May Bloom Day with Young Dog
Various Plants with Woodland Strawberry Groundcover
This bloom day we have a lot blooming, mostly in our outer garden, including Alliums, Sidalcea, and Campanula in the photo above, plus Hebe, Columbine, Salvia and others in full bloom off-camera. The inner garden has some things in bloom, but in transition between the first wave plants like the California Poppies and the Meadowfoam which already finished, and the second wave plants which are mostly just budding. The inner garden will probably go back to being the star by this time next month.
Carla with Poppies Blooming Last Month
Last month, I took a photo of the garden’s newest inhabitant posing courteously beside the Cal Poppies, but for some reason it didn’t make it into the post. This month she mostly seems to pose on top of the blooming plants, in this case Snow-in-Summer, rather than beside them. We actually have three different patches of Snow-in-Summer, and each of them seems to be the most comfortable at a different time of day, so Carla moves between them as the sun moves. Past dog inhabitants of our garden have also really liked to lie on the Snow-in-Summer, so it’s not just her. Those past dogs were fosters, but Carla is ours for keeps. Overall, she’s been pretty nice to the garden, which wasn’t originally designed to with a young dog in mind.
Carla with Poppies Cut Back This Month
Dicentra Bachanal
The garden has been accumulating Bleeding Hearts over the last couple of years to where we have almost a dozen now, mostly in containers. “Bachanal,’ above and in the foreground of the second photo with Carla, is the darkest, and the rest are the straight species but vary in how much pink they have. The one below is the palest, with just a touch of color.
Dicentra formosa
Blue Dick, Dichelostemma capitatum
I dumped some Blue Dick seed in a few containers of potting soil a couple of years ago, and this year they’re putting out their first few flowers. One of the easiest plants I’ve ever grown from seed, but slow. Next year they should be mature enough to make a decent show. The native alliums have reseeded a bit in our yard and we’re getting our first flowers from the volunteers this year.
Allium unifolium
Allium christophii
Some of the biggest flowers that we get all year are blooming right now. This non-native allium, A. christophii, has pom-poms bigger than my fist, and several kinds of hybrid Irises are going. There would have been some of them in that first photo at the top of the post, but they were cut for a Mother’s Day bouquet that Anita made. I handed off the bouquet and then realized I should have photographed it to add to this bloom day post. Ah, well.
Dutch Iris
Matillija Poppy aka Fried Egg Flower
The first Matillija Poppy opened this weekend.
Exterior Wrapping
Also our first Breadseed Poppy. We have a lot of them for some reason this year, in several parts of the garden. They’re more like a gift-wrapped package than any other flower I can think of, tissue paper on the outside and Fabergé egg inside.
The Prize Inside
My thanks to Carol at MayDreamsGardens for being the creator and host of Bloom Day. Click over to her blog for links to tons of other bloggers showing off their flowers.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 14th, 2012 at 10:52 pm and is filed under garden bloom day, plants. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
May 14th, 2012 at 11:22 pm
I was about to say that Matillija Poppy looks like a … when I saw it is aka Fried Egg Flower! You have amazing blooms – I LOVE the Iris!
May 15th, 2012 at 10:04 am
That is the best description of breadseed poppies ever. Carla looks very at home in the garden.
May 15th, 2012 at 7:12 pm
Love that dark bleeding heart! I had a white one with grayish foilage for a while but alas, it did not come back.
So, will you do a Puppies with Poppies post?
Happy bloom day
May 15th, 2012 at 7:56 pm
Carla is a very cute dog! I have been repeatedly informed that gardens look better with dogs in them, but I too have found that dogs often prefer to pose while sitting right on top of the prettiest plants. Then when the dog leaves, the prettiest plants are often left flattened into the shape of a dog and are not quite so photogenic as before.
May 15th, 2012 at 9:53 pm
Cool dicentra selection–looks like the nucleus for a really interesting obsession. Carla looks pleased with her selection of soft plants to rest on. As long as she stays away from the dicentras you should have a workable understanding.
I like the poppy selections too. You can’t go wrong with the Matilijas, but the last detail of the breadbox really sings.
May 19th, 2012 at 12:41 pm
Christine — Yep, sometimes common names hare spot on. This month’s iris is my favorite color of the Dutch Irises.
Denise — Like you say, Carla is content any time there is sun in the garden.
TownMouse — I have yet to get a bleeding heart with grayish foliage, but I’m pretty sure I would buy it if saw one. They’ve come back surprisingly well for us. I should do a puppies with poppies post.
Gayle — So far she’s mostly affected plants that I’m not as concerned about like the snow in summer. We moved a few of the more cherished plants to the outer garden when she came.
James — The dicentras are definitely a favorite. I now have pretty good amounts of several shade natives, lilies, oxalis, and dicentra. The dicentra is the most variable and probably the most interesting to me these days.
September 27th, 2014 at 5:47 pm
Hello…I was just curious what variety of flagstone you are using for your paths in these pictures. Thanks!
September 29th, 2014 at 10:41 pm
It’s Arizona flagstone.