Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day - July 2012

I was on the road when Bloom Day rolled around last month and didn't get to participate in my favorite monthly meme, so I wanted to be sure that I got my post done early for July.

It's been an interesting week here - very, very wet, with more than ten inches of rain falling in a three-day period. Along with the rain came a bit of windy, stormy weather. The result of all that is that a lot of the blooms in my garden look rather beat up just now. Nevertheless, let's take a look at them, shall we?

Maybe the worst of the lot is this 'Rouge Cardinal' clematis which took quite a battering.

July means it is time for the coneflowers to bloom.

Both the white...

And the purple.

July is also sunflower time. I bought a packet of mixed seeds earlier this year and planted them in the garden and now they are giving me a variety of blooms.

This one blooms on a shorter stalk than many of the others.

This one is a slightly different color.

The bumblebees like this one! So do I.

Here's a pretty yellow one that certainly looks sunny.

This one is almost pink.

Is there any happier-looking flower than the sunflower?

The Brugmansias (Angel's trumpets) are in full bloom now. They appreciated all the rain received this week.

And so did the Esperanzas (Yellow bells).

This old heirloom buddleia has been in bloom since early spring. Its blossoms are not as full and colorful as the newer varieties but the butterflies love it just the same.

Texas sage's blooms are triggered by the rain. It has been blooming a lot this summer.

The evergreen wisteria has been in bloom for much of the summer.

The nectar in its blossoms is highly prized by butterflies like this little skipper that uses its long proboscis to extract the sweet stuff.

The blossoms of the almond verbena are sweetly scented and they perfume the air in their corner of the garden.

The Hamelia patens' red-orange blossoms are frequently visited by hummingbirds and butterflies.

The oddly-shaped blooms of the shrimp plant are also great favorites of hummingbirds.

The crocosmia has been blooming for several weeks now.

Summer phlox also brightens the garden for weeks.

'Montrose Purple' vitex is now on its second flush of bloom.

Caesalpinia pulcherrima. the 'Pride of Barbados' plant, also has a long bloom period.


But the star of the garden on this Bloom Day is the Duranta erecta, "golden dewdrop," and not just because of its blooms. When I went to take its picture for this post, I found the shrub alive with butterflies!

There were several different varieties of butterflies sipping from the flowers, including Gulf Fritillaries and various skippers, but the majority of the visitors were members of the swallowtail clan. The two on the left here are Giant Swallowtails, the one on the right is a Tiger Swallowtail.

Most of the butterflies, like this Giant Swallowtail, had damage to their wings which could have been from predators but I suspect a lot of it came from the heavy weather we had this week.

Even somewhat tattered, this Tiger Swallowtail is still beautiful.


I hope this July Bloom Day finds you and your garden flourishing. Thanks once again to our hostess Carol of May Dreams Gardens for continuing to bring us Bloom Day each month.