Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Name That Flower!

Well, you all know that this little Dutch Colonial is our first house right?  Along with our first house we got our first ever yard to care for.  When it comes to the inside of our house, we totally know what we are doing...  But when it comes to the outside, we still don't really know what we are doing (I'm sure our neighbors love that, JK!). 

Thankfully, the previous homeowners did do a lovely job landscaping the front yard.  Throughout the spring and summer we get to watch a variety of perennials bloom.  Now that we are in our third summer in our home, I thought I should find out what exactly is growing and make myself a little landscape plan for our front yard.  Maybe next spring I will be able to do a better job keeping an eye on these flowers and maybe even add a few more? 

Let's take a look at these beauties... and I hope some of you out there can help me figure out their names!  I know a few thanks to the help of my expert gardener pal Dean (Hammers and High Fives Dean!) but not all.   This is where "Name That Flower!" comes in!  Where you see a blank line with a number is where I need help with names- are you in?  Let's get started!

Earlier in the summer these ___(1)___ popped up.  Some type of Iris?

Just behind those were Baptista.  Love the color of these!

Along our walkway were these Peonies.  I love Peonies! They are so full and dreamy, I wish they lasted longer, I miss them!

Just recently, these Shasta Daisies bloomed on the opposite side of our yard.

Neighboring them are these Black Eyed Susans and....

Cone Flowers, they indeed attract a lot of birds, bugs, and butterflies as it says in their description!

Now that the Peonies are gone, nearby their old location are Bee Balm Is is just me or does they look like they could be a character on the Muppets? 

By our porch sit these ___(2)___.  I thought they might be Joe Pye Weed?  Or White Snakeroot Or is this just a weed that looks kind of pretty?  I really don't know!

All along our walkway are these ___(3)___, tons of them!  I feel like it might be Loosestrife

Lastly, I caught this Tiger Lily that was just starting to bloom.  I think we are going to have a whole bunch pretty soon!

So that is what's been 'growing' on in our front yard! (ha, get it?).  I'll be sure to share more images if we see more flowers pop up (if they do that this late in the summer?  See, I really know nothing about gardening!).

Were you able to recognize some of the flowers numbered 1-3?  I'd love any help with the names of these beautiful flowers (thought this would be way more fun that spending hours googling flower images)! 

Please help me Name That Flower!

14 comments:

  1. #2 is pink phlox. You are correct for #1 and #3.

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  2. How fun to find all these flowers popping up!

    1. is definitely an bearded iris. 2. looks like Phlox to me. 3. looks like Buddleia (aka Butterfly Bush.) I have a purple one and the butterflies love it!

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  3. #2 is Phlox, such a lovely fragrance and so prolific, I've become a big fan of phlox and it comes in lots of colors.

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  4. What beautiful flowers in your yard! I love peonies, they are my favorite! You are so lucky to have them, I can't seem to grow peonies at all. How fun!

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  5. I am no help in the flower department but I saw your #3 lining the streets of Chicago and I thought they were so pretty!

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  6. The iris in photo 1 is, I believe, an heirloom variety called Honorabile. This variety has other names as well.

    http://www.oldhousegardens.com/display.aspx?photo=Honorabile.jpg

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  7. 1 - bearded iris
    2 - phlox
    3 - goose-neck loostrife. this is very invasive and hard to get rid of. the roots travel all over making pulling them difficult. i got rid of all of mine.

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  8. Wow! Thanks everybody, that made it so easy! I am glad that #2 wasn't a weed :)

    Jo- I did notice that the #3, goose-neck loostrife, seemed to be more spread out than I remembered from the previous year. Will it keeps spreading out and taking over more space?

    Carla- http://hammersandhighheels.blogspot.com

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  9. I think that #3 is a butterfly bush. we have them up here in PA, but they are purple.

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  10. They are the bearded iris heirloom style which our family called them "Aunt Anna's iris'" since they came from our Great Aunt Anna. :)
    #2 is a purple garden phlox
    #3 is the goose neck loosestrife (which add a lovely dimension to any cut flowers that you may make a bouquet with) with their curves.
    Lucky you to have such great Native flowers that require little to not attention. :) Someone knew what they were doing when they planted your yard.
    Gretchen

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  11. Everybody beat me to the punch. Still, beautiful. Nice garden to inherit!

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  12. So glad I found your blog through BlogHer!!! We bought our house a few years ago and had the same problem.... it was a game of "name that flower" for quite some time! We finally got them all figured out!

    I think you've got them pretty much all right. our phlox in michigan don't grow on tall stocks like #2, but the flower itself does look like a phlox, so that's probably right!

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  13. The ones you call cone flowers, I've always known as echinacea. My mother used to grow them, always away from others so they would be pure. The roots can be dried and used as an immune system booster. My mother was a naturalist, we were rarely ever on antibiotics or the such.

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  14. #3 I doubt it is gooseneck loose strife. That stuff tends to have a curve in it hence the name gooseneck. It is hard to tell from the photo what scale we are looking at. Loosestrife grows to be roughly a foot tall. I think it is white liatris which I have in my yard. It grows taller with a larger flower spike than loosestrife. Liatris is about two feet tall. If it is person sized then it might be a white butterfly bush. Google images of the three plants so you can get a better idea of what each one looks like.

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