Bloom Day - June 2024 (Early Edition)

I got a new camera earlier this month and started taking photos to test it out.  Many of those photos ended up in this post for Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, a monthly event hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  With our morning marine layer still firmly in place, heat hasn't had any effect on the flower power of my garden so there's still a lot of color even though some of my summer bloomers, like the lilies, seem stuck in suspended animation.  Reverting to my old format, I'm starting with the garden's stars this June.

Achillea 'Moonshine', leading the summer parade of flowers as usual

The blue Agapanthus that came with the garden started flowering weeks ago but the white ones are only just getting making an appearance

I finally managed a decent shot of the flowers of Arthropodium cirratum (aka Renga lilies)

This Bignonia capreolata (crossvine) on the back slope also came with the garden

Centaurea 'Silver Feather' has sprawled all over the place but the flowers are pretty

Dorycnium hirsutum (aka hairy Canary flower, syn Lotus hirsutus) is demure but prolific

Helichrysum thianschanicum 'Icicles' was looking terrible at the end of last summer.  I removed a dead section and it's looking pretty again, at least for now.

Hymenolepis crithmifolia (aka Coulter bush, syn H. parviflora)

The first flowers of our Magnolia grandiflora sit at the top of the tree but the new phone nevertheless captured these without a special lens

Tagetes lemmonii (aka Mexican marigold)

Of course, I can't ignore the genera that are the backbones of my garden.  (Note: All cultivars are listed clockwise from the upper left unless otherwise noted.)

Alstroemeria: 'Claire', 'Inca Husky', 'Inca Lucky', 'Inca Sundance', 'Inca Vienna', 'Indian Summer', and noID pink variety

Left to right: Arctotis 'Large Marge' and 'Pink Sugar'

Cuphea: 'Honeybells', 'Vermillionaire', and 'Starfire Pink' (latter in wide and close-up shots)

Gaillardia (aka blanket flowers): 'Arizona Sun', 'Mesa Bright Bicolor', and 'Spin Top Copper Sun'

Gazania rigens: 'Yellow Flame', noID orange, 'Otomi', noID red-orange, 'White Flame', and 'New Day Yellow'

The large-flowered Grevillea: 'Moonlight', 'Peaches & Cream', and 'Superb' (latter in close-up and wide shots)

The small-flowered Grevillea: G. alpina x rosmarinifolia, G. 'Poorinda Leane', G. sericea, and G. 'Scarlet Sprite'

Hemerocallis: 'For Pete's Sake', 'Persian Market', 'Space Coast Sea Shells', 'Strawberry Candy', and 'Spanish Harlem'

Leucospermum: 'Royal Hawaiian Brandi' (both top shots), 'High Gold', and 'Spider Hybrid'

Osteospermum: '4D Pink', 'Coral Magic', 'Double Moonglow', and 'Purple Spoon'

Pelargonium: Top - P. hortorum 'Dynamo Hot Pink', P. hybrid 'Orange Fizz', and P. hybrid 'White Lady'
Middle: P. peltatum 'Dark Pink' and 'Burgundy'
Bottom: P. peltatum 'Pink Blizzard' and P. peltatum hybrid 'Flamingo Pink'

Salvia: S. canariensis var candidissima, S. discolor, S. lanceolata, S. clevelandii 'Winnifred Gilman' (in wide and closeup shots), and S. 'Mystic Spires'

There were a few surprises.

Hippeastrum getting a late start: noID variety and 'Dancing Queen'

This is Phormium 'Apricot Queen', which has never bloomed before.  Only one other of my Phormiums has ever bloomed but I've noticed there are flower stalks on Phormiums all over the neighborhood, presumably the result of 2 years of good rain.

Sollya heterophylla (aka bluebell creeper) is finally developing a presence in my back garden

Other unexpected blooms included: Echium gentianoides 'Tajinaste' (I'd forgotten the plant entirely), a barrel full of Nemesia and Violas (which I'd thought would be gone by now), Thymus serpyllum 'Elfin' (blooming plentifully here but nowhere else as yet), and the first flowers of Feijoa sellowiana (aka pineapple guava)

I discovered an even bigger surprise late yesterday afternoon as I was finalizing this post.

Iris germanica 'Gypsy Lord' had produced a single bloom in late May but it faded quickly and had shown no signs of producing more

I've collapsed the best of the rest into color collages.

Blue flowers include: Anchusa capensis 'Blue Angel', Campanula portenschlagiana, Iris douglasiana 'Santa Lucia', Lavandula dentata, Limonium perezii, Polygala myrtifolia, noID Scaevola, and Wahlenbergia 'Blue Cloud'

White flowers include: Acanthus mollis, Fuchsia 'Windchimes White', Agonis flexuosa, Pandorea jasminoides, and Trachelospermum jasminoides

Pink flowers include: Argyranthemum frutescens 'Comet Pink', Centranthus ruber, Cistus 'Sunset', Digitalis purpurea, Hebe 'Wiri Blush', Lantana camara 'Irene', Oenothera speciosa, and Rosa 'Pink Meidiland'

Flowers in the yellow family: noID Calibrachoa, chartreuse Euphorbia 'Dean's Hybrid', Graptoveria 'Fred Ives', Lagurus ovatus (aka bunny tail grass), Lonicera japonica, and Santolina chamaecyparissus 'Nana'

Red flowers include: Daucus carota 'Dara', Fuchsia 'Voodoo', and Lobelia laxiflora

For more GBBD posts, check Carol's blog at May Dreams Gardens on the 15th of the month.

All material © 2012-2024 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party