How Does Your Garden Grow ii

It grows pretty well with lots of room for improvement. There will be adding and subtracting of plants as the seasons come and go, but it's a whole lot better than it used to be.

The Shasta Daisies are in full bloom. This cultivar resembles Chrysanthemums more than the traditional shasta look with the yellow centers. The two plants are related, but I think I prefer the varieties of shastas with the yellow centers. ↓↓



The Echinacea plants are thriving, and they are loaded with buds, but we don't have very many blooms yet. ↓↓



Beginning with the blue Campanulas (bellflowers) at the top left which are almost done and moving clockwise, we have purple, dwarf Monarda (bee balm). In the years since I last gardened or bought plants, a number of dwarfs seem to have been developed in various plants. I am currently coveting some dwarf phlox, but I'll have to find a spot for them first. ↓↓

Continuing our interrupted tour, there are some Platycodon (balloon flowers) at the top right and some white Veronica (speedwell) to the bottom right. Finally, there is fever few at the bottom left. ↓↓




I guess the balloon flowers are okay ↑↑, but I think I prefer the blue ones from my last garden to this muted pink. And these variety of Platycodon plants (tall spindly ones in the next photo) aren't my faves either. I think these will have to be moved or disposed of at some point. The Echinaceas and Shastas are in the background of this shot, ↓↓ and the little pink flowers here and there are annuals — geraniums. They certainly are helping to fill in the sparse spots until we are able to fill in the gaps with perennials as time goes by.



The traditional bed of impatiens directly in front of the porch is coming along nicely. ↓↓



And this is how the garden looks from my den window. The Echinaceas are in the foreground, and you can see how well the plants are doing but how few blooms there are right now. ↓↓