🌱❤️ Some random #FlowersOnFriday - Zinnia 'Dreamland Red' just 36 days from direct sowing, paired with Calamintha nepeta; Hardy Hibiscus 'Watermelon Ruffles' living its name; & Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'Cosmic Struggle' with some action from a rebloom scape.😎 #FlowerHunting

🌱❤️🌞Lobelia cardinalis (Cardinal Flower), Chicagoland native, in a Meditation & Bridge Garden I designed at a woodsy executive client site. Paired with Hardy Hibiscus Summerific® 'Perfect Storm' behind & beside - just starting to bloom. Both love the moist to wet soil there. Campanulaceae & Malvaceae

🌱💜Reblooming Tetraploid Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'Born In California' (Bill Maryott, 2016). Pics 1 & 2 in the a.m., pic 3 in the p.m. Luxurious color & form. Maryott Daylilies are touchy growers in Chicagoland, this is best of 5 planted in 2020. No rebloom here yet - maybe this year.🤞 Asphodelaceae

🌱⏱️FAST ONE! Tetraploid Reblooming Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'Cosmic Struggle' (Karol Emmerich, 2009) wastes no time as preferential rebloom emerges. Karol hybridizes in Jordan, Minnesota - her flowers are beautiful & plants robust, Winter 🥶 hardy & heat 🔥 tolerant! Asphodelaceae

🌱💕 This Canna seedling greets the day in a sweet shade of candy pink. Have a herd of these beginning to open now - kept the bronze seedlings & green ones went to a client site. Though collected from 'Cannova® Bronze Peach' flower color of each is subtly different. Cannaceae

🌱💕AND SHE DID! Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'When My Sweetheart Returns' (Dr. Darrell Apps, 2003) takes sweetheart to the next level! Like all in this series, she has preferential repeat bloom, a short resting period, and then occasional stalks later in Summer & Fall. Asphodelaceae

🌱YES SHE DOES! Reblooming Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'Stephanie Returns' (Apps-Blew, 2006) is a near-continuous rebloomer, beginning with preferential rebloom - stalk & buds later cycle through Autumn. Pics 1 & 2 taken PM, pic 3 AM. Asphodelaceae

🌱💪🏼💛🧡STRENGTH IN BEAUTY. Reblooming Tetraploid Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'Heman' (James Gossard, 2007) makes his presence known with dramatically toothed 9" flowers on 3 foot scapes. Degree of burnt orange shading varies with conditions & bloom stage. Impressive! Asphodelaceae

🌱🤍 ALL TIME CLASSIC! Reblooming Hemerocallis 'Joan Senior' (Ken Durio, 1977; 🏆AHS Lenington All-American Award, 1990) is a beautiful marshmallow of a Daylily with brackets (buds initiate at bracts) pic 2, & preferential rebloom (new scapes emerge during main season) pic 3. Asphodelaceae

🌱 Good morning 🌼 Giant Coneflower, it's almost as tall as I am

🌱💕Reblooming Hemerocallis (Daylily) 'Romantic Returns' (Dr. Darrel Apps, 2000) is cherry-rose at opening, but has already lightened. A 2nd day of humid 95°F/36°C & 105°F/41°C heat index won't faze it. Preferential rebloom (sequential stalks) already emerging. 🥳 Asphodelaceae

🌱💜 Impressed with this gorgeous blue-eyed lavender Hemerocallis (Daylily) seedling, unregistered, from Kay M. Cline of Rolling Oaks Daylilies. Kay's personal guidance helped steer my selections to align with updated breeding goals. Asphodelaceae - Asphodel Family.

🎶 "Come Rain or Come Shine" - Winter hardy, disease resistant & beautiful Floribunda Rosa (Rose) 'Judy Garland' (Harkness, 1977), like her namesake, continues to grab new audiences! Pic 3 from a prior year - she'll build buds & blooms all Summer long. Rosaceae #RoseWednesday

The Ronmneya has started flowering. Lovely scent on them, too bad they usually flower above my head. #bloomscrolling 🌱

🌱🔥SMOKE & FIRE. Shimmering, smoldering colors of Calendula officinalis 'Zeolights' aka 'Triangle Flashback' (Frank Morton/Wild Garden Seed, ca. 2008) are hard to describe, they change with light & bloom stage.🌞 A reliable favorite borne on vigorous, healthy plants. Asteraceae

🌱🔎MAYBE, MAYBE NOT... Not sure if variable flecking on fragrant Chamaeiris (Spuria Iris) 'Buttered Chocolate' (Niswonger, 1974) is Iris Severe Mosaic Virus (ISMV) or natural breaking but sure is a beauty! Not only butter & chocolate but also delicious overtones of lilac & dirty martini!🍸😎 Iridaceae

🌱🌹🧡Bit late for #RoseWednesday - long day at the office & taking a different approach with 'Mandarin Sunset' (Christian Bédard, 2023). Showing flowers as they senesce & shatter rather than grooming for pics. Holds color until petal drop so even if a bit messy, keeps a nice distance effect.😎 Rosaceae

Hello and welcome to #GardensHour This week our theme is about water in your gardens. Whether it’s a water feature, small or large pond, stream or more, what do you have and what do you love most about it? Does your water encourage wildlife into your garden? If so, what?

🌱 Olfactory contrast: going from outside the kitchen where the philadelphus is in bloom, to inside where newly mixed kimchi is getting to work. Two very different kinds of wonderful 😀

🌱🌹🔥Though temps have cooled a bit since peaking at 93°F/34°C earlier, air is juicy with humidity bringing a chance of storms.⛈️🌩 Rosa (Rose) 'Lady of Shalott' (David Austin Roses, 2010), now prospering since I moved her from front to back yard 2 years ago, says 💪🏻"Bring It On!" Rosaceae

Happy #SixOnSaturday everyone hope you're all having a good weekend. Six white blooms from in and around my various patches of garden this week of wildly changeable weather 🌱 #Bloomscrolling #Flowers #UKGardening

🌱💛SUNSHINE FLOATING ON AIR. Phaeiris (Louisiana Iris) 'Edna Claunch' (Henry Wolford, R. 2004 - I. 2007; 🏆Marie Caillet Cup, 2013; 🥇Mary Swords DeBaillon Medal, 2014) truly glows! 2nd try with this iconic laced beauty, neighbors' chem treatment zapped first one.😱 Iridaceae

🌱🤎💛Overflowing with love for Limniris (Iris) x pseudata 'Yarai' (Hiroshi Shimizu by Carol Warner, 2011; 🥇Randolph Perry Medal 2021). Petite flowers in a delicious honey brown, striated mulberry - & those SIGNALS! Just stunning! Beautiful foliage & compact habit! Iridaceae

🌱🌹🥦 So much happening in the garden hard to keep track of it all, & equally hard to pause what I'm doing to post - here's a quick sweep. You're not alone in working outside til dark, so everyone make the most of these late Spring days - rich with both wins & challenges!❤️😎

🌱🐀😋DELICIOUS! Raphanus sativus v. caudatus (Rat Tail Radish) snipped into an omelette, spicy & tender, Chives along for the ride. From the Burpee retail rack a few years ago though sown '26. All Radish pods are edible but can become fibrous quickly - not this one. Flowers are lovely. Brassicaceae

May is when my garden really comes to life again and I start to enjoy the space fully. More flowers, more foliage, the lawn still looks green and I have the early season energy to keep the weeds under control! Peonies are a favourite this month #GardensHour

Hello! A very warm 🥵 welcome to #GardensHour this week! The UK has had the hottest May temperatures on record today and don’t we all know it! What’s been your highlights of your May garden this year? Any low points? What’s your keyword for May if you can sum it up?

🌱LIVES HER NAME! Tall Bearded (TB) Iris 'Hottie' (Paul Black, 2018) is a luxurious, velvety & ruffled Bing Cherry maroon (pic 2) - until Mr. Sun flips the lights on!🌞 After which, you could even say she glows!😎 Iridaceae

🌱🥳YOUR NEW FAVORITE FLOWER? Schizanthus x wisetonensis (Poor Man's Orchid, Butterfly Flower) 'Atlantis Mix' F1. Grown OP 'Angel's Wings' since youth in Alaska, now muddy pastels thanks to genetic drift & downgrade - poor seed crop management. Eager to see this 8 color formula mix perform! Solanaceae

🌱🖤Reblooming Tall Bearded (TB) Iris 'Ozark Rebounder' (Barbara Nicodemus, 2002; by Rockytop Gardens, 2003) on a bright & chilly suburban Chicagoland day. Pure luxury in velvet black with violet & white hafts, plus opulent muticolored beards. Reliable rebloom in Zone 5b. Iridaceae