to be holding a bit better than the other varieties, which are opening one day, fading the next and forming seed pods by evening! There will soon be lots of daylilies and dahlias as well, but for now the sweet peas, white feverfew and “Ladylike” Asiatic lilies are filling the bill.
One of my favorite perennials is this heliopsis “Lorraine,” with its cheery yellow daisies and variegated foliage. Unfortunately, the leaves are curled and not looking their best at the moment. We could certainly use some rain, which seems to be falling all around us, but not exactly ON us. But, this sturdy little lady (about 18-20″) is a stalwart performer and will carry on despite being dry. Happily, about 70% of her seedlings come true, with the pretty variegated leaves so I’ll be potting them up and adding them to the border…maybe with that anchusa and salvia in the Addition Garden?
That’s my six observations for this final Saturday of June! (How is that possible? Didn’t June just start a few days ago?) For lots more gardening adventures, visit The Propagator, who hosts this meme.
herbalblessingsblog 
AS always I find your pictures and descriptions inspiring and wonder how on earth you manage to do so much!
LikeLiked by 1 person