What's Blooming in Your Garden (56k heavy)

[Christina]

I take a lot of pictures of flowers in my garden because I'm learning more about my camera and photography and they make good subjects. It gets me thinking about light and shadows, backgrounds and settings and things like that although I have to admit that it isn't pushing me toward learning more technical aspects. I'll probably spam you with pictures all summer so I hope that the rest of you will show yours too or at least tell us about them.

It rained for a few days and most of my tulips got beaten down but this white iris hung in there:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/pMay8005.jpg

The bracts on the dogwood tree are opening but are still light green. They'll start turning white soon.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/pMay8050.jpg

All of my rosebushes have big buds ready to open but this one is the first:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/pMay8037.jpg

I don't remember what these are. They're some kind of bulb and I started with a few and have a big patch of them now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/pMay8020.jpg

[Matty]

Nice to live in Cali eh. Up here stuff is just starting to bud. That plant with the orange flowers is lovely.
NYGG? What is it mate?

No pics and no blooms but i do have a couple of little green baby sproutings that i'm quite happy about.

[Monad]

I don't remember what these are. They're some kind of bulb and I started with a few and have a big patch of them now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/pMay8020.jpg

Homeria collina - a member of the Iris family. Nice that it does well for you - sulks over here (I've tried growing it in pots a few times and it always flowers but doesn't over winter well)

[Matty]

doesnt over winter well? hmm. guess thats out for up here then.
shame cos its v pretty.

[Monad]

It's a S African native so in places like California it probably grows like a native (in Australia it's classed as a weed in fact). In colder wetter countries it will grow but will need to be kept in a frost free and dry place in the winter (and I can't be bothered to do that)

[Matty]

yeah me and sensitive plants dont mix too well tbh. I can kill a bloody cactus.

[Monad]

Oh I don't mean it's sensitive - as I said it will grow like a weed in the right climate zone.

Very pretty - you get yellow ones too btw:

http://images.marthastewart.com/images/content/web/eop/plant2/homcolxxx_01389_l.jpg

Christina - if you can grow these there are a number of S African bulbous relatives of this that will blow you away - Babianas for example:

http://www.communigate.co.uk/london/rathbone/phpNksB3j

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2156/2501763884_2b5d9c8be0.jpg

or Tigridias:

http://www.novanewsnow.com/imgs/dynamique/articles/gros/Tigridia.jpg

but then you also have some lovely Californian natives like Calochortus (Mariposa Tulips) that I would give my eye teeth to be able to grow:

http://www.fireflyforest.com/flowers/images/orange/orange_10/Calochortus_ken_400.jpg

http://www.srgc.org.uk/bulblog/log2008/290508/Calochortus%20uniflorus.jpg

http://www.bobkellerphoto.com/images/MariposaTulip_Calochortus_luteus.jpg

I suspect all of these will grow where you are.

[Christina]

It's a S African native so in places like California it probably grows like a native (in Australia it's classed as a weed in fact). In colder wetter countries it will grow but will need to be kept in a frost free and dry place in the winter (and I can't be bothered to do that)

We rarely get more than a brief surface frost and the occasional snow that lasts a few hours but we can easily get over 100 inches of rain between December and March in a normal year.

I think that babianas are so beautiful. I know that I can order them online. If they're expensive I can ask for some for my birthday. Getting bulbs keeps my mom from buying me strange clothes. Those tigridias are cool too.

[Monad]

My garden is just starting to wake up - it's not a big bloom garden - I like lots of foliage and small quiet plants/flowers not big, brash things, and like things that are wild in form not too domesticated. It's also 100% containers but I have chosen a selection of plants that tend to grow outside of their pots and knit it all together as the season progresses though at the moment some things still seem a bit confined as they have not all got off the ground yet. I also have a few ornamental pots with succulents and alpines in.

Here's what is out at the moment:

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/P1020255.jpg

Dicentra spectablis

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/P1020256.jpg

Caltha palustris (bursting out of a mini pond and self seeding into several other pots)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden001.jpg

Tulipa linifolia (one of the dwarfest species)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden006.jpg

A hybrid Dicentra ("Bacchanal")

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden007.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden008.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden010.jpg

Pots full of alpines and succulents - I like these to grow into each other too

Got lots of wild Geraniums, various lilies, toad lilies and day lilies, campanulas, agapanthus species and all sorts of interesting plants coming through though

[Josie]

:(:( Those are all beautiful, and none of them will survive here. :bang: Ok, iris's do well around here, but that is about it. I know, I've spent way too much money on roses over the years, just to watch them die after 1 or 2 winters.

My peonies and daylilies are just poking their heads up out of the ground, I won't have blooms for at least a month. Even the lilac won't bloom for a couple more weeks yet. :(

[Anne]

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/blog/lilacs.jpg

Not mine, but mine are about to burst...

[Christina]

:(:( Those are all beautiful, and none of them will survive here. :bang: Ok, iris's do well around here, but that is about it. I know, I've spent way too much money on roses over the years, just to watch them die after 1 or 2 winters.

My peonies and daylilies are just poking their heads up out of the ground, I won't have blooms for at least a month. Even the lilac won't bloom for a couple more weeks yet. :(

Where do you live, Josie?

Anne, my lilacs haven't bloomed in 2 years now :(. It hasn't gotten cold enough for long enough for the last 2 winters. They're tied with honeysuckle and pink jasmine for my favorite scents.

[Josie]

"Tip of the Mitt", Northern Michigan. Our winters regularly hit -30 (C or F, it doesn't really matter, that is about where the two scales even out and agree) for several days. They say we are zone 4, but they lie! I don't buy any plant that isn't rated for zone 3, it won't last more than one winter. If it does last the first winter, it will look terrible the next year, it just can't recover from the cold.

[Christina]

Damn - that sure is cold. I've never gardened anywhere but CA. Unless zone maps go into great detail our area is supposedly a 7 but I'm up at 2000' and we occasionally get frost and even snow once in a while. Most of the tropicals that grow down in town won't last a winter up here unless I bring them indoors. When we bought the place there was a huge angel's trumpet that technically shouldn't be able to make it here but it does, and another huge echium 'Pride of Madeira' that's got to be 5' tall by 6' wide and it's flourished until this winter and then about half of it died during a cold snap. I've hacked it back and I'm hoping that it will recover. Instead of over 100 flower stalks it looks like it's only going to have about a dozen, but that's still a good sign that it will probably recover. My biggest complaint up here is that it still doesn't get cold enough to get my lilacs to flower most years.

[Josie]

I do have one rose that will survive, a wild climber. Wonder Rose (yes, she is named, you want to make something of it? :D ) survives 90% intact if I get her off the fence and covered for the winter, if I don't she will die back to the ground, but put out new shoots in the spring. No flowers that year if I forget, since she blooms on old canes.

I did remember to get her covered last winter, so she will be beautiful this year. She is just starting to leaf out, I'll take pics as soon as she is fully leafed out. She should have a spread better than 20' this year.

There is some new growth showing on my rhododendron, and my lilac bush and the neighbors apple tree that hangs over it both have buds. They look so great together, and the smell of them together is intoxicating.

[Faerie]

Post some more pics.... its winter here and everything is grey and dull and dusty and cold and miserable and and and....

Its so pretty!

[Christina]

These are from last year because I haven't downloaded pictures in the last few days. My alstroemeria is starting to bloom:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1050.jpg

Asiatic lilies are starting to come in also:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/000_0078.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/000_0089.jpg

Another rose:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/000_0087.jpg

Bearded iris are blooming all over the place:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/grapesandiris.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/yellowiris.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/BeardedIris2.jpg

[Daydream]

I love this thread. What beautiful flowers!

[Christina]

A few more roses have opened up and lots more are almost ready.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/May14021.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/May14042.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1068.jpg

Some sparaxis:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/May14023.jpg

The honeysuckle is just starting to open.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1199.jpg

[Zygote]

My lilacs didn't even make it to May Day. The tulips are long gone, and the bearded iris not far behind. My front door area is looking pretty cheery, though.

Pelargoniums:
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/P1020713.jpg

And my roses are in full bloom. They'll probably be well past their prime after the heat wave that's due this weekend.
http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa166/Zygote_photos/P1020710.jpg

[Zygote]

The wisteria didn't bloom again this year, for about the third or fourth year in a row. I've tried letting it have its wild way, and I've tried cutting it back severely. I'm pretty positive that I left a variety of older shoots for the flower buds but got nothing but leaves. Sigh.

[nygreenguy]

The wisteria didn't bloom again this year, for about the third or fourth year in a row. I've tried letting it have its wild way, and I've tried cutting it back severely. I'm pretty positive that I left a variety of older shoots for the flower buds but got nothing but leaves. Sigh.

there are hormones treatment and other things you can do to induce floral growth and development.

[Anne]

hey, nygg--- we have some plants and I don't know what they are...

can you help?

In person or via pic?

Oh, and have you been to Highland Park (http://rocwiki.org/Highland_Park) for the lilacs (http://www.lilacfestival.com/)? OMG--- It's the prettiest park I've seen...

[nygreenguy]

hey, nygg--- we have some plants and I don't know what they are...

can you help? Of course! Although Im mostly a native plant guy.

In person or via pic? Pic unless you wanna wait till June!

Oh, and have you been to Highland Park (http://rocwiki.org/Highland_Park) for the lilacs (http://www.lilacfestival.com/)? OMG--- It's the prettiest park I've seen...
No, but it looks like Im going to have to check it out!

[Anne]

It's got a major arboretum and a conservatory. It's really a fantasitc place.

Blows Buffalo out of the water. And Central park.

the lilacs are about to hit full bloom (although the early ones are spent) and the fest ends tomorrow (although the lilacs don't turn off ;)). It's gorgeous... Like living on a planet where the trees aren't green...

June is great. we're a bit... busy...

[Christina]

It seems like something new is blooming every time that I go outside.

The rock rose is getting going:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/rockrose.jpg

The Dogwood tree is in full bloom:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/Dogwood1-1.jpg

More Alstomeria:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/Alstromeria-1.jpg

The first little carnation:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/carnation.jpg

Some more roses:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/FrontPath.jpg

I can't remember what this is:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/Pinksomething.jpg

[Monad]

My pocket handkerchief of a garden is starting to come together now - plants are flowing into each other to make it less like a collection of pots and more natural (though I still want a few pots to stand out). It's really just a few metres square and all concrete but I'm trying to cram a huge variety of textures (and splashes of colour) into it - many plants are chosen to seed around or weave together the pots and containers (like chives and several species of hardy Geranium):

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/Garden20092.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/Garden20093.jpg

ps these are large pics so you can zoom in on details if you want

[Christina]

I love the way that looks. It's motivating me to look around and see if there is some corner of the porch or a deck where I can make a small space and mass things together that way. I have lots of different colors and textures but it's such a big place that everything is spread out all over.

Some more things have started to bloom or have been blooming for a while that I forgot about.

This is a variegated ceanothus that I love because I've never seen ones like it growing in the wild around here. I've got 5 regular ones planted down on the hillside now and they've been done blooming for a few weeks but this one flowers a bit later.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/variegatedceanothus.jpg

The first rhododendron flower opened.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/rhodedendron.jpg

I'm not sure what these are. They look just like tiny morning glories and behave like them, but it's a perennial. The larger blue perennial morning glories usually freeze over the winter and die off here so I just grow the annual varieties.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/bluemorningglories.jpg

Someone gave me one of those cans of wildflower seeds so I tossed them out and all that came up was a ton of alyssum and these. I think that they're an annual verbena and there are some white ones too.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/purplesomething.jpg

I have geraniums all over the place and I like this one a lot.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/geranium.jpg

[Monad]

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/bluemorningglories.jpg

Looks like Convolvulus sabatius to me - lovely plant with beautiful flowers and doesn't run too much like some of its relatives

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/purplesomething.jpg

Not a Verbena - note the 4 petals per floret which indicate it's a Crucifer (well technically they changed it to Brassicaceae but I prefer the old name). It's an annual Candytuft (Iberis amara)

[hecaterin]

It's autumn. There's red leaves on the Japanese maple, a small feijoa crop, and only the correas are in flower.

[Christina]

Monad, what is your degree in that you can identify plants so easily? Sometimes I wish I was one of those people that keep track of everything they plant and write down the latin and common names but not enough to actually bother doing it.

[Monad]

No degrees (at least not in the fields of botany or biology) - just experience - I'm just a very keen amateur naturalist (I can identify lots of animals as well as plants) and gardener (with a preference for uncultivated/wild flowers).

[Ray Moscow]

At the moment we have runner beans blooming in our garden.

Peas and strawberries are mostly past blooming and are setting fruit now.

[Christina]

My Bird of Paradise is finally starting to open up:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/BirdofParadise2.jpg

Carnations and yarrow (I think) blooming together:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/CarnationsandYarrow.jpg

[David B]

Yarrow stalks:)

Now you will be able to cast the I Ching properly:)

David

[darjeeling]

The honeysuckle is just starting to open.

Honeysuckle!

Did anyone else eat honeysuckle nectar when they were a kid?

[Christina]

Yarrow stalks:)

Now you will be able to cast the I Ching properly:)

David

Huh?

No darjeeling, I didn't. I grew up in the city.

[crazyfingers]

Here's what's blooming. The rhododendron. Can't take any credit for them though. They do it every year whether I like it or not. :)

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_6095a.jpg

All over the yard.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_6058a.jpg


Not anything I can do about it short of digging them out. :) But I suppose I like them. And it's the one thing that stays green in the yard in winter that the deer don't eat.

[Christina]

*drools with envy

Someday I'm going to get the soil acidic enough to get mine to bloom that way. I have 4 of them but they're much younger.

[crazyfingers]

*drools with envy

Someday I'm going to get the soil acidic enough to get mine to bloom that way. I have 4 of them but they're much younger.

They are about 25 years old. Came with the house.

They grow like crazy. The big one next to the arching yew bushes becomes a monster and every other year I have to get the ladder to knock it down to size.

ETA: If you look at those Yews in front you'll see how they have been trimmed on the sides by the deer. They keep them narrow but can only reach so high.

[Monad]

Day lilies and hardy geraniums:

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden_020.jpg

Geranium maderense (this self seeds everywhere even though it's supposed to be quite tender)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden_021.jpg

Geranium maderense with Hemerocallis flava and some Geranium himalayense (blue) and a few flowers of a self seeded Geranium pratense (lilac blue - possibly a hybrid with one of the other species I have)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden_022.jpg

Geranium psilostemon x procurrens - just love the flower colours - this rambles all over (almost like a climber)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden_001.jpg

A pot full of Tulipa linifolia (my favourite dwarf tulip)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden_018.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk/garden/2009/Garden_013.jpg

Just an overview of how everything is growing together and obscuring the pots and looking nice and wild which is how I want it (even if it's so tiny it gives a larger impression)

[Christina]

That looks beautiful, Monad. My first day lily opened too. This is a picture from a previous year because I'm too lazy to go out and take another one.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/yellowdaylily.jpg

This is another lily that's just opening:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/PinkLily.jpg

The damn acanthus is blooming all over too. I used to love them until I moved here. They're shade plants but the ones that I inherited with the property were in full sun because the trees that they had been under had been cut down at some point. The foliage fries in the sun and looks awful and they volunteer all over the place. I'm always digging them up and moving them to the shade but I never seem to get it all out and they come right back. I hate them now. They're as bad as mint.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1056.jpg

[Christina]

My first peony has opened:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1039.jpg

I'm not exactly sure what these are. We call them cow peas around here and they look like a sweet pea without the amazing scent. They grow in ditches all along the roads and I've been letting them fill in some outlying areas because they're pretty and easy to rip out if they get carried away.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/165983042_04647a75b5.jpg

[Tawny]

I have no idea what these flowers are, as mum, dad and Alan do the gardening, I just provide tea and coffee at regular intervals. I think they are ever so pretty though

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/tawny75/flower4.jpg

I like these too

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/tawny75/flower4.jpg

This is our little pond built by my great grandfather. It is nice to sit and listen to the tinkle of the water in the summer.

http://i46.photobucket.com/albums/f116/tawny75/flower5.jpg

[Ray Moscow]

This year we planted a few "Turkmenistan salvia" plants, which got so big that we started calling them "Audrey 2, 3 and 4" (as in the "Little Shop of Horrors").

They are blooming now and look nice, so I'll try to get a couple of pictures.

[Jobar]

Salvia- would that be divinorum or officinalis? :)

[Christina]

Tawny, those look like what I call a rock rose but the leaves look a bit thinner to me. Monad, what do you think?

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1248.jpg

[Monad]

Yes it's a Cistus (Rockrose) but hers is Cistus x purpureus (which is a hybrid of Cistus ladanifer and Cistus creticus) whereas yours is either one of its parents, Cistus creticus, or a different hybrid of that (I'm thinking "Anne Palmer" as that one has dark red stems and I think I can see that in your photo)

[Monad]

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden036.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden034.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden027.jpg

I have lots of species Geraniums but they all interbreed and self seed so I get a variety of lovely hues - bees love them

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden028.jpg

more Geraniums

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden029.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden030.jpg

A beautiful Campanula (hybrid of C. poscharskyana and C. garganica)

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden032.jpg

and a different view to show how everything is spreading so it looks wild and lush - taller lilies coming up in the background now

[Christina]

That looks great, Monad. This page takes so long to download now that I go read something else and come back later.

I've have some new things too, most of which came with the place and I can't identify them.

Everyone around here calls these "pinks". They volunteer all over my garden and they probably have a real name.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19026.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19024.jpg

This cactus flower was amazing. The pot was here when we bought the place and it did nothing for years and then last year it got a dozen or so medium sized flowers for one day and then they withered. This morning a giant one opened and it was a bit over 6" across. It faded by early afternoon. The inside of it is so weird looking.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19040.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19043.jpg

This little tree was here when we got here also and it gets pretty pink flowers in spring and the leaves are an interesting reddish green color. This year it has 2 little fruits on it and I have no idea what they are. It doesn't look like any of my other fruit trees. The fruit is about 1.5" across now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19035.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19034.jpg

I don't know what this is either.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19030.jpg

This little rhododendron is starting to bloom for the first time.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19037.jpg

[Monad]

"Pink" is Rose campion (Lychnis coronaria), the other is what we call "Lamb's ears" (Stachys byzantina)

The tree - maybe some sort of a plum? - I thought maybe a persimmon (some species are more oval) but they usually have a more prominent calyx and they have white flowers

[Free in Freeport]

My lawn has been taken over by moss! This has never happened before. I'm thinking its because we had such a long cold winter and wet cool spring?
I sprayed it Thursday. we'll see if that helps.

[Monad]

This cactus flower was amazing. The pot was here when we bought the place and it did nothing for years and then last year it got a dozen or so medium sized flowers for one day and then they withered. This morning a giant one opened and it was a bit over 6" across. It faded by early afternoon. The inside of it is so weird looking.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19040.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19043.jpg

That's because it's adapted for pollination by bats.

[Christina]

Thanks, Monad. What makes it adapted for bats - that hairy looking stuff?

[Josie]

My peonies just opened.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k15/miorose/DSCI0041.jpg

And I can't believe how big the daylilies have gotten, in just 3 years. They are full of buds, so they should bloom sometime next week.

Does anyone have any camera suggestions as to why the leaves are in perfect focus, but the flower never is?

[Monad]

Thanks, Monad. What makes it adapted for bats - that hairy looking stuff?

Bat pollinated flowers have to be large enough to accommodate a bat and have fairly robust pollination apparatus (as they are not the daintiest of feeders) so you tend to see that sort of loose brush of stamens and a large stigma to ensure the bats get covered in pollen and carry it to the next flower. They usually have comparatively large pollen grains and are usually white or pale coloured and open in the evening and last all night - even if the individual flower is not robust as in Agave flowers you will still see this sort of pattern:

http://www.scottsdalecc.edu/biology/images/pollination.jpg

and here is a bat feeding from a different species of cactus

http://proceedings.esri.com/library/userconf/proc99/proceed/papers/pap530/p5302.jpg

as far as I know these types of night blooming cereus are not exclusively adapted to bats though and a variety of other animals pollinate them including some specially adapted moths and even some birds I think so they are covering all the angles which is probably a good strategy for a desert bloom

[Christina]

The tree - maybe some sort of a plum? - I thought maybe a persimmon (some species are more oval) but they usually have a more prominent calyx and they have white flowers

Maybe. I have a very young persimmon tree that hasn't flowered yet and it looks nothing like that one but there are more than one kind of persimmon. Once the fruit feels ripe we'll cut it open and it should be obvious. I'm not eating it until I know what it is.

[Daynna]

I'm not big on flowers. The flowers that bloom in my yard were there when we moved in. Anyway, here is one of them!

Also adding a picture of my first tomatoes. I'm patiently waiting to eat them! Grow tomato grow!

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2432/3647654102_8ce1d50188.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3314/3646849473_38f859d535.jpg

[Ray Moscow]

A few roses now

[Christina]

I have a bunch of new things blooming but I'm not awake enough yet to unload the camera. This one is from another year. We call them Angels Trumpet and I think that they're a kind of datura. The flowers are about 6" long and 4" across.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/AngelsTrumpetDatura.jpg

[nygreenguy]

This little tree was here when we got here also and it gets pretty pink flowers in spring and the leaves are an interesting reddish green color. This year it has 2 little fruits on it and I have no idea what they are. It doesn't look like any of my other fruit trees. The fruit is about 1.5" across now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19035.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19034.jpg



Im pretty sure monad was right. Thats a persimmon. If you are nervous, look at the buds. If the buds are black, its persimmon. Also, they usually have what looks like "alligator hide" bark. The botanical name diospyros means "fruit of the gods"

[nygreenguy]

"Pink" is Rose campion (Lychnis coronaria), the other is what we call "Lamb's ears" (Stachys byzantina)

The tree - maybe some sort of a plum? - I thought maybe a persimmon (some species are more oval) but they usually have a more prominent calyx and they have white flowers

The lambs ear is a mint. Mints are super easy to distinguish because they often have flowers in the axils of the leaves and they have square stems!

[Monad]

This little tree was here when we got here also and it gets pretty pink flowers in spring and the leaves are an interesting reddish green color. This year it has 2 little fruits on it and I have no idea what they are. It doesn't look like any of my other fruit trees. The fruit is about 1.5" across now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19035.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/R-June19034.jpg



Im pretty sure monad was right. Thats a persimmon. If you are nervous, look at the buds. If the buds are black, its persimmon. Also, they usually have what looks like "alligator hide" bark. The botanical name diospyros means "fruit of the gods"

Well I did think that at first but the comment about pink flowers threw me off a bit - afaik all persimmons have waxy white flowers, not particularly showy:

http://www.birdperch.com/blog/uploaded_images/Texas_Persimmon-01.jpg

whearas plums, like other stone fruit (cherries, peaches etc) can have pretty white or pink flowers

and also although the fruits can be oval (as in in the Japanese species, although the usually grown American one is more tomato shaped) they usually have a very prominent calyx which it should be possible to see from that angle:

http://images.craveonline.com/article_imgs/Image/peri_fruit.jpg

whereas plum fruit connects directly to the stalk with no calyx:

http://scavenging.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/3272-prunus-domestica-stanley-plum-tree1.jpg

Your diagnostic signs are useful - apart from that just check the fruit - if it has a stone it's a plum, if it looks more like a tomato inside with lots of seeds it's probably a persimmon.

[Christina]

I love persimmons and the picture that you showed of one, Monad, is just like the one I used to have and the young one that I have now. The one that I posted here looks very different but we'll find out soon. The fruit is ripening awfully fast for persimmons. Usually they don't ripen until late October or November around here. I'll cut it open when it's a bit more ripe and post pictures of the inside. These are the flowers in spring, if this helps.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/DSC00412.jpg

[Monad]

Just cut into one and see if there's a stone, doesn't matter if it's not ripe - probably will be a small plum of some sort

[Christina]

I will but there are only two of them and I want to wait until they're edible in case they're good.

[Monad]

I love persimmons and the picture that you showed of one, Monad, is just like the one I used to have and the young one that I have now. The one that I posted here looks very different but we'll find out soon. The fruit is ripening awfully fast for persimmons. Usually they don't ripen until late October or November around here. I'll cut it open when it's a bit more ripe and post pictures of the inside. These are the flowers in spring, if this helps.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/DSC00412.jpg

Ah just saw the picture - yes that's definitely a Rosid which rules out the persimmon. The flowers are clearly from something in the cherry/plum/apricot group (Prunus) and also a cultivated form as they are semi double. I think that's either a chinese flowering plum (Prunus mume) or a cultivated form of Prunus cerasifera nigra.

[Monad]

Indeed - there are cultivated semi double forms of Prunus cerasifera - here's an example

http://www.goodnewsgardening.com/info/trees/flowering/854

I thought it might be this because it's one of the few plums with pink flowers and also the purple leaves:

http://miniseeds.com/images/TreeSeeds/PrunusPisardiiAtro.jpg

[Christina]

I noticed this morning that one of the fruits was gone so I picked the other before it was gone too. It's a plum with a dark red center and it was sour but still really good.

This is a daylily, some penstemon and some tiny white daisy-looking things that were here when I got here. The groundcover behind it is woolly thyme.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R.jpg

These are some poppies that I have growing all over the hillside now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-DSC02916.jpg

This was labeled as a mock orange when I bought it years ago. I don't know why because the flowers don't look like orange blossoms, they don't smell like them and the leaves are different.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-DSC02896.jpg

[SpyGlassArt]

OOOOohhhhh. I'm jealous! Everyone seems to have some beautiful gardens-and yards!
I'm stuck to container gardening since I'm in an apartment:(

My stargazer lilies are just forming buds; They should bloom by the end of July. The lavender is always doing well-perhaps it's kill-proof?

Snap dragons seem to grow out of control here in California, where they're usually an annual in other zones (my snaps are 2 feet tall, and look almost like a bush, still in a 1 gallon plastic container)

Several different salvias, calla lilies, foxglove and mini morning glories are doing alright. I killed several lily bulbs over the winter-dug them up and they were rotted:( And I always kill Gerber Daisies, but keep buying them for some reason.

There's a 7' tall confederate jasmine vine in a 10 gallon pot that has just run it's course-The jasmine flowers are all brown and flaking off.

One ice plant is spilling of its pot (very nice-I tend to kill plants), but i suppose the reason is because it is considered a noxious weed. hahaha!

Did anyone hear about the corpse plant to bloom at Huntington Gardens a few weeks ago? Here's the article:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/06/corpse-flower.html

It was thrilling to hear of it since I had watched Attenborough's The Secret Life of Plants just the week before, where he spent a whole segment on a corpse plant (I think it was the first time anyone got the germination on film since its such a rare plant)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amorphophallus_titanum

[Christina]

You sure have a lot of things growing for an apartment dweller. Do you have a big terrace or patio? I'm in California also and I've had snapdragons turn into big bushes and last for a few years if I keep deadheading them before the go to seed. My pink jasmine is in that stage where the brown spent blossoms are falling off too but the star jasmine is still blooming. My first stargazer opened too. The picture isn't too great but it was fun to crop out everything but a stamen and see them close up.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R3-DSC02903.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R2-DSC02903.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-DSC02903.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Using the word "blooming" rather liberally, after three weeks of horrible, drizzly, rainy, foggy and cool weather, the mushroom and their cousins are blooming all over my yard!

Pretty standard non-offensive mushroom.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_0079a.jpg

Another pretty standard one.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_0078a.jpg

These are all over in the shadows and are actually really pretty.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_0076a.jpg

These are freaking disgusting and are all over my lawn. Yuck!
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_0072a.jpg

[premjan]

Are the white flower ones mimicking flowers?

[crazyfingers]

Are the white flower ones mimicking flowers?


I'm afraid I have no idea. Been trying to google them but no luck so far.

[premjan]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora
It isn't a fungus but an actual flower.

[crazyfingers]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora
It isn't a fungus but an actual flower.

That's freaking wild. Thanks!

Monotropa uniflora, also known as the Ghost Plant, Indian Pipe, or Corpse Plant is a herbaceous perennial plant, formerly classified in the family Monotropaceae, but now included within the Ericaceae. It is native to temperate regions of Asia, North America and northern South America, but with large gaps between areas.[1] It is generally scarce or rare in occurrence.

Unlike most plants, it is white and does not contain chlorophyll. Instead of generating energy from sunlight, it is parasitic, more specifically a myco-heterotroph. Its hosts are certain fungi that are mycorrhizal with trees, meaning it ultimately gets its energy from photosynthetic trees. Since it is not dependent on sunlight to grow, it can grow in very dark environments as in the understory of dense forest. The complex relationship that allows this plant to grow also makes propagation difficult.

I will say, they are all over my place, probably because of an excess of fungi at this time.

[Monad]

An update - the Day lilies are finished but I have Stargazers coming up soon - in bud at least. In the meantime a mass of things are weaving themselves together into a floral/foliage tapestry:

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden039.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden041.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden042.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden043.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden038.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden040.jpg

http://www.fingermarks.co.uk//Garden/2009/Garden037.jpg

[Josie]

This is Wonder Rose, the only rose that will survive the winters here.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k15/miorose/DSCI0043.jpg



I do not water her or feed her. She does not get sprayed for bugs or diseases. In the late fall, (if I remember) I take her down from the fence, lay the canes on the ground, and cover her with a sheet. In the spring, I put her back up on the fence and prune her. If I forgot to take her down the winter before, the pruning is much more drastic, and I don't get any flowers that year, but she survives.

She must be over 20 years old, because we have owned this property for 18 years, and she was well established when we moved in.

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k15/miorose/DSCI0044.jpg

[Christina]

I think that there was a rose very similar to that planted right next to the house and then someone tried to remove it but left a lot of root pieces behind. I get a lot of little volunteers in a place where I don't want them and I've run out of places to transplant them to.

Today I started digging up and dividing the bearded iris bulbs because they're all getting too crowded and didn't bloom well this year. I've only done one patch so far and after dividing them I have over 30 to replant. I'm going to end up with well over 100 and I have no idea where to put them all.

Monad, what is that plant with the tubular cream colored flowers? I have one that looks very similar.

I have lots of things in bloom and I'll take some pictures when the sun is less bright.

[Monad]

Do you mean the top one or the bottom one? (I guess the top is creamier)

The top one is Phygelius aequalis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phygelius_aequalis

The other one is a very nice but rather unusual bellflower - Campanula alliarifolia

http://theseedsite.co.uk/profile104.html

I love the Ivory white of the flowers and it has attractive foliage too

[Christina]

It looks exactly like the first one so that must be it.

I keep forgetting to take pictures but here are a few:

Another day lily:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-DayLily.jpg

This is some kind of a perennial ground cover and the foliage turns red in late Fall.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-Bluegroundcover.jpg

The first gladiola opened up:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-gladiola.jpg

I don't grow anything that flowers in the rock garden other than nasturtiums and hosta but those are in bloom.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/RockGarden.jpg

[Monad]

This is some kind of a perennial ground cover and the foliage turns red in late Fall.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/R-Bluegroundcover.jpg

I have that too - very pretty late summer plant - its Ceratostigma plumbaginoides

Mine's not in flower yet though

[crazyfingers]

A month and a half ago I posted some mushrooms and a flower that I had mistaken for a mushroom/fungus.

Below.



These are all over in the shadows and are actually really pretty.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_0076a.jpg


premjan found that it's not a fungus but a real flower that depends on a fungus to suck energy from other plants! Too amazing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotropa_uniflora
It isn't a fungus but an actual flower.

Anyway, I noticed that they have run their course and found that the corpse of the corpse plant to be worth a photo. :)

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_1615a.jpg

[Christina]

I forgot all about this thread and missed posting a lot of plants that have already finished blooming. I'll take some more later.

These 2 are the most common mushrooms that grow on our property. I have no idea what they are so I would never try to eat them.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/mushrooms1.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/mushrooms4.jpg

[Christina]

These are pictures from last year of things that are blooming now.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1188.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1194.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/100_1196.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/000_0090.jpg

[Christina]

The oleanders are in full bloom and some of the late summer salvias are getting going also.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/RAug15007.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/RAug15006.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/RAug15052.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g132/KGpictures/Flowers/RAug15051.jpg

[Monad]

I love that intense blue - Salvia patens?

[Christina]

I think so - the images on google look the same.

[Ray Moscow]

Some of our runner beans are blooming again -- we thought that they were done, but they still want to make more beans.

We harvested the last of our sweet corn yesterday, sadly. It's been good this year.

[Christina]

I'm still getting plenty of ripe tomatoes and cucumbers, there are just 2 ears of corn left and a few melons but I've already made a big batch of pesto and I have enough basil left to do another one. We've eaten or given away all of the fruit except for the apples and grapes that aren't ripe yet. It wasn't the greatest year for produce because we had such a cold spring and early summer.

[crazyfingers]

The disgusting mushrooms are back in great numbers! Yuk and puey! They were out in July after a wet June. They are back again. I think that tomorrow I'm going to dig them up so that they won't deposit their spoors for next year.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_2973a.jpg

And these flowers are back? These usually bloom in July and they did. I even got around to cutting off the dead flower sticks in August but they are blooming for a second time this summer. I have never seen that happen before. Could it be because I cut down the dead ones?

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_2959a.jpg

[nygreenguy]

And these flowers are back? These usually bloom in July and they did. I even got around to cutting off the dead flower sticks in August but they are blooming for a second time this summer. I have never seen that happen before. Could it be because I cut down the dead ones?



Yuccas usually bloom from july through august and are you sure its the same individuals that are flowering?

[crazyfingers]

And these flowers are back? These usually bloom in July and they did. I even got around to cutting off the dead flower sticks in August but they are blooming for a second time this summer. I have never seen that happen before. Could it be because I cut down the dead ones?



Yuccas usually bloom from july through august and are you sure its the same individuals that are flowering?

I really couldn't say. The big ones are all bunched together. I need to cut them down actually. Too much dead stuff at the bottom. Did that a few years back and they came back beautifully. It's really hard to kill those plants. Have one clump where it doesn't belong and every time I think that I've gotten rid of it it comes back.

[nygreenguy]

I really couldn't say. The big ones are all bunched together. I need to cut them down actually. Too much dead stuff at the bottom. Did that a few years back and they came back beautifully. It's really hard to kill those plants. Have one clump where it doesn't belong and every time I think that I've gotten rid of it it comes back.

Yuccas are prolific sprouters, and for a reason. There are 2 types of growing regions on a plant. The Shoot Apical Meristem (SAM) and the Root Apical Meristem (RAM). Each of these puts out a growth hormone. The SAM puts out an auxin which causes root development and the RAM puts out a cytokinin which puts out a shoot developing hormone. Normally, these 2 balance each other out, working as antagonists to each other. However, when you cut the SAM off, you stop the flow of auxin, triggering a flood of cytokinin causing the dormant buds in the root (or shoot) to develop. So, In order to STOP sprouting, the entire root system must be removed.

[crazyfingers]

I really couldn't say. The big ones are all bunched together. I need to cut them down actually. Too much dead stuff at the bottom. Did that a few years back and they came back beautifully. It's really hard to kill those plants. Have one clump where it doesn't belong and every time I think that I've gotten rid of it it comes back.

Yuccas are prolific sprouters, and for a reason. There are 2 types of growing regions on a plant. The Shoot Apical Meristem (SAM) and the Root Apical Meristem (RAM). Each of these puts out a growth hormone. The SAM puts out an auxin which causes root development and the RAM puts out a cytokinin which puts out a shoot developing hormone. Normally, these 2 balance each other out, working as antagonists to each other. However, when you cut the SAM off, you stop the flow of auxin, triggering a flood of cytokinin causing the dormant buds in the root (or shoot) to develop. So, In order to STOP sprouting, the entire root system must be removed.

Interesting. In a way I'm glad to know that I'm my observations about that plant were true. Real hard to kill. Will a few squirts of Roundup do it to small ones?

[crazyfingers]

I have no idea what this is. It's a plant that my wife got from an old roommate. Sort of a small tree. Once a year it blooms in the living room. Its a nice smell but extremely strong. One can smell it all over the house. It resembles baby powder.

It appeared today. It will be gone in a couple of days.

Any idea what it is?

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_3644a.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

What a way cool thread to revive.

I'm new here, and I love all the gardens. I shall endeavor to provide more exacting floral photos.

You'll get tired of all the iris...I have a weakness. I should probably be in a 12-step program. I've some nice roses.

I find it interesting that one of the geraniums which Monad seems to love in her garden is an out-and-out weed in mine.

I loved the fungi; such diversity!

And a well versed Latin name user...even better.

Wow. Nice forum you have here.

[Rie]

The whippersnipping man sprayed my only flower. I will send some photos soon.
It's my garden and I'll cry if I want to!:cool:

[Rie]

The whippersnipping man sprayed my only flowr. I will send some photos soon.It's my garden and I'll cry if I want to! And I can't make delete work:notworthy:

[Monad]

What a way cool thread to revive.

I'm new here, and I love all the gardens. I shall endeavor to provide more exacting floral photos.

You'll get tired of all the iris...I have a weakness. I should probably be in a 12-step program. I've some nice roses.

I find it interesting that one of the geraniums which Monad seems to love in her garden is an out-and-out weed in mine.

"His" garden

I like weeds :)

(which one is it?)

[Daynna]

Yes this is a pretty great thread. I took pictures of the flowering bushes and trees around my new house. Will try to post them this weekend!

[Roo St. Gallus]

My iris are just beginning to bloom. I see there is another here...good.

It looks as though this would be a better thread for all those pix.

[crazyfingers]

My what-cha-ma-call'em bushes are blooming.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0055a.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

Those look like rhododendrons or some type...perhaps azaleas.

[crazyfingers]

Those look like rhododendrons or some type...perhaps azaleas.

That's right. Azaleas. I believe that they are in the Rhodo family but people around here don't really consider them true Rhodos.

Here is a close up (with my new camera). It's raining this morning.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0070a.jpg

The true rhodos around the house will be blooming in a week or two.

[Monad]

Rhodo genus even - Azaleas are often smaller than many Rhododendrons and tend not to have their flowers in huge trusses but that doesn't always hold true

[Rie]

My flower survived being sprayed and when I get batteries I'll post a picture of it and the wilderness it grows in.
I had to renovate the house first and put the 'garden' on hold but I'm pinching (as in 'half-inching') cuttings for after Winter.
Iput them in water and charcoal and they grow roots that way.

[crazyfingers]

Sun came out and I had to play with the new camera.

Don't know what this is...

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0107a.jpg

Buttercup
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0095a.jpg

Normal Rhodos
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0084a.jpg

White Azaleas
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0076a.jpg

A fly on a type of mustard plant
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN0099a.jpg

[Monad]

The top one is Lily of the Valley

the bottom one - looks more like a spurge of some sort than a mustard?? Are you sure it's not this (or similar)?

http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/images/weeds/sun_spurge.jpg

does it have milky sap? (be careful, if it is a spurge the sap is toxic and can be irritant on the skin)

[Rie]

The milky sap from Dandelions can burn off warts! I used it on warts and they just grow brown and finally disappear. Make you wonder at the toxicity of any plant?

[David B]

Very nice, cf.

Were they taken in automatic mode, or did you manual focus, or change the depth of field, or something?

David

[Cath B]

Lovely photos crazyfingers.

The garden of the family house my Dad is currently selling has a bed of lily of the valley.

They smell wonderful.

[Roo St. Gallus]

I'm betting macro. That lily of the valley pic is superb.

So...Here's the latest at Ravenswood Gardens:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100166.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100164.jpg

The same 'red' iris, only now with multiple blossoms open.

While the white iris, 'Immortality' presents its first bloom:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100172.jpg

The purples are blossoming, too:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100168.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100175.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100195.jpg

I don't have any of the variety names on these, as they were freebies from my mother's garden, over thirty years ago.

This one, called "Anything Goes" is a nice example of 'plicata' stippling on the falls...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100180.jpg

It is actually in a planter set into a bald spot in the purple iris bed:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100178.jpg

Out front, the columbine have risen head and shoulders above the fray of mystosis and scilla:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100194.jpg
Volunteer

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100187.jpg
and cultivated.

[David B]

My garden being the hedgerows and clifftops, another picture of a sea pink.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP0772.jpg

David

[Monad]

I'm betting macro. That lily of the valley pic is superb.

So...Here's the latest at Ravenswood Gardens:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100166.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100164.jpg

The same 'red' iris, only now with multiple blossoms open.

While the white iris, 'Immortality' presents its first bloom:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100172.jpg

The purples are blossoming, too:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100168.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100175.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100195.jpg

I don't have any of the variety names on these, as they were freebies from my mother's garden, over thirty years ago.

This one, called "Anything Goes" is a nice example of 'plicata' stippling on the falls...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100180.jpg

It is actually in a planter set into a bald spot in the purple iris bed:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100178.jpg

Out front, the columbine have risen head and shoulders above the fray of mystosis and scilla:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100194.jpg
Volunteer

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100187.jpg
and cultivated.

Colombine and Iris are two of my favourite flowers.

[Arctish]

The only plants blooming where I live are the spruce, birch, and willows.

[Roo St. Gallus]

Latest installment...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100208.jpg

The purples proliferate.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100242.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100218.jpg

A new blossom...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100206.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100220.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100240.jpg

More plicata.

The white Siberian iris in the tub outside the back door...the wire is to discourage chooks...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100238.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100202.jpg

A single yellow...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100222.jpg

And, my little stand of iris palladium:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100233.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

Of course, out front, there are purple iris, too...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100223.jpg

Hosta pushing for space, overtopping the beater birdbath....
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100236.jpg

At the base of the stairs, next to the public sidewalk, is this huge volunteer foxglove:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100248.jpg

In the back, along with the popping iris, are the beginnings of the rose blossoms, too...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100213.jpg
'Black Cherry'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100209.jpg
'Sunspray'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100203.jpg
'Baby Talk'

All floribundas.

This little flower has been a slowly spreading voluteer in a sunny spot in the front. I don't know what it is and would appreciate an identification...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100246.jpg
The little blue flowers are forget-me-nots.

[Monad]

Looks like an Ornithogalum species - perhaps O. umbellatum

[Monad]

Confirmed I think:

http://www.missouriplants.com/Whitealt/Ornithogalum_umbellatum_plant.jpg

had to check that particular species grew in the States - it's something I've grown over here in a previous garden - very pretty, the petals have an almost silvery cast to them, nice for a shaded area, can be a little invasive (but as you know I like my plants on the wild side)

[Roo St. Gallus]

Excellent...a member of the hyacinths. Thanks! It's a volunteer on the edge of what used to be a rose bed and is immediately next to a pebble pathway. I'm not sure how it got there, but it's been a good ten years and has grown every so slowly. But this year, I spied a single solitary plant a good thirty feet from the original 'infestation'. I probably weeded and managed to pull up a bulb and set it down over there...it's in a 'newly cleared' space.

The forget-me-nots are starting to mildew.

[Monad]

Yes it's a relative of the hyyacinth and bluebell. In fact my favourite species, Ornithogalum nutans, looks a lot like a bluebell but with lovely silvery white with green stripes, bell/star shaped flowers. Very elegant.

http://www.killikus.de/killi/nickender-milchstern/nickender-milchstern.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

As long as they've been there, I'd not noticed until this week that the blossoms close up in the overcast grey days. They've got the distinctive green stripe on the back per the umbellatum.

[Roo St. Gallus]

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100253.jpg
Not sure of the variety, but I think it is 'Graphic Arts'.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100255.jpg
'Silverado'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100265.jpg
'Song of Norway'

[Roo St. Gallus]

DDDP

[Roo St. Gallus]

My garden being the hedgerows and clifftops, another picture of a sea pink.



David


Nice, David. The hedgerows with the pink fluers are...what? Those look like cherry blossoms.

[David B]

My garden being the hedgerows and clifftops, another picture of a sea pink.



David


Nice, David. The hedgerows with the pink fluers are...what? Those look like cherry blossoms.

It was a macro of one of these.

http://www.canstockphoto.com/sea-thrift-armeria-1985992.html

David

[Roo St. Gallus]

Clifftop ground cover! Armeria maritima. Thanks.

[Roo St. Gallus]

New blooms today...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100277.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100279.jpg
'Lenten Prayer' *snort*

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100284.jpg
'Gold Galore'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100285.jpg
A stand of 'Graphic Arts'.

[Monad]

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/chicks/P1100277.jpg

Love that one - like wine

[Roo St. Gallus]

Thanks, Monad...

There is a whole series of reddish iris with wine names. I've 'Merlot' and 'Bordeaux' in my garden somewhere. If they survived. Some varieties do better than others.

Today's openings:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100336.jpg
Variety unsure. Smallish and low.

Across the walk, in a different planter, is:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100335.jpg
Tall, large flower, deeeeep purple with a satin finish.

In the back:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100332.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100330.jpg
'Dusky Challenger'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100327.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100325.jpg
variety unsure...'Before the Storm'?...velvety finish. A contrast to the similar 'Dusky Challenger'.

In the back corner, standing tall and alone:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100317.jpg
Denim colored, variety unsure.

Roses are making an early showing, too:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100320.jpg
'Sweet Surrender' at the balcony rail. I'm looking forward to this opening, as it is very fragrant.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100322.jpg
'Honor' lurking in the dark leaves.

A photo from earlier in the day of the dark velvety iris in the back...
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100312.jpg

[Monad]

I love Irises - so much variety - and these are just beardeds (except for one Siberica)

imho one of the most interesting group of Irises are the arillate ones:

http://www.edgewoodgardens.net/articles/aril_irises_in_se_pennsylvania.html

http://www.arilsociety.org/Iris-sprengeri-4.jpg

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Iris/Iris_kirkwoodii2_JL.jpg

http://www.pacificbulbsociety.org/pbswiki/files/Iris/Iris_korolkowii4_JL.jpg

http://users.ca.astound.net/kenww/my_garden/Iris_damascena.jpg

http://users.ca.astound.net/kenww/my_garden/Arabian_Archer.jpg

http://users.ca.astound.net/kenww/my_garden/Syrian_Princess.JPG

almost orchid like - more here:

http://users.ca.astound.net/kenww/my_garden/aril.htm

[crazyfingers]

Very nice, cf.

Were they taken in automatic mode, or did you manual focus, or change the depth of field, or something?

David

Sorry. Didn't see your question earlier. I believe full auto except set for macro.

I'm still learning the different "scenes" and have not yet tried the manual focus or the semi-manual aperture vs shutter speed priority settings. There are parts of the manual that are very confusing and not described well.

[crazyfingers]

All those photos are beautiful!

It makes me feel the need to plant some. Trouble is we have some tulips (well every year they try) but the deer come by and "Chomp!" them off the top before they even start to flower. I would need to research flowers that take no real work on my part and that deer don't like.

[Roo St. Gallus]

All those photos are beautiful!

It makes me feel the need to plant some. Trouble is we have some tulips (well every year they try) but the deer come by and "Chomp!" them off the top before they even start to flower. I would need to research flowers that take no real work on my part and that deer don't like.

Well...I don't know about iris, but I'd bet that any kind of narcissus would probably do well. I've had rabbits, and now chickens, and they don't touch the narcissus, the bleeding hearts, or the iris. In their clumsiness, the chickens damage the iris, but I've not seen one actually attempt to consume iris.

Roses are another thing entirely....the deer will love that. This I know. My SO says that deer destroyed her fruit tree plantings. She's a big venison fan.

As usual, the past two days we've had blustery rain with torrential downpours. I don't know why this is such a common situation when the iris bloom, but it is. The consequences of such weather is that the tall open blooms get knocked over...so, I just spent a half hour staking up the affected blooms in the back yard. Crappy weather, still; no pix.

[Roo St. Gallus]

Finally....A break in the deluge.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100398.jpg
Bed of violet Siberian iris, backed with an azelea.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100386.jpg
A stand.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100391.jpg
A bouqet.

Just forward of those is the planting of Yellow Flag (Iris pseudocorus) in the eastern front...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100385.jpg

A single blossom:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100384.jpg

Also out front were three new, if battered, blooms:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100396.jpg
Variety unsure, perhaps "Baltic Star".

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100394.jpg
Variety unknown.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100379.jpg
"World Premiere".

[Roo St. Gallus]

But wait! There's more!

Out back...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100338.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100363.jpg
In the foreground is the 'Mater Bed, where I just put in my 'maters.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100373.jpg
'Norwegian Skies'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100369.jpg
'City Lights'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100359.jpg
'Lark Ascending'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100345.jpg
'Poem of Ecstasy'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100340.jpg
'Cinnamon Twist'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100347.jpg
The exceedingly tall 'Silverado'.

[crazyfingers]

I had not realized that there were two separate topics on growing in the garden. :p

[Roo St. Gallus]

Yeah. I found that out when you resurrected this one. Which, I note, has the file size warning attached to the thread title.

This is 'blooming'...the other is 'what's happening', which I guess is things other than blooming, like tilling, planting, pruning, harvesting, setting afire, crop circles...that kind of thing.

I've come to think of it as a 'text/image' division distinction.

[Roo St. Gallus]

After more'n a week of torrential downpours and battering winds, we got a blissful relief in the form of a perfect day. Blue skies, calm winds, warm temperatures.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100543.jpg
The smaller of my two Styrax japonica is blooming fulsomely.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100548.jpg
Up close gives the reason for it's popular name, Japanese Snowbell.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100622.jpg
Red Ballerina is blooming on the slopes of the western front.

Along with the cistus immediately below it.
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100628.jpg

Above them both, on the western plateau, is the blooming Cornus kousa, or Strawberry Tree:
http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100619.jpg

Despite being beaten by the rains, the iris rebounded for the sun:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100635.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100633.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100617.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100495.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

Some new blooms:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100474.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100469.jpg
'Lark Ascending'

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100480.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100436.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100434.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100423.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100411.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

Some stands that stood.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100414.jpg
Yellow flag.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100425.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100442.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100477.jpg
'Dusky Challenger'

Of course, the foxglove has thrived in the wet. I love the spots on the internal surfaces of each flower trumpet...

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100413.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

And, of course, since it is the Rose Feastival here in Puddle City, it means the roses should be blooming. And right on schedule...

The Balcony Rosebed:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100444.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100481.jpg

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100403.jpg
'Olympiad' grandiflora rose.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100431.jpg
'Sun Spray' floribunda rose.

The pink grandiflora 'Sweet Surrender' was so badly affected with 'bud blast' from the incessant rain that I had to cut off 90% of the buds because they'd rotted on the stems.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100497.jpg
The Balcony Rosebed, beyond the iris in the 'Mater Patch, beyond the Herb Pot, as seen from the brick patio.

In the Stairwell Rosebed, to the left of the 'Mater Patch in this pic:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100447.jpg:

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100433.jpg
'Pascali' hybrid tea rose.

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj53/wellingtonkd/garden/P1100439.jpg
'Touch of Class' grandiflora rose.

[crazyfingers]

Irises?
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1488a.jpg

Raspberries
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1546a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1547a.jpg

Clover
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/DSCN1552a.jpg

[Monad]

Irises?

No, lilies

very nice

[crazyfingers]

Irises?

No, lilies

Thank you.

very nice

Thanks again.

[Cath B]

Mmm... raspberries.

Too early for mine yet.

Lovely roses Roo!

I have some rambling roses including a wild dog rose Rosa canina - very beautiful, but sadly I need to get rid of it as it's growing out of a drystone wall which may be very old.

I see from wiki that the dog rose which looks so wonderful in our local hedgerows at this tme of year is not native to the US.

The damask rose my brother bought me is also bursting into bud.

On the veggy front the broad beans are in flower now - beans to follow!

Do

[Roo St. Gallus]

My Cornus kousa is blooming prolifically.

[Rie]

My one poor little flower got squashed twice so I am now going to plant a Day Lily where
I buried my old cat Effie.
My daughter has made a headstone with her name on it. What colours do Day Lilies come in?

[Monad]

My one poor little flower got squashed twice so I am now going to plant a Day Lily where
I buried my old cat Effie.
My daughter has made a headstone with her name on it. What colours do Day Lilies come in?

Yellows, oranges, reds and whites

[nygreenguy]

While I appreciate gardening and the skill and aesthetic it takes, theres something about horticultural plants that doesnt do anything for me.

Im a big fan of native gardens. To me, I think its because of the rarity of native plants, the fact that these specific species have fought the natural selection battle out in the wild. :dunno:

[Rie]

It's literally freezing in the mornings and I'm not sure that I should plant now? But ... I bought a Bromeliad and am hovering over it and loving how beautiful it is.

Bromeliads are quirky and some will grow on the trunk of a tree.

[Cath B]

While I appreciate gardening and the skill and aesthetic it takes, theres something about horticultural plants that doesnt do anything for me.

Im a big fan of native gardens. To me, I think its because of the rarity of native plants, the fact that these specific species have fought the natural selection battle out in the wild. :dunno:

Yes, Dave B would agree with you on that one, at least wrt most non-crop plants and I do too to a large extent.

But in Britain, as you'll know, it's sometimes tricky to work out whether or not a long established plant arrived naturally after the end of the last Ice Age or as a result of human intervention - and indeed in the case of Mesolithic folk, whether or not their impact on vegetation should be considered natural.

I feel strongly about the preservation of natural habitats and their associated species but in the UK many native/traditional species are best preserved by maintaining traditional agricultural use - ancient hedgerows, non-improved meadows etc.- coincidentally there was a relevant item on today's BBC website: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/science_and_environment/10381309.stm

I have a very small artificially produced meadow of what many Britons would call wild flowers but which I prefer to call weeds of agricultural land - corn poppy, corn chamomile, corn marigold and corncockle - all beautiful agricultural pests and traditional flowers thought to have been artificially imported with the grain of the early farmers. The cornflower present a couple of years ago hasn't yet put in an appearance this year - apparently overwhelmed by the oppositon in the particular environmental niche provided.

And when I tend my herbs I think of the long gone gardens of traditional healers* hundreds, maybe thousands, of years ago, including those of pre-reformation monasteries and see myself as part of an evolving heritage.

*the ones Matty loves so well :D

[Cath B]

nygreenguy, how much is known about the prevalence of agriculture in in what is now the USA (not South America) before the influx of Europeans?

I think I read somewhere that some of what John Muir considered virgin land was land which had gone wild after most local Native Americans had died or relocated.

[Roo St. Gallus]

nygreenguy, how much is known about the prevalence of agriculture in in what is now the USA (not South America) before the influx of Europeans?

I think I read somewhere that some of what John Muir considered virgin land was land which had gone wild after most local Native Americans had died or relocated.

The First Nations had amongst them some nations which were quite adept at agriculture. IIRC, it was dependent upon the fecundity of the land upon which they had chosen to settle. Most supplemented whatever 'agriculture' was practiced with typical hunting/gathering collecting, and it was highly likely to have been 'slash and burn' type of agriculture, utilizing fertile areas until the fertility was tapped out and moving on. However, it was reported that the tribes of what is now the US southeast had well developed roads and cleared the brush and planted fields. The whole beans, corn, squash triumverate of agricultural foodstuffs was known and cultivated as far north as the tribes of New England when the Europeans began arriving. Corn, along with potatoes, were introduced into North America by diffusion from points south, long before Europeans even entered the scene. Potatoes were cultivated in the Andes at least a millenium, if not more prior.

The mound-builder cultures of the Ohio-Mississippi basin must have had an agricultural community which provided such a surplus that they could engage in major earthwork projects. The Hopi and Anasazi cultures of the Colorado River area engaged in farming river bottoms and producing sufficient surplus to support extended communities in stable locations for hundreds of years.

[nygreenguy]

nygreenguy, how much is known about the prevalence of agriculture in in what is now the USA (not South America) before the influx of Europeans?

I think I read somewhere that some of what John Muir considered virgin land was land which had gone wild after most local Native Americans had died or relocated.

Roo got the agriculture. When it comes to "virgin land" the US has practically none.

[Cath B]

Thanks Roo and nygreenguy. :)

[crazyfingers]

These parasitic corpse flowers are blooming again in the shadows.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5722a.jpg

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/IMG_5721a.jpg

[Roo St. Gallus]

My grapes and star jasmine, both on my arbor, are blooming.

My chooks are happy that the grapes are overproducing vine and leaf...they get what I 'prune' off the vines, and they love their grape leaves and tendrils. It's a good thing most of it grows way above their heads.

I lurve my star jasmine. It has scads of tiny white pinwheel shaped blossoms and the fragrance is...erotic...paradisical.

[Schneibster]

While I appreciate gardening and the skill and aesthetic it takes, theres something about horticultural plants that doesnt do anything for me.

Im a big fan of native gardens. To me, I think its because of the rarity of native plants, the fact that these specific species have fought the natural selection battle out in the wild. :dunno:I did that in front: ceanothus and rosemary, primarily, on sand with an admixture of mulch to give it some body, and not too much water. I don't have to weed much; these plants out-compete weeds in this biome, as long as you keep it fairly pure, by not adding too much mulch or water.

Other than that, I have grass to walk on and provide moderation for my observatory in back, and stuff to eat in the side yard. I would consider the front yard ornamental, and the rest planted to provide more utilitarian things.

[Ray Moscow]

Our veg garden is now putting out big time: strawberries, cabbages, squash, new potatoes, peas, salad stuff, green beans of various sorts, etc.

No tomatoes yet, though.

[Rie]

Like Cath B I really like the so called 'weed' plants and that's not what some people would think. don't get around much any more in thart sense. we have an Australian group called The seekers which has a song called "Puff, The Magic Dragon" and folk often leer at the lyrics... and no wonder if you listen to them with, shall we say, an open mind.
There's a truly modestly beautiful one called 'coreosis something' that 'greenies' are determined to stamp out but i encourage them in garden pots. I'll try to find out their full botanical name.

[premjan]

coreopsis.

[Roo St. Gallus]

Man...We've had some warm days and warm nights to go with them. Until the heat into darkness, I'd never paid much attention to the fragrance of the star jasmine. Warm nights...Shazam.

[crazyfingers]

May I bump this thread with some wildflowers (and former flowers) that I photographed along the coast of Maine so far this summer?

These are all wild. Nothing from the garden.

Lupins about 4 feet from the high water mark by the ocean. Late May.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20May%202010050a.jpg

A wild blueberry flower in late May
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20May%202010080a.jpg

Don't know what this is. It's a flower though.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2006%2013%2027 %2020a.jpg

I know that this is a wild rose. These are ridiculously common along the Maine coast. First week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2006%2015%2009 %2029a.jpg

No idea what this is. It's at the coast among the rocks and is very pretty. First week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2006%2015%2015 %2022a.jpg

I guess these are the same thing
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2006%2015%2017 %2009a.jpg

Still along the rocky shore first week of July. No idea what they are.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2006%2015%2019 %2004a.jpg

Wild roses in July
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2009%2048 %2019a.jpg

Very nice, still first week of July about 3 feet from the open rocky shore.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2012%2025 %2024a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

Still along the Maine coast in July.

This was about 5 feet from the rocks and the ocean the first week of July. Don't know what it is.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2012%2036 %2058a.jpg

I know this one! It's a daisy! First week of July by the shore.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2013%2004 %2042a.jpg

This is a former flower, otherwise known as wild Maine blueberries. First week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2013%2051 %2051a.jpg

More of these pretty things.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2014%2033 %2009a.jpg

Water lilies! This is a few miles inland and still the first week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2010%2011%2004 %2047a.jpg

Below the high water mark. I have no freaking idea if this is actually a plant or an animal. It could be a baby anemone for all I know. Still first week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2010%2016%2016 %2048a.jpg

Ooh. is this a day lily? Still the first week of July about 3 feet above high water mark.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2010%2016%2023 %2005a.jpg

This is a red flower-thing above the rocks of the ocean the 3rd week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2019%2015%2013 %2026a.jpg

Another day lily?
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2024%2014%2008 %2029a.jpg

A purple flower that resembles a daisy. In the rocks above the shore.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2024%2014%2054 %2007a.jpg

[crazyfingers]

A few final flowers and former flowers.


This is clearly a former flower. What it is I have no idea. It's about 50 feet inland from the ocean now the 3rd week of July.http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2017%2014%2040 %2009a.jpg

No idea what this is. I wonder if it's something that got loose from someone's garden because it doesn't look typical of Maine. But it was living free! Last few days of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20Reunion%202010%2007%2031%2009%2052% 2028a.jpg

Some kind of weed/flower by the playground about 1/4 mile from shore. Last day of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20Reunion%202010%2007%2031%2016%2015% 2026a.jpg

And this is a former rose, otherwise known as a rose hip. August 1.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20Reunion%202010%2008%2001%2012%2016% 2056a.jpg

The coast of Maine is beautiful. Wide open vistas of rock and sea. http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20Reunion%202010%2008%2001%2011%2005% 2056a.jpg

But if you ever go. Don't overlook the little things also. They are just as pretty.

[Monad]

The orange daisy is known over here as "Fox and cubs" - or just Orange hawkweed (Pilosella aurantiaca). The pink "day lily" is not a day lily - it's Sea bindweed (Convolvulus soldanella) - very pretty plant - quite rare in the UK. The plant with the pea flowers is a Sea vetchling (Lathyrus japonicus). The yellow weed/flower is goldenrod (Solidago sp), the pink one above it as a knapweed (related to cornflowers), the lavender daisy is a Sea Aster (Aster tripolium), not sure what the red spike flower is but it looks like some sort of Amaranth to me, the one with the tiny pink flowers is a cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon)

Oh and the ones that look like sea anemone's are actually egg cases of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nucella_lamellosa

[David B]

The other 'day lily' I think is greater bindweed, convolvulus sepium.

ETA having moved my screen it now looks pink not white, so probably either the same as the first one or a closely related convolvulus.

Great pics:)

David

[Monad]

Yeah they are both the same species I think. Seaside plants are often very lovely.

I think now the red cockscomb inflorescence is from some sort of Sumac, not an Amaranth.

[David B]

Yeah they are both the same species I think. Seaside plants are often very lovely.

I think now the red cockscomb inflorescence is from some sort of Sumac, not an Amaranth.

Which reminds me. It's not a very good pic, but I've always had a soft spot for this one.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1337seahollycrop.jpg

David

[Monad]

Yeah they are both the same species I think. Seaside plants are often very lovely.

I think now the red cockscomb inflorescence is from some sort of Sumac, not an Amaranth.

Which reminds me. It's not a very good pic, but I've always had a soft spot for this one.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1337seahollycrop.jpg

David

Gorgeous - yes Eryngiums are lovely - I have a couple of species in my garden

[Rie]

Two day lilies that just, like Topsy, grew. One is just near the grave of my old cat. I'm so happy about this as her grave looked so unloved.

[Cath B]

Which reminds me. It's not a very good pic, but I've always had a soft spot for this one.

http://i419.photobucket.com/albums/pp275/dble_photo/IMGP1337seahollycrop.jpg

David

Gorgeous - yes Eryngiums are lovely - I have a couple of species in my garden

The only place I recall seeing what looked like a sea holly growing wild apart from South West Wales is the Spanish Pyrenees.

I wasn't sure whether or not the Pyrenean example was the same species. Google suggests that it was Eryngium bourgatii rather than Eryngium maritimum.

[nygreenguy]

May I bump this thread with some wildflowers (and former flowers) that I photographed along the coast of Maine so far this summer?



A wild blueberry flower in late May
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20May%202010080a.jpg
Vaccinium corymbosum



I know that this is a wild rose. These are ridiculously common along the Maine coast. First week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2006%2015%2009 %2029a.jpg Rosa palustris

[nygreenguy]

Still along the Maine coast in July.

This was about 5 feet from the rocks and the ocean the first week of July. Don't know what it is.

http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%201%202010%2007%2009%2012%2036 %2058a.jpg Cornus canadensis




This is a red flower-thing above the rocks of the ocean the 3rd week of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2019%2015%2013 %2026a.jpgRhus typhina

[nygreenguy]

A few final flowers and former flowers.


This is clearly a former flower. What it is I have no idea. It's about 50 feet inland from the ocean now the 3rd week of July.http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20week%202%202010%2007%2017%2014%2040 %2009a.jpg Clintonia borealis



Some kind of weed/flower by the playground about 1/4 mile from shore. Last day of July.
http://home.comcast.net/~mjdude/pwpimages/Maine%20July%20Reunion%202010%2007%2031%2016%2015% 2026a.jpg Most likely Solidago sempervirens


But if you ever go. Don't overlook the little things also. They are just as pretty. Picea glauca right there in the foreground.

[crazyfingers]

Cool

[nygreenguy]

Cool


Yeah, you're welcome.


:)

[crazyfingers]

Cool


Yeah, you're welcome.


:)

:)

[Rie]

My back yard has taken on a whole new perspective as there are future possibilities that itlooong expanse may be subdividable.
But, as is, my 2 daylilies are doing well and my daughter has made a truly beautiful plaque for the grave of my cat who is buried near the day lilies.

[melisssaparker46]

aw... they are beautiful!

[Rie]

My 'mystery' plant has turned out to be a big garlic plant. Useful but sort of un-romantic. i was hoping it would be a little known exotic Greek hillside creeper.

[Shake]

I took the following a few years ago around my house, first a couple of tulips:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/shake69/100_0157.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/shake69/100_0156.jpg

... and then some of the lilacs:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/shake69/100_0155.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/shake69/100_0154.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y184/shake69/100_0153.jpg

In this last pic of the blue lilac, you can see one of the purple ones behind it. That's my house on the right.

[nygreenguy]

In this last pic of the blue lilac, you can see one of the purple ones behind it. That's my house on the right.

I think you are my neighbor. Im in NY as well. Well, central. You get any snow last night!?!?

[Rie]

Aw.. that's sweet nygreen... Truly serendipity!!!!

[Shake]

In this last pic of the blue lilac, you can see one of the purple ones behind it. That's my house on the right.

I think you are my neighbor. Im in NY as well. Well, central. You get any snow last night!?!?

Hm ... sorry for the late reply. It may have been last week when I was getting pelted by what looked like small hail. That's about as close as we've come ... so far.

I'm in the Rochester area, btw. Home to a huge Lilac festival every year.