The warm colors are blooming in the perennial bed in the backyard. I'm not sure how I have so many of them. I favor cooler colors in the garden, but "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." (John Lennon?) I think the same could be said of the garden. My garden is a mishmash of impulse purchases, pass along plants from friends, and must-have nursery buys.
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| Old Fashioned Day Lilies
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I love old fashioned day lilies. My supervisor gave me some of hers when she divided them four years ago. They took a few years to become established, but now I look forward to them annually. Earlier this week, we were talking about gardening and how some people are garden planners and others are ploppers. She said she is a plopper. She plops plants down in a bed and starts to design around them. I have a couple of friends who are compulsive garden planners.
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| Day Lilies and Yarrow |
The yarrow behind the day lilies are volunteers from my own garden. They tend to reseed willy-nilly. I plopped them in the back of the bed for some height and they have worked out well.
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| Missouri Evening Primrose (oenothera macrocarpa) |
I told myself I wouldn't go gaga over the Missouri evening primroses this year and write another post about them, but it's difficult not to. Sometimes, they are a soft buttery yellow and when the light changes they almost glow in the dark. I probably wrote the exact same thing about them last year. I can't seem to help myself. I planted two or three more last year. At last count I have eight of them. The last two were an impulse purchase and not a result of planning. I think I'm so besotted with them and didn't realize that I already had a collection.
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| Penstemon Palmeri and Red Hot Pokers (kniphofia) |
The red hot pokers are blooming this year. They're a native of South Africa and do well in the high desert of Santa Fe. Last year I had one lowly bloom, but this year all three of my plants have flowers. They're not cooperating by blooming at the same time. But I can't complain. I bought three of them in two inch containers many moons ago and all of them stayed alive. Buying an odd number of plants rarely works for me, but in this case it did. So are you a planner or a plopper? Do you fastidiously plan before planting or do you plop and grow?
I'm joining
Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day. Special thanks to Carol at
May Dreams Gardens for hosting. Please check out what's blooming in other parts of the country and in other parts of the world.
Liliowce to wdzięczne kwiaty i zawsze są mile widziane w ogrodzie. Podoba mi się kolor wiesiołka. Pozdrawiam.
ReplyDeleteDay is a graceful flowers and they are always welcome in the garden. I like the color of the evening primrose. Yours.
I like the color of the primroses, too. I've tried growing other yellow primroses, but they haven't worked as well for me.
DeleteYou have lots going on down there. The Primrose is sure pretty. That Penstemon looks pretty with the Yarrow also.
ReplyDeleteCher Sunray Gardens
The yarrow seems to go with everything. :) It's like the little black dress of the garden.
DeleteLove all the orange and yellow in your garden! I have red hot poker seeds but haven't tried growing them yet. Wonder if they'd do all right in my climate? Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteA lot of things grow in D.C. that grow here, but it's so much more humid so there. Dave's Garden said they grow in Arlington, VA. I guess it depends on the cultivar.
Deletelike penstemons!! they just rot here however.
ReplyDeletePenstemons are part of my planting triumvirate. I can always count on them.
DeleteWonderful photos Theta! In my perennial bed, I'm pretty much a plopper. Only planning really is plant height - shorter in front, taller in back. Your oenothera is beautiful! The penstemon too. Wish my red hot poker was still alive.
ReplyDeleteThe red hot pokers are going crazy now. I don't think I've ever had so many blooms before.
DeleteTheta, your garden is fabulous! I like how impulse buys, pass-alongs, volunteers and plants that yell "take me home" create a garden. Definitely ends up with more character than a planned or builder grade garden. I am in love with those primroses. They really are a gorgeous yellow. Funny how an unexpected plant can become an obsession. Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteThe primroses are so bright and cheery. I have a friend who has a very planned garden and I swoon when it's at its peak. But you're right about gardens developing character over time.
Deletealoha,
ReplyDeletebeautiful show, i didn't know there were yellow evening primroses , thanks for the wonderful garden tour :)
The yellow ones are my favorite. Thanks for dropping by.
DeleteHappy bloom day. I really like the primrose panel.Yellow is a more difficult color to photograph and these turned out beautifully.
ReplyDeleteThanks Donna! I've been having a hard time taking a wide angle shot of the garden because of all the white and yellow. The sun has been so intense that everything seems to reflect off of it.
DeleteI'm a plopper. And I love all these beauties that you have plopped in your garden! ;) Your daylilies with the yarrow looks wonderful. I planted some red hot poker, but since they were on clearance, I didn't expect much out of them. And I haven't seen them yet - guess they're dead. I will have to try again. Yours look so pretty! Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteIf they haven't shown up, they're probably gone. :) I have a few plants that I got half off that didn't come back this year either. Happy Bloom Day!
DeleteI like your description of your garden. Yes, I'll bet there are plenty of us with a similar mishmash...and yours is filled with wonderful blooms! Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteDavid/:0)
Thanks David! It's very much a mishmash. I realized that I went crazy with all the colors and might need to do some editing.
DeleteI put my hand up as both a plopper and a mishmasher of impulse purchases, pass along plants from friends, and must-have nursery buyer. Oh, and seed sower too. Dave
ReplyDeleteI forget that people plant seeds. :) I tried a few veggie seeds this year and also started a few morning glories from seed. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteA friend of mine is moving to NM - and now I see what delights are waiting for him as he plants a new garden. Beautiful flowers and photos.
ReplyDeleteNative flowers do well here, too. I didn't think I would settle here and thought it would only be a pit stop. That was about 20 years ago. I hope he loves living in NM.
DeleteYou call it a mishmash, but I call it beautiful. Even the best, well planned flower gardens can be changed by our feathered friends. I find so many plants that come up from seeds they have dropped. I let them plant for me often and sometimes I end up with a wonderful surprise!
ReplyDeleteThank you for stopping by my blog, too.
Here, it's the feathered friends and the wind. There is yarrow growing in front of four of my neighbors' houses across the street and now I have some growing the crack of the road in front of my curb. :)
DeleteI am a plopper although I have tried to be a planner...I have a couple of these primroses too...such a cheery yellow. And I love the old fashioned daylily...they grow along he roadsides around here...I love your summer colors although mine are still not blooming...this week I bet they all bloom at once...happy bloom day!
ReplyDeleteThe day lilies have finally taken. They started off kind of slowly. I hope everything starts to bloom for you soon. It's hard not get flower envy when you see what's going on other gardens. That's how I felt last summer when we had a terrible drought.
DeleteI am a plopper rather than a planner, although I usually am working off an overall vision that I have worked out in my head first. I have a Missouri Evening Primrose, but did not know is name. Thanks! I too have a collection of orange daylilies that have grown and spread. They look great mid-summer. Have a wonderful Sunday and Happy GBBD!
ReplyDeleteSometimes I have a mental picture of what I would like a planting to look like. But as you know having a pet or other forces of nature can change what I've envisioned.
DeleteLove your roadside day lilies (That's what I grew up calling them. they grew all along country roads in the drainage ditch.). I guess I'm sort of both. When I create a new garden I start with a plan and then as plop new stuff into it over time. You have to stick your impulse buys somewhere. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a planner all winter when I'm looking at catalogs, and then I go to the nurseries in spring looking for the things I'd planned and turn into a plopper instead because everything is too, too irresistible. Your day lilies and yarrow are gorgeous together!
ReplyDeleteI guess I'm mainly a plopper, but I plan special projects. Fortunately, the "bones" of the garden were established by the previous owners. You Lily photos are fabulous, and I love that Lennon quote--so true!
ReplyDeleteOh, and I posted about our "lessons learned." Thanks so much for participating!
DeleteI'm definitley a planner, but some of the more serendipitously lovely things have been plopped. My neighbor/friend has tons of evening primrose and they practically glow when I drive by.
ReplyDelete