Garden Bloggers Bloom Day - July, 2015

Here we are on another Bloom Day, hosted by May Dreams Gardens, where you can see what's blooming in the gardens of bloggers around the world. This may be the first time I've done a Bloom Day post where I didn't take pictures the day before (or cheated with pictures from the week before). This post is pure Bloom Day.

Streptocarpus 'Bristol's Waterbug'

A peloric Phalaenopsis equestris. In a peloric flower, the two petals (the three lighter colored parts are sepals, not petals) are mutated to be shaped like the lip.

I love the curly styles on this female begonia flower.

Hoya carnosa continues to bloom, as it has been for at least a month.

Rebutia arachnacantha has been teasing me for weeks with this fuzzy bud, slowly growing. It still has quite a ways to go before it opens into a fiery orange bloom.

Daphne x transatlantica 'Blafra' (Eternal Fragrance) lives up to its name by producing wave after wave of deliciously-scented white blooms.

I think this is Hemerocallis fulva 'Kwanso', but I don't know for sure.

It's a good thing Mimulus cardinalis still had seeds in this bed, because the two main clumps off the patio almost disappeared thanks to the heat last summer. Now I still have lots to move around to other places. I still haven't thought much about what to plant in this bed (besides monkey flower). All my thoughts have been on the area around the driveway.

I don't know what I, or the hummingbirds, would do without these fantastic blooms.

The blooms of Lobelia laxiflora var. angustifolia start out red and yellow, but the lip ages to orange.  These blooms won't last much longer.

These white calla lilies have been blooming much better after moving them to the southwest corner of the house in May. They've been loving this heat, unlike me. Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus' is blooming in the background.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is just passing peak bloom now.

Oreganum 'Kent's Beauty' is putting on a major show this year. I'm surprised I got a picture without any bees in it.

Rudbeckia fulgida 'Goldsturm' is beginning to open.

This white sedum seems to bridge the gap between the native sedums blooming and the fall bloomers.

Salvia nemorosa 'East Friesland' is mostly done, but this plant is still blooming nicely. I trimmed the rest back about a week ago, hoping for a rebloom.

Allium christophii is still ornamental even with the flowers faded. This firework burst is about the size of a volleyball, the biggest one so far.

I mentioned this in an earlier post, but all my Calluna vulgaris are starting to bloom a month early. I wonder if anything will still be blooming by the end of August.

I'm glad I left the few patches of lime thyme that still looked good after last winter. It's spread rampantly and is loaded with flowers and bees. The plants are literally moving with all the bees buzzing from bloom to bloom.

This is the kniphofia I left on the west side of the house. The flowers will lengthen and age to yellow.

Daboecia cantabrica, or Irish heath, is blooming now. Originally all white, some part of this plant has sported to produce purplish pink blooms. I've been meaning to dig into the plant to separate that sport out and let it grow unimpeded. Actually, I should move the whole thing to a spot with a bit more room for it to spread and a bit more moisture.

The Verbascum thapsus have been blooming for a week or two now.

The tallest plant is 8 or 9 feet tall.

Salvia forskaohlei continues to bloom.

It's amazing how this salvia can perform even in the bone-dry clay at the base of a Douglas fir, with only a short exposure to morning sun. Hardly anything else grows in this spot.

The blooms (actually bracts) of Euphorbia 'Nothowlee' (Blackbird) are the most purple part of the plant now, though the foliage is still gorgeous and dark. Strange though, the picture on the label shows bright green bracts.

Penstemon pinifolius.

Alstroemeria 'Glory of the Andies', slightly malformed from being grievously root-bound and under-watered.

This is my first time growing Torenia. The other plants from the six-pack are rather blah, but this one has wonderful dark petals.

Heliotropium arborescens 'Fragrant Delight' continues to live up to its name.

The fiery blooms of Pelargonium 'Vancouver Centennial' always seem to defy achieving a perfectly-focused shot. They're just too hot to handle.

 I was so happy that these next two blooms opened for today. They last for only a day and I had to wander around and come back to check on them to see if they would open.

Iris domestica 'Gone with the Wind' (formerly Belamcanda chinensis)

An unnamed x Pardancanda norrisii, a hybrid between Belamcanda chinensis and Pardanthopsis dichotoma. I wonder if it has a new intergeneric name now that Belamcanda has been lumped in with Iris.

And that's another Bloom Day. I can't believe it's already them middle of July. I wonder what August will bring?