I have a  sampling of some of the flowers blooming in early July here on the west coast (this year – the “wet coast”!). After an exuberant  volume of blooms of every description, variety and colour in the spring, early summer can feel a little bit sparse when trying to cut enough flowers to make an arrangement. Planning ahead for this scarcity is advised!

Most of these flower photos were taken while on the Hornby Festival House & Garden Tour a couple of weeks ago  – another exciting and inspirational day! I will do other posts on the fabulous houses and gardens soon. Our new Canon EOS 60D is taking photos that I wouldn’t have dreamed I could produce – and it is the camera not me, as it is always on auto! This first one ~ spires of a variety of Veronica ~ made me very happy!

The giant head of this Allium was stunning…..

Roses are the queen of the season of course and they seemed to all be very happy. The fragrance from this cabbage rose kept us there for a while, taking many deep breaths…..

there was some debate on what this next flower is, I was thinking it may be a borage flower but another lady said she thought is was an Anchusa – I’m quite sure she is correct…..

Honeysuckle is in full swing at this time of year, so fragrant and so pretty…..

the peonies were pretty much over, but there were a few still in their full glory…..

and then there was this pretty little bouquet at one of the public venues…..

and a rhubarb plant that had produced an incredibly interesting and large seed head, it may not be good in an arrangement at this stage but it may have been when it was first forming a couple of months ago …..

There were also lilies, sweet williams, daisies, campanulas, iris, poppies and some annuals all blooming as well – I’m sure there were many others but that is what I can remember at the moment. There were quite a number of shrubs that were flowering as well ~ spirea, California lilac and the fragrant domestic broom come to mind.

Now, two weeks later, many of these flowers are finished and a new round of attention getters are promoting themselves! Lavender is in fine form at the moment…..but I think that a trip to a couple of nurseries would be good right about now, to be reminded about which perennials & shrubs bloom through July & August!