The Alliums are here

The Alliums are here ! Just in time ,  as the garden has been rapidly filling in with various greens.  A few  dabs of Allium Christofiii   livens things up. I only  wish there were more !

I 've been taking stock of the Alliums planted over the years : Christophii, I  planted 10 in 2012; It's increased by…1, which is better than most of the others I've planted . 

Schubertii  5 planted in 2011 , only two survivors. They are in an area that gets dug up quite a lot 

These little yellow ones I didn't plant , I think they are Moly Jeannine , this is a vigorous one . I'm going to lift most of them up and move them to a new area that could use a bit of brighting up .

Allim unifolium  I planted 100 in 2008 . There are lots of these rampant ones. I like them for tucking between plants . I did make the mistake of planting a few in my mothers heavy clay garden , where they have become a  very weedy pest . In my dry garden they're  just fine.

 Nectarscordum … 10 planted in 2012, I count only 5 , which is a shame because I would like more .

' Altopurpureum ', 10 planted in 2014 and amain only 5 left. I love these purple ones , so I'll be ordering more.
The only ones left to bloom are: A sphaerocephon , which happens in July. They always multiply like crazy.              And finally A. 'graceful beauty' which I planted last autumn . I can only spot  3 out of 25 .  If I had read the catalog description more carefully I would have realized  they get only 12" tall  and bloom too late for the very tall and crowded shade garden.

Chrysanthemum Robinson Red or not

Not only are my Chrysanthemums very early, but they're not red .  They do make a nice paring with the Lychnis  .

While we were away...

While we were stuck in  doors these last few rainy days . The snail have been making merry ….swinging from the Stipa.

Noshing on the Sempervivum .

Garden Bloggers bloom day … the white edition

It's a very wet May bloom day , so I'm not going out with my camera.
I have a few new blooms that I'm excited about though; Magnolia macrophylla's very first bloom . And gaining a bit of height at last.

Grevillea moonlight has made many blooms this year

Another first bloom: Stewartia rostrata is much happier after being moved into the shade garden . 

Lastly Styrax japonica 'evening light', which I planted last summer .
Thank you Carol for hosting  May Dreams Gardens 

The rock roses...

When I realized that we have  soil very similar to our last garden in Suffolk UK , which was  on the  coast  and very, very sandy.  I remembered how well the Cistus grew  in the dry , windy, windy East coast .
So, I've been  adding them  to this dry , windy garden , now I have ten…
This one 'Jessamy beauty is planted on my dry slope and gets no water , from me, that is.

This one Hallmium x Sarah, a Cistus relative. is helping to soften the harsh lines of the drive way.

Cistus Elma , my first , I planted to help cover the ugly fence. It's doing that very well.

Cistus libanotis 'major'

Cistus 'snowfire'

Cistus''purpureus'

I believe I have two ' snow fires'…oops. Sometimes it's helpful to do an inventory .

 Cistus' Mickie ' is looking healthy this year , I planted it in last summers heat; and  Mickie  suffered for it. 

My most resent one : Cistus x pagel pale pink . Almost white this one . I've planted it along our metal fence to replace the dead boxwood.                                                                                                                                                                                 I've got one more , Cistus  'gardianus' another pink one  which hasn't started to bloom yet. 

The self-seeding garden in May..

I didn't get around to doing a post on my self-seeding garden in April . It's mostly filled in now.   I've been pulling out dozens of pink Aquilegia .And the For-get-me -nots are mostly gone as well for this year. Had to make room for the next wave of  bloomers. It 's the poppies and Alliums I see coming up next .
I probably didn't need to sprinkle wild flower seed in the bare patches. I've been  tip toeing around , so as not to be crushing too many plants.

I moved these clumps of red Peony ( came with the house) here last year . I like the way they make big dabs of bright red to break things up a bit  this early in the season. The Oriental Poppy helps too ….and the Helianthemum 'Henfield red'