Bloomingwriter in the 21st Century...

Well this is cause for celebration!
EW may be trailing along a little late with the Garden Bloggers Bloom Day celebration here at Sunflower Hill, but we have happy news to report. Thanks to the dedication of Cross Country Television, our locally owned Internet Service Provider (and television provider, obviously)...our Intarnets is fixed. We now have genuine highspeed blazing along here. Steve installed some new equipment here on the hill and at the tower in Scotts Bay, and while he'll be working his way through the community, we got done first. And it works blazingly well. Whoo hoooooo!


So to celebrate, a look at the chaotic glory that is the garden here in mid-June. Those of you further south of us will be fascinated at what is STILL in bloom here, compared to what's happening in your gardens. We had a cool spring--no, at times it was damn cold, actually--and we've had a fair bit of fog and rain here too with the weather warming up several weeks ago. Things grow really, really well in such conditions, but then the cool evenings (and more fog) hold them longer, in a lot of cases. Mind you, there's also been a LOT Of wind this spring, and last week I was having great ranting tantrums because the wind was so strong it was breaking a lot of the lush growth. And the weeds have been a remarkably prolific and daunting collection this spring, too.

However. I'm keeping to my mantra of "One bed at a time." For the most part. But people would spear this was a garden of benevolent neglect, for sure, the way it's looking. I can only hope that they notice the splendid blooms and not the...um...other stuff.


These tulips and some others in this garden have done a very strange thing. Instead of having a dozen or so large flowers from the dozen or so large bulbs I planted...I have whole bunches of flowers of all sizes. I think, if my notes serve me correctly, that these are called 'Jackpot'

And this is Carousel, a fringed tulip with red flame. I can look out my office window and see these, and they make me happy. They've produced a lot of flowers, too.


These are Marilyn lily-flowered tulips, planted in loving memory of my former mum in law...whose birthday would have been today, I just realized with a jolt. Miss you still, Marilyn. Your quiet grace made this world a richer place while you walked this earth, and a poorer one for your leaving too soon.


Trillium luteum, the yellow trillium, isn't as showy as its red or white relatives, but I just love it for its own eccentric self. And its foliage is great whether it's flowering or not.


The first of my decidious azaleas to flower, 'Golden Lights' makes me--and the hummingbirds and bees--very happy.


Finally put a flowering crab in this year, and it's called Makamik. It's not as dark-flowered as I had hoped for, but that's okay. I've finally got one, and that's the main thing.



Along with my besotted affair with blue poppies, I love every other colour and type of poppies, too. These are alpine/Icelandic poppies, which will quite literally pop up wherever I scatter the seeds, including outside the garden bed.


Aronia melanocarpa, the black chokeberry, a lovely native plant and beloved of birds. It's planted with an Ilex verticillata, an Amelanchier canadensis, and an assortment of other shrubs.


The last of the fragrant viburnums in my garden to bloom, this is Burkwood, and a beautiful thing it is, too. It's actually just finishing after the wind beleaguered it last week, but still fragrant.


One of my favourite euphorbias though it does have tendencies to want to spread, Euphorbia 'Fireglow' is just so striking with its coppery-orange flowers and bracts. It really shows up in the garden, especially since it's near a 'Black Lace' sambucus and some brilliant tulips.


I should know which Heucherella (foamy bells) this is, but nope...not remembering. Possibly Skelton Key, r something with Mercury in the name. Or something else completely!

On the other hand...I DO know what this is. Meconopsis betonicifolia, my precious blue poppy. Several of them aren't blooming yet, and I'm not sure if they're going to or if they're putting their goodness into enlarging their crowns. They're in a slightly more shaded spot, so I'm not worrying about them anyway. This particular blossom is pretty well shot, compliments of the wind, but new buds are coming up behind it. So it's all good.

That's it for this Bloom Day report--there are plenty of annuals in containers doing things, but I really DO want to visit other blogs and catch up a bit, so twill have to do for us. I hope you're having a blooming good June, whereever you're gardening.