Flower Photos from Last Week

Friday morning, I gave the garden and raised beds a leisurely watering, then did just a little yard work-- filling in more of the cinder block holes around the raised vegetable beds, planting something new (see below), and gently repositioning the false indigo plant, which has been looking a bit lopsided.  (Good to get that done quickly, because it has a taproot and dislikes being messed with too much, once established.)  

Something is biting just enough to disconnect some of the morning glory and moonflower vines from their roots.  The same thing happened last year.  Several plants have been spared, so far, but now I'm nervous.  I don't know what's doing it.  Last year, I thought it might be rabbits, but would a rabbit bite just that much off and not even bother eating the vine or the lowest leaves?  Also, I'm not even sure rabbits eat morning glories.  Maybe it's an insect of some sort.  (Cutworm?)  So frustrating!  If I lose them all again, this year, I may not bother with annual vines next spring. 

On a positive note, most of the new perennials and shrubs I planted this spring seem to be doing pretty well, for the time being.

There is a new daylily blooming that I don't recognize from previous years.  I'm not sure if it's one Mom gave me (they weren't blooming at the time) or if it came from somewhere else (though I doubt it's one of the plants I grew from seed), but I really like it!  I'm no connoisseur of daylilies, don't know the latest or greatest named cultivars-- may even have plebeian tastes where flowers are concerned.  ;o)  Fortunately that doesn't matter in the slightest.

So, here's the new daylily (a couple of different blooms from different days):

The other day, I was pulling a few weeds near one of our 'Little Gem' magnolias, and I did detect that lemony aroma.  So I take back what I wrote before about magnolias not being something to plant for the scent.  If you plant them near a place you'll be sitting/standing/walking often, maybe they are a good choice, based on fragrance.



I planted something new this past week.  It's 'Purple Volcano' salvia (Salvia lyrata).  I chose it for the foliage, though it also makes flowers.  Dave's Garden suggests that it can be prolific (for some, to the point of nuisance), so maybe it will multiply. 

Here's one of the baby elephant ear plants.  The leaves are still fairly small, but considering that until very recently, it was nothing but a bulb, they're doing well. 



A random assortment of flower photos from late last week: