Mixed Up Gardens

Day 147
The Daily DuBrule

It's Father's Day, and the balloon flowers are in bloom in my garden. Wait a minute, that can't be right! It's only the middle of June, what are they doing flowering?

Don't worry, they are in good company. The orange butterfly weed is in flower too. Both of these perennials are July bloomers. This week I had many serious horticulturists hang out with me at Natureworks and this phenomenon was the talk of the town. A common question escaped everyone's lips who really know the traditional bloom cycle of the garden: "What will be in flower in the fall? Will there be anything left?". I quipped that may snowdrops and Hellebores would be the new October bloomers. We all just groaned.

Meanwhile, on the other side of my garden, I have a couple of gorgeous lupines just starting to open, about a month late. They marry perfectly with the last of the purplish red peonies. For someone who takes succession of bloom in CT very seriously, I am confused. How can a designer plan a border with this kind of craziness? I wouldn't even dare to try and rewrite my book. Things are changing, ever changing, in these times we are living in. We probably just have to enjoy the wacky combinations we inadvertently create and go with the flow and enjoy them. 

This daylily is blooming next to my lupines