So far the summer here in my neck of the woods have been pleasant. I know many places across California have had a terrible heatwave over 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 Celsius) but we’ve been getting the high 80s in Orange County. The temperature have been good to me and my plants. I am constantly impressed by flowers that keep popping up in my backyard. In this post are the latest finds this past week.
Heartleaf Four O’clock
These Four O’clocks are great drought tolerant plants. I hardly watered this plant in our heatwave and it still managed to grow and bloom every day. I love the purple and yellow colors. This was in a container that I inherited from my father-in-law.
Yarrow
I’m really not sure what this flower is but I think that I planted it from seed. On a plant identifying site, PlantNet, it is suggested that it resembles a yarrow. I think this is prettier than yarrow because of the delicate flower forms within this flower and the baby blue color. See how there are about three dozen little flowers within this flower? Amazing! Since I am still not sure, we will call this a yarrow.
Kalanchoe
I love the colors of the kalanchoe flowers below. The yellow is really a very bright and cheery yellow. I forgot to water it a few times and it had some dead leaves and the resident spiders spun webs all around my plants.
The colors of this kalanchoe are wonderful, these are all my favorite combination of colors. I’ve never seen these colors on a kalanchoe before.
Lemon Aura Sunflower
This adorable sunflower below is only about 14 inches tall but it is such a sweet beauty and perfectly formed.
Anemone
Anemones are so pretty. I planted many anemones late in the spring and so far this adorable white anemone is the only one that popped up and I had it in a pot while the others are in the ground. Strange, I tend to kill things in pots. Sorry, the below picture is a bit blurry. It was the best I had of this one before the petals fell off. I did manage to cut one to put in my vase for work.
Blackcurrant Swirl Angel’s Trumpet
This Angel’s Trumpet flower below is the prettiest so far this summer. Previous blooms were marred by sunspots but these are just perfect. It only bloomed for a day though. I have it in a pot but it will do better in the ground I’m sure. I have three that grew successfully from seeds and now I am begging friends to take them but no one has room for them.
Rudbeckia Sahara
These reddish looking rudbeckia Sahara was a plant I purchased and the ones below it were ones I grew from seeds. Maybe the variety is different or the soil environment is different but the colors on these plants are wildly different. The flowers seemed to be dried and fried, very unhealthy looking. These red ones were advertised to be more orange, yellow, and red colors. I am a little disappointed they didn’t turn out as pretty as the ones I grew from seeds below that.
The two pictures of the rudbeckia Sahara below are the same flower and they were grown from seeds in a pot. The petals became lighter as it aged. I really love the light orange colors in these. They make me smile when I look at them.
Algrostemma Milas
This is my first time growing these Algrostemma Milas. It is such a cutie! I love the brushstrokes in the center. They seem to be tolerant of drought and heat. So far they are only about 18 inches tall and they are flowering generously.
Purple coneflowers
This purple coneflower is the slowest to grow. I didn’t know that when I started growing them from seeds. It has been a year now and it finally flowered! It is definitely worth the time waiting because the colors are amazing! Who would have thought to put purple and orange together on this flower! It really stands tall and loud in the garden.
I know there is a bit of a blur on these pictures but I can only blame a) on my camera b) on my eyes. At the time I took the pictures, I had bifocal contact lenses on that made things look kind of clear to me at the time but in reality it is not once I take off the lenses.
Dill Flowers
These dill flowers are the neat, aren’t they? I love the smell of dill. I like to pinch off a few leaves to smell once in a while when I’m in the garden. I am going to leave the dead flowers into the winter, hopefully this will set many more seeds for next year’s growth.
More Lily Trees
Here are more of my favorite lily trees growing in the garden. I love their wonderful fragrance. They are so tall and stately in my garden. Many of these are about 3-4 feet tall with at least four flowers in bloom.
That’s all for now! I hope next week I will have more exciting flowers to show you.
