What a difference a month makes! We’ve finally gotten some warmth and sunshine here in Calgary, and my garden is actually looking a little bit parched right now (hard to believe after the flooding in June). There are still some blooms to share, however – here are a few I managed to get photos of today!
Click on over to May Dreams Gardens to join in the fun! Thanks so much to Carol for hosting!
One of the oldest perennials in my flowerbeds, this Alaska Shasta daisy (Leucanthemum superbum ‘Alaska’) was planted in 2004, the year I began gardening on this site. I divided it last year and its progeny is doing very well!
Another of the verbena Quartz Mix that I showed you last month; a different colour this time, though! My verbenas still haven’t completely recovered from the Feasting of the Hares this year and, despite my adoration for them, they’re now on my list of plants to avoid in the future.
For anyone who regularly follows my blog, this Scabiosa caucasica ‘Perfecta’ will be familiar…I can’t get enough of its unusual blooms. I think I need to plant more of them. 🙂 I didn’t notice it when I snapped the photo, but there seems to be a tiny green(?) insect taking up residency in this particular flower. I can’t tell exactly what it is, though…friend or foe?
Borage! A favourite of mine…although I have to share it with the bees…. I have several of these growing in my community garden plot. I usually just throw the flowers (and the tender young leaves) in salads, but someone told me the other day that you can chop up the mature leaves and cook them like spinach. Has anyone else tried that? I may give it a go!
My lady’s mantle (Alchemilla mollis) is past its peak and looking a tad haggard, but I’m always amazed at how long they bloom! I put in another one this year…and I’m still on the lookout for the alpine variety.
This is one of my (nearly finished blooming but still doing enough to qualify) thymes. I have a few old plants and I have no idea which one is which. Any ideas about ID for this one?
I love marigolds, and the Tagetes patula (‘Bonita’ mix) that I grew from seed are cheerful and summer-bright! Do you grow marigolds?
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Enjoy the rest of your week! 🙂
Flowery Prose 
Lovely pictures. It looks like your garden is doing very well.
I also grow marigolds but I am a little mean to them as I chop off their heads (flowers! LOL!) when they are in full bloom to use for natural dyeing.
Thank you very much! I had forgotten that you can use marigolds in dye. Do you plant specific plants for your dye projects?
I have marigolds growing at the cabin and at Pender specifically for dyeing. My ones at home got hailed out.
I have planted a coreopis (Spelling?) this year which will hopefully be big enough next year to have lots of flowers for dyeing. I also have a rose bush and many peony plants which are great for eco printing, plus delphinium. A eucalyptus is on my wish list for Pender, but I will need to also build a deer proofed enclosure, so a big project. My arbutus on Pender is worlds biggest dye plant at over 50 feet tall, I spend a lot of time gathering bark off the ground when tree sheds it, I am sure my neighbors think I am not quite all there in my mind.
Right now I am mostly roaming the ditches gathering goldenrod and tansy…..glamorous I know! LOL!
your garden looks wonderful I love the variety in all the colours. 🙂
Thanks so much, I appreciate it! 🙂 The weather hasn’t been as hot and dry here as in past years, so the plants seem to be holding on strong.
Lovely photos Sheryl – that scabiosa is growing on me by the day! I have borage, and last year I tried using it in a stir-fry… here’s my “recipe” http://wordsandherbs.wordpress.com/2012/10/23/borage-and-a-stir-fry/ It was an interesting experiment, and I shall use up some leaves again this autumn.
Awesome! Thanks so much for sending me your link, Cathy – I’m going to try it this week! I have a whole bunch of veggies to use from my CSA share and they’ll make a great stir-fry with the borage leaves! Looking forward to it. 🙂
Beautiful flowers. I haven’t tried to eat borage leaves but I certainly enjoy the borage flowers with their slight hint of cucumber.
I’m going to try cooking and eating the borage leaves this week – I have quite a few plants and it will be interesting to do a taste test. I’ve eaten the leaves when they’re young, but mostly I just grow them for the flowers. I love putting the flowers in ice water – yummy and refreshing!
Hope you will let us know how the taste test tasted.
I also like marigolds and sometimes I grow them 🙂 Annie
They’re so bright and cheerful – they always put a smile on my face!
It all looks awesome, I guess you might have been baking down there the past couple of days too. I’m glad we are getting back to 22 C by Sunday. I never planted marigolds because the slugs loved them and they’re just too eecky when the leave black poo on them but I adore the lavender Scabiosa caucasica. Is it sometimes called ‘Pincushion flower’? Looks familiar.
You’re right that Scabiosa is also called pincushion flower – such an apt name, I think! 🙂
Oh, I do hope the slugs won’t go after my marigolds; they seem to be enjoying everything else in my veggie plot. Yuck.
I hope you’re enjoying your summer! I loved your last post about the music festival, what great fun.
We are enjoying summer, thanks. We got a BIG boomer and hail storm here yesterday, mid-day. Every time it rains, it’s torrential. Weird weather. Thanks for reading the festival post, it had been forever since we’d done something like that. Felt like an old-timer 😀
I love the blue of that borage, plus the fact that it’s such a hairy plant (I guess I identify with that). Scabiosa is a wonderful flower, and I really prefer the blue to the pink.
I’m definitely going to try to plant some other varieties of Scabiosa…love them…. 🙂
The biggest use for borrage flowers in the UK is for Pimm’s – ah! summer in a glass.
I had to look up Pimm’s – oh, I can see why borage would be good with it! Sounds delish! 🙂
The pastel colors of the first flowers is so lovely…miss those colors and flowers…good to hear your garden and weather are coming along…I added borage to the veg beds and the bees love it…I love all the pollination and veggies.
Thanks so much, Donna! I had never planted borage until last year, but I know it will now be a staple in the veggie plot!
I’m so behind in my reading (and catching up on comments) – I hope I’ll get a chance this week. I always look forward to all of your posts!
Lovely images!
I planted marigolds this year but somehow not all of them are doing well. Mind you, Toronto’s summer is year is crazy.
Thank you! I think it must be “one of those years”! The weather has been a bit nutty all across the country. This morning it is nearly freezing here. Makes me wonder what the winter will bring.
Wonderful images!
Thanks so much, I appreciate it!