What's Blooming Today

 I've been working on weeding the front flower bed. Not done yet, but this one is much easier than the rock garden. The Fleeceflowers are still looking good, two weeks after the first picture from this year. Wow. I don't care for this very much, but if it's going to be this nice, I'll call it a winner. You can see that things behind it are somewhat weeded.

Also in the front bed is the white deadnettle I got for free a long time ago when someone threw a planter from the cemetery into the gully. This only thrives when it's weeded, but I guess it decided I'd done an adequate job last year. I like it for the white leaves, but the white flowers are nice and bright too.

Of course, the best of the front bed at this time of year is the poppies. This year, both the red and the salmon ones bloomed. This one skipped last year for some reason. When it blooms, it has three flowers. Always... three.

The really good news is that the other Brunnera that I thought hadn't survived the winter was just hiding. Hooray! The leaves aren't white when they first come up, so I just didn't see it in the weeds. It's smaller than the one I've been showing you, but fine.

Now we'll go out to the bed that only was partly weeded last year, and hasn't been touched yet this year. There are two perennial Salvia, also called Meadow Sage, out there, both purple. I had a pink one too, but I think that's gone. If you deadhead it, it will bloom a long time.

This is not an actual rock garden report, but there are a few things blooming. The magenta and pink geraniums are all over, but they keep blooming a long, long time. They kind of provide a backdrop for other things.

First, I want to show you the Red Mountain Flame Ice Plant again. I am SO excited that this is happy. What a burst of color.

I decided to get another, but this one is 'Ocean Sunset Orange Glow.' It's not as well established yet, but I have high hopes. Can you tell that the flowers are orange in the middle, but magenta on the margins?

This is another new plant. I've killed one before (maybe not this variety), but this was inexpensive, so I decided to give it another shot. This is a Sea Pink, "Armeria maritima." variety 'Dusseldorf Pride.' It's supposed to be a rock garden plant, so perhaps this one will shape up. It only grows about 6" tall.

And we will end with a rock garden surprise. The last time I saw this plant was in 2016 when I blogged about it (link below). This is supposedly a perennial Dianthus, but mostly it just self-seeds and comes up wherever it wants to. The variety is 'Brilliant.' The flowers are tiny, about 1/2" across, and this picture is in dappled light, but they are bright, deep pink. There are two patches of them in the rock garden. They are just starting to bloom. You can see there are lots more buds.

The thing about plants that are pretty but self-seed all over is that you never know where they are going to come up, and it may not be in a suitable place. I used to have California Poppies all over the rock garden too. When I was happy to have anything at all blooming, they were OK, but I'd rather have plants stay where I put them. Anyway. I'll take them. If the other Dianthus like this one, 'Arctic Fire,' ever shows up again, I'll be really happy. Also last seen in 2016.

The Dianthus 'Kohari,' and 'Red Dwarf Eastern Star' are also blooming. Some of the sedums are just beginning.

I edited about 4 hours, and worked on the gardens. I still have some things to get ready for the vendor event tomorrow. I have to get cracking and get them done because I need to leave here at 7:30 in the morning.

See I Used to Have Nice Plants