July 2010 Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

It's so hard to believe that July is already half over.  For some reason half way through July I always decide to start moving plants around, must be because of the bare spots left from annuals that are finished or plants that never grew like I hoped.  I spent hours outside yesterday pulling out spent Foxgloves, Poppies (I saved lots of seeds though!), cutting back Salvias and Veronicas hoping they'll have another flush of blooms before the end of summer.  I also finally planted a few plants that have been waiting for an open spot.  One is a new Agastache 'Cocktail Peach Margarita' with peach flowers and such a wonderful scent.  I only wish it served margaritas while I sat outside to smell it.  There were three different types of butterflies visiting while I was working away.  A Western Tiger Swallowtail, Painted Lady and another one I had never seen before.  It was medium sized black with blue and white on the edges of its wings.  It might have been a White Admiral.  I noticed that the Swallowtail was attracted to our neighbors Willow tree.  I was especially happy to see such a variety of butterflies since last year I hardly saw any at all.  Many of the flowers in the butterfly garden are just starting to bloom so hopefully we'll see even more.
Here are some of what's blooming this Bloom Day:

Rose 'Don Juan', I wish the real deep color of red would show up in a picture.  Most of the rest of my roses are between blooms now.

Agastache 'Pink Panther',  I've gotten a real soft spot for Agastaches lately.

Monarda 'Blue Stocking' is not quite the color I thought it would be.  I thought it would be more blue, but it's actually a pretty deep pink color.

Clematis 'Little Nell' has such tiny flowers, I've fertilized it recently in hopes that it will turn the leaves back to green.  Monarda 'Jacob Cline' is blooming behind it.  The hummingbirds have already started battling over it.

A new Daylily 'Strawberry Candy' is supposed to be a rebloomer.

Daylily 'Mini Pearl' is such a pretty small one.  It really brightens up the area around it.

While these aren't the biggest or showiest flowers, I'm happy to see them because they are on the Beautyberry bush 'Profusion' I planted last year.  I was afraid it didn't get enough sun where it was, but it seems to be doing really well.

And because the Larkspur is prettier than I ever could have imagined and so tall I had to add another picture of them again.  Blooming up against the house is Clematis 'Jackmanii'.  The window boxes are full of Petunias, lobelia and Alyssum this year - and it smells so good by them.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day takes place the 15th of each month and is hosted by Carol of May Dreams Gardens.  Visit her to join in or see what is blooming around the world.