What's Blooming in my July Garden

It's been a long time since I've posted about what's blooming in my garden, and it might have something to do with the fact that I've been a lot more focused on the foliage and overall design lately. Though with all that greenery the flowers just stand out even more!

I've been trialing some plants from Proven Winners and the Verbena bonariensis 'Meteor Shower' has been the most impressive one by far, holding its profusion of lavender blooms aloft above the contrasting yellow gomphrena and tickseed.

It has only recently started raining after a long dry spell, and the rain lilies were happy to share their excitement.

My yellow shrimp plant looked pretty rangy and scraggly last year, but has now become a bushy mass of creamy pendant blooms.

I even get excited about the flowers of the humble (and some would say overused) Liriope spicata! That's turmeric you see popping up through the foliage.

Unlike the 'Just Joey' rose in my front yard, this 'Easy Does It' Floribunda rose keeps its vivid coral hue even in the intense sun of a Florida summer.

This Tillandsia harrisii isn't cold hardy like my other bromeliads. I just bring it into the garage whenever we get a freeze! It seems pretty happy growing on the exposed maple roots with a little bit of mulch.

The boldest and brightest bloom in my garden belongs to this Vriecantarea 'Inferno', which has been in 'bloom' for the last two months even though the flowers themselves have not yet emerged from the red bracts.

The same goes for this Vriesea sucrei hybrid, but this is the first time I've ever seen the inflorescence branch like this. It must be happy in its new home!

I've never really put nearly as much thought into flowers compared to foliage and form, but visiting pollinators like this giant swallowtail remind me that they're worth having after all.

And this green anole is no doubt preying on pollinators visiting the massive heads of my Skyscraper sunflowers.