I returned last Sunday (from four days away), to discover almost 4.5" in the rain gauge I had emptied before we left.
From the National Weather Service: "
With still another couple weeks left in June, this April-May-June is already the wettest on record at the Portland Airport with 12.23" of rain as of June 11th... More rain in the coming days will only pad the lead." Extremes in any direction test our patience and folks, this is getting ridiculous. Besides the seemingly nonstop rain it's also been cool. I believe we've only hit 80 twice this year. At this point the garden is still (mostly) looking good but if we don't turn a corner soon I fear plants are going to start showing the damage of growing in saturated soil. I know I am suffering.
But for now, there are flowers, blooms to share on Bloomday—starting with Aloe aristata, aka Aristaloe aristata. This is the first of the four to start opening.
Amsonia hubrichtii
Echium russicum, a little beat down by the rain, but still inspiring visitors to stop by, there's one coming in on the right.
Santolina chamaecyparissus 'Lemon Queen'
Parahebe perfoliata
And a close-up of those bright blue flowers—against the foliage of Erica arborea var. alpina.
Podocarpus alpinus ‘Orangeade’—I think this one goes by a different name now, but that's what I bought it as.
Yucca filamentosa bloom spikes on the rise! There are ten of them this year.
Nigella orientalis 'Transformer’, I'd like to claim I grew these from seed, but I actually bought Langley Fine Gardens starts at Portland Nursery earlier this spring.
Embothrium coccineum, against a cloudy sky.
The first of the Callistemon viridiflorus blooms are starting to open.
I love these bizarre bottle-brush blooms.
White flowers of a saxfraga, I can't remember which one this is. The small yellow beads are from the Trachycarpus wagnerianus that bloomed above and dropped its seeds.
Speaking of blooming and dropping, these scarlet trumpets belong to Lonicera x brownii 'Dropmore Scarlet'. I've had exactly three blooms open, the rest I've had to cut off due to an aphid infestation. I am about to remove the plant... it's just not worth it if I get no flowers since I'm constantly trimming away the buds due to pests.
You may remember my recent obsession with
the foliage of Saxifraga stolonifera 'Maroon Beauty'? Well it turns out the flowers are pretty cute too.
Euphorbia 'Excalibur'
Lomatia tinctoria, aka "guitar plant"... those guitars should burst open in a few days, hopefully.
The carnivorous plants are blooming, a colorful mix of sarracenia...
And Darlingtonia californica...
Another lonicera, this one carefree in everyway, Lonicera crassifolia.
Scadoxus puniceus
Podophyllum 'Spotty Dotty' took its time opening its blooms, I mean it's really all about this foliage...
But the blooms are a fabulous color with longer petals than my other podophyllum have.
Still blooming! Thalictrum ichangense 'Evening Star'
Billbergia nutans 'Blondie'
My various Billbergia nutans (three different plants) have sent out 17 bloom spikes this year, it's pretty incredible!
The Epimedium 'Amber Queen' has sent out a few more blooms. It's so cool and wet the poor plant thinks it's still early spring!
Alchemilla mollis shows off the rain well.
The lower (and more easily photographed) blooms of the Magnolia macrophylla haven't opened yet, but I was able to zoom in on one way up in the tree.
And finally, Paris polyphylla 'Heronswood Form', a plant I forgot to photograph so I cheated and stuck in a photo I took on a sunny afternoon. Here's hoping my July Bloomday post will have sunny warm days to report!
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