My calla lilies are blooming!  Some of my favorite flowers!

Zantedeschia 'Picasso'

Zantedeschia 'Flame'

Zantedeschia ''Dubai Nights'

 

Digitalis ambigua (Yellow Foxglove) yellow tubular flowers with brown freckles make a light and pretty spot in the garden.

 

Stokesia laevis 'Divinity' (Stokes' aster) has a vigorous compact growth habit.  Numerous and long-lasting white flowers with a hint of yellow in the center mature to white.  It features fluffy flowers each with notched rays surrounding a pincushion center of feathery disk florets.

Stokesia laevis 'Divinity'

 

 Silene dioica 'Valley High' (Red Campion) is an edging or rock garden perennial.  The slightly sticky flower stems have led to the common name "Catchfly."  Clusters of small magenta-pink flowers are a pleasing accent in late spring.

 Spigelia marilandica 'Little Redhead' (Indian Pink) features upright, sturdy stems topped with bright red, tubular flowers with bright yellow interiors which flare at the top to form five pointed lobes (a yellow star).   The main bloom period is early summer with some sporadic reblooming possible into fall.  Highly attractive to hummingbirds!

Spigelia marilandica 'Little Redhead'

Thymus herba-barona (Caraway Thyme)  is a low-growing, creeping, woody shrub that may be used as an ornamental groundcover or culinary herb.  The bees love it!

I think I enjoy my Amaryllis more in the garden than I do in the house during the holiday season.   

Amaryllis 'Double Dream'

 Cornus controversa 'June Snow' (commonly called Giant Dogwood) is a deciduous flowering tree.  In late spring creamy white flowers form into clusters and are held above the leaves.  Horizontal branches appear to be layered.  Blooms give rise to blue/black berries which the songbirds enjoy.  In the fall, the leaves turn an orange to red color before they are shed.

Cornus controversa 'June Snow'

Our climbing hydrangea, weaving around the birdhouses, is ready to bloom on the brick wall outside our sunroom.   

Last Sunday afternoon, several of us met at a fellow Camellia Society member's garden and learned how to air layer camellias in order to create new plants.  With a knife, we scraped the bark of a healthy limb, painted it with root hormone, wrapped the area in wet sphagnum moss, then tied on plastic wrap, and finally wrapped in foil. It will take about three months to see if our attempts were successful.

Enjoying a bite of lunch after our air layering lesson.

 

I have a few Sibirica Iris (Siberian Iris) which are beginning to bloom.   They have 2-5 blue-purple flowers per stem, but they may occasionally be lavender or while.  Maybe not as dramatic as the Tall Bearded Iris, but the small and more delicate flowers are still pretty and should definitely have a spot in the garden.

You can't beat the heat tolerance, relatively disease resistance, DEER RESISTANCE, and persistence in the landscape of Baptisia (False Indigo).  They do have a deep taproot which makes them drought tolerant and difficult to transplant.  I do have some gardening friends that don't appreciate the fact of the deep taproot because they complain that they can never get rid them, so be forewarned!   I have a several cultivars of Baptisia and I enjoy them all!

Baptisia 'Blueberry Sundae'

Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight'

Baptisia 'Cherry Pie'

Baptisia 'Cherries Jubilee'

 Baptisia x variicolor 'Twilite Prairieblues'