Echinacea

I have a few different echinacea varieties in the garden and I have tried other ones that have not survived the winter.  This one is, I think, Hot Papaya.  It opens very orangey and changes over a few weeks until it is quite a dark rusty red.  I find the plant is rather weak and needs more watering to get it growing. 

This pink pompom variety makes lots of flowers but the stems are very floppy so that's disappointing.

A  regular pink variety. Very robust with lots of flowers and strong stems.

This is Green Twister.  I started it last year from seed and I'm quite happy with it.  It's fairly tall and has very strong stems.  I will probably only get 2 flowers per stem this year but I am optimistic that next year it will bush out.  I have four planted near each other so I hope to have a nice patch next year.

I have another green variety, Green Jewel, but it hasn't bloomed yet.  I find the plant small and slow but when it finally blooms the flowers last a long time. Only a couple of flowers per plant and not a very tall plant so a bit disappointing on that front, but the flowers are very well formed.

This is not echinacea, it is rudbeckia but it blooms at the same time and works really well with echinacea.  It can be a bit of a bully in good soil but if it's planted with other strong plants it is a great addition to the garden.  Super dependable and tons of flowers until frost.

The balloon flower with more flowers open.

Supermoon lily.  I really like the pale yellow colour with rusty spots.  It has a knock-out fragrance that you can smell from 10' away if there is a light breeze.
 

Balloon Flower

Balloon Flower (Platycodon Grandiflorus) is a  a sturdy perennial plant with bold purple flowers.

I planted two side by side and they are making lots of buds and flowers. The flower gets its name from the buds that are like little balloons. They suddenly pop open and you have colourful star-shaped flowers.  They also come in white and pink but I found the pink to be very washed out so now I stick with the purple ones.

They are easy to care for and enjoy a sunny location.  Mine lean a bit because they are not in a site with all day sun but the stems are good and stiff and don't flop.   They have a taproot so they can't be transplanted once they are established but you can buy young plants that are still small enough to handle the transplant.

The balloon flowers will make a nice clump if the soil is adequately enriched. They can tolerate dry conditions and don't like to be soggy. So far I haven't had any insect pests or diseases on the balloon flowers.

Striped Zinnias, Tiger Lily, Daylily, Magenta Astilbe

I started these zinnias with seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  I didn't know how I felt about striped zinnias when I looked at the seed packet but now that they are blooming I find them really cheerful and fun.

This is a hybrid tiger lily that I've had for years.  It has lived in a couple of places but seems happy here.  Because the plant is very tall and leaning, the flowers are making a circular pattern which I like.

I like the dark freckles on the tiger lily.  Because it is not a true tiger lily, it does not have the dark seeds along the stem so it does not self-sow.  It also does not make new bulblets from the main bulb so it is forever one plant. 

I have tried a variety of daylilies over the years and find that the ones that most closely resemble wild daylilies in shape are the ones that bloom well.  With the fancy ruffly varieties, I'm lucky to get one or two blooms but these lilies have many buds.

This one is very similar to the first photo but the flowers are actually a little darker.  Nice big flowers.

The magenta astilbe is a shortish plant and the flowers are not as fluffy as the pink or white ones. In a shady location, the strong colour stands out nicely.

We have had a cool summer, hardly a day that gets to 30C, so the pansies are still blooming well. Usually they are too heat stressed to keep going through July.

The vegetable garden is coming along well as the vegetables do best with temperatures in the mid 20Cs.  The beans recovered from the beetles and I have an abundance of beans to eat. 
 

Fluffy Flowers

It's fun to have a variety of textures in the garden.  Here are some fluffy flowers.  The big white plant is Giant Fleece Flower. It is about 5 feet tall and about 6 feet across.  I have it in the area between the forest and the lawn where I need some substantial plants to cover the ground so that brambles and trees don't grow up. It blooms mid June and keeps its flowers for about 6 weeks.  It is in part shade but could also be in full sun.

The astilbes are much daintier and start blooming the beginning of July.  I have finally found a good spot for them where they get some full shade, dappled shade and a few hours of sun.  They are about 15' from the nearest tree so they are not competing with tree roots.  They like the soil to be damp but not soggy. A top dressing of compost in the spring is sufficient feeding.

Meadowsweet is also a big plant. It grows to about 4 ' high and will spread to form a very large patch if it has the space.  It enjoys damp ground and can handle a fair bit of shade, but a sunny location would be fine as well. The meadowsweet doesn't even need to be fertilized once it's established.

I started some ageratum from seed this spring.  They are just starting to bloom now as I only planted them in early May.  They like sun.  I have them in a large pot with some zinnias and they are doing well together. I sprinkled some slow release fertilizer on the soil and that's keeping the plants healthy.

All these fluffy flowers are excellent food for the many small pollinators that are so unobtrusive we barely notice them.  These same pollinators help to pollinate the vegetables.