Top Ten Tuesdays: Choose Your Own Theme Day - better photos

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This week we got to choose our own theme, and I got busy and almost forgot, so I went to my garden for inspiration again. 

This week it's the top 10 blooms in my garden. I took most of the photos in twilight, so I apologize that they're dark. If I get home early enough I'll get new ones up tonight. 

10. Sebum (I think) that grows in the back garden. It's spread really well and has kind of interesting flowers. 

9. Hydrangea - Annabelle. We inherited this bush with the house and it's nice. I'm somewhat blasé about hydrangeas though. I like the colourful ones, but these are just nice. 

8. Blanket Flower aka "pom-pom flower" and I may be the only one that calls them that. When all the petals fall off you're left with a pom-pom in the middle, so that's why I call them pom-poms. I really like this flower, but it didn't make it through winter last year. I planted it in the same garden area, but in a different spot and I'm hopeful it will make it this year. 

 6 &7. Petunias and Marigolds - we purchased a lot of these when a local garden center was having an annuals clear-out. I had marigolds last year that did really well and the petunias are new to me this year, but I really love how well they've flowered. 

I followed my mother's advice and cut all the petunia blooms off after I planted them and they bounced back amazing well. 

 6. Marigolds - another style. I like marigolds a lot because they tend to keep away bugs and they flower really nicely. They have a strong smell that isn't exactly pleasant, but I think that's what keeps away the bugs!

5. Coneflower - I love this one! It survived the winter after being planted late last summer and it's come back with a vengeance this year. There are at least twice as many blooms as last year and they last so long. DD loves touching the pink flowers too and it's hardy enough to survive her tugging at it.

4. Hostas - We have tons of these in our yard. We inherited some very healthy ones and a few different varieties. I hope to pass some on to neighbours or friends next year because they're getting really big and should be halved soon. The bees and hummingbirds love these and we've had hummingbirds ever year drinking out of our backyard hostas. 

I think we have 15 or 16 individual plants and several are big enough to at least halve next spring. 

3. Geraniums - I love geraniums. My mother has always grown geraniums. She'd have them outside when the weather was warm enough and bring them inside during winter. It seems like when I was younger we always had red ones, and maybe that's all there was? There have been beautiful cultivars (?) around and I really like these pink ones we picked this year. I'm thinking about trying to bring them in the house this winter, we'll see.  

2. Coreopsis - This is a new plant to me. We also purchased it late last summer and it came back really well despite the long, harsh winter. I don't really know if it needs to be dead-headed or not since it has so many blooms, but I did try this year. 

This strikes me as a happy flower for some reason. Possibly the yellow colour, or the abundance of blooms, but it makes me smile when I see it in the front garden.

1. Phlox - I love phlox because they remind me of my grandma. She always had creeping phlox in her front garden and I have some in my back garden. These are an annual phlox and a beautiful blue-mauve colour. I'll try and get a better shot if it's still light when I get home. Grandma loves light blue, mauve and pink and that always seems to be the colours I find in phlox, so they always make me think of her. 

 Honourable Mentions:

Bleeding Heart - dying off

One lonely pepper growing on our plant. 

I hope you enjoyed the list and feel free to join Kate and I!

Happy Stitching,

Tiffstitch