While I was away, it seemed like the gardens absolutely exploded.

The weeds did too.. but lets focus on the pretty stuff.

The foxglove out front is in full bloom, and I couldn’t be happier. Foxglove is an all time favourite of mine, even though I struggle to keep it growing. It’s a biennial (dies after the second year), but it’s supposed to reseed itself so prolifically you don’t notice. (Like Black-Eyed Susans). Sadly, that has not been my experience. I’m hoping the better soil here will make a difference. I originally bought two plants this year. They are both pink, though I was hoping for different colours. Foxglove is notorious for not growing true from seed though, so if I do get it to reseed, I may get different colours in the future. I did pick up a paler pink one on clearance this week too (the garden centre was closing for the season and had great deals) – and I have some seedlings I started myself… it will be fun to see what next year brings.

I brought cone flowers from the townhouse, but they haven’t bloomed yet. I definitely have the purple ones, and some bright magenta ones, and I’m hoping my Strawberry Mango Smoothie (yellow and pink) made it, but I have to wait a few more weeks to find out (they are just budding up). This year I did buy several more, because you can never have enough cone flowers. I got a white one, as well as a red one, which had two plants in the pot. And as you can see, they are slightly different shades, which is fabulous.

There I got this gorgeous orange one on clearance, and I also picked up two in different shades of pink, though neither is in bloom yet.

I have several small clumps of Tickseed. The one with the red centre is new this year. I also have a native version, but it hasn’t bloomed yet.

In Rose news.. the mini yellow is going gangbusters. I’m so glad I took it out of it’s pot. Out front, Chrysler Imperial is putting on a good show. It’s a little bug-eaten, but not too bad. It’s got great bold red blooms that should get better and better every year.

And Chicago Rose just bloomed yesterday! So happy to have this one in the garden again!

My pink bee balm is just starting to bloom. I love how it looks like firecrackers. I have a new red version (much taller), and a new native one in the yard, but they aren’t flowering quite yet.

This little campanula is not very big, but it’s got a wonderful wow factor with those little purple flowers and bright chartreuse leaves.

Also small but mighty – the Elfin Thyme is just starting to bloom. Soon these green clumps will be covered in pink flowers. This should spread too, helping to keep down the weeds in the driveway garden.

The pink Sage is blooming again. I love Sage for the fact it blooms from spring to summer. You really can’t go wrong with it. The clearance sale yielded up a few more sage plants too (all in different shades of blue/purple). I’ve got the room for them, so I thought why not.

And the Daylilies are just starting to do their thing. Only Stella D’Oro is blooming so far, but the others are soon to follow, and I’ll find out which ones made the trip from the townhouse. (Gardening really is a waiting game). I did buy a couple new ones too, so I have that to look forward to as well!

The pink yarrow I brought from the townhouse is doing spectacular. I’ll probably have to split it up soon. I did plant a yellow one this year, but it didn’t do well. Too bad, because I’d really love to have more colours of it. Still, the pink is so nice, it’s hard to be too upset.

There’s always something wonderful happening in the garden.