Happy Monday GPODers!
Today’s submission comes from Bonnie Phipps in Boulder, Colorado and she’s reminding us to stop and smell the flowers. Last we heard from Bonnie, she shared the process of building an incredible flower garden from a space once overwhelmed by overgrown junipers (Check out that submission: The Birth of Bonnie’s Flower Garden). While her Colorado garden has a focus on foliage (See other areas of Bonnie’s garden here: The North Side of Bonnie’s Colorful Colorado Garden and November in Colorado), this new area of color has clearly been a source of inspiration as today’s post is all about blooms.
Hello everyone,
I’m mostly a foliage gardener since most of my zone 4-5 Colorado garden is shady. About 4 or 5 years ago, I removed 3 old and overgrown buffalo junipers (Juniperus sabina ‘Buffalo’Zones 3–7) in the only area of my yard that has a limited amount of not-quite-full sun. I designed a “Flower Garden” there and have been experimenting with various flowering plants that might be able to live there—some work and some don’t. I love the way my Flower Garden changes almost weekly. It’s quite exciting seeing the flowers emerge throughout the growing season, and I love photographing them. Most of these flowers are from my garden, but three are from my neighbors.
This is a Purple Mountain sun daisy (Osteospermum Barberiae our. compact ‘P005S’, Zones 5–9), growing out of golden creeping jenny (Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea’Zones 3–8). The flower’s foliage is flat to the ground, and out of it comes these 8-ish inch stems with this perky small flower.
Hopflower oregano (Origanum libanoticumZones 5–9) makes an intricate ground cover.
I took a ton of photos of my Oriental poppies (Poppy EasternZones 3–7) in their prime, as well as when they were declining. They are so interesting looking, especially the center.
This flower was in a sidewalk strip just around the corner. It was in a whole field of the same flower.
A budding rose from my neighbor’s garden.
My Prima™ ‘Ginger’ coneflowers (Echinacea ‘TNECHPG’, Zones 4–9). They grow to a height of 20″ or less and bloom for a long time.
I have so many Japanese anemone’s (Anemone hupehensisZones 4–8) which, if I’m not careful, will take over the garden.
A big sunflower from that same sidewalk strip.
A globeflower (Trollius chinensis ‘Golden Queen’, Zones 3–7) from my garden.
My Magnus coneflower (Echinaacea purpuea ‘magnus’Zones 3–8) looks like it’s in a painting when I use my Lensbaby lens.
Thank you so much for sharing your beautiful photography with us, Bonnie! It’s incredible to see these gorgeous blooms through your artful eye, and it’s wonderful hearing the joy your flower garden brings you.
What flowers caused you to go in for a closer look this summer? Is there a plant you check on every day to admire fresh blooms? Did a newer plant finally flower for the first time this year? If you have some bloom beauty shots, we would love to see them! Follow the directions below to submit photos via email, or send me a DM on Instagram: @agirlherdogandtheroad.
We want to see YOUR garden!
Have photos to share? We’d love to see your garden, a particular collection of plants you love, or a wonderful garden you had the chance to visit!
To submit, send 5–10 photos to (email protected) along with some information about the plants in the pictures and where you took the photos. We’d love to hear where you are located, how long you’ve been gardening, successes you are proud of, failures you learned from, hopes for the future, favorite plants, or funny stories from your garden.
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