Wednesday, June 17, 2026

What's perking up my garden this June?

I was late putting together a Bloom Day post and, as Carol of May Dreams Gardens, the creator of Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, is in the process of retiring the meme anyway, I thought I'd do my own thing this month.  Rather than cover virtually everything I currently have in flower as I've done in the past,  I picked just the plants that drew my eye right now.  It's still a relatively long list!

I'm starting with a few plants I recently acquired.

I lost a significant number of plants due to a February heatwave and my inability to properly care for my garden when medical issues sidelined me for an extended period.  I refilled this pot with a Digiplexis 'Illumination Raspberry' and 2 peachy Osteospermums.


Tired of waiting for my first dahlia tubers to bloom, I bought this Dahlia 'XXL Veracruz' at my local garden center already in flower and potted it up

A small Dahlia 'Karma Carolina' I'd back-ordered in January (and promptly forgotten) was delivered in April.  The plant flowered before any of the bare tubers I planted.


As it's easier to simply present the rest of my selections in alphabetical order, that's what I've done.

Cuphea 'Vermillionaire' is now blooming with abandon

One of several artichokes (Cynara cardunculus var. scolymus) are flowering on our back slope, overlooked by 2 neighboring homes

These Gaillardia 'Spintop Copper Sun' returned to bloom more vigorously than ever this year

Hebe ''Grace Kelly' is flowering better than ever this year, although its lost most of its variegation


The Hemerocallis 'Sammy Russell' daylilies originally came with the house

Another noID Hippeastrum flowered this month.  Their schedule is unpredictable.

The noID purple Iris germanica at the bottom of my back slope are the only ones I can depend upon to bloom each year.  They came with the garden.


The 2 tree-like Leptospermum 'Copper Glow' in the front garden are flowering more profusely than they ever have before

The noID Leucanthemum x superbum I received from a friend years ago as a gift have picked up their flower power this month

The last of this year's Lilium 'Orange Planet' are finishing up but luckily other lilies are preparing to make an entrance

The red-orange flowers of the Lotus berthelotii I planted last year are also finally blooming in earnest 

The Phlomis fruticosa (aka Jerusalem sage) I thought had finished up in April seem to be back!

I've been largely avoiding my semi-treacherous back slope but I did notice that the Matilija poppies (Romneya coulteri) are in flower.  Pretty as they are, I tried to remove them again last year and clearly failed. 

This is Rudbeckia 'Juliana', which I didn't expect to last the season summer, much less to be flowering again this year

Salvia 'Mystic Spires' is also back and flowering with greater vigor thus year


That's enough for now, wouldn't you say?  More dahlias are on the heels of those I shared at the top of this post, and there are at least a couple more lilies in the wings.  I have lots of tiny zinnia and sunflower seedlings coming up too but, if they survive, I expect it'll be a couple of months yet before they amount to anything as they got a very late start this year.

Meanwhile, I hope your summer is off to a good start!


All material © 2012-2026 by Kris Peterson for Late to the Garden Party

4 comments:

  1. Retiring IAVOM!? Wow! An end of an era.
    I expect that with your love of bloom, Kris, you'll continue to share photos of the flowers in your garden had to offer, meme or no meme.
    The color of that Digiplexis 'Illumination Raspberry' is gorgeous! They are suppose to be perennials, I think (though mine was a one-season-wonder). Will you plant it later in the garden proper?
    Lotus berthelotii has beautiful bloom color and excellent foliage. Very well placed too, gently 'spilling' into the path.
    Chavli

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    1. IAVOM isn' retiring retiring, Chavli! It's Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day that I understand is planning to do that! As to the Digiplexis, I'll have to see how it does. The other time I grew it (years ago) it died in short order. in contrast, that Lotus is tough.

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  2. Just the other day I was thinking of Carol and the Bloomday posts and wondering how long she'd keep it going. Perhaps you should take over the hosting? (kidding) Nobody does flowers quite like you!

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    1. I'm wondering if Carol will change her mind before the year is out. She's been heading that meme for a very long time, though. She deserves a break!

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