Irises are blooming with their last flowers now.
The landscape is still dominated by blue colour of Delphiniums.

Thalictrum flavum glaucum. I've kept only 2 from the whole packet of seeds(the best standing ones among those with the bluest foliage):

Lilium martagon. One of my favourites, because it grows well both in sun and in shade. I let them seed where they want:

Thalictrum polygamum from North America:

Potentilla Emilie. If you , like I, can't grow gaillardias, it can be a substitute for it as far as the colours are concerned.Big flowers, 5 cm in diameter

Iris Smiling Angel, last flower open.

Years ago there was an 'achillea rage' here in Europe. I bought them all, all but one are gone. But one of them(who?) has left 3 seedlings behind itself. All three 100 times better than the bought ones: non-flopping , non-running and growing!. Here is the first one:

Here was a place where the giant spruce was growing. Only a very few plants survived here, among others a delphinium seedling who has been growing for 7 years among the roots of the spruce. Really impressed me.Hosta Blue Angel changed color from blue to gray in the sun.

Geranium pratense Violaceum Plenum. The best of the old doubles, extremely easy to grow. Needs to be cut down after the blooming to get rid of the mildewed leaves(this year mildew free so far).

Campanula latifolia, can grow both in sun and in shade. Subject to rust, but not each year. Goes early into dormancy in very dry summers.

Erigeron, but which one?

Aruncus Horatio. I'm not sure if I like it or not.

Phlomis tuberosa Amazone:

The first tall bright yellow plant: Heliopsis helianthoides.

More pictures to follow.

thx for taking the time to post them

ken

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!

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:

Here are some new shots:

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

Veronicastrum virginicum Lavenderturm, the tallest of them all:

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

Lilium martagon X tsingtauense:

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

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.

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

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!

Another colour of Lilium martagon:

More pictures soon.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

Centaurea atropurpurea.

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.

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.

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).

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

Tango lilies:

A close-up of Veronicastrum Lavendelturm:

Last open Iris: Dusky Challenger

The second of my Achillea seedlings:

Campanula trachelium Bernice once more:

Veratrum album , from seed

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!!!

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.

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.

Phlox Mishenka, an ancient Russian cultivar:

The third of my Achilleas, the dark red one on the right:

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!

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.

Potentilla Vulcan, more arm flinging than others.

Ligularia Zepter:

A noid perennial lily:

Helenium El Dorado:

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

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.

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)

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:

Phlox Kirchenfurst:

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

My version of a prairie:

Robyn

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:

First Helianthus flower - Loddon Gold

Leucanthemum Fiona Coghill:

Monarda Gardenview Scarlet, better branched than Jacob Cline

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

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

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

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

Aconitum Franz Marc, tall, strong growing.

Centaurea salonitana, extremely beautiful flowers on extremely running plant.

Heliopsis Goldgrunherz(Gold Greenheart):

Phlox amplifolia Winnetou, much taller this year:

Phlox, most probably Juliglut(July Glow):

An ancient lily

Leucanthemum Broadway Lights:

Ancient lilies, Connecticut King and Enchantment:

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.

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......

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

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!

thanks

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.

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.

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

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)

To give you the idea how tall it is, more than 2 meters.

Thalictrum Splendide and delawayi album

Veronicastrum virginicum album:

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)

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.

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

A view:

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

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

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

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??

Lily Fatamorgana

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

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

Aconitum Stainless Steel

A view:

Phlox Mishenka

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

A view

Martina, the only survivor from 'Achillea rage'

Delphinium Piccolo, bloomed the longest time of them all

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?:

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

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.

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

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

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

The delphiniums are gone now.

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

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

Echinacea Irresistible.

Hope you've enjoyed my pictures.

I am already looking forward to your August album.

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 ;).