As always, just beautiful. After 13 days over 100 degrees and drought, all of my beauties are struggling. I enjoy seeing yours.

stunning..

thx for taking the time to post them

ken

Lovely! I always enjoy seeing your gardens.

In the second photo of Lilium martagon there are two plants with large foliage. The one on the right looks a Kirengeshoma, but what is the one on the left?

Thanks!

Thank you guys!
Sweet betsy, I cannot even imagine 100 degrees F(38 C). My personal 'death zone' begins already at 25 degrees C. That's why I have never been to tropics and I never will.

Nhbabs, I bought it many years ago as Podophyllum hexandrum 'a Giant Form'. I do not know if it is supposed to be synonymous with 'Majus', but while Majus is quoted as growing to 60 cm tall, my goes up to 1 meter.

That's how it looks in May:

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After 3 warm days we are back to 'normal' (= cold and rainy). Fungi have real orgy this year. (daylilies, lilies , flowers on peonies had rotted even before they opened)

Here are some new shots:

Look how different flowers can be on one branch of Potentilla Emilie:

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Veronicastrum virginicum Lavenderturm, the tallest of them all:

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A close-up of Thalictrum flavum glaucum to show you the foliage(color!)

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Lilium martagon X tsingtauense:

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Compare the spring foliage of this Pulmonaria(mottled) to summer foliage(totally silver)

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Campanula lactiflora Superba, proved to be the best of the varieties I had(winter hardiness). Now no longer a campanula, but I never remember this strange new name.

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One more shot of Geranium pratense Violaceum Plenum , a knock-out if planted together with early orange lilies(unfortunately they succumbed to fungi):

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My favourite campanula , C.trachelium Bernice. The foliage needs to be cut down after the blooming. If fed well, it can repeat. In spite of being a double , it is fertile in my garden, as I found some new plants in places I did not plant it. One of them white! which looks like C.trachelium Alba Plena, but without the usual chlorosis!
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Another colour of Lilium martagon:

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More pictures soon.

Your gardens are absolutely beautifull!!!!

Beautifulreddahlias, thank you!!

We are down to 14 degrees Celsius today. 6 hours without rain, feels nearly like a vacation or something. Went out to make some pictures.

Leucanthemum Broadway Lights has been lit. So much better than Sonnenschein.

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Lysimachia punctata Alexander. The only Lysimachia worth growing IMHO. Does not run for me, unlike the straight species.

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Lilium davidii, one of my absolute favourite lily species(the others are: martagon, pyrenaicum, rosthornii, tygrinum Flore Pleno and speciosum Uchida), as they do not have this 'diva syndrome' as other species show.

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Martagon hybrid, it's the first time in my life I see fungi munching the leaves of martagons.

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The earliest cimicifuga, propagated from seed labelled as C.sibirica from a botanical garden somewhere. But I can't really find any reference by that name. Of all the seedling I've only kept the smallest one. The others were beautiful but just too big for my garden.

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Centaurea atropurpurea.

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This is F1 between Centaurea atropurpurea and an intense yellow Centaurea orientalis(they did it without my help here in my garden). All have the same pale yellow colour.

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Wow, beautiful prictures! What type of Delphiniums are those? Love the colors and how the spikes are loose and airy rather than congested and heavy like most you see here.

Brody, majority of my Delphiniums are German hybrids of D.elatum produced by a German breeder Karl Foerster in the first half of the last century. They have been selected for good health and longevity. I prefer the airy ones, because they are more wind resistant and do not flop as the English ones. The one on the first picture may be a hybrid of D. belladonna Volkerfrieden and D. exaltatum which I had at some point(small flowers). While D.exaltatum proved to be short-lived in my garden, its seedling is doing much better.

Some more shots:

Hemerocallis Adamas. One of only two who show the dark edges all the way round. The others just laugh at me when I ask about the edges. The fancy ones do not even bother to open this year in our weather. The buds grow, pretend to want to open and then just rot.

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Noid lilies. These ones are real perennials, 20 years in my garden. Yellow and orange ones have more 'staying power' than red and pink(the worst ones).

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Rudbeckia laciniata Starcadia Razzle Dazzle, 50 cm taller this year because of all this rain.

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Tango lilies:
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A close-up of Veronicastrum Lavendelturm:
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Last open Iris: Dusky Challenger

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The second of my Achillea seedlings:
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Campanula trachelium Bernice once more:
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Veratrum album , from seed
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A pink noid lily. The only perennial asiatic pink lily in my garden. My wife got it for birthday many years ago. The label said STARGAZER!!!

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Monarda Jacob Cline, the biggest disappointment in years. 16 stems with not a single side branch. One flower per stem!! To compare, Monarda Balance has 12 branches on the biggest stems.
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Double Campanula carpatica, bought for indoors decoration many years ago, at least 10-12. So all the talks about how short-lived C.carpatica is , does not apply to this one.

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Phlox Mishenka, an ancient Russian cultivar:

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The third of my Achilleas, the dark red one on the right:
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Lovely lovely lovely! You have a way with color and combinations that is so pleasing. I also have campanula Bernice and find it such a pretty purple, didn't know it might rebloom. This year I got thalictrum flavum and a white thalictrum, I hope in future years they are as nice as yours. My martagon lilies have never self seeded. You lysimachia Alexander is stunning! I've gotten rid of mine because EVERY year they get these little green inchworms that eat the whole plant to the ground. The worms don't bother anything nearby, just this one plant, which I find fascinating, but meant Alexander had to go.

I've never seen a potentilla with such big flowers, very unusual. I have standard veronicastrum, but love the very long, airy spires of your v. lavenderterm, must find it!

Veratrum album - how come I have never seen this lovely plant and it is hardy to zone 5? I've never even heard of it, but it is gorgeous.

Love your garden!

Gottagarden, thank you! I love my garden too. A warning : Veratrum album is supposed to be one of the most poisonous plants around, one of the sites on the Internet claims, that even inhaling of the scent can be harmful. So caution is adviced.

Potentilla Emilie is so similar to Arc-en-Ciel, that I cannot see any difference at all. The main flower on the stem is actually 6 cm in diameter, the rest of the flowers are smaller.

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Potentilla Vulcan, more arm flinging than others.

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Ligularia Zepter:
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A noid perennial lily:
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Helenium El Dorado:

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A noid lily. I'm not fond of the colour, but this lily is so healthy and does not die, so it stays here .

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Veronicastrum Apollo. Some sources say 'virginicum', some 'sibiricum'. Whatever it is , it will not stay in my garden. No side branches two years in a row.

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Phlox Blaue Morgen(Blue Morning). To clear things up: the only blue thing with this phlox is its name. The colour is gray violet. It received a serious warning last year(floppy two years in a row) and it helped!Though the habit is still rather open. I scared it by saying that it would go to the BIG GARDEN in the skies the same way as Blue Paradise went (this one was the worst phlox I ever had)

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Campanula latifolia, this time from seeds received from a Russian botanical garden. It blooms 2 weeks later than others , never flopping and the heart is dark violet:

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Phlox Kirchenfurst:

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Somebody asked for Ligularia The Rocket. The first flower is beginning to colour:

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My version of a prairie:

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Lovely gardens and color combinations! Thanks for posting!

Robyn

Just stunning. I am trying Thalictrum flavum glaucum for the first time this year, although they have quite a ways to go to be as beautiful as yours. Are you growing in full sun?

I was feeling pretty good about my gardens until I saw these glorious pictures. How very kind of you to share them with the world. Your gardens are simply wonderful. wieslaw 59, do you suppose German hybrid delphiniums are available here in the States?

a2zmom, yes I grow them in full sun. I'd like to repeat, that my 2 plants are chosen out of more than 50 seedlings for being most ornamental. Not all were just as fluffy as the two.

Patann, I doubt you can buy named varieties over there, but I have seen seeds from them both at Jelitto Seeds and B and T WORLD SEED.Some of them bloom already in second year, but it takes normally 3 years for the plant to develop a clump.

Some more shots :
Rudbeckia laciniata Starcadia Razzle Dazzle from another angle:

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First Helianthus flower - Loddon Gold

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Leucanthemum Fiona Coghill:

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Monarda Gardenview Scarlet, better branched than Jacob Cline

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Aconitum seedling, a cross between A.X cammarum Grandiflorum Album and Stainless steel.

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Aconitum Bergfurst. One of the shoots began blooming in May, 2 months earlier than the rest for some reason.

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A seedling from Campanula trachelium Bernice, double white. It germinated in the middle of a daylily clump.

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I am saving this post to my "Favorites" listing so I can go through these pictures over and over during our long winters. What happiness. Thank you again.
Pat
SouthEast Michigan

Some new shots :

Aconitum Schneewittchen(Snow White), not any whiter than any other white Aconitum, they are all greenish.

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Aconitum Franz Marc, tall, strong growing.

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Centaurea salonitana, extremely beautiful flowers on extremely running plant.
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Heliopsis Goldgrunherz(Gold Greenheart):

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Phlox amplifolia Winnetou, much taller this year:

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Phlox, most probably Juliglut(July Glow):

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An ancient lily

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Leucanthemum Broadway Lights:

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Ancient lilies, Connecticut King and Enchantment:

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A nameless Hydrangea,for generations in my wife's family, blooming on old and new wood. You cannot imagine my surprise when some years ago somebody marketed Endless Summer as 'the first ever hydrangea blooming on new wood'. Do not believe a word of it! Some people just do not have any limits.

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posted by gottagarden: "Your lysimachia Alexander is stunning! I've gotten rid of mine because EVERY year they get these little green inchworms that eat the whole plant to the ground"

After several years of healthy growth I found one of my clumps of 'Alexander' nearly leafless because of little green inchworms. I wonder if this was the last year for my formerly trouble free plant......

I have the non variegated 'Yellow Loosestrife' and I love those yellow flowers in June. I am careful where I plant it and I do cut it back after flowering as invariably it does get eaten by those pesky worms but of course they do not do mortal damage as the plant returns just fine the following year.

(The picture below is a young plant...planted in July 2010 and flowering as you see in June 2011)

That is a stunning Heliopsis.

And I love the color of 'July Glow'. What's the geranium in front of it? It's a gorgeous combo.

Wieslaw, I still can't get over the fact that you went through 50 seedling to get your Thalictrum. One of my plants is very floppy (I planted them last year) but I think it's in too much shade.

How large is your garden? It seems huge!

wieslaw59
I find the Horuncus Horatio interesting, can you give us your opinion of it?

thanks

a2zmom, the geranium in front of July Glow is Geranium pratense Violaceum Plenum. It is the most vigorous of the old double geraniums.
When I buy a packet of seed, there is normally enough seed for 50-100 plants. There is no way I could keep them all. So I only keep the best 2-3 plants normally. I have sold some and tossed the rest out. My garden is not huge(890 square meters), it is only well filled in, we have only narrow paths of grass between the beds. We do not need big lawns(waste of space when you have a collecting mania and the space is limited).

judyhi, Aruncus Horatio in my garden proved to be a very healthy and robust plant with a very beautiful foliage(reminds of astilbe but without scorching). It grew bigger than I expected it to be(much rain?), and the flowers stay white too short time in my opinion, turning brown rather quickly. It would be good for someone with bigger garden. I also expected the flowers to be more fluffy than they are.

As always excellent inspiring pictures wieslaw59.

I am interested in more details re your "Leucanthemum Broadway Lights" i.e. final size, duration of bloom, water needs etc.

Next spring I think I will remove two more of my "Leucanthemum Banana Cream". They have had two full seasons to do their best and I am disappointed with this plant...short lasting flowers and no rebloom. This was a much over hyped overrated plant that sucked me in. Its height is perfect but almost nothing else is good about it.

890 meters is huge as far as I'm concerned. My largest bed is less than 30 feet by 10 feet - approximately 13 square meters.

Although my beds are gradually getting bigger as I take over more lawn.

rouge, to begin with you should check if it is hardy enough for your zone. It is just borderline hardy in my 'warm' zone 7. Two winters ago one big clump was eradicated by frost and this winter one clump was partly damaged. But due to enormous vigor the plant rebounced, giving a good display. The flowers keep the colour for several days, fading eventually to cream(but not dirty). There are two or three side branches on each stem, each branch carries one bud. Beneath the branches there is something that looks like sleeping buds, so there is a potential for rebloom. The height at the moment is 70 cm(with a lot of rain), the plant is compact and the stems stand up beautifully. A vast improvement on Sonnenschein, which had very weak stems,thin petals and poor branching. There are two rows of thick petals on the flowers.

Some new shots:

Aconitum henryi Spark's variety is described as sterile, but apparently not always. It produced a seedling that is even taller than the mother plant, and blooming earlier, at least more than 1 week(still counting)

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To give you the idea how tall it is, more than 2 meters.
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Thalictrum Splendide and delawayi album

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Veronicastrum virginicum album:

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This is the time of daylilies now. Just think that the plant on the next picture was given the name Fairy Tale PINK!!!It has never been even close to pink. My wife has bought 10 'pink' daylilies, and only 1(one) is pink(Dancing Shiva). I do not even know the names of the colours of the rest(I call them yellowish something, or dirty something, or whatever)

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Daylily First Knight, this one is good. I have a lot of 'divas' waiting to be culled. Too cold to open the blooms, too wet, too dry, too sunny to keep the color, too cloudy, never happy. As soon as I'm finished with tossing out some peonies, I have to show them who is the boss here.

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Red Volunteer , opens well even in bad weather. It stays.

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A view:

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Thanks for the detailed 'review' of "Broadway Lights".

Many NAmerican sites lists its hardiness as zone 5. And I see it is originally from the Netherlands.

Questions regarding Thalictrum splendide. How tall does it get? And does it need to be staked? How long does it flower? It's a very pretty plant, I must say.

Your gardens are beautiful. It's nice to see plants that aren't suffering in the awful heat we have had here!

Which yellow Hosta is in your photos? I love the color.

a2zmom, I planted a "Splendide", bought from a nursery in a small pot late last *October* 2011. It came through our winter just fine and it is now over 7 feet tall and has given some wonderful unique flowers in this its first growing season. I would consider a perfect plant if it didn't need to be staked. This picture, taken this morning, shows most of the plant including the stake (maybe a green stake would be less noticeable but I don't recall seeing one that is 8 feet in length!).

(I will post a close-up of the flowers of this same plant in the next post below)

A close-up of the mass of flowers for this same plant:

Echinaceamaniac, thank you. The hosta is Sun Power.It is the first time it is THAT gold, as I removed the tree under which it was growing, so no significant shade throughout the most of the day. You can achieve similar effect with August Moon, but it will sun burn in afternoon sun.

a2zmom, mine is not that tall as rouge's. If you plant Thalictrums among other tall plants, they will stay upright. They will catch other plants with their branches, nobody will detect it.They are so light so it will not make any harm to the neighbours.

A few shots more:

Daylily Big Blue. It is big allright, but blue??

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Lily Fatamorgana

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That's what my chickens look at: Anthemis Sauce Hollandaise:

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Centaurea ruthenica. Gorgeous flowers, unfortunately only 2 of them per stem(very rarely 3) and the stems are weak.

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Aconitum Stainless Steel

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A view:

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Phlox Mishenka

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Leucanthemum Aglaia, stands up surprisingly well for such a heavy flower

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A view

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Martina, the only survivor from 'Achillea rage'

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Delphinium Piccolo, bloomed the longest time of them all

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The last batch of pictures from July.

Daylily Flameburst. The name is not well chosen for this daylily. It does not look like flames. Nevertheless a very good plant. The problem is I bought it as a very very very late blooming cultivar. And it was for the first 2 years. And suddenly it started blooming with the early ones. Has anybody experienced something like that?:

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Daylily Double Bold One. Gorgeous flower , good performer. Sadly, this daylily has the weakest stems of them all, flopping all over the place.

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Daylily Land of Cotton. The best for doubling, 100%. Not many buds per individual stem but many stems .I would not be without it. Gorgeous.

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Daylily Russian Easter, I love flowers high above the foliage.

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Daylily Mauna Loa, I just love those hot colours, the hotter the better. They are so rare here in the North.

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Erigeron, most probably Schwarzes Meer. This plant has the longest lasting individual flowers of all. It has been lasting for weeks.

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The delphiniums are gone now.

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Echinacea Hot Papaya, the best of the new warm-coloured Echinaceas hands down(together with Irresistible)

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Aconitums has taken the role of Delphiniums now, but the blue is not the same.

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Echinacea Irresistible.

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Hope you've enjoyed my pictures.

I agree with your endorsement of "Hot Papaya" as mine even its first full summer has given us lots of long lasting flowers.

I am already looking forward to your August album.

Wieslaw, your garden is beautiful. I always love looking at your pictures. How many hours a week does it take to maintain it all? How many years did it take to get it like it is today?

Pam , my garden is rather small, the whole property is like a little more than 800 square meters(20 bigs steps in on direction and 40 big steps in another), and circa 600 of them are covered with plants. The maintanance in the summer consists mainly of removing spent flowers and watering(which was not necessary yet this year, as it has been raining all the time). That's about it. My plants are planted so close together that we do not need to weed, because there is no place for the weeds to grow. I avoid plants which flop or run or need pinching etc. I like to just plant something and then enjoy watching it grow. I don't want to stake, I do not want to pinch,I do not want to cut, I do not want to spray and so on. So anything that causes troubles is soon removed and replaced with something better. We have been living here for 20 years. I buy many plants a year, but only a few of them stay like 'forever'. The biggest change rate were among peonies(only a very few left), bearded irises, clematis(all large-flowered tossed out or dead), echinaceas, monardas. All plants given 'over the fence' are gone. I'm at the point where I have to throw something out to plant something new. And it's getting harder and harder to decide who is leaving.

Excellent! I loved all the pics.
Remy

Your garden is absolutely beautiful!! I love the mix of colors and flower forms. The delphiniums are gorgeous! Must try the erigeron as my 4 year old granddaughter has chosen it as her favorite among your generous photos. I admire all of your stunning flowers!

wieslaw59 wrote: I'm at the point where I have to throw something out to plant something new.

And I am a bit sad to say that is where I am also.

And so next season I will need to be very discerning in purchasing any new plants as what comes out to makes room cannot be put anywhere else on our property. I guess I could hope for a few over-wintering problems to free up some space ;).

very inspiring, Wieslaw and quite remarkable how you manage such clear defintion between each clump (mine tend to 'merge' and are all a bit too close together now). So, do you buy plants in groups....or one at a time. I badly need to make myself hold off on the many different varieties and try to buy in groups rather than singles but choices are huge and my wallet is tiny.
I recite 'less is more' like a little mantra but we all know, when it comes to collecting plants, more is more.

Beautiful indeed! This was so fun to see. You do an amazing job. Thanks so much for sharing with us.

Campanula, some of mine merge too, at least the foliage. I reduce the sizes from time to time. When we started here we had many repetitions in the main big bed. But there are too many 'must haves' to keep it this way. Only when a plant is extremely beautiful, then I have it growing in several different places.

Hello, I was reading this interesting blog today, and wondered why Wieslaw59 did not like phlox 'Blue Paradise'? In his photos they appear OK.

And yet in my garden "Blue Paradise" is an worthwhile member with multiple re-blooms, and an very noticeable fragrance.

This post was edited by rouge21 on Sun, May 19, 13 at 19:14

Rodja, I did not like Blue Paradise because of its floppiness here(I live near the North Sea- very windy) I'm kind of "allergic" to floppiness. Phlox Blaue Morgen has an identical colour but stands up much better(although not perfect to begin with). The best standing of the "blue" ones is Boguslaw's Blaue(from Germany). This one is storm-proof.
The general rule here in Europe is , that English varieties of phloxes have bigger flowers, but German ones are more practical (healthier and less flopping). It applies also to Delphiniums, Heleniums and Asters.

This post was edited by wieslaw59 on Sun, May 19, 13 at 10:13

And yet my two stands of "Blue Paradise" have never shown *any* floppiness. Interesting that it misbehaves in Europe ;).