Rarely do you find a perennial that blooms longer than a month, but last year I bought 2 Heliopsis "Summer Sun Sundrops' from Lowes. So far this year they have bloomed for 2 months and are still covered in blooms and buds. I totally expect them to bloom all or most of August as well. So, anyone looking for long blooming perennials might want to check it out. I was hoping to get more this year, but so far haven't found any.

* * * *

Alankhart - do you have a picture?

* * * *
PattyM

They are great plants, Alan, but take heed. They are prolific reseeders so you may want to shear them back later this fall.

From an item at the Floridata website: " WARNING
Left to its own devices, oxeye sunflower reseeds abundantly and tends to become a weed. It can easily be kept under control by autumn deadheading since it does not spread from rhizomes." I thought that part of the item was interesting...not spreading from the rhizomes. So, save those seeds to share with your buds.

Floridata Heliopsis

* * * *
Rosie z7a

That's a great combo...love the red and yellow together. I just viewed all of your pix at Photobucket and your place is wonderful. Looks like you spend many hours keeping it in tip-top shape.

* * * *
Rosie z7a

coreopsis, canna, daylily, lavender, sage, lantana, alyssum

all have long bloom times.

Just off the top of my head. There are plenty more.

* * * *

I love the sweet scents wafting in the breeze. I stop to admire the vibrant colors of all living things. And people think me odd. Then ODD I am!!!

http://community.webshots.com/user/flugnash

I was just looking at your album Alan and you have a beautiful yard. If I only had half as many flowers as you have there!!!

* * * *




All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Wow, I just looked at your pictures too and LOVE your gardens! What type of 'maintenance nightmare' did you create? I'm just starting to design my gardens and hope to avoid spending hours a day trying to keep up with it.

Joanne

Thanks Alankhart, I will have to keep all of those points in mind. What were the invasive plants you had to remove? Sorry for all of the questions, I'm pretty new to gardening and love being able to get advice from the experienced gardeners here.

Joanne

Thanks for the heads up. I had the sundrops in a bed with very hard clay. They didn't seem to multiply very much until I moved them to a newly amended bed. Now babies are popping up like crazy. I plan to stick them right back into the clay stuff. Hope it's not too late!

Joanne