In bloom

My flower gardens are in transition from spring to summer, quite happily growing and blooming without any intervention from me. Which is a good thing, as I've been focused on other things the past couple of weeks. Our family is back in town for July, we're planning a camping trip, and I've been dunging out the attics.

So not to miss or forget, here are my favorite blooms in the garden right now.

This was a happy accident, the dark red peony in front of a huge mound of orange poppies. I planted the peony in 2011, and this year was its best blooming year yet. The poppies weren't in this spot originally, but migrated east over several years, and exploded into bloom this year, the first since we had an 80-foot fir tree removed. I think it's clear the poppies approve of the increase in sunshine.

Three years ago I planted a row of hollyhocks, mostly double hybrids. I really wanted the common (and beautiful) pale pink with dark pink centers. But the only single I could find was this one, called Black Night. It's darkest black-red, and was gorgeous in the picture on the tag. But it never bloomed. Until this year. All the other plants have died out (and never reseeded). So I was excited when the Black Night pushed up in early spring, and kept getting bigger and bigger, then set buds. Finally I got to see what it looked like in real life, not just on the tag. Don't you love the color?

One of my favorite summer blooms is the daylily, and they love my yard. Shade and sun, in the ground or in a pot, they love it here. And I'm happy to have plants that bloom reliably, all summer long.

My favorite hydrangea is a lace-cap that starts out palest yellow, and matures into a rich lavender-blue.