We’re coming out of a lull in which the Front Garden was almost entirely green. Sure, I know green is a color but still – it’s not a color. You know what I’m saying. Now, as we shift into summer, the real colors are coming back.
Clematis ‘Betty Corning’ has been blooming all through the color lull, and it’s still going strong as other plants start to pick up the slack.
It is now full of blossoms from top to bottom. Bless its long season of bloom.
A new flower in the garden for this year – Bush’s Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe bushii). I was briefly obsessed with this native perennial last year and planted half a dozen. This is a more upright cousin of the sprawling Purple Poppy Mallow (Callirhoe involucrata).
Too late I discovered that Judy is not thrilled with the color. I’m not normally a big magenta guy either but something about this plant is compelling. Maybe because it is a host plant for the Gray Hairstreak butterfly.
The earliest of our Monardas to bloom, ‘Raspberry Wine’ Bee Balm (Monarda didyma) is now full of flowers reminiscent of red pompoms.
We have some growing by the back porch windows so we can watch the hummingbirds up close as they arrive for drinks of nectar.
Not as much Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa) blooming this year as there was last, which I plan to write about in an upcoming post. Still, there’s still one good patch at the edge of the Crabapple Bed.
Clematis ‘Multi-Blue’ is having a second flush of blooms even better than the one in May.
Its leaves have also turned a golden hue, something I never noticed in prior years.
I’m guessing the name comes from the different shades of blue that the flowers show as they age.
And Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ is still displaying substantial flower power.
I wanted to mention that next week I am starting an online garden design course. It’s supposed to be fairly intensive, so my posts on this blog will likely be shorter and/or less frequent.
What colors are you seeing in your garden these days?
gardeninacity 
Lovely, Jason! My gardens are green, green, and green with touches of red and yellow.
Comes with the season, I guess.
Green always wears other colors well, doesn’t it?
Very true.
Do you have obelisks or some sort of frame to support the two clematis in your front garden?
When I’m not fighting bindweed, I do have sightings of blue geranium “Brookside”, purplish “Roxanne”, verbena bonariensis, and now tithonia, just beginning to bloom.
Yes. ‘Betty Corning’ grows on a tall tomato cage, actually. ‘Multi-Blue’ grows on a tuteur.
Except in the dead of your winters, it seems to me like your garden always has color–more than green, I mean. Beautiful plants! The Clematis ‘Jackmanii’ is truly gorgeous.
There’s always some, but not always lots.
Oh….those clematis are just stunning. How I love the blues.xxx
Me too!
On line design course? Through what or with who?
At Cornell University’s Ag School extension program.
I have red, blue, white and some of that purplish pink, dark pink, greenish white and zinnnia colors. Variations of red and yellow. Lots of green though. I cut my Blue on Blue clematis to about a foot tall. I had so much dead looking stuff in it I just cut it down. I hope I didn’t kill it. I don’t know what happened other than we are in an “unusually dry” time. The weather man is quick to say that it isn’t a drought. Sure could have fooled me by the looks of my garden. ugh…
I really like the magenta blooming plant. If it is good enough for Hairstreaks it is great for me. 🙂 I hope Judy learns to like it.
I think it’s pretty rare that you kill a vine by cutting it back. My guess is it will come back strong.
What is Betty Corning ‘lilac’ climbing on? It looks shrubby.
Actually, it’s growing on a tall wire tomato cage.
Oh, that is cheating.
Yes it is.
I have touches of pink, white & raspberry with bits of purple here and there. But, my gardens are mostly green with dry patches starting to show up from the unrelenting heat and no rain. I miss the rain too & am starting to feel parched myself from the nonstop heat and sunshine.
We finally had a bit of rain yesterday, and it cooled off some as well.
I’m seeing too much pink in my garden but happy anything is surviving our hot dry summer. The opportunity to see Gray Hairstreak butterfly would be a good reason to enjoy the host plants. I’ve only learned of this butterfly last year and would like to meet one.
Ditto! Have never seen one, but I’m keeping my eyes open.
It is the dead of winter here, so the colour in your garden inspires me for spring planting. Your clematis is just stunning, we are thinking of trying one in a shady part of our garden in spring.
Good luck with your online garden design course, what a great idea.
Thanks, I’m looking forward to it.
Your clematis are all lovely. The sturdy growth habit of Betty Corning is interesting. I am also intrigued by the Poppy Mallow. I have never seen this before and love that vivid colour. I looked it up and it is hard to find here but apparently likes dry prairie conditions so I will try and source one to try out! Have fun with your course Jason.
‘Betty’ looks sturdy mostly because she is growing on a tall wire tomato cage.
I adore Betty Corning, I thought I had lost mine but she is back. Multi Blue is fabulous too. It is dahlia time again and they provide most of the colour in my garden.
Dahlias here are usually in bloom later in the season. They do have beautiful flowers, though.
My butterfly weed is blooming but no butterflies, my clematis is still hanging on with a few blooms, asiatic lilies are still quite colorful, and the daylilies are strutting their stuff. Looks like a colorful world both at your house and mine.
Our daylilies are just starting. Most of our Asiatic lilies have passed on – just a couple remain.
Good luck with the online course – sounds like fun. My Butterfly Weed is blooming, the Pink and Purple Coneflowers are going strong, the Common Milkweed has been attracting a Monarch here and there and the Tall Bellflower has returned. There are a few others… in general, though, a lot of buds waiting to open. Your Clematis is dramatic!
I once had some Tall Bellflower. It’s a good plant, I wonder how I lost it.
It was you who pointed out to me that it was a biennial. So I haven’t seen mine for two years, but now it’s back and looks like it expanded a bit. On the other hand I have planted things and forgotten about them and they appear mysteriously years later so maybe there’s hope for yours?
Love the poppy mallow! It looks like it’s in shade — is it? Also, can it tolerate a lot of water? Looking for part-shade plants for an area prone to standing water.
Also, that blue makes me want to try clematis again.
No, the poppy mallow likes dry, sunny sites. You might want to try Great Blue Lobelia or Cardinal Flower for your moist site in part shade.
I kept looking and looking at your ‘poppy mallow,’ and finally realized that they’re the same as what we call winecups. We have the Callirhoe involucrata, and a much taller native that grows on the Edwards plateau: the standing winecup, or C. pedata. My impression is that we’re coming into the ‘summer slump.’ There’s not a lot of color on the prairies now; the spring flowers have faded, and many of our fall bloomers will wait until after mid-summer’s heat to begin showing off.
Yes, Winecups is another common name. I think its native all the way up to Wisconsin.
We have a lot of colour at the moment. I planted bee balm a while back and I was so disappointed that I have never seen a bee on it. I still get one or two that self seed. Now if we had humming birds over here, that would be different! Amelia
I guess your conditions tend to be dry? Bee Balm likes moisture – but there’s also Wild Bergamot, a close relative with cultivars in a variety of colors, that likes dryer conditions.
I’ve looked up Monarda fistulosa, your Wild Bergamot, it sounds very interesting and might work better for me. It is going on my plant “wish list”. Thank you.
Thankfully, we’re now getting color from Liatris and Rudbeckia, along with Verbena bonariensis (a self-sower in the front garden). I just planted Verbena Homestead Purple to replace a patch that was lost a couple of winters ago, severely editing back the Solidago Fireworks that had taken over that corner.
Glad that you’re seeing color again, too.
We’re getting the first blooms on the Cup Plant and Yellow Coneflower.