A Garden of my very Own: Flowering Fauna (part 3 in a series)

Now that the rain has started here in Ohio, it doesn't seem to want to stop. That is bad news for my more than a little damp basement, but it is apparently good news for the garden.

Indoors, my little potted catnip plant is blooming in the humidity.

Outdoors, the yuccas are finishing their few weeks of bloom. I had never seen a yucca before moving into the new house, but I definitely know what they are now, considering there's yucca in the front garden, the side yard, out by the road, and back at the fence side behind the garage. They are all over the place, and I just love their tree-like festivity.






There are lighter pink and big poofy white hydrangeas in the front yard.

 

 
Whereas, in the back yard there are bright pink ones, festooned in ferns.

Another variety with white-striped leaves and small purple buds surrounded by white blossoms. I can only assume they are hydrangeas. I have other ideas of what they might be.

The entire yard is covered in lilies. Some are school bus yellow, while others are varying shades of yellow and orange.


Hidden half-beneath an azalea bush in the backyard, is this vibrant orange lily, complete with funny-looking stem off of which the leaves extend.

In the back, what I thought might be a honeysuckle bush has blossomed into, upon googling, I discovered were likely flowers in the olive family, likely either tea olive or sweet olive. They smell like honeysuckle to me.



 

 

And the vine that shares an arbor with the white wisteria vine we thought was clematis has also produced blooms. We had no idea what to make of it until we found one at a local arboritum. It apparently is in the honeysuckle family. Who knew?

Meanwhile the one tree beside the back deck that wasn't a lilac has bursted into color. I think maybe it's a hibiscus. Those sure look like hibiscus to me.



Below the hibiscus(?), a late blooming red rose bush is showing its color, and throughout the yard there is a proliferation of hostas not yet in bloom, just one solitary hosta in the front that's decided to come out early beside the brown-eyed susan's who have only just started winking at me.

Near that, a big daisy has popped up, tall as the fence it stands beside, and I'm sure there are more surprises yet to come before fall hits.