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.

May Bloom Day

Things are starting to wake up in my central Ohio zone 6b garden, helped by plenty of rain and mild temperatures.

Up first is blue false indigo (baptisia australis). I've had this lovely native plant for many years and always enjoy it's lovely purple blooms.

My purple bearded iris (unknown variety) are also blooming. Not only are they gorgeous, but so far they've been completely deer resistant, something that is becoming more critical in my garden these days. And bonus, all of my irises were a gift from two generous neighbors.

Fellow native Monarda bradburiana is also blooming. This one is growing through a cloche to keep it safe from the deer and menagerie of critters who reside in our back yard (bunnies, groundhog and racoons, oh my!). Did I mention I live in the middle of the city?

Various types of allium are blooming throughout the garden, like a display of purple fireworks. It's another beauty the deer leave alone.

I've had two Miss Kim Lilacs for at least 17 years and they were starting to look worse for the wear. Last year I nervously did a significant prune and am really pleased to see all the new growth at the bottom. This year I plan to prune the old growth even further.

The pansies I bought in late March are still blooming away thanks to the real summer heat not arriving yet, which is fine by me. Just another reminder for me that it's worth it to buy spring annuals; these have brought a lot of color and joy for the last two months.

Lastly, we have the rare Toby flower, who would like to be outside as much as possible, but alas is only permitted supervised visits. He too spends most of his outside time in the garden beds.

That's it for this month in my garden, but visit May Dreams Gardens to see what is blooming elsewhere.