It’s been warm and humid here, but nothing like the heat wave much of Europe is currently experiencing so I’ll just shut up about the weather. Instead, here are six things that won this week’s competition to be shared with y’all. To see more Sixes from around the world, where it may even be a bit cooler, visit the comments section of The Propagator’s site.
1 – Before smoke trees (Cotinus) start to appear ‘smokey’ they have flowers. I have a purple smoke tree in the front now in bloom – this is a closeup of the tiny yellow flowers – quite a nice contrast to the purple foliage:
2 -The low, ground cover sedums have started to bloom, like this patch by driveway:
3: Also starting is lavender. There are several lavender farms in Prince Edward County – they appear to enjoy our rocky, limestoney fields:
4: Starting to bloom in the distant reaches of the front field is a ninebark – Physocarpus opulifolius ‘Diablo,’ referring to the purple foliage:
I discovered a very interesting leaf on this bush – half purple, half green:
5: The thyme is flowering – after it’s done I’ll snip off the flower stalks and let new foliage spring up, which I’ll use in cooking, and dry for winter cooking. In the meantime, this wasp is enjoying it!
6: One more peony, unnamed but huge and white. (Photo taken yesterday, before this morning’s brief but heavy downpour…):
County Gardening 
Ok..that half-and-half leaf is spookily beautiful! and so is your peony. Is it fragrant?
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Spooky is a great word to describe it! The peony has fragrance, but nothing to write home about.
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Fabulous peony, it doesn’t need a name!
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😊
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The leaf is fascinating! And I love flowering thyme, it seems to flower for ages and bees really do love it. I have four types of thyme and would love even more!
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I think i have 3 types….the newest is a variegated lemon thyme that hasn’t flowered but tastes good. My favorite is wooly thyme, which i don’t think is edible (?) but, when it flowers, is gorgeous!
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That half and half leaf is so interesting. I wonder how that happens? Nature’s mysteries!
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I know, eh?! I’m going to keep an eye on it this summer and see if any more appear. It would be cool to propagate it!
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Like everyone else I confirm that this leaf is beautiful! These colors so well delimited …
My cotinus is in bloom here too but your photo is very successful
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Love your cotinus. I have one that I hard prune to get the better leaf colour. It is sulking a bit this year, not really regrowing evenly. I might leave it be this year and have the flowers instead.
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That’s interestingl (hard pruning..), I’ve never heard of that done here. The ‘Royal Purple’ doesn’t seem to loose colour year to year, just gets bigger. Which is the point!
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A coupla folk’ve referred to their smoke bushes as cotinus this week & I’ve been like, what? So I looked it up – always learning something here. I’ve got my own purple guy in the back garden, stalwartly refusing to bloom, & never knew he was a cotinus. Always think of the green leaf, red berry shrub when I hear the name. So thank you for that! Love that wasp photo. Really a beautiful insect. That leaf is mind boggling. Hope someone comes up w/an explanation. Keep us posted.
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I’m also hoping for an explanation!
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Ninebark only recently became available here. I doubt that it will become popular. However, it happens to suit the look of our landscapes quite nicely. There are many exotics that just happen to look as if they belong in the redwood forests.
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