Triumphs and Tragedies

It's the weekend and that means it's time to go for a walk.  This past week the weather has been hot and humid and flowers are busting out all over so lots of photographs were taken on the walk.  I started at the front doorstep with the peony blossoms which are as big as my hand.

Some of these blooms made it to a vase inside the house as well as a certain person may have gotten too close with the weed whacker.  ahem.

From the door I turned right and walked toward the front yard admiring the last of the lupines and bleeding hearts.  These plants are beginning to form seedpods and will go dormant in the summer's heat.

In the entrance bed I'm having a bit of a dilemma.  Some plants put in this bed last summer have grown to epic proportions which is really nice.  They're obviously happy here.  Unfortunately placement wasn't given a lot of thought at the time they were planted and now they are too large to move.  In the below photo you can see the apple tree to the back left with blooming Lady's Mantle (Alchemilla) at it's feet and Meadowsweet (Filipendula) to the right.

The Meadowsweet is almost as tall as the tree!

There's no room to get under and around the apple tree for pruning or picking with the other plants this close.  But while they are this large and blooming I'm unable to move them.  So for now I will have to wait until fall, or even next spring to dig these plants up and move them.

From the entrance I backtracked to the veggie garden and found the feverfew sending out blooms in the herb area.

Marigold blossoms also caught my eye.  I bought a variety called Durango this year.  They're double blossoms in shades of orange, yellow and maroon.  I love the smell of marigolds but insect pests don't so I always include them in my veggie beds.

In the back garden I found some yellow blossoms I've been excitedly waiting for.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so excited when they finally opened.  This plant was marked as a Euphorbia when I took it home from the plant sale.  I should have noticed the leaves but I read the label and didn't think twice.  This isn't a Euphorbia but rather Lysimachia punctata or Yellow Loosestrife.  Not nearly as desirable.  To me anyway.  In fact, I think it's going to get pulled.  While this Loosestrife isn't as invasive as it's purple cousin it still has travelling tendencies that I would prefer not to have in the garden.  Which I know is ironic considering that's the very invasive Plume Poppy planted behind it but I really like the leaves on the poppy.  The Loosestrife however, does nothing for me.

A yellow I do like is this lovely dahlia.  

It's actually a bit early for the dahlias to be blooming but I had a hard time finding good storage this winter for this large tuber.  I wasn't able to keep it cool enough and it began sprouting in March so I threw it in a cardboard box with some potting soil and it began to grow.  By the time it was planted outside it was already a very large plant.  The result is super early dahlia blooms which I don't mind at all.