Let's try Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

I've seen others post as part of the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and decided to give it a try. I would not describe my yard as being colorful right now, but there actually are a lot of plants in flower or just starting their bloom period.

First up are the Early Wave 'Velour Red' petunias among the sweet potato vines, high in the sky on the pergola. Last year's candidates for these planters were a FAIL. I think the petunias will not be returning, as I have to climb a ladder in order to dead head them.

The 'Betty Corning' clematis are hitting their stride. Next year, the trellis supports will be replaced with 72" tall, 24" wide tuteurs (recently purchased, on sale at Gardeners Supply). Also, I may limit the number of vines growing up from the base - these plants get HUGE.

Most gardeners may consider fleabane to be a weed, but I have come to appreciate it in limited quantities. It is a native, blooms all summer long, and comes back on its own.

I truly love the coral color of the 'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle vine. Unfortunately, it is rather hidden from general view. Currently, the vine is climbing right over the privacy fence. I'd like to train it to stay on this side.

Catmint is a reliable summer bloomer. This is 'Walkers Low'. Bees love it.

The newbie 'Miss Violet' butterfly bush is "sleeping" (first year sleep, second year creep, third year leap) as it develops a healthy root system. But it still produces blooms despite its youth.

For some reason, the raspberry patch is full of four-foot-tall red clover. Despite my cleaning up this patch every year, all kinds of stuff competes with the brambles, to the point I am abandoning it after this year's harvest.

This it the second year for the lanceleaf coreopsis. It survived attacks by rabbits and woodchucks and is now blooming semi-profusely. Love seeing that cheery yellow.

The tiger lilies are just starting; this might be 'Orange Star'. At one point, I moved them all to one bed, more as a survival strategy than a design technique. Now I would like to scatter them around the yard.

I've had this 'Avant-Garde' clematis for a long time. In previous years, I let it flop over the garden gate, but that garden gate is gone now. It too will get a tuteur next year, a little smaller than Betty's.

After the tulip fiasco, I planted sweet alyssum in containers and added a pink geranium for a burst of color. The geranium is not working out as I had hoped, so I may add some zinnias.

The pink geraniums and petunias on the front porch are doing fine, though. I used to concentrate on yellows in the front yard, to contrast with all the purple-leaved plants, shrubs, and trees, but this year I discovered pink works well, too.

The 'Zagreb' coreopsis is just starting. Not only is this the most resilient coreopsis I have ever grown, the clumps are now spreading.

The 'Route 66' coreopsis seems to have disappeared, but there is still one clump of 'Tequila Sunrise'.

This is a migrant yucca, able to leap broad sidewalks in a single bound. It gets more sun than its parent clump. It is also destined to be removed - naughty plant has boundary issues.

This might be 'Francis Williams', the first hosta to bloom this year. Last summer I tried to identify all the hostas in my yard, but many remain a mystery.

Once upon a time, I had 12 (TWELVE) Stella d'Oro daylilies in my front yard. I gave away most of them, but a few clumps remain. Now I am feeling more kindly toward them, plan to divide and spread them around again, as they are a great source of yellow.

Gout weed is not a flashy bloomer; I'm just glad five of the six plants I planted under the 'Limelight' hydrangea survived. The goal is for these survivors to spread all around the hydrangea but go no farther. Lots a luck, right?

Today I purchased a few more plants in bloom, some marigolds in pots to go under the purple smoke bush, as the little zinnias there are not thriving, and a shasta daisy to replace the one that did not survive being transplanted last year.

And that's about it for now. How is your garden blooming?