More In Bloom

We were gone just four days last week, and in just that short time, more things started to bloom.

Here's the crepe myrtle in the front yard:

It has gotten huge over the past 13 years we've lived in this house.  We are not ones who do much pruning to our trees.  Some of my neighbors practice 'crepe murder', they cut the tops off their crepe myrtles every  spring until the tree stands about 8 feet tall.  They get a lot of growth and flowers on the tops, but they ruin the shape of the tree.  My crepe myrtle needs some trimming up of the lower branches.  I'll also cut off any branches that are scraping the siding of the house.  Whoever planted this tree should have moved it farther out from the house or planted a different variety.  Eventually, we will have to take this tree down and plant something smaller.  I took one of the seedlings from this tree and planted it out back a few years ago. It is blooming some, but not like its parent tree.

Trimming some of the lower branches should also help these daisies get more sun. 

 

These daisies were planted in the backyard by the former homeowner.  They spread all over, and last year I gave loads of them away.  All of my daisies are now getting too much shade.  They all need to be moved.  It is a big job and too hot to contemplate doing until fall.

 

I have four varieties of yellow daylilies now.  These are the biggest (6-7 inches across) and last to bloom.

 

 

My sister gave me some pink daylilies a couple of years ago.  Last year I think I got one flower.  We have had a lot of rain this month, though, and I've gotten a lot of blooms from them lately.

 

 

I planted 6 swamp milkweeds  last year.  Only two are blooming.  It must be location related. 

 

 

Swamp milkweed is not my favorite flower, but I plant them for the butterflies.  The bees and dragonflies seem to like them too.

 

My rose of Sharon and lantana are unremarkable this year.

 

 

Maybe I should have stuck with the yellow lantana.  I think we've had a little too much rain for peak performance.  I'm also surprised my butterfly bushes haven't bloomed yet.  I can see little  1/2 inch buds, but no flowers yet.

 

Here's my mystery plant.  I may have mentioned this last year.

 

 

It looks like a cross between an iris and a lily to me.  I don't know where it came from.  It just appeared in the flower bed one day.  Update:  a little googling shows that this is probably a blackberry or leopard lily.