It’s the 15th again, which means it’s time for another bloom day. Here’s what’s blooming in my front yard today…

Moonbeam coreopsis has burst into a bazillion blooms. This plant was sort of stingy its first year, and died to the ground last summer, so I’d sort of given up on it. It formed a nice little green clump in the fall, so I decided to give it one more year to show me something. Finally, here’s the payoff—dozens of bright, golden blooms right by my front door, which attract all sorts of butterflies…

…like this one…

…and this one. Those were just the two I could snap while I was out. There are so many flitting in and out.

My obligatory butterfly weed has finally decided to be happy in this spot. It was turning yellow and dropping leaves for a bit, but now it’s blooming and sending up new shoots. I don’t really grow this for the flowers or the foliage, but for the butterfly habitat. Last year, the monarchs came by and left behind their babies, who stripped the one I had on my front porch bare. I don’t mind—from funky striped caterpillars come new monarchs, so I’ve planted this where the stripped plant will be hidden a bit by prettier things.

Ever faithful four nerve daisies are still blooming. They just got dead headed and cut back this week, so another round of blooms should appear shortly.

I lost all my gazanias to the winter snow, so I bought a new six pack of assorted colors last week. They’re still trying to establish themselves, but this one was ready to bloom.

I added a few purple gazanias to the purple bed.

The new lantana is still blooming, and starting to get a little bigger. I hope it’s as spectacular as last year’s, which took over one corner of the raised bed and bloomed all summer long.

I have a collection of big blue pots that used to hold water garden plants, but have been empty for about a year. I decided to start using them, so I filled one with a red yucca and some portulacas in assorted colors. They’re still getting used to their new home. I love these flowers, which we grew as evergreen succulents in California. Here, they’re annuals. Go figure.

Nana coreopsis is still blooming a little.

I caved in and bought an oleander for the white bed in the front yard. Another plant I love from my childhood. All the roadsides were landscaped with them. Here, they sort of struggle, so I’m not getting too invested in this plant. Everything I’ve planted here has died, partly because it was a low point in the bed. I’ve raised it up so it’s at least level, so maybe the oleander has a fighting chance.

I added a big Mexican petunia to the purple bed. I had the smaller version of these along the front of the shade bed last year, but the cold killed them, and it looks like they’re not coming back. This is the tall, bush version, which I noticed my neighbors have coming back this spring.

Purple sage, which someone asked about in an earlier post. This is the purple version of Salvia greggii. I have this in white, lipstick, raspberry, and this lovely purple in various places around the yard. I just hacked back the other three colors this week, removing all the dead flowers and a bit of the foliage, to keep them nice and bushy, and also encourage them to bloom again. I play this game with them all year: bloom, whack, bloom, whack. They seem quite happy with the arrangement, but each color seems to grow at its own pace, and this purple one is a bit behind the others.

It’s impossible to photograph the red yucca in flower, but here’s my best try at it. Both this new one, and the one I planted last year are flowering right now. The old one has put up three stalks so far. I also have a blue yucca that’s about to flower for the first time, in white, which will be equally difficult to photograph, and also quite lovely.

That’s it for today. I decided not to shoot the backyard this month, because it’s sort of blah right now. The cukes, squashes, green beans and tomatoes are all flowering, and I have a bumper crop of tomatoes on the way already. I’m also reworking the herb bed, to turn it into several beds surrounding an open spot where there will be…something. A fountain, or a place to sit, or some lovely feature to be named at a later date. I have the first layered raised bed built and half full of dirt, but it poured like crazy yesterday, and is too wet to work right now. So, pics of all the backyard mess next month, if not sooner. We’re ticking down to the last few decent gardening days before the summer inferno sets in, and I have a list a mile long…

This post was created for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. On the 15th of every month, gardeners from around the world photograph whatever is blooming in their gardens, post the pics, and then add their link to the Bloom Day list. It’s a great way to see what’s in bloom right now all over the place. If you’re a gardener, join in!