Garden Blogger's Bloom Day ~ July 2011

Welcome to the Mid-Summer edition of Gilmore Gardens!

After a week of rather intensive pruning and planting, the garden is ready for its start into high summer.

   The Cherry Corner garden is in its warm/hot stage, with a half-dozen different varieties of daylilies (Hemerocallis), and annual bedding filling in the front margin where the grape hyacinths began in the spring.  Heuchera 'Palace Purple' and Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander' both play the important role of grounding the daylilies, giving them a place to appear their best. Their mounded foliage also covers for the somewhat crazed fountain foliage of the Hemerocallis.

Double version of Hemerocallis fulva

Hemerocallis 'Autumn Minaret' is beautifully scented. Something like Lily of the Valley, to my nose anyway.

Unnamed red daylily

The first of the Rudebekia, Black-eyed Susans.

Close-up of Cherry Corner's annual planting.

View from Cherry Corner toward the Hill Garden

View over the Front Walk

 The Front Walk is getting its summer make-over. Red dahlias have been added already, as well as some annuals to fill in for the growing Japanese anemone plants. A few allium christophii heads still sparkle here as the nepeta is also finishing up its first bloom, awaiting a hair cut. Red-leaved cannas will soon be added. Red annuals by the front steps keep the hot colors going along the whole front of the house.

Rather a nice July 4th combination: Allium christophii, Nepeta 'Walker's Low' and red dahlias.

From the front steps to Cherry Corner.

View from Cherry Corner to the Shade Path

When transitioning from the hot summer bedding to toward the cool green backyard, the Shade Path is a good intermediary step.

The Shade Path has had its foxglove cleaning for the year, moving on to its next display.  After a few years of not being happy with the summer bedding here, I decided to try two shades of pink this year. Darked-leaved begonias with a light pink flower and magenta impatients go well with the light purple Hosta flowers. I prefer to plant my annuals in large groups or swaths, instead of in a row.

Hydrangea quercifolia blooming in front of Hostas

Close-up of Hosta, Impatients and Begonias. Japanese forest grass Hakonechloa macra 'Aureola' at left.

View from the sidewalk toward the back yard. Clematis 'Lil Nell' on the gate.

Hydrangea quercifolia

White variegated Hosta and hardy ivy by the back steps.

Clematis 'Lil Nell' seed pods on the gate.

Now on to the real business of July: relaxing! What would a garden be without a green place to rest in on a hot summer's day? This is our little outdoor living room for the summer. Sometimes it has a baby pool and sprinkler, sometimes just a hammock and some library books. Having dessert by the fountain is my personal favorite. And anything is better with a few flowers!

Gerbera daisy in the pot with an asparagus fern. An overwintering success story! (Finally!!)

Thalictrum pubescens (or a meadow rue very similar) in our Back Woodland.

Geranium 'Rozanne' in the Driveway garden.

 Hope you find a cool spot to enjoy this July!

Thanks to Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting GBBD!

See more of Gilmore Gardens: 
The Hill Garden in July (Roses!)
Foliage Follow-up for July (More green spaces)

July Scenes from the Front Woodland

The Front Woodland is in the sidewalk strip at Gilmore Gardens. It is just a couple of years old, but is filling out quite nicely this year. It has progressed from the daffodils of April, to the foxgloves and irises of May/June, to the daylily display of July.

A baby tulip tree can be seen sprouting up in the middle of the daylilies (above), which will give shade and balance our tall house when the old maples are gone.

These daylilies have all grown from one large clump that came from my husband's childhood home. They are the common orange daylily (Hemerocallis fulva) which you may see along country roads at this time of year. 

Here they are planted with Hemerocallis 'Stella d' Oro' and across the sidewalk from the blue catmint, Nepeta 'Walker's Low'.

I like the combination of colors here more this year than I did last year. Last year I was ready to rip out this whole lot of orange flowers. I guess I have stretch my color boundaries, especially in not minding that a few pink geranium flowers pop up in this area from time to time!

It makes for a much nicer walk along the sidewalk, anyway. Quite colorful.

Geranium 'Orion'

   Four years ago when I started to lay out the bed which would become the Driveway Garden, I knew that I wanted to have some blue geraniums. They would contrast with the light pink old rose, which was the only pre-existing plant in the area and therefore my first building block in the design.

I had always loved 'Johnson's Blue' (of Hidcote fame) while I worked at the garden nursery. I inquired about it first there, but was told that its sucessor was now available instead, Geranium 'Orion'. So our introduction was made.

I have loved this plant, firstly for its fast growth. I bought one pot that first fall, divided it into three parts and planted each. They were small to medium sized that first year, but every year since they have spilled at least a foot out of the bed with bouquets of blue flowers. I do not mind its sprawling nature in this situation, though perhaps it might not be as mounded as another gardener might wish.

G. 'Orion' in front of the chartreuse glow of Sedum 'Acre'

Secondly, I love it for its two months of flowering. Once the majority of the flowers are finished, as with most geraniums, it benefits from being cut to the ground. That usually happens around mid-July in our Zone 5 area. This rids the area of the remains, and allows for the base of the plant to send up new leaves that keep looking fresh all the way into the late fall. It's leaves are nicely dissected.

Look closely...

Little buggy enjoying the view from a blossom.

Thirdly, I love it for its wonderful fall color. It competes with the burning bush to see who can produce the most vibrant leaves. The red foliage color is a real boost to the Driveway garden as the Sedum 'Autumn Joy' and asters are just beginning to wind down in November.

Perhaps G. 'Orion' will shine brightly in your garden also. Give it sun, a little mulch and let it loose.

Clematis 'Perle d'Azur'

  Clematis 'Perle d'Azur'

   Clematis 'Perle d'Azur', which is climbing one of the maple trees on the Shade Path, has just finished its first season of bloom at Gilmore Gardens. 

   I planted it to climb along with a climbing hydrangea (Hydrangea anomala petiolaris), hoping that eventually they will complement each other. It is important to give a new clematis some shade for its roots by planting its root ball behind some bushy plants (geraniums in this case). It has laced its way up the tree this year as I have tucked its main stem into the rough bark.

Clematis 'Perle d'Azur'

Thanks to my friend Bev, for gifting it to me a year and a half ago.
It has been worth waiting for!