Garden Bloggers Bloom day

Raccoon damage

Well gosh, I can only marginally refer to myself as a blogger, never felt I had that much to say I guess -- unless you ask me right now about a family of raccoons that have decided to redecorate my yard. But I'll play along with Garden Bloggers Bloom day because I love to take pictures of my flowers.

Blooming in my shady yard is usually limited to the few shade plants that are tolerant of the conditions. I have about 13 variety of hydrangeas and too many to count variety of hosta and all have different blooming cycles. It current showy-mode is Hydrangeas Peppermint, Double Pink, Blushing Bride, Endless Summer, Blaumeise (Teller Blue), Teller Red, and the hydrangea rescued from my mom's nursing home several years ago, so I call it Maxine.

Hydrangea 'Double Pink'

The hosta H. 'Jimmy Crack Corn', a hybrid of Piedmont Gold, is turning out to be a show stopper this year. I guess it's pretty happy with it relocation to the spring wetland area of my yard. It's just starting to bloom and has nicely-formed buds that open slowly for a continued show. Also in bloom is Sum and Substance, Stained Glass, Paul's Glory, Wylde Green Cream, Ventricosa, Fortunei Aureomarginata, Captain Kirk, Guacamole, and several others.

The bloom of H. 'Jimmy Crack Corn'

Hydrangea 'Blaumeise' and H. 'Fortunei Aureomarginata'

coneflowers and yarrow mixing it up

Perennial Smash

Asiatic lily, possible Stargazer

Hydrangea 'Peppermint'

Liatris emerges

With so much shade in my yard I have to depend more on texture and foliage color to keep it interesting. But I do have some areas that receive just enough sun to allow a few perennials that would be considered sun worshipers. So crammed into a little space in the back of my yard are a mingling of coneflowers, yarrow, liatris, Alstroemeria, agastache, helenium, phlox, menarda all currently in full bloom. On the other side of the yard but filling the air with fragrance day and night are my Asiatic lilies, they have been there for many years but I believe they were Stargazer, but that tag is long gone. Others are hanging out waiting for next months edition of Garden Bloggers Bloom day.