We realized this summer that we have accomplished our goal of having blooms throughout the growing season. From the early spring forsythia to the black-eyed Susans and phlox in bloom now, the flowers just seem to jump around the gardens as the months pass. Here are some favorites!
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| Forsythia x intermedia - one of our few non-natives, but the happiest and brightest harbinger of spring in this gardener's book. |
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| Paoenia lactiflora - over 80 years old and still as ephemeral as youth. |
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| Prunus persica 'Crimson Rocket' - we ate our first peach from this tree, which was planted two years ago. The squirrel got the other peach. He had better have enjoyed it too, the thieving rodent. |
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| Syringa reticulata - our "wee tree," the free shade tree we got from the city, is the worst type of non-native: Japanese (tree lilac)! But we love it anyway. |
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| Hydrangea arborescens 'Annabelle' - these are the queens of blooms. Several were the size of my head and feel just like silk. |
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| Phlox paniculata 'David's Lavendar' - every year a carpenter bee dies in them. I guess it's like crack to them. |
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| Helianthus annuus 'Zohar' - I'll borrow Birdchick's nomenclature and point out the 'girls' collecting pollen. You can get up really close to them and watch them get all dusty as they add to their pollen baskets. |
