|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 2:01:03 GMT
Beautiful white border, Casimira. That was a brilliant idea, to use the four-o'clocks, as they're so dependable.
I've got feverfew coming out the ears. It's sort of a thug plant in this climate and self-seeds furiously. I don't mind though, as I like the cheery little flowers and the way the foliage clothes the whole plant.
Um, even though four-o'clocks originated in Peru, I think the correct name for them is Mirabilis jalapa. Maybe M. peruviana is an alternate, or a different species?
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 2, 2010 2:28:39 GMT
Thanks Bixa, I had no idea they would get that tall!!! I've heard the name used interchangeably, marvels of Peru,jalapa , I believe they are the same flower. One catalogue I've relied on heavily for a reference, The Fragrant Path,and have gotten to be friendly with the folks who run it over the past 20 plus years,refer to them as peruviana,and I've kind of stuck with that.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 2, 2010 3:34:42 GMT
|
|
|
Post by palesa on Jun 4, 2010 14:15:16 GMT
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 4, 2010 15:03:45 GMT
Oh ~~ that's quite a beauty pageant, Palesa! Wonderful pictures and the plants look so robust.
The orchid is too gorgeous. Don't they say that being pot bound helps them bloom, or is that something else?
That's an explosion of lavender you have there! Is that rosemary growing so strongly on the right side of that picture? What's on the back wall, please?
I love how you caught the sun backlighting the strelitzia, and the cool pristine beauty of the calla. Nasturtiums are some of my very favorites and you truly do them justice. The portrait of the last one, with the delicate fringe and that gloss on the petals ~~ wow!
|
|
|
Post by palesa on Jun 4, 2010 15:10:41 GMT
Bix, next to the lavendar is indeed rosemary, I have 6 lavender and 6 rosemary bushes, some different varieties, so some are growing stronger than others. Have no idea what is on the back wall, I would like to take it out but the roots grow under the wall so I best leave it be!
Year before last I had 7 orchid stems, last year nothing (if I remember correctly) and this year 1, so I am not sure about the pot bound theory, shall have to go and have a look.
My backlighting etc. is all just coincidence, I am just a happy snapper, but thank you for the compliment!
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2010 15:33:39 GMT
These are so ,so lovely !!! So many of the same flora, we share, as I've mentioned.Similar climate zones or whatever... Our strelizia blooms here a bit later,our nasturtiums are kaput right now...that orchid, I know,it blooms like clock work the same time of year,here,around Mardi Gras I can rely on it. We can't do lavender I'm afraid,too much humidity for it.I gave up long ago even though the nurseries and growers taunt me with it every year. Thank you so much for sharing these dear!!
|
|
|
Post by spindrift on Jun 7, 2010 12:13:05 GMT
This is how my garden looks at the moment. We've had a long spell of hot weather and at last the roses have unfurled. I have started clipping my tiny box hedge And I particularly like this fine Hosta
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 7, 2010 16:04:09 GMT
Ohhhh ~~ it's a dream of an English summer garden! I am in love with the fact that you incorporated a clipped shrub (box?) into the garden. It's a delightful reference to classic garden design, brilliantly adapted to a small space. That is a fine, fine hosta.
|
|
|
Post by bjd on Jun 7, 2010 18:40:10 GMT
Your garden looks lovely, Spindrift. I like that wooden park bench in the back.
And Bixa, thanks for naming the strelizia in Palesa's garden. Here they are only sold as cut flowers, but I remember seeing lots in S America. I went to an orchid exhibition a few years ago and was told that orchids don't like much soil, so maybe the pot theory works. At least Palesa's orchid is beautiful, so it must be true.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2010 13:43:03 GMT
With regard to orchids...they are the largest genus in the plant kingdom, best I know. There are so many orchids with different cultural requirements,thousands upon thousands. Some are terrestrial,some are aroids (requiring no soil at all),some require more light,moisture etc.,every variation conceivable for optimal growing conditions. We have a fair number of native orchids here in North America.I've become more interested in them of late.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jun 9, 2010 18:16:27 GMT
Early Lilac bloom? dunno I believe it is a Lilac,(way too early in the Spring for an elderberry to be in that much blossom that far North,ours in NOLA don't even have buds yet. There are many varieties of Lilac,I believe the one in the photo is a common white lilac....) Kimby wrote: In case we haven't resolved this mystery to everyone's satisfaction, here are some wild elderberry leaves for comparison. (It is not blooming here yet, either, though.)
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2010 11:40:13 GMT
Good eye Kimby!! Mine is blooming like mad right now,I took some pics but,am having some tech problems of late and can't post presently. (I recently saw a recipe for fritters,using elderberry blossoms).
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2010 2:17:25 GMT
Along with the summer heat, come the lovely Crinum lilies bursting forth. They'll be holding forth for a couple of months. They make a lovely cut flower and I put them all over the house,they have a nice cooling effect.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Jun 11, 2010 4:05:57 GMT
Just a quick stroll through the garden with the camera: Welsh Poppy, actually a Meconopsis Mountain Laurel Wild Salmonberry Lady's Mantle Campanula Serbian Bellflower Yarrow Rhododendron Wild Rose Lonicera Foxglove (wild)
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 11, 2010 4:17:52 GMT
You really captured the cool beauty of the crinum, Casimira. I've only had one plant gasp out one flower clump this year. That was last month, in the worst of the heat. Now that it's raining, I hope to see more.
Fantastically lovely, Fumobici ~~ such a wonderful array of old-fashioned garden flowers. I don't know the salmonberry at all. How does it grow? Your photos are exquisite, and I particularly love the rose and the honeysuckle.
|
|
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2010 10:21:12 GMT
Thanks Bixa,gasp is an apt word to use for what the Crinum do when bursting out of bloom. I have several clumps of them,they seem to be able to 'gasp' out of concrete if need be,they're so determined to carry on with themselves!!!! All attempts to curb their enthusiasm have left them undaunted. I ran across an piece written years ago by a Mississippi gardener,it's titled,Crinums Never Die.. it's one of the premier Passalong plants of the region. I've never heard of anyone actually ever having to buy one.
Fumobici,what a delight!! So many flowers that never make their way down here. The Mountain Laurel,in particular,I am smitten with. We had clumps of these fabulous woody shrubs all through out the woods in New York where I grew up. Brings back many fond memories. It seems you are still in springtime bloom mode there. Here, we are into the depths of summer heat. The picture of the lonicera is beautiful,at first glance I wouldn't take to be a honeysuckle,you captured the beauty of a single bloom so well. Thanks so much for sharing the stroll.
|
|
|
Post by fumobici on Jun 11, 2010 15:43:59 GMT
It's been almost more like Winter than Spring really thus far this year. I think we've had one or two days exceeding 70F and almost every day of May and June has been rainy and cool.
The Salmonberry is a common wild shrub here. It grows maybe 4-8 feet in height and produces Mid-summer berries that are pretty bland but can still be refreshing on a hot hike. This example was probably bird-sent in the form of a seed. I tend to let wild plants with some ornamental value have their place in the garden.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 11, 2010 17:29:47 GMT
The salmonberry would certainly be given a place in my garden, were I so lucky. It's amazing how beautiful plants can be dismissed on their home grounds. I had a castor bean plant growing over a water feature. Its bronzey, maroony, wildly tropical effect just made that corner. All of my Mexican neighbors kept telling me to pull that thing out -- it's a weed. Casimira, I'm sure I've said this before, but you must go to Zemurray Gardens. There is mountain laurel there. (if you can tear yourself away from the bamboo!) There is also a stand of it in Bogalusa: www.spokenhistory.com/ex/laurels.html
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jun 11, 2010 22:52:46 GMT
And clematises are another flower I like and I have planted several, but so far only this one is blooming and has been for several weeks already. This wild clematis was blooming in our yard a couple weeks ago.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jun 11, 2010 23:20:57 GMT
Here are some of the other wildflowers blooming in our yard in late May in addition to the wild clematis (above): Oregon grape: Gromwell or stoneseed (Lithospermum), reputed to have been used by natives as a contraceptive. This shrub blooms along the creek and I have no idea what it is. It keys out closest to Ninebark (Physocarpus), but isn't. [/img] Vetch Wild Violet: Biscuitroot (Lomatium) (some wildflowers are less showy than others) Starflower (Lithophragma) This one came up where my irises used to be. I think birds inadvertantly planted the seeds. (The fencing is to keep the deer from eating the flowers.) I believe it's called False Solomon's Seal but could be Wild Lily of the Valley.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 13, 2010 19:52:45 GMT
Kimby, I LOVE looking at your wildflowers. I've never lived in that part of the country, but have read of some of those flowers, so it's a treat to see them. So many of them are so ornamental. That wild clematis would fit into any garden.
|
|
|
Post by palesa on Jun 17, 2010 12:02:51 GMT
We had black frost overnight on Tuesday :-( some of my plants are looking very sad!
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jun 17, 2010 13:53:20 GMT
Oh dear, Palesa! I looked at weather in your region, and you all are having 20 degree (F) spreads in highs and lows in one day. Why did S.Africa have to get that kind of weather now? www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Sport/Story/STIStory_541791.htmlYou undoubtedly already know this, but with those fluctuations in temperature, do NOT cut back any of the plants until they start showing new growth in the Spring. Yes, they will look like piles of snot, but cutting them back could allow the cold to more easily get down into the roots in the next freezing snap.
|
|
|
Post by lola on Jun 26, 2010 16:02:42 GMT
Love seeing your bloom photos.
I was thrilled to see lilacs in bloom in Jackson Hole a couple of days ago, along with tulips and crabapples, months later than here. Jackson has a very short growing season, making tomatoes impossible without a greenhouse. I have a fantasy sometime of following spring north. Now I realize I can head for higher elevations to prolong.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jul 7, 2010 18:13:08 GMT
Good eye Kimby!! Mine is blooming like mad right now, I took some pics but am having some tech problems of late and can't post presently. (I recently saw a recipe for fritters, using elderberry blossoms). It's blooming here now. Interestingly, the berries will be blue here in Montana, but in Wisconsin the elderberries have red berries. In fact, they are called "Red-berried elders" in Wisconsin. And they already have berries. A picture by deyana of Red-berried elders for comparison:
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jul 7, 2010 18:15:38 GMT
This wild clematis was blooming in our yard a couple weeks ago. And now it's in seed:
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jul 7, 2010 19:10:38 GMT
This one is called "Clarkia" and was named after Lewis's co-captain in the Corps of Discovery.
|
|
|
Post by Kimby on Jul 7, 2010 19:13:34 GMT
A rare non wild flower bloom in my yard: These are smallish (underfertilized?) non-showy old irises that I planted 24 years ago from corms a neighbor had leftover after dividing his. He had spectacular 2 toned big blue ones and this kind. All I ended up with were these, though I was hoping for the others.
|
|
|
Post by bixaorellana on Jul 8, 2010 5:23:21 GMT
That clarkia is a lovely little flower! I totally love those irises and find that fabulous striping on them very showy indeed. My maternal grandmother gave me an iris that came from my paternal great-grandmother in Missouri. It bloomed beautifully in my yard in Louisiana -- it was an odd, buffish yellow. When I moved, I gave it to my mother, who lives in Oklahoma. She treasured it. Then the neighbor on the other side of the fence used Round-up and killed my stepfather's roses and that iris. We are having the most wonderful rains ~~
|
|