Garden Collage

Flowers, fruit and weeds.

Flower Tour: Sea Holly

It kinda looks like fireworks. Sea holly is a perennial that likes to be neglected. You can easily grow it from seed. They are available in a range of blue-purple tones. Even the stems are colored.

Flower Tour: Hollyhock

Another one of those "once you plant them, you have them for life" kinda flowers.

Flower Tour: Orange Lilies

These are so orange-y, I could eat them up. They're cutting-garden flowers. I got the plants from a neighbor who was tearing out some landscaping.

Flower Tour: Perennial and Annual Mix

Agastache, guara and petunias in the pot, with lavender on the side.

Flower Tour: Trio of Color

Penstemon, salvia and day lilies - all perennials.

Flower Tour: False Mallow

There are many types of false mallows. I don't know what kind this is. I purchased a plant about 10 years ago. It is not a perennial, but it seeds freely and has spread to several areas of the yard. It's not invasive, however. Pulling the plants up is easy if you don't want them. But the flowers are delicate and pretty, and popular with bees.

Flower Tour: Pink Phlox

For the next week or so, I'll share photos of the flowers blooming in my yard. This is phlox, a perennial.

Gaura - Beeblossoms

This plant has long stems and, usually, pink flowers. Some plants have white flowers. When I was a kiddo, we called them beeblossoms. Hummingbirds sip from the flowers, too.

Volunteer Petunia

I've been on a "petunia ban" for 4 years now, because of terrible budworm infestations....but somehow, this plant "planted" itself.

Garden Flowers

These make me happy.

Balloon Flowers

About a month ago, I was given an unlabeled "perennial." I planted it in my new pollinator garden and what a nice surprise! It's a balloon flower (platycodon).

Lantana

Lantana is a perennial flowering shrub in warmers areas of the country. For me, it's a superstar annual in a planter.

Mallow Bloom

Mallow is a perennial that grows 4 to 5 feet tall and blooms in mid-July. The flowers are usually white, but this year, they have pink hues.

St. John's Wort

A creeping groundcover that does well in dry conditions. It's also a medicinal herb.

Year of the Gerbera Daisy

In gardening circles, this is the year of the Gerbera daisy. The National Garden Bureau chose it as its choice for an annual to try this year. They work well in planters and as landscape color spots in our growing zone.

Dependable Clematis

Clematis is a dependable perennial is our growing zone. This one blooms with purple profusion, drops its flowers and usually blooms more gently in autumn.

Allium Spent

At the top of the page, you can see when they were purple. I like them this way, too.

Mystery Flowers

I adore their shaggy teddy bear appearance and orange and brown colors. I think they're related to daisies, and I hope they're perennials. These flowers are part of a new foundation planting for pollinators.

Candy-colored Zinnias

These are my go-to flowers to adding color to garden spots. Easy growers that don't complain much, and they have a natural resistance to many flower-eating insects.