Friday, August 21, 2015

Lantana, Zinnia, Dahlias, and Butterfly Bush Flowers

Bicolor Lantana: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015
Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" The lantanas are great drought-tolerant butterfly-attracting plants. I like this white with yellow center one but the bright multicolored and straight yellow flowers are nice too.
Apricot and pink zinnia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015
I think the zinnias are the stars of our garden this year and love that I grew most of them (including the one pictured above) from seed.  The birds and butterflies love them too.
Vibrant dahlia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015
Dahlia blooms are still trickling in here and there. 
White buddelia (butterfly bush): Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015
The butterfly bushes are doing great; even the ones in pots. We didn't intend to grow any in pots but the soil where we planned to put them this spring turned out to be riddled with tree roots so four bushes are in pots until my hard working husband can get to clear out spots for them.
Yellow and red bicolor dahlia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015
The "sights of summer" dahlia is currently the most prolific of the larger dahlias. It's nice to have a few big blooms. Next year I think we'll go back to the dinnerplate dahlias though. We seemed to get a whole lot more flowers from them. But we appreciate all flowers as they bloom.

Thank you for joining me on this week's mini garden tour! May God bless you!

Which photo(s) did you like best? Do you have any tips for keeping dahlias happy all summer? I'd love to hear them!

Related posts:
Cute critters on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/cute-critters-on-flowers.html
Raindrops on butterfly bush and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/raindrops-on-roses-azalea-camellia.html
Colorful lantana: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/zinnia-vinca-coreopsis-geranium-and.html

3 comments:

  1. Such beautiful photos. I wish we had smell-o-vision. I bet they smell wonderful.

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    Replies
    1. You're so creative, Kay :) Love the "smell-o-vision" idea. The roses smell great. Not sure about any of the ones featured in this post though. I'll have to smell them tomorrow to see. Thank you for visiting and commenting!

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  2. Thank you to all who voted on their favorite photo from this post!
    This week's winning photo was the apricot and pink zinnia.
    The current vote tally:
    Apricot and pink zinnia - 3
    White/yellow lantana - 1
    Sunrise dahlia (yellow/pink) - 0
    White butterfly bush -1
    Sights of summer (yellow/red) dahlia - 1

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