Yeah, so, I’m stretching things this week. But they were flowers once!

There were a LOT of recently downed trees, as well as a lot of recently downed snags.

I do, in fact, have many cultivars of day lilies. And they’re all blooming right now.

I have a couple other things blooming as well.

Balloon Flower (Platycodon grandiflorus)

I HAVE A RASPBERRY!

Gerbera daisies. I didn’t get an orange flower this year, which is too bad, because they’re my favorite.

Here are some of the flowers we saw blooming at Coopers Rock.

Rhododendron are blooming in some areas of the forest:

OMG! It’s a YIP YIP!

Here’s what’s blooming around my house right now

Why yes! Lots of day lilies!

I love the variety of day lilies. I know they’re relatively subtle color changes, but they fascinate me.

Almost no flowers on our hike yesterday, so I stooped to photographing fungi.

Just doesn’t have the same ring to it as Sunday Flower Pr0n, but Sunday, the day lilies weren’t yet blooming.

I love my day lilies.

I also have pots of Gerbera daisies this year, because I think they’re pretty.

Saturday we went to Lost River State Park, which we hadn’t been to before, as it’s in the eastern part of the state.

It was a pleasant day, and in addition to the timber rattlesnake, I saw some lovely flowers.

Yellow Star Grass Hypoxis hirsuta (?)

Mountain Laurel Kalmia latifolia

Venus’ Looking Glass Triodanis perfoliata (?)

Four-leaved Milkweed Asclepias quadrifolia

Rough Bedstraw Galium asprellum (?)

There is always something blooming at my house, from spring to fall. It took a bit of work initially, but it’s wonderful once I got everything together.

Here’s what’s blooming around my house right now:

Daylily: Hemerocallis flava Lemon Lily

These came from Michael’s grandmother. They only bloom once, but are one of the first daylilies to bloom; I planted them by the driveway so we’d always catch their blooms and think of Grandma.

Daylily: Hemerocallis ‘Stella De Oro’

This is the first Stella De Oro daylily bloom in my garden this year–there will be many more. Stella De Oros will rebloom, so most likely I’ll have a flower or two through September.

Flowering Broom Cytisus Scoparius Burkwoodii

Peony

Lilac: Syringa vulgaris

The lilac at the bottom of the yard bloomed at the start of May–this one starts blooming after the other is dine.

There were, of course, lots of flowers blooming at Dolly Sods. It’s much cooler there, so flowers that bloomed here last month are blooming now at Dolly Sods.

Fringed Polygala / Gaywings Polygala paucifolia

Wild Bleeding Heart Dicentra eximia

Mountain Laurel Kalmia latifolia

Enkianthus serrulatus

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Wild blackberry Rubus

At Seneca Rocks is the Jacob Sites Homestead house, which includes a working garden such as would have existed at the time. There were vegetables and herbs, but there were also flowers.

Strawberry Shrub / Sweet Shrub Calycanthus floridus
Grandmom had a Strawberry shrub growing in her yard, and although I tried several times to root a cutting, I was never able to do so.

Bleeding Heart lamprocapnos spectabilis

And to close, some Black Raspberry Hawt Bee-on-Flower action.

We went to the Arboretum today, to hike with some friends (both grown and kids). Got a couple pictures of the flowers.

White Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)

Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum

Rhododendron (Rhododendron )

Sweet Cicely (Myrrhis odorata)

Dame’s Rocket/Dame’s Violet (Hesperis matronalis)

Saturday we went to Blackwater Falls. It has rained for the better part of two weeks, which is why there was more water than I have ever seen coming over the falls. But those pictures will come later. Here are some of the flowers we saw.

Bluets (Quaker Ladies) Houstonia caerulea

False Solomon’s-seal Smilacina racemosa (I think)

Painted Trillium Trillium undulatum

Moccasin Flower Cypripedium acaule

Golden Ragwort (Senecio aureus) (I think)

Here are the flowers we saw along our hike at Coopers Rock today.

Trillium

Violets

I’m not telling you what this is–you have to guess. But it’s a plant that is far more interesting than most people suspect.

Two types of flower pr0n today. A quick peek at my yard, and some flowers I saw on our hike at Coopers Rock.

It was cloudy for the first part of our hike, but there were still tons of flowers.

And here are the pictures taken around the house.

Here’s my herb garden–everything except the chives was planted in the past month.

I was shocked to see this rose bush is coming back. Not only was this a hard winter, but this bush was run over two years in a row, when cars ended up in our yard (and to be honest, I think a couple more times this winter, from cars that were stopped by the snow barrier).

And here is my lavender bed. When we cut everything back, one single plant was coming back from the roots. The others were dead. So I replanted, and managed to find about five different lavender cultivars. How exciting!

I’ve spent a great deal of time planting flowers and flowering shrubs in my yard, because I like flowers, and I like seeing them (there are a lot of flowers planted along my driveway, so I can see them every day, getting into and out of the car).

We had a flowering broom behind the house, but it died when we put in the parking space (it affected the drainage) we now have a Flowering Dogwood (Cornus florida L.) which has survived in the spot.

The WV state flower: Rhododendron

Of course I have Virginia bluebells (Mertensia virginica)

This Japanese Andromeda (Pieris japonica Compacta) was Michael’s pick.

Tulips aren’t generally my favorite, but I love the color of this one:

This flowering quince (Chaenomeles speciosa) isn’t in my yard, but all along the alley behind my house.

The trillium bloomed, but isn’t particularly photogenic after the cold snaps. My lavender didn’t survive the winter, nor did the heather, which I planted when we first moved here. The white bleeding heart didn’t come back, and although the pink bleeding heart came back, the late freezes killed the buds–so no flowers.

There are several other plants I’m watching, but I fear didn’t survive this winter.