June 10: Blooming Vignettes

We are in a lull.  A hush.  A hiatus.
The space between Spring and Summer is almost like the anticipation of Spring.  While my early blooms are fading, and I'm anxious to chop them to the ground because there presence no longer thrills me.
"OFF WITH THEI HEADS!" So sayeth the Queen
To aggravate the unsightliness of the fallen Spring stars, I mis calculated my bloom times and there is very little to look at.  I have big mounds starting to push up future blooms, but they are not ready to be seen.             So I wait.
This is why I may want to start planting more annuals amidst my beds.  The sharp edge of this thought is it goes against my effort to decrease the amount I buy every year.  Each Spring I tell my Hubby, "Once I get the beds going, it won't cost this much...I'm planting perennials mostly...even in my pots."  I say this EACH SPRING.  Maybe I have to rethink or reorganize.

One vignette crammed together in front of my early blooming clematis is the Sundrops, Asiatic Lilies and, the one who set is all off is the Heuchera.

Onethera fruticosa 'Fireworks (sundrops), Lilium Asiatic Lily "Orange Matrix',  Heuchera 'Blackberry Ice'

I'll show more pots later (maybe on GB's Bloom Day).  Because it's been so cool, my pots have not taken off. They all look pretty young.  This one is doing very well.  They were not well thought out this year, like normal.  I was desperate to get them planted before my daughters graduation so I just threw the cheap stuff in the cart, then haphazardly threw them in pots when I got home.
So far, I'm okay with it

Coleus 'Marooned' and 'The Flume', Oxalis, Creeping Thyme

Jumping over to the shade garden.  I've had Creeping Jenny planted in pots for years.  It always comes back and I just add annuals (trying to replace with perennials) to it.  A few years ago, my pots were so thick with lime green tendrils that I ripped most of it out to give others breathing room.  This year, I've spread them out all around the pots in my beds, trying to have some cohesive coloring.  I go back and forth whether or not I want it in the beds. Might be too aggressive and choke out it's companions, or jump over the edging and root in the grass (BAD).  But here, it does it's job of keeping things bright splendidly.

Astilbe  'fanal', Hosta, Impatiens 'Lipstick Pink', Lysimachia 'Creeping Jenny'

Astilbe 'fanal'

Astilbe 'vision in white'

I have Astilbe scattered amongst the shade bed.  Some purchased and some were free gifts.  Over the Winter I saw something on Pinterest that made me want to gather them each together by color and put them in waves.  But, I had no idea which was which.
 So, now I know I have 4 beautiful Reds, 2 good looking Whites, 2 small pinks, and 2 very stumpy and very bland-almost pink.
After blooming is over I will move similar colors together, maybe divide them to get a longer line of color.  I swore I had purple somewhere.  I think I need some purple.  Back to the catalogs to look for purple.