Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei' Flowering

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Geranium sanguineum 'Max Frei'

There's never really any doubt that this Geranium will perform but it's always nice to see.

This would be perfect to pair with the Geranium but unfortunately it's only hardy to zone 7. I will stick to just the Geranium I suppose.

It's certainly nice to see this again on a cold rainy morning anyway.

Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk' Flowering

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Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk'


Syringa reticulata 'Ivory Silk'

The start of June is always marked by the flowering of the Ivory Silk Japanese Lilac, a considerably later flowering lilac than most. This tree is fast becoming a street tree locally - It's very low maintenance (without deadheading it tends to alternate between light and heavy flowering years - this year is a heavy one for my tree) once established, grows relatively quickly but doesn't get huge the way many street trees do. Flowering is impressive but fairly short, it's an attractive tree even when out of bloom though. Seems to be at least somewhat pollution tolerant too?

My tree has grown large enough I can see it easily peaking out above the bottom of my window a foot or two right outside my window.

New Plant: Sempervivum 'Cherry Tart' & Twitter

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Picked this up a few days ago.



Sempervivum 'Cherry Tart' - Picture doesn't show how dark this one really is.

I imagine I'll be spending every spring from now on dividing and cutting back all these little filler plants I'm getting this year. Look for a post on some of my new tiny hostas coming soon when I can get some pictures.

I've also (finally) signed up for Twitter. You can find me here. I'll likely use it for little things that don't generally warrant a full blog post, or things I feel like mentioning but don't have a good picture to go along with etc...

Irises Flowering

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June is when my garden jumps into full bloom and it is safe to say I will have flowers from now until the snow falls.

I have a huge patch of Irises that has all come into bloom over the past week. It will be divided and thinned once they finish flowering but for now my yard is filled with colour.



A very simple blue Iris but I love it. This makes up the bulk of the collection and we'll only be keeping one (large) clump of it.


Iris 'Starship Enterprise' is a stunning plant. Only one flower stalk from it this year though. It's relatively new and we'll be giving it more space after the cleanup.


This yellow Iris is nice enough but I find it a little boring. A small patch of this will be kept.


The first year this one has flowered. The base of the leaves also has a very interesting purple cast to it. It's an intermediate sized Iris and would likely bridge the gap in flowering time between the dwarf Irises and the super tall ones but it had been kept in the shade then moved this spring when a sunny area opened up. It may actually move to the front yard.


I also have two patches of Siberian Iris, this one is beside a bird bath, the other in the front yard that is not flowering.


I was really happy with where this one ended up. Didn't know what colour it was at the time but it should work well with the plants around it (not that there's much overlap in flowering time anyway...)


And there's also this one. Not really a huge fan... Oh well. I guess it's not terrible.

Also very happy with the heavy rain we have finally started to get. Extremely dry winter and spring, barely any rain in April, nothing of value during a hot and generally dry May and now finally a week with rain and cooler temperatures is very welcome.

New Perennials in blue

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While my long time absolute and unrivaled favourite perennial Salvia has been Salvia nemorosa ‘Caradonna’ I had to have ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ when I saw it today. It lacks the dark purple stems of ‘Caradonna’ but has absolutely massive (for the species, anyway) flowers in a nice blue colour.



Salvia nemorosa ‘Rhapsody in Blue’

I expect (and hope for) similar performance to ‘Caradonna’ - low maintenance, low water needs, long flowering time (including a second round of flowering in the fall).

I also picked up a few more Sedum species (I might have a problem).



Sedum pachyclados


Sedum hispanicum var. minus 'Blue Carpet'

The first of these (Sedum pachyclados) forms attractive rosettes with white flowers in spring and again later in the summer.

The second (Sedum hispanicum var. minus 'Blue Carpet') forms a low mound of blue-green leaves with white or pale pink flowers. Seems to have a purple/pink winter colour as well.

One of these Sedum will be going between/around a Hosta 'June' and the Salvia above where it will also be allowed to spill out onto the patio.