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Although this could very well be a picture of me finding a new treasure at a favorite nursery, it's actually an illustration by David Catrow for a children's book called Plantzilla.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day May 2014

Joining with Carol at May Dreams Gardens,  garden bloggers from around the world post pictures of what's blooming in their gardens on the fifteenth of each month.  Thanks, Carol for reminding us that we can have flowers every day of the year!

Here's some of what's blooming in the Outlaw Garden this May:


Rhododendrons 






Roses

Rosa sericea pteracantha

Cecile Brunner


A NOID old rose, a cutting brought from a huge old bush at our previous home.

R.rugosa 'Yankee Lady'


Zephirine Drouhin

Camellias


Calycanthus 'Hartlage Wine'

Begonia boliviensis 

 Funky flowered pelargonium that made it through the winter in the glass room.


Meconopsis cambrica 

Polygonatum multiflorium

Gardenia 'Kleim's Hardy' just came home, still in it's pot so it's probably earlier than it would be if it were in the ground. 


Agapetes 'Ludgvan cross' seems very happy to be back outside!

Columbine


Forget-me-nots (Myosotis something or other)  

Sedum palmeri

Snowball viburnum that has been cut down many times. (how do you kill this thing?) and Kolkwitzia amabilis

Alstroemeria 'Rock 'n' Roll'


 Paeonia delavayi

Another peony whose name I've forgotten

This honeysuckle is looking lovely but I haven't detected any evening fragrance on this one.  


Always the last daffodil to bloom for me are these inherited  Narcissus poeticus, one of the first daffodils brought into cultivation.

Ceanothus 'Dark Star' with Euphorbia 'Fireglow'


Ribes speciosum


Clematis  'Queen Josephine'


Variegated and very fragrant ceanothus.

More columbines

Aesculus pavia

Abutilon vitifolium is totally hardy here and grows into a short lived small tree.

 Allium
 Dodecatheon frigidum  almost finished blooming

Crinodendron hookerianum sustained some winter damage but didn't die and is now blooming.  Knock on wood, it's been in place for four years and hopefully it'll have enough strength to withstand any future winters.
Join in the fun and post what's blooming in your garden!

32 comments:

  1. So many plants are in bloom in your garden Peter!
    I love your rhododendrons, they are my weakness, I'm waiting for mine in bloom. Your Agapetes is wonderful and abutilon is unusual growing and blooming outside, I always thought it's inside plant.
    Happy GBBD!

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    1. May brings a lot of flowers! Some abutilons are hardy outside here but most require warmer winters than we have.

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  2. All so beautiful! I can't believe I forgot to photograph my Rock n' Roll Alstroemeria for Bloom Day. I don't have room for another Rhododendron, but if I did I think I might choose that one third from the top in your post, I adore that combo of colors. Dark Star and Fire Glow make such a great combo. I have been waiting and waiting for my Josephine Clematis to bloom, lots of swelling buds but still not open. What is she waiting for?

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    1. My Josephine was waiting for these last few warm days. That rhododendron is very sweet but it's in a lot of shade so it doesn't produce as many flowers as it might given more light. Hope you're enjoying our gorgeous weather!

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  3. All those blooms in your garden, wow! How beautiful it must be in person because it's pretty fabulous on my computer screen.

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    1. I'm thinking that the close ups on your computer screen are better because then you don't see all of the unfinished projects crying for attention in the background.

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  4. Your Agapetes are so cute, they look like they were painted. My Rhododendrons were all here when I moved in so I don't know their names, but I have the fourth one in your photos, it is particularly twisty in its branch patterns. My Ceanothus died way back this winter, yours looks so great with your milder growing conditions. Your yellow tree peony looks alot like mine from Collector's Nursery, I have it as delavayi too, google calls it 'luteum'. Your flowers are wonderful as usual!

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    1. That yellow peony has had a lot of names. I'm thinking that it's P. luteum var. ludlowii. Right now my name for it is "You take up a lot of space and aren't all that interesting so you may get ripped out." Of course that would require that I actually do something and we all know that won't happen. Happy GBBD, Hannah!

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  5. OMG...that Honeysuckle is stunning!

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    1. It's looking especially nice this year but the hummers don't seem to be enjoying it for some reason.

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  6. You seem to have a bit of everything in bloom - you'd never catch roses and camellias in the same post from down this way. I'm generally wary of honeysuckle's rampant spreading but yours is magnificent - I'd be happy to give it free reign on my slope (or anywhere). Happy GBBD, Peter!

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    1. The honeysuckle is a rampant spreader and I have to cut it away from areas where it isn't welcome but am happy that it's growing down a bit into the inherited vinca groundcover.
      Those two crazy camellias always bloom very late and the darker one, instead of having one glorious bloom time covered with blossoms, puts out a few blooms here and there almost all summer long. Crazy thing.

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  7. That's a colourful set of blooms you have there Peter! Agapetes looks unusual!

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    1. I'm always surprised when I put together a bloom day post that there are so many blooms as I think of my garden as having a lot more foliage than blooms. Agapetes is a lot of fun and might even be hardy for you.

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  8. So tell me Peter, how big is your Aesculus pavia? I've read that they top out at 15 feet but I'm leery of getting one because I don't trust it to not grow bigger.

    Interestingly your Euphorbia 'Fireglow' is a dead ringer for my E. 'Great Dixter' and Ricki's E. 'Fire Charm.' But I love them all.

    Seeing your 'Cecile Brunner' makes me sad that I took my climbing 'CB' out. It was HUGE. I would love to get a shrub specimen. I've seen them around. I just love the form and fragrance of those sweet blossoms.

    Scott is right. That honeysuckle is fabulous. Great photos!

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    1. The Aesculus pavia came from Cistus about six years ago. It's not in the best soil and the tetrapanax have grown over it casting shade. Poor thing hasn't grown up much but sprawls around about 2 feet off the ground. Perhaps I should stake a leader and force it up a bit but it still flowers nicely and the hummers love it so it gets left alone.

      I removed a 'Cecile Brunner' from another area that didn't have space for it but missed the fragrance and those cute little blooms so I planted another where it would have space to be huge. A shrub would be dandy!
      Happy GBBD Grace!

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  9. So many beautiful flowers. Have a happy weekend.

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    1. Thanks Karen. Hope you have a happy weekend too!

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  10. Wow! SO many flowers! Beautiful colors and pictures! I envy you for that pink Shooting Star!

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    1. Thanks Daniela. I didn't know that there were white shooting stars until I started gardening here. In Alaska, where I'm from, the pink ones grow wild. Such a sweet flower!

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  11. You have such a great array of flowers this month! That's a great picture of your Agapetes. I just bought an Agapetes serpens today at Bovees.

    I love your combo of Ceanothus 'Dark Star' and Euphorbia 'Fireglow'.

    Ribes speciosum has such interesting flowers. I wish the deer left Ribes alone.

    I'm happy your Crinodendron survived the winter. It looks lovely. I've always been enchanted by those red lanterns. Maybe someday I'll have a garden mild enough to chance one.

    Magnolia 'Kleim's Hardy'? Just fyi, that cultivar can develop chlorosis easily. It's usually considered to be an iron deficiency (because that's the most common cause of chlorosis), but my old boss at Castle Rock Nursery found that her plants actually needed more of either manganese or magnesium. Unfortunately I forget which.

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    1. Glad that you got an Agapetes - They're such fun plants!
      Thanks for the info about 'Kleim's Hardy'. Realized my mistake as soon as I saw your comment - It's a gardenia of course. That's what I get for writing so late at night.

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  12. You have a fantastic selection of blooms, your garden must be very colourful at the moment. Your rhododendrons are amazing, the honeysuckle is fantastic and the Agapetes so unusual, thank you for showing us the flowers blooming in your garden today.

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    1. We love sharing our blooms don't we. It's so much fun to see what's happening in other gardens!

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  13. Good grief, you have a ton of gorgeous plants blooming right now! Envious!! But maybe I just need to plant more flowers. ;-) I can't grow all of those plants but I know I should be trying to grow Calycanthus. Thanks for the reminder about that one. Lovely, all of them!

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    1. Thanks Jean! I really think of my garden as more focused on foliage than flowers but you know those plants, they like to reproduce...

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  14. Wow! What a wonderful bunch of bloomers!

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    1. Thanks Linda. Your bloomers are looking very nice as well!

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  15. just Lovely :)
    and do not miss

    SATURDAY SHOW OFF

    it is FUN :)
    Welcome
    The Roseman

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  16. In this parade of beauty, what stands out to me is the 'Ludgvan Cross'. Man, how I love those flowers.

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    1. Ain't they swell? Cistus used to have a huge one in a pot that took up a lot of space but I bet it sold a lot of agapetes plants for them while it was in bloom!

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Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I love to hear your thoughts.