My American Highbush Cranberry shrub (Viburnum opulus var. americanum) is in full flower (you may recall that the cardinals nested in it last summer and caused some drama). It’s a nice, well-behaved shrub. In fall the leaves turn yellow and orange and it displays pretty, red berries:
I filled a barrel full of pansies this year and they are now blooming like crazy. The lavender and yellow pansies are a variety called ‘Ultima Morpho’ (a 2002 All-America Selections winner). They are more heat-tolerant than most pansies and will bloom all summer. I bought these from a local garden center, but you can easily sprout ‘Ultima Morpho’ from seed indoors.
My Iris sibirica ‘Caesar’s Brother’ started blooming yesterday. I was shocked when I saw it because it’s sitting on top of a 4-foot stalk. All my other Siberian Irises are under a foot tall. I looked it up and ‘Caesar’s Brother’ is supposed to grow 3 to 4 feet tall, so I don’t have some freak of nature on my hands after all.
The biggest surprise of the day is a daylily. Last year my first daylily bloomed on June 13th (it was ‘Double Cutie’). This year the honor goes to ‘Buttered Popcorn.’
No, it’s not much to look at, but I’ve learned my lesson with daylilies. You should never judge a daylily by its first bloom of the season. Sometimes they can be downright scary. And if a daylily is new to your garden, it’s best to let it grow one full season before you decide you don’t like the blooms. The plant will surprise you once it gets established.
‘Buttered Popcorn’ is one of my favorite daylilies. It blooms for weeks and weeks and often reblooms. The plants grow 32 inches tall with gorgeous 6-inch, golden-yellow blooms.
I have ‘Buttered Popcorn’ growing in several places in my yard. It even flowers for me in shady locations. Here’s a photo of the ol’ gal on a better day:
