GBBD - Come have a seat in the blooms

Self-seeding impatiens.

It's the 15th of the month and time for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day, hosted by Carol at May Dreams Gardens.   A walk through my garden with the camera this afternoon was more rewarding than I expected.  At this time of year it seems that everything is worn and frayed and many of the blooms are spent.  But there are a few plants that are at their peak now.  

Drifts of lantana in the front bed have always been a magnet for butterflies, bees, and hummingbirds.  The butterflies have been few this year, but while taking this photo a hummingbird flew all around me as if he was asking me to move.  If only I'd been able to capture him in the photo!

August is also bloom time for liriope, sometimes called "monkey grass" or "lilyturf"  It can be invasive, spreading by runners, but I love it all the same - and it's very pretty when it blooms.

bordering the sidewalk to the side porch

In front of Homestead Purple Verbena, also a reliable August bloomer

Some of the beauties from early in the summer are still hanging in there, displaying a bloom or two.

This is the lone bloom on the Luna Blush hibiscus.

The Meadow Beauty, a native wildflower, isn't blooming as profusely as it was, but there are still plenty of delicate blooms around the birdbath.

Several varieties of coreopsis have been faithful all summer.

There are a few newcomers to the garden that have proven reliable through the August heat.

Kerria Japonica

Multiblue Clematis

If you stroll around my garden you'll see these and other blooms - zinnias, knock-out roses, hot lips salvia, blue speedwell, May Nights salvia, Becky Towe Phlox, red yarrow, dianthus, and more.  But if you want to be surrounded by blooms, you'll want to have a seat in one of those Adirondack chairs.
Click on over to May Dreams Gardens and see what's bloom in other gardens around the world.

GBBD - A world where it was always June

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June."

- L. M. Montgomery

If we lived in a world where it was always June it would be like living where 

every day was Christmas  - so much excitement that we'd soon be worn out from it.  

Like too much candy, it would lose its sweetness.  

But we don't live where it's always June and in fact, June is speeding by much too fast! 

 Keeping up with what's blooming is hard work, especially when the blooms come and 

go each day as the daylilies do.

 I wrote about the hydrangeas in bloom in my last post, but when I downloaded photos tonight 

I found this image that I couldn't resist sharing.

The bee balm has been blooming for a week or so and was so beautiful when the blooms were fresh.

 They're a little worn looking now, but the bees don't care.

One of my favorites, and one that will bloom all summer, is the coreopsis.

The Sunny Border Blue Speedwell and the Becky Towe Phlox just began to bloom this week. 

They, too, should bloom through the summer.

Two elegant calla lily blooms remind me of my daughter's wedding, when she carried them in her bouquet.

 And the bright red and orange blooms of the lantana will soon be beckoning the butterflies - I hope!

There are more photos of more blooms, but maybe that would be like too much candy.  

I'll save some for later.  But I want to close with this photo of a volunteer sunflower.  

Doesn't it look like it's getting ready to take off and fly away into the sun?

Head on over to May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming in other gardens on 

this Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!