Welcome Cleome

The Queen Anne's Lace I transplanted into the border earlier this spring is now beginning to bloom. I love this lacey white flowers; they make a great addition to my overgrown border, and work well in some of the drier sections of the garden, or where the soil isn't top-notch.

Their lacey beauty also makes me think of weddings. I realized today that, while many of us know when Lincoln's Birthday falls on the calendar (or at least the day its celebrated), fewer of us know that Lincoln's Anniversary--bloggers Abe and Patty Lincoln, that is--was today. Abe celebrated the occasion by rescuing a window-strike-stunned grackle at My Birds Blog, while Patty put together a wonderful slide show over at her blog. Stop by and wish them a happy day, won't you?

After Afod's comment the other day, in which he wondered if the Shasta Daisies were really as tall as the split-rail fence, I thought it was time I offered a couple of long shots of those guys, who are truly towering in the sunshine this year.

The time of day meant the Shastas themselves didn't photograph in detail well due to the sun's bright reflection off them, but you can still see just how tall these Shasta Blastahs are.



T'was also an exciting morning here, at least for a plant geek like myself, as the first cleome flower had begun to open in its unique fashion.





I also had a nice surprise when I discovered that one of those first cleome seedlings has turned out to sport white flower buds. This was unexpected since I planted seeds from a package labeled purple.

Rather than be disappointed, I'm actually kind of excited about the greater variety. White flowers in a garden with so many colors are always welcome since they are sort of neutral and help all the others play nicely together.



Yet another sunflower has burst forth from that first plant...and I caught a much more detailed glimpse of one of those bees I was featuring yesterday.


By the end of the afternoon, another cleome seedling had begun blooming, as well. Check out the contrast of the deeper purple flower buds, against the slightly more magenta tones of the open petals. Just fantastic...




The snapdragon show is in full swing, as you can see quite easily here. And now, the deep red rockets are coming onto the scene as well.

These are truly my favorites of the snaps. Their scent is, remarkably, identical to tropical punch Kool-Aid, so you gotta wonder where the drinks people got their fragrance/flavoring from.

The Tiny Hope red lilies are continuing to bloom, even as the earliest blossoms have already been removed from the stalk. It looks like we can count on them to continue for about another week, depending on what sort of weather we see.

Here's a close-up of the other rudbeckia plant, yet a third variety of the species, this one with its painted petals. Another species of bee appears here.