My Garden Flowers (at the moment!)

It is no secret that I am in love with flowers...lots and lots of flowers. Every time there is a bit of open space in any of my gardens, I tend to fill it up with a flowering plant. Virginia Spiderworts spread themselves throughout my sun garden to the north of the front stairs. Mmm...they are so pretty.

My lone Oriental Poppy plant produced one flower that the deer allowed me to photograph before they ate another large flower bud that was ready to open. This poppy is in the central stump garden. I love all parts of the flowering process with poppies, from the spiny cover on the flower bud to the naked ovary after the petals have fallen.

Spanish Pink Bells are quite successful bulbs that I have planted in five areas of my gardens in the front yard. I love the splash of pink that they add, and best of all the deer do not seem to like them for dinner.

Another splash of pink in the center garden comes from chives that are concentrated on the street side of the garden. Here is a flower bud that is considering opening gradually in the next day or so. I love plants in the Allium family. 

Speaking of opening... here is a chive flower open for pollinator business!

I have been in love with Columbines ever since we lived in Colorado. 

I bought this beauty this year and also planted it and a few more into the east side of the center stump garden. Such a stunning flower...I enjoy that it faces outward and upward.

And...here is a red, downward facing Columbine. It is more difficult to see into and is notably smaller than the red and white one. But, it is a beauty all the same.

I am a lover of the color purple and this Columbine satisfies my purple addiction.

And, one final Columbine is this very prolific, light pink one that is found scattered in the north stump garden and throughout the long garden that runs up the north side of the property.

Our life wouldn't be complete without the delicate blueberry flowers that will soon give way to the delicious, deep blue fruits!

Tradition continues with the planter of petunias that adorn the top of the well. They give me pleasure all season long and remind me of my dearly, departed sister. My friend, Shannon, gifted me with a planter pot of petunias after my sister died 15 years ago, and I have continued to place a planter here each year.

Another flower that reminds me of Colorado is this gorgeous mountain bluet. I love all the colors and textures!

Speaking of textures, check out this Mountain Bluet flower bud.

Springtime wouldn't be the same without Rhododendron blooms. My Rhododendron took a hard hit this winter and there are very few leaves on it. I just fertilized it with about 6 gallons of rhododendron food, so we'll see if it recovers.

Rhododendron flowers have this "come hither" look about them as the patterning seems to guide bees to gather pollen and nectar.

Garden flower update

Our flower gardens are changing weekly. Perennials come and perennials go, usually over a two week cycle. Here is the main stump garden's west side (along the road.) It now has Petunias (annuals) in the stump and in front of the stump. There are Lupines, Chives,  Dame's Rocket in full bloom. The Peony buds are starting to mature.

Here is a look at the north facing side of the main stump garden, which is a bit shadier.. Just to let you know, the Dame's Rocket (which the butterflies love) was dug up from the garden soon after this photo was taken. It is a troublesome invasive plant and it is taking over so much of this garden. I dug it up before it went to seed so it won't reproduce elsewhere.

And, here is the south facing side of the main stump garden. The violets have all gone to seed. And, the Spanish Pink Bells have gone by as well. 

I have a 6th Pink Bell, just on the outside of the triangular stump garden, that is in more shade and just came into full bloom.)

I love chives, both to eat and to admire. I have one clump in this garden and one that has "magically" appeared in the garden in front of the deck.

And, then there are the Lupine. They weren't doing very well in a different stump garden, so I moved them to the south facing side of this one. They are thriving!

The Peony buds are getting larger each week as well. Peony flowers are just fabulous in their size and color and I am excitedly awaiting opening day!

Oh, me oh my oh... the poppy buds are forming. I love the texture of the plant and the bud scales, and the flower developing within is stunning in its papery thinness.

I mentioned that the Dame's Rocket has been pulled up. Sigh...but not before I captured a photo of this beautiful Eastern Tiger Swallowtail supping some nectar!

Near the secondary stump garden on the north side of the driveway, is the sweet smelling Lilac. It is gorgeous this year, but is almost a month late in blooming due to the cold springtime weather.

The azaleas are going by, and they were spectacular this year. There are white and light pink columbine sprinkled all along this north side of the yard as well.

I get so excited to see the blue flag irises bloom. They are just starting to open.  And, I like how they are native to the pond environment. I see them in the water along the shoreline.

Lastly, the high bush blueberry plants are flowering! Yay for blueberries! The flowers are so delicate. I love their downward facing nature. There are wild blueberry plants flowering over at the pond as well.

Here are the fertilized ovaries, some with the pistil still attached! Num, num, num...I can almost taste them in my memory, although this bush seems to grow somewhat tart blueberries. We rarely get any to eat as the birds gobble them up before the blueberries reach the ripeness that I prefer.

Just a few garden flowers in bloom

Petunias atop the well cover

We don't have many flowers in bloom at the moment, but I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to photograph a few of them. I bought this pot of petunias to adorn the well cover in the front yard. This tradition began with the death of my sister two years ago, and it continues to this day.

Rhododendron flower cluster

My largest flowering plant, at the moment, is my magnificent rhododendron. It is in the back yard and is in full bloom. It is working toward filling up a huge corner of the yard;-)

Dame's Rocket

Continuing with the pink theme are the lovely Dame's Rocket. These flowers are in the front stump garden as well as the gardens next to the house. 

Chives

And, who can resist planting chives? Chives are such pretty flowers, which along with their stalks can be cut for salads.

Lupine

I love lupines. In fact, I really don't think you can be a bonafide Mainer without having an obsession with lupines!

Lupine

Check out the top section of the flower stalk. Here you can see the little reddish-brown structures (called calyx lips, maybe), along the outer edge of the closed flowers, that separate from the flower as the flowers open.

Lupine

And check out the color of the "new" flowers. It seems as if they have more white on the banners.

Lupine

Then, we have the older flowers, I believe, with more purple banners. Does the white change to purple as the flower ages, or is it just that the top most flowers are a bit differently colored than the lower flowers. I shall have to investigate further.

Poppy

Okay, enough lupine photos! Check out the poppy flower. My poppy is in full bloom with 6 flowers open at once!

Poppy ovary with pistils and stamen

I absolutely love the purple stamens surrounding the ovary with its fuzzy stigmas. Sooo pretty... Check out the fallen the pollen that lines the base of the petals!