The latest blooms on the sweetpeas are a lovely light and dark blue. They are using the cosmos as a trellis.
In a couple of days, the zinnias will enter into the color chaos in the cutting garden. I don't remember what color they will be so it will be a nice surprise.
In the front yard I'm having more a purple phase. The Chinese ground orchid that was so small at Zilker Garden Fest that the seller gave me a discount is blooming.
The heartleaf skullcap (probably the strangest named plant, at least in my yard) is blooming like crazy.
I'm slowly coming to terms with the fact that the shady front yard will never support the variety of bloom color that I would like. But I am beginning to appreciate the nuances of green in the yard. I mean with blog called Vert, shouldn't I?
And yet, the colors of the cosmos just make me smile.
And I'm not the only one.
Who are your plants making smile these days?
Heartleaf skullcap is one of my favorite plants for part-shade. That blue-green color, the fuzzy texture, those lavender flowers! Your patch looks great.
ReplyDeleteMy sweet peas are also blooming finally after a setback by caterpillars eating the first flush of buds. This is more the end of the line for my garden. Everything is going to seed and on hot, humid days like today, I just want to rip it all out and mulch it.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait till my heartleaf skullcap fills in enough to look as good as yours. From what people tell me, that shouldn't take long. ;)
ReplyDeleteEmbrace the green! Then add chartruese, & burgundy & blue foliage plants. I love magenta flowers, & your Cosmos are so brilliant.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of the bed looks wonderful and lush! Perfect for Vert! The Heartleaf skullcap is attractive, can we grow it further north?
ReplyDeleteI am going to follow the advice of mmd in my too green garden!
Gail
The skullcap is quickly become one of my favorites. I got the original plants from a workday in the Green garden at Zilker Botanical Garden.
ReplyDeleteHere's some more information on heartleaf skullcap from the Wildflower Center:
Native Distribution: Maryland to Minnesota and southward to South Carolina, eastern and central Texas and Mexico. (Gail, sounds like this would include you.)
I also found this bit interesting: It may go dormant over the summer but is evergreen during the winter. There can be a lot of loss due to rotting over the summer. It is probably best to water pots infrequently over summer.
Mine completely disappeared after last summer. Maybe because it was such a wet summer? I bought a couple of plants at the Wildflower Center plant sale last fall, when someone there told me that it would come back. It did but it wasn't visible until maybe two months ago.
I like all the shades of green, it is very relaxing.
ReplyDeleteHere in my garden, sweet peas are a spring flower, BUT cosmos is more of a late summer/early fall flower. So there is no way the sweet peas could use the cosmos for support. So even though our gardens have these two flowers in common, we grow them in quite different ways.
Carol, May Dreams Gardens
My sweet pea is sucking- I have it at te bottom of a trellis and I swear it grew about 6 inches, then stopped and maybe has put on 2 inches more the entire last 2 months. I planted it in January. Was that too late? Should I just pull it up?
ReplyDeleteMy sweet peas haven't done much better than Bonnie's - planted months ago, made a few inches of growth then sat there. Now they're growing like mad, but will they have time to bloom before they get fried?
ReplyDeleteThe heartleaf skullcap looks amazing in your garden, Vert! Mine's not doing much but all the salvias are either budded or blooming, so that makes me smile.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose