We were treated to a nice variety of blooms appearing at different times throughout the spring and summer. Here they are, roughly in order of bloom. First to bloom were the Baby Blue-Eyes and Tidy Tips, which I posted about back in March.
Next came the Chinese houses (Collinsia heterophylla), which grew quickly produced tall stalks covered in blooms. Some were white and some were a nice shade of bright purple.
These Salvia columbariae, also from Theodore Payne, grew here and there in the backyard. They were hard to spot, but really cool once I found them. Tiny complex blue flowers bloom off their spiny-looking heads.
The sunrise cosmos (Cosmos sulphureus) are from seeds I planted last year. They're annuals and self-seeding, so maybe I'll get lucky and they'll spread further across the backyard.
The lacy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) also have fluffy, spiky heads covered with small purple flowers.
The elegant clarkia (Clarkia unguiculata) came up here and there in the backyard, mixed in with the weeds. There's also a thick patch of them in the small bed on the side of our house, which is a little shadier and has better soil. I really love their bright, complicated blooms. They must have some specialized pollination purpose, although I haven't noticed any particular bees or other pollinators hovering around.
There are still a few stragglers growing that haven't bloomed. We'll see what happens to them now that the weather is getting hot and dry. And, of course, some of my seeds didn't come up at all. I can't seem to grow lupines, which is frustrating since I hail from the Bluebonnet state. At least the hillside below me is covered in lupines every spring. I just hope it's never developed.
