Garden Bloggers Bloom Day May 2015

As always...a few days late.  It was raining on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, but even if it was clear, I would not have been on time.  That is the way of it!
The weather here in Central Illinois has been wonderful for my gardens.  A few thunderstorms here and there delivering bolts of nitrogen and cool nights with sunny days.  This is our 3rd Spring at Appleton, and things are finally starting to fill in.  Some mornings I wake up and hold my coffee and marvel at the sight.  I love to walk through in the morning and silently speak the names of all the plants budding, spreading and blooming.
This Spring has been starting the front foundation planting.  It's been difficult not to throw some things in the shade bed or get a new Coneflower color for the Arbor Bed....I know it will pay off, but starting from scratch takes so long! I did not photograph the front.  I was in a hurry and there are still so many awkward holes.  I'm having a hard time choosing those few specimens to decorate the space all people driving by will see.  I wish I could hold auditions.

Amsonia 'Halfway to Arkansas'

The blooms on my  'Nelly Moser' Clematis are mostly bleached out.  I didn't think they did this last year.  I wonder if they are getting too much sun, or they need some nutrients....

Clematis 'Nelly Moser' behind Arborvitae 'Mr Bowling Ball' 

My Amsonia is 3x the size of last year, but still leggy.  I read I'm supposed to trim down after the bloom to promote thicker plant.  I thought this plant would lay down and spread, maybe that is just the 'Blue Star' variety.

Arborvitae 'Mr Bowling Ball', Clematis 'Nelly Moser', Cluster bellfower 'Superba' and Amsonia 'Halfway to Arkansas'

Fading Allium stalks on the left, next to the Hydrangea 'Vanilla strawberry'. In front are coneflowers 

Echinacea 'Milshake' bud

I'm eager to see these lil puppies in full bloom this year.  Last year was a building year, so they never reached potential (I thought anyway...) Here is the beginning of my Coneflower 'Milkshake'

A Mother's Day gift from Hubby - an Arbor!!  Good Man

Clematis 'Nelly Moser', Amsonia, Coneflowers and the spiky things are Liartris

Love the red stalks of the 'Vanilla Strawberry' Hydrangea

I was surprised by this one this year.  I had forgotten I'd planted it.  This Baptista hybrid 'Lemon merigue' must be 4x it's side already.  I chose it for the pale yellow blooms.  It's growing fast, and it has some long legs on it!

Emerald green Arborvitae behind Agastache 'Golden jubilee'  (which smells heavenly) and Black-Eyed Susans 

I truly love this view... The Agastache just seem to glow in the sunlight.  I wonder where else they would shine in my beds.  The Ajuga on the far left has lost it's bright blooms and just looks like a dark mass now.  The daisy clump was kind of empty in the center.  I may have to dig it up next year and take out the middle.  I took a few pieces of the Daisy and put next to the Elderberry, thinking the white next to the dark purple will keep it cheery.  That's what a Daisy is for, right - to keep us cheery?

Tiger lily's under the bird feeder, Virginia Creeper on the fence, Lime Light Hydrangea in front of the bird feeder and my faded Allium stalks holding on to a tiny bit of color

This area has EXPLODED!!  Wow did these guys work hard to fill their space.  I think I remember Cindy telling me to be careful, and I may regret taking some of her Sundrops.  But, when I am looking at an empty space in my garden, and someone tells me "this spreads" that is GOOD!  But they always give it reluctantly knowing something that I don't.  Why would I ever regret taking a spreading plant that makes it easier to fill my dreams of luck gardens?

(Lesson Learned....almost) Well, because they know something I don't.  A few years gone by, and the lil stinker is a bully!!!  All the carefully planned spacing and color coordinating goes out the window when one part-time bloomer comes in and starts taking over the joint!

So do I rip part of it out (after it blooms OF COURSE - wanna at least stay for the show!!) OR do I spread it to other naked beds, knowing in 3 years, I'll be having this same conversation with myself?

Oenothera speciosa - Sundrops or Evening Primrose with the spiky Lilium 'Orange matrix' and my favorite Heuchera 'Blackberry ice'

Here is a glimpse of my Colorado Rooster!  This guy faithfully looks over my companions and does absolutely nothing except make me smile!!
My 'Pink Champaign' Clematis is the one I look forward to see blooming.  It will bloom again later in the summer.  It hit it's peak around  Mother's Day and is starting to wane now.  The Thrift at the bottom is holding strong.  I added a 3rd Thrift to the back of the grouping.  I was disappointed that they didn't spread.  When I planted them, I was thinking they were Dianthis......but do those spread??  Another fading Allium is trying to arch its way out of the photo, a bit camera shy, I guess.  The endless Summer Hydrangea is slow to emerge this year.  It started from the ground this Spring.  Will this one EVER be part of the show?

On Mother's day I cut out all my tulips, so we are left with their unsightly leaves feeding off the sun.  I will dig them up in a few weeks and replant them, since they all bloomed a different color than their packing promised.

I have dubbed this "THE MONSTER"  My photo washed out it's brilliant blue purple blooms - the ONLY reason he is still here is because of those bold flowers.  He is messy and sloppy and having a bit of an identity crisis - am I chartreuse or am I garden green??  Last year he sunk into a depression and got brown and kind of gooey, then shrank back to close to nothing. This year, he's big and strong, but deciding whether or not to convert back to his original color and give up his hybrid designation.  I prefer the hybrid myself, but there's no getting through to him.  What's a gardener to do?

Tradescantia - Spiderwort 'Blue & Gold'

Heuchera 'Blackberry ice' with Lambs ear, Allium leaves and Spiderwort 'Blue N Gold'

Bud of Knock out Rose 'Radrazz'

Jackmani Clematis spreading it's wings on the Pinterest inspired heavy duty trellis Hubby installed this Spring.  I was hoping this clematis and the other would bloom together. Nope.

Jackmani Clematis

In front you can see the tiny green cluster - that is the daisy section I picked out and moved to help show off the Elderberry colors.  The Joe-PyeWeed in back may be too close....more things to move

Variegated grass, small clump of Shasta daisy, 'Chocolate' Joe-Pye Weed and 'Black Lace' Elderberry

View from the sitting wall down the Rooster Bed

 Annuals still to needing a home.....

Liriope muscari 'Variegata' - Lilyturf

 I'm documenting this photo because I thought these would be evergreen and would be a ground cover.  I thought I bought the wrong thing - but I went back and researched, and it is supposed to do what I thought it should.  This is Liriope muscari 'Variegate' or Creeping Lilyturf.

This is one plant name I try not to say out loud in front of anyone...never sounds right.

It died back in the fall, slow to emerge in the Spring and it is NOT spreading.  I planted early Spring 2014.  I'm really wanting to cover this area with a dense low growth grass.  This space is right next to my hose, so it gets beat up a bit by the hose plopping to and fro.  It's a small strip between the edge of the patio and the window well.  Loire is supposed to do well in part shade.  I bought 5 of them,and they are still not close to filling the space.  Let us see how these guys do in year 2.

Tulip leaves, Coreopsis "Zagreb', in the back is Sedum 'Frosty Morn" and Weigela "Rubies N' Gold'

Why blooms on the bottom only??

Tall Sedum 'Frosty morn' and Weigela "Rubies N' Gold'

Not quite ready to show off

Veronica spicata

Liatris spicata - Gayfeather 'Kobold'

Just for myself, to remember when the blooming starts for all the Gayfeathers around my beds.  These started from seeds or bulbs...I can't remember.  But once they started to sprout last year, I spread them all over the beds.  They are much larger this year, and I think they are spreading.  There are tiny spikes which might be mistaken for grass, or it is grass, but I'm going to wait to pull it for awhile.  I would not mind large clusters of these all over the beds.

Aruncus dioicus 'Goats beard' with Blackberry Iris, Sedum and 'Ernest Markham' Clematis

Blackberry Iris and 'Rubies N' Gold' Weigela

Siberian Iris and 'Center glow' Ninebark  

A little story about these surprising Siberian's....

Our old house had very little landscaping when we moved in in 2001.  We moved and changed EVERYTHING over the 12 years we lived there.  But a single plant remained.  This batch of iris's.  But, I had no idea what they were because they never ever ever bloomed.  My hubby is a fan of grasses, and he liked their tall slender shape, so we left them, and even divided and spread them around.
12 years no blooms.
None.
Since he liked them so much, and since he does no much of my digging, I grabbed a patch of the "grass" and moved them here to Appleton in 2013.
Spring 2015 - they expose their true identity!!!  I always knew there was something more to them!
I have never been an iris fan, until now.  They are bright and graceful and so polite in their space.
Happy to have you Siberian Iris.

Ninebark 'Center glow' Spring Flower 

Purple Iris

This Iris is from Cora.  She gave it to me 3 years ago and I have moved it around no less than 4 times, trying to make it happy.  It has ignored my every attempt and refused to bloom...until now.  What is it about this Spring?  I don't remember the name, but I know Cora told me - because she knows all the  names.  It looks like a Bearded Iris, but I'm really not sure.  Someone else who knows more might want to give me a hint =)

A photo to document the size of the Joe-Pye Weed.  I saw this on a garden walk last summer and just had to have a few...  

Eupatorium purpureum - Joe-Pye Weed

On to the SHADE BED

Last year's 4th of July Hostas from Neighbor Lisa

Still a work in progress - and that progress gets a new idea and changes directions every few months!!  That blue 'Big Daddy' Hosta in back is claiming it's space!  This is the biggest i've ever grown a Hosta.  I'm tempted to divide it once or twice and make a specimen - but maybe it will do that on it's own without my interfering 

Part Shade bed with Hostas

'Big Daddy' Hosta , Solomons Seal, Ginger, creeping Sedum and other hostas

The Astilbes are waiting their turn to dazzle 

Astilbe 'Fanal' 

Sedum, Hostas, Astilbe, Bleeding heart, Ostrich Ferns, more Astilbe, Heuchera, Spotted Dead Nettle, Painters Pallet Lady's Mantle,  more ferns and Ligularia, all trying to hide the soaker hose.

Things are thriving and spreading around.  I'm almost loath to move them again.  but I must.

I just can't help it.  It's no use fighting myself over it.  I have not found the right companion planting arrangement yet.
I just hope I can get back here before it gets too hot.