Six on Saturday

I've wanted to participate in Six on Saturday, hosted by Jim at Garden Ruminations, for some time to showcase things not in bloom for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and today I finally managed it.

Let's see what's in bloom today in my small central Ohio city garden, shall we?

1. My Sarah Bernhardt peony, which is one of the first things I planted in this garden (bareroot no less) was looking so good but two days of rains have beat it down to the ground. The blooms are so pretty, but so heavy I cannot manage to keep them upright. I finally bought a peony cage this year, and things looked promising, but it wasn't tall enough. If anyone has tips for staking long-stemmed peonies, I need them. 

The silver lining is, it's encourage me to cut bunches since a lot of the stems are damaged and they currently look better in a vase than drooping on the ground.

2. I've been enamored with native beardtongues since starting to plant them in 2023, especially this hairy beardtongue (Penstemon hirsutus). The blooms are dainty but beautiful. 

3. These are the only Rocky Mountain Penstemon blooms that survived a severe deer pruning. Their purple color almost glows it's so vibrant.

4. My foxgloves are on their way out but this pink one is one of my favorites and complements my baptisia australis that has been blooming since mid-May.

5. I have a few self-seeded columbine that popped up in areas that make them nearly impossible to photograph well. This is as good as I can get this year.

6.  Once upon a time, after much failure, I finally grew from seed and planted pink oriental poppies. Now I only have orange ones, which doesn't fit the color scheme for my garden, but they are pretty anyway so they stay.