On my way back from my morning walk, I tend to check my  vegetable garden and flower beds. Give them a quick look over checking on anything that needs further attention. And pull some weeds as I check, not that I get them all in this round.

My cup plants (silphium perfoliatum) bloomed and so have my morning glories. These morning glories are from seed collected each year since I first harvested them from my sister’s plants as she was moving from Brampton back to home territory. I originally had dark blue, pink and purple blooms. Last year I got only purple blooms, which I still loved.

This year on planting, I added in some seeds from the year before, hoping to get some of the other colours again. Anyone who has gotten seeds from me in the last few years and harvested them may have had pink blooms because when all the seeds are dried, it’s impossible to know which is which. I don’t know how the growers tag their plants. I didn’t know there were so many varieties of the flower and I don’t know whether my sister planted a couple of packages together, perhaps.  I think mine are the common morning glory. 

Morning glories up close

Black-eyed Susans are among my favourites in the rudbeckia family as well for their bright cheerful show. They are easy to grow and fill a good spot in the flower bed. I also like the echinacea varieties.

Black-eyed Susans

Next to the black-eyed susans is the hibiscus plant. It has also begun to bloom earlier this week.

Hibiscus

And on the side of  the house is my pink echinacea and more cup plants. I wonder if the pink echinacea is as hardy as the black-eyed susan or might it be the soil less enhanced and the plant needing more sun. Nevertheless, I find them quite pretty.

There are a couple of plants new to me this year. One is gophremia and the other is a plant given to me by another plant lover.

gophremia next to my extra parsley planter

And there’s another that was new to me, that I added to my window boxes. Calibrachoa was plentiful in the garden centre this spring. They look a lot like a petunia and look great in baskets and planters. When I looked it up, that’s exactly how it was described

Calibrachoa is not recognized as a separate genus by some authorities. The Royal Horticultural Society, for example, views them as a variety of petunia, giving them the name Petunia ‘Million Bells’.

That’s the look over of my flowers today. Come back another day for the veggie garden. Maybe not as pretty, but quite practical.