There’s a happy chaos of color in my gardens this month!
Coreopsis verticillata ‘Moonbeam’ has been blooming for two weeks now. Here it is complemented by May Night Salvia and Veronica spicata ‘Blue Bouquet’ (aka Speedwell), each at the end of its bloom cycle. One of the hens and chicks has sent up a thick, odd-looking flower spike as well:
The wild Ox-eye daisies (Leucanthemum vulgare) are nearly finished for the year, and the Cleome has just begun:
In the same jumble, Scabiosa ‘Butterfly Blue’, planted here just last year, opened its first flower. There is one other stem with a bud. It is definitely creeping; I hope to see it leap next year!
An adventuresome stem of the bright pink rose grew its way right through the ferns:
There is a plethora of dragonflies in the garden this year. I can’t remember ever before seeing so many! 
The tall Balloon Flower I transplanted from a friend’s garden last summer has its first blooms above the ferns and the last few flowers of Geum ‘Mrs. Bradshaw’:
Jason from Garden in a City identified this Coreopsis verticillata as ‘Zagreb’:
My shorter Balloon flower (Platycodon grandiflorus), possibly ‘Astra Blue’, is in full glory: 
I am not alone in my love for these flowers!
Bright red Bee Balm (Monarda didyma ‘Jacob Cline’) overlooks the Balloon Flower. I prefer purples and pinks, so this scarlet is not my favorite Monarda, but it doesn’t bother me in this space as much as it did last year. I did clip a good portion of it back early in the summer to keep it a bit shorter and encourage it to branch out more:
Talk about a bad hair day!
More Cleome play nicely with Coreopsis grandiflora, possibly ‘Sunfire’ (thank you again, Jason!), while the first Black-eyed Susans are opening in the background:
When the Coreopsis finishes blooming, these French Marigolds, ‘Durango gold’ will have their chance to shine:
Finally, at the far end of the rock garden, Cleome spinosa ‘Violet Queen’ impatiently waits for the Rudbeckia to begin blooming and keep it company:
Bright colors dominate the containers on my side porch, as well:
I’ll write about these plants in more detail in a later post.
Elsewhere, here is the first bloom of Cosmos bipinnatus ‘Summer Dreams’. I love the pink blush suffusing its petals:
In the front garden, the Astilbe bloomed profusely and are nearing the end of their run:
The Asiatic lilies are also fading fast, but still retain some of their gorgeous shades of yellow and pink:
The tropical Hibiscus on the front porch must have heard it was Bloom Day!
The Oxalis is very happy in its outdoor summer home. The filtered light and high humidity agree with it:
The color on this Rieger Begonia is more intense here in its porch corner, away from the direct sunlight it received during the winter and spring on my kitchen windowsill:
Many thanks, as always, to Carol from May Dreams Gardens for hosting this monthly garden party! I hope July is happily chaotic in your gardens too!
Cosmos and Cleome 
Everything’s looking very healthy and colorful! I like your balloon flower, wish I had some.
The Balloon Flower is on my list of top 5 favorites!
Oh my! You have so many pretty flowers in bloom, and you are growing some of the same ones I have growing, but yours look so healthy! I’m growing cleome and balloon flower again in my garden after an absence of a few years. So far so good!
Hi Dorothy! Always nice to have a new visitor to my site. We had a wet, cool spring and early summer, and I think that’s helping these plants get through the hot streak better than they otherwise may have.
I’m a pink and purple kind of girl, too, but I think a chaos of colors fits summer, don’t you? You have a beautiful riot of many colors here, though I still notice the pink and purple dominating. I think I have the same short balloon flower–thanks for reminding me of its name. What I don’t seem to have this year are cleome; the usual volunteer seedlings haven’t appeared. It was good to see all of yours–I think the spidery flowers of cleome are so striking. Happy Bloom Day!
Rose, some varieties of Cleome are sterile; that may account for the lack of seedlings. I don’t have as many as I have had in the past–most of the ones here are nursery stock. There are a few volunteers, though, and I have to say, they seem healthier and heartier than the nursery stock.
I think all of the yellows I have, in the coreopsis and marigolds, balance out the purples and pinks nicely, and really brighten things up. Soon the Redbeckia will fill that role. Thanks for visiting!
Pingback: Foliage Follow-Up; July 2013 | Cosmos and Cleome
You have such pretty gardens and I am glad to have found you through my blog. I was thinking of adding some Scabiosa to my garden and now after seeing how nice your’s looks I just might! The dragonfly photo is amazing…they are a sign of good luck according to some! Happy Bloom Day!
LOVE the Moonbeam Coreopsis…it’s such a fabulous, mellow color…and goes so well with everything! Funny, I felt the same way about ‘Jacob Cline’ last year…but this year, it’s not bothering me as much…perhaps because I realize how much the Hummingbirds love it too 🙂
I love your rock garden! I have lots of dragonflies, too, but they don’t stay still long enough for me to photograph. P. x