Lupines, Columbines and Gaillardia

The lupines have started to bloom in my garden and so have the columbines! These perennials only bloom for about  4 weeks and it is really exciting to see their first blossoms of the season open!

My first columbine is a pretty pink and white variety. The flowers are 3 dimensional and remind me of underwater sea creatures for some reason.   I also have some yellow and white columbines and a pure white one. Some of them are growing in my wild flower bed at the far end of the yard, but this year with all the rain we have had, the grass has grown really tall in that bed and is trying to take over. It will have to be clipped or much of it removed, not a job I look forward to...

(One more thing to add to my 'To Do 'list, Lol!)  Yes, the war with the grass roots and the infernal dandelions never seems to cease!

Columbines (aqueligia) are easy to grow and the flowers also come in blue and a deep burgundy. They prefer some shade, but will tolerate full sun.  Butterflies are attracted to them. The plants get old after about 3 years and it's a good idea to let them seed themselves and start some young ones nearby, the same as lupines.

Lupines have interesting foliage and beautiful tall spikes on flowers in a variety of colors. The leaves are compound leaves with 5 to 7 long 'fingers' on them. The lupine of mine that is blooming is dark pink and the other one in the same bed seems to be purple (judging from the color of the buds so far.)

Lupines are short lived perennials. The plants only live 2 or 3 years and then stop coming up. That's why it's a good idea to let some of the lupine flowers go to seed. That way they will produce new little babies in close to the same spot as the 'old mama' and you will always have lupines. They have a long tap root that grows deep into the soil and so they do not like to be moved once established.  (And neither do columbines for that matter.)  Lupines are members of the pea family and they take nitrogen from the air and return it to the soil, making the soil richer (which is called 'fixing nitrogen').   They are poisonous to animals (sheep and cattle) if eaten in large quantities.

At this time of the year you will often find perennials on sale for a song!  I'm a sucker for a bargain and I bought 2 Robinsom red daisies (also called red painted daisies) and planted them in my wild flower bed. The leaves are very ferny and delicate looking. Not sure if they will actually bloom this summer or not, but as most gardeners, I have enough patience to wait till next year to see them bloom.

I went looking for a coreopsis today, but ended up coming home with a stunningly beautiful healthy Morden rose ( yes, another one!) with beautiful dark red blossoms on it.  I have no clue where I'm going to plant it yet, but my patient husband bought it anyway. (Patient gardeners need to have patient husbands... :)

I also bought a $2 Veronica which gets blue tufted flowers; "Almost free!" as my husband says.  If need be, I'll move some annuals to make room!  Realistically, who knows if they will even survive the winter and amount to anything, but I'm always willing to try.

Last year one of my new acquisitions was 3 blanket flowers (gaillardias) which look like short daisies with light green leaves. My favorite variety is called Arizona Sun and that's exactly what the flowers look like, yellowy red suns!  They also remind me of our orange 'Arizona cat' who we rescued from an abandoned home in Arizona 2 years ago. We named the cat Phoenix and he is the biggest cat that I have every had ( and I have had many over the years!)

Gaillardias are quite drought tolerant once established. That has been an attractive feature for any plant around my flower beds, up until this year at least. (This spring and early summer we have had more rain than most people in this area can even remember!)

 Gaillardias are very slow to make an appearance in the spring, though, so it is a good idea to put a plant marker there once they die back in the fall so you don't accidently dig them up.  The wait is well worth it!

annual gazanias, pink dianthus and gaillardia -Arizona sun 2009