Passionate Purple & Pink

Both of these wildflowers found my garden.
They are seasonal and have multiplied.
Sometimes you just get lucky!
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Here are eggplant and potato flowers
from the vegetable garden.
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Lupine and Foxglove reseed freely.
I never know where they will appear year-to-year.
They are always welcome additions.
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Years ago, I planted Garlic in my flower beds to fight bugs,
I think it will come up forever.
Agastache, or Giant Hyssop, is supposed to be deer resistant,
but I don’t trust those animals.  Some of the plants are fenced,
some are not, so far all are surviving.
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Short and tall exemplars.
Bellflower is peeking out between Bergenia leaves.
Its own leaves are the serrated ones in the back of the photo.
These Hollyhock blossoms are ‘doubles’ with extra petals.
A neighbor gave me these plants a number of years ago,
and they are finally blooming.

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Far and Near

I have found that I like some flowers because they look beautiful up close (especially the aromatic ones:-), and others because they look so good massed, at a distance.

Ox-eye, or field daisies, are a prime example.

In a meadow, the tall daisies can be quite stunning.
Up close, the flowers look ordinary and the plant itself gets weedy looking.

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I think St. John’s Wort has an especially lovely flower.

In my garden, this plant grows as a ground cover behind a flower bed.
Rarely do I go after the weeds in this out-of-the-way location.

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Lychnis Coronaria is a deer- and drought-resistant plant, that grows in sun or shade.
Though it doesn’t seem to flower when located in heavier shade.

These white blossoms are the ‘Alba’ strain.
While the magenta flowers are often called Rose Campion.

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This plant was labeled a ground rose when I purchased it.
I wasn’t really sure what that meant, but I learned to prune the lowest branches away,
so I can deadhead without getting thorned to death.

This is definitely an example of select flowers that look great up close,
but the entire plant gets raggedy looking when it needs a ‘haircut’.

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I like to think of Georgia O’Keefe’s flower paintings whenever I see flowers
up very, very close.  Her vision of the micro view of flowers is very sensual.
But that is another discussion.

Dried Flower Blossoms

A couple of peonies and an artichoke flower photographed in a vase
with a turtle-shape opening.
The same wood-fired vase appears quite different from opposite sides.

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Lavender flowers have long been dried to preserve the scent year-round.
My mini-vases display the unopened buds from lavender tops.

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What a fine discovery, on my part, to learn these tiny succulent blossoms
dry to be enjoyed all year long.