Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: August 2014

Okay, enough with the long blog posts for now!  It's time for a quick-and-dirty blog post with pretty pictures and not much else.  These are some of the plants I had blooming in my garden today.  For more information about any of them, feel fee to post questions in the comments section!  For many more photos, click here.  For more Garden Bloggers Bloom Day posts from all around the blogosphere, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.


Spigelia marilandica, second bloom after deadheading a few weeks ago


Spigelia marilandica


Asclepias tuberosa, also reblooming after deadheading


Honeybee on Asclepias tuberosa


Clerodendrum bungei, one of my beautiful monsters


Lobelia cardinalis, still going strong


Aralia elata has been dropping tiny white flowers all over everything for a month


When was the last time you took a close look at the flowers of Liriope muscari?


Begonia grandis 'Early Bird', my own early-blooming selection of the species


Hosta plantaginea, "August lily", night-blooming and wonderfully fragrant


Datura wrightii, last night


Datura wrightii, this morning


One more because I can't get enough of those daturas!


Morning glory (Ipomoea sp.), growing as a weed


Sphaerorrhiza sarmentiana (Gesneriaceae), blooming on my windowsill at work

Plant geeking

A photo only my plant geek friends will fully appreciate

I've been neglecting my own garden, as well as my blogging, because this has been a busy week for me: on Tuesday I attended IGC East, a new trade show for independent garden centers; yesterday I attended the summer meeting of the Southeastern Palm Society, graciously hosted by Tony and Anita Avent at Plant Delights Nursery in Raleigh, North Carolina; and on the way home this morning I stopped at the JC Raulston Arboretum, also in Raleigh, to take some more photos.  But the highlight of the week was definitely Plant Delights Nursery, and better yet, getting a personal guided tour (with other SPS members) of the nursery and Juniper Level Botanical Garden by Tony Avent himself. 


Treasure chest of begonias, IGC East
 

Tony Avent leading a tour of Plant Delights Nursery


Entrance to J.C. Raulston Arboretum

It was a rainy weekend in Raleigh, but back home we've had virtually no rain for the last few weeks so add watering to my list of chores.  But my garden is looking surprisingly good, especially considering the brutal winter it's recovering from.   Lobelia cardinalis is putting on a particularly spectacular show this year.  Lots more photos when I've recovered a bit... and after I've finished planting everything I brought home from Raleigh!


Lobelia cardinalis

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day: July 2014

Lagerstroemia (unknown crape myrtle cultivar)

It's the middle of July in Washington, that hot, steamy time of year that prompted me to dub it the "DC Tropics".  It doesn't help that we've had several days of rain, cranking up the humidity to decidedly tropical levels!  But this is when my garden starts reaching its peak, and the tropical, subtropical, and other heat-loving plants start looking their best.  Below are some of the plants that are blooming today.  For the full set of photos click here.  For more Garden Bloggers Bloom Day posts from all around the blogosphere, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens.