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Post by Kimby on Jul 17, 2011 20:04:56 GMT
Kimby, what a great farmers' market....I love that you can get potted native plants. Did you buy any of those? Not yet. We are minimizing yard work at our home in favor of trying to get the lake lot rehabilitated following the rape of construction. We do not want any lawn to mow or water, though, so natives will rank high on our list.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2011 20:23:20 GMT
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Post by Kimby on Jul 17, 2011 20:27:27 GMT
Those look good enough to eat!
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Post by Deleted on Jul 17, 2011 20:41:01 GMT
It was something or other blooming in the village of Lauroux last week.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 17, 2011 21:00:53 GMT
This is the farm where I usually buy my bedding plants and perennials. And sweet corn! When it finally ripens in late August. ;-( They also grow apples, beets, squash, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, etc., in addition to maintaining several greenhouses full of flowers. And it is entirely surrounded by city. I'm so glad the Benson family hasn't caved in to the pressure to sell their land for its "highest value", housing development. A lot of us highly value having this farm in our midst. The main entrance to the greenhouses. Their bountiful stock is pretty well reduced by Mothers Day in mid-May. This was mid-June, so not much left but geraniums. I noticed some tables and chairs set up where normally flats of flowers would be - they were getting ready for a Swedish celebration of the summer solstice that night. This blog post has more pictures and description of our local farm: stumblingthewalk.blogspot.com/2008/08/bensons-farm-missoula-mt.html
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Post by Kimby on Jul 17, 2011 21:26:29 GMT
I went back to the Iris garden at Fort Missoula in mid-June. I've been meaning to post these: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. Needless to say, this is a very popular wedding venue in Missoula.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 18, 2011 3:08:16 GMT
It was something or other blooming in the village of Lauroux last week. encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Campsis+radicans (& nice pics you took there, Kerouac!) Kimby, you are so lucky to have a place like Benson's. I love that kind of nursery, run by people who genuinely love plants & with lots of knowledge. The irises!! Gad, it looks like the wardrobe room for a can-can review, just beautiful. And your photos are fabulous. It's so hard to capture all the subtle coloration of irises sometime, as their iridescence reflects back into the camera & makes the picture all glary. Not yours! Those are gorgeous, delicate flower portraits.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 18, 2011 4:08:53 GMT
Interesting we both thought of dancers. I was thinking ballerinas, mixed with a couple flamenco dancers.
Thanks for the encouragement. Flowers give my camera (and me) the fits. My vision doesn't allow use of the LCD screen, but the viewfinder introduces parallax that I try to correct for, but not always successfully. (Those "arty" crops were unintentional!) And I still have a hard time predicting what the focus will zero in on. Often I don't realize I have a fuzzy photo until I view them on the computer.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 18, 2011 4:10:54 GMT
I like the writing on that site you linked, bixa:
The vigor of the trumpet vine should not be underestimated. In warm weather, it puts out huge numbers of tendrils that grab onto every available surface, and eventually expand into heavy woody stems several centimeters in diameter. It grows well on arbors, fences, telephone poles, and trees, although it may dismember them in the process. Ruthless pruning is recommended.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 18, 2011 4:14:56 GMT
Kimby, you are so lucky to have a place like Benson's. I love that kind of nursery, run by people who genuinely love plants & with lots of knowledge. I forgot to mention that they grow fields of pumpkins and every fall invite area kindergarten classes to come visit the farm and pick out their own pumpkins.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 18, 2011 4:49:23 GMT
Here's some of the native blooms from the lake cottage property: Larkspur (Delphinium sp.) Shooting Star (Dodecatheon sp.) Prairie Smoke (Geum triflorum) This is where its name comes from. Mountain Bluebells (Mertensia sp.) This would have been a better photo of it, except the for the "soft" focus... And a mystery plant that might be Stoneseed (Lithospermum sp.):
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 18, 2011 5:52:37 GMT
Gosh, those are real jewels. I hope the ground disturbed during construction recovers by next Spring, so you all can see the whole season's worth of whatever is there.
Is that maybe a cranesbill geranium in the upper right of the larkspur picture?
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Post by fumobici on Jul 18, 2011 5:55:17 GMT
Love the wildflower photos. Well I love wildflower photos in general, but those in particular. ;D
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Post by bjd on Jul 18, 2011 8:16:30 GMT
I love the colours of the irises.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 18, 2011 14:30:09 GMT
Thanks everyone. Is that maybe a cranesbill geranium in the upper right of the larkspur picture? You are looking at those leaves, bixa? Could be. If one had been blooming, though, I'd have photographed it. Maybe this week.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 18, 2011 14:31:20 GMT
Forgot to ask this of Cheery earlier: Cheery, in your first photo in Reply #896, what is the beautiful blue flower in the lower left of the arrangement, please? That's the one I was burbling over in your thread showing Dylan Thomas's house. Also, I asked about it at #93 here, pictures 2, 3, & 4. I.D.eeeeeeee for meeeeeee, pleeeeease! ~ ~ ~ Oh, Kimby & I simul-posted. Yes, I was referring to those leaves. Wouldn't it be great if that's what it turned out to be? Those may be the same leaves in front of the larkspur, too.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 18, 2011 15:34:34 GMT
Those may be the same leaves in front of the larkspur, too Actually, I think those by the larkspur BELONG to the larkspur!
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 18, 2011 22:36:56 GMT
I think you're right -- they're more fringe-y.
I want a headdress that looks like the shooting stars.
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Post by Kimby on Jul 19, 2011 3:34:08 GMT
I KNEW you were a princess, bixa!
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Post by hwinpp on Jul 25, 2011 3:40:19 GMT
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Jul 27, 2011 20:28:52 GMT
oooh luuuurvely....I'm growing some adeniums atm...from seed, I love exotics. ;D this gazania is rather nice I think...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 28, 2011 2:22:21 GMT
I am on a computer with stoopid IE. It's not showing HW's pics nor some of Kimby's.
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Post by tod2 on Jul 28, 2011 9:12:15 GMT
Kimby -Gasp! Those Irises Thank you so much for showing them - they reminded me of the ones in the Bagatelle Gardens Paris. How strange to hear about the Benson's farm being surrounded by city - I live opposite a family farm also inside a city area! Good thing is, it can never be sold as it is part of a family trust and must be handed down from father to son. I bit like a royal family I guess!!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Aug 6, 2011 20:24:06 GMT
A few of the flowers currently in the garden here... lily dahlias canna helenium flowers liatris heleniums and veronica
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Post by Deleted on Aug 7, 2011 9:40:51 GMT
I am only just now seeing the show stopping selection of irises that you posted Kimby. It was very bittersweet for me to see then as my dearly departed mother's garden had so many of the varieties that you posted. My goodness,such frill and fancy!!! Thank you for these!! HW,your nursery pics could so easily have been taken here in NOLA!! All the very same offerings although I don't know if I would agree with you and be so enthusiastic about the vinca, I tend to get more excited about the unusual exotica of which vinca to me is not. Fab pics,thank you As we are are deep deep into the Dog Days of Summer here,and while there are many things in bloom,it's the real heat loving flowers that are doing their thing right now,(vinca would be in this category to be sure). Zinnias Cosmos Tibouchina
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 17, 2011 12:23:16 GMT
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Post by tod2 on Aug 17, 2011 14:29:51 GMT
All of you have such a gorgeous patchwork of colour in your garden! So Mick, you also have green fingers for dahlias - I think I recognised them as the standing variety ( or do all dahlias need to be fasted to a stake?) They are superb I don't know the name for the yellow bell flowers except I think we call them 'Moon Flowers'. My son has a giant pink one in the garden but I read somewhere they were not encouraged ( or even allowed to be propergated) in ones gardens here in South Africa. Seems they are a sort of weed? I think they are just lovely.
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Post by bjd on Aug 17, 2011 15:30:25 GMT
I guess your rain makes for such lovely dahlias, Mick. Many of mine didn't even come up this year because we had no rain in spring. There are a few now but I tend to choose shorter ones.
I really like that bell flower, but they are used to produce a knock-out drug in some places in S America. I can't remember the name for the moment. They are beautiful though, and in Ecuador and Colombia they are trees.
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Post by mickthecactus on Aug 17, 2011 15:38:13 GMT
Bedding Dahlias don't need staking but the bush ones need strong tree stakes. If it gets windy they will snap a bamboo cane.
I water the Dahlias quite a bit bjd and feed weekly.
The bell flower is Brugmansia or Datura. You can see them as trees in Spain and I once planted one in a border which really took off. It has the most delicious lemon scent in the evening which wafts through the house.
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Post by tod2 on Aug 17, 2011 15:56:50 GMT
Knockout drug -Seems like that must be the reason we are not supposed to plant them here anymore.
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