Last one is here.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/996584/
Here at last are the clustered bellflowers, still not completely blooming but getting there. It's really hard to capture that dark purple in the blooms but I love this sea of purple every year.
You can see here how they bloom down the stem, starting at the top.
Austin rose Heritage, which is in the same bed and the light pink looks really pretty with the dark purple from the bellflowers.
Sally, here's the prickly pears starting to bloom. I didn't plant these, they grow wild all over here. Some of you remember seeing them blooming on the roadsides when you came out here for the swap a couple of years ago.
Ruby, I need to give you a cutting of this rose to start you want. It's called Ruby Meideland.
The roses are small but intensely red. It's supposed to be a groundcover rose but has never gotten prostrate for me.
I love these sundrops (evening primrose) from my mom. She's been growing them for a long, long time.
Chris, this is my pink waterlily finally blooming.
Two white blooms too today.
I've been trying for weeks to get a photo of the green santolina to show you all. I love this plant. It has the prettiest bright green foliage and yellow button flowers. Every photo fades out the flowers to white. Oh, well, hopefully this gives you some idea.
Anyway, try it sometime for a tough spot. They like full sun but are extremely drought tolerant and will spread from a small plant to a big clump. They smell nice too. I wish I knew how to divide them to share but you can get them for a dollar or two at anyplace that sells herbs.
Debbie, look at the seed pods on the euphorbia you said you have from Kims too.
Hart I don't think you have a green thumb, I believe it is a dark green thumb LOL! The bellflowers are too beautiful for words. I am trying to make my yard a little paradise. We have lived here about 4 years. There wasn't much here when we moved in but slowly but surely we are creating our little heaven on a budget.
Do you have any problems with blackspot on your roses? I have four varieties and all of them have blackspot now. (Tropicana, Michelangelo, Hot cocoa and Rainbow sherbert) Hot cocoa is a very different but beautiful red but it is suffering the worst. I cut it back hard today and used organic fungicide on all of them. I think I am going to have to try some different varieties like knockout roses.
No, I don't have any problems with blackspot. I have two secrets. First, I usually get roses that are more resistant to diseases. Second, come in here closer so I can whisper. I don't touch the organic rose stuff. I use Ortho Rose Pride, which is systemic, meaning it gets inside the plant itself. It protects against bugs and diseases both. I spray about once a month all spring and summer.
If you can't find Rose Pride, Bayer makes a systemic that you pour at the base of the plant.
Do this all spring and summer and you won't have any problems. Also, everything gets a good sprinkle of Plant Tone early in the spring. It is organic. I've also found a very nice fertilizer this year at Lowes that I've been using too. It's called Lily Miller UltraGreen Color Blooms, comes in a yellow bag. I think it's really made a difference in my roses this year.
One more thing, make sure you water your roses so that if water gets on the leaves it's early in the day so the leaves will dry before night. If you have to water in the evening, use a soaker hose.
I always have plenty of the bellflowers to share at swaps, so hopefully you and I can be at one sometime so I can give you some bellflowers.
I wanted to attend the one this year but I was graduating from college. I posted a picture on the DG swap pictures of me and my kids.
I use plant tone on all the beds but I haven't tried any chemicals. I am struggling a bit with using them because my major was in biology with a focus on ecology (at a somewhat hippie/liberal school ) so green and sustainable was drilled into us. I tend to feel guilty when I use chemicals on my plants LOL. I know my mom and grandmothers always had to use chemicals to keep blackspot away.
I will look into the LiLy Miller fertilizer.
I did too for a long time but sometimes the organic stuff doesn't work, as you have found. Most of it is just neem oil and you have to be sure to cover every single bit of the rose, including undersides of leaves. That's not always easy or, for a climber, possible, and I don't know if even that works.
If you want to stick to organic, you really should look into the disease resistant varieties. Forget any tea rose or anything bred with tea - they all descend from a rose that was highly prone to blackspot. You might want to look into some of the antique roses. They're beautiful, have a scent like you've never experienced if you've only seen modern roses and most are very tough, which is why they're still around.
Sometime when you have time, go browse around the Antique Rose Emporium's website.
Stormy, the Nemesia is an annual. I came across the seeds when I was doing a search for fragrant flowers, (Thanks Chantell), the flower is very tiny. I like to mix some fragrant flowers in with my deck box plantings so you can enjoy the scent when you are sitting out there.
Hart, very pretty waterlilies, froggie seems to enjoy them too.
Hart love the waterlilies mine aren't blooming yet. I did fertilize all of them yesterday when I was re-potting plants for the bathtub.
Wisdomskr, Look at the knockouts they are said to be the most disease resistant and easy care roses. I have a friend that started growing them a few years ago and is very pleased. I will say that my & Harts America is both beautiful and pretty disease resistant. I would highly recommend it if you need a climber.
Here are a few pics from my garden.
Keylime Heuchera, Love the little pink flowers with the bright green leaves.
Love the color of this Astilbe, especially like the look of the hosta next to it.
Holly, Very nice Heuch and Astilbe!
Here is my Lady In Red Hydrangea just starting to blossum
Some Dianthus and Salvia
A different Dianthus and Salvia. The Salvias are East Friesland.
Galliardia Bonfire and more Dianthus.
Yet more Dianthus and Galliardia. I grew these Galliardia from seed last year.
Wisdomskr, Galliardia & Coreopsis grown from seed will flower in their first year.
Aruncus, Goatsbeard brightening up the deep shade. I love this plant.
Astilbe Fanal.
These were supposed to be white Astilbe. I now have 8 of them in this color. I have a very hard time getting Astilbe to live here, so even though they are not my choice of color, I will keep them. The creatures constantly dig up Astilbe as soon as I plant them and throw them around the bed. I don't always find them before they dry out.
Rose Campion, Lychnis
Spirea Gold Mound
Chris, that's the same froggy that was grinning at you in the photo the other day.
The astilbes are so pretty and Holly, that one is a pretty color. My aruncus is a monster patch now and is blooming but it's kind of ackward to get to since Marshall put his rabbit hutches up there. What a grand plant - astilbe on steroids.
Stormy, I lost all of my gaillardias this winter. Maybe they're just not long lived? Or the black walnuts got them, because they're up in that section of the yard, or the below zero cold snap. Such pretty flowers and so tough.
I definitely vote for climbing rose America, Wisdom. It's beautiful and vigorous.
This message was edited Jun 10, 2009 11:18 AM
Hart, I don't know. I lose a couple of Galliardia every year. But I always replace them because they bloom the entire summer. This variety is much hardier than Fanfare. I've given up on that one. Never planted any near the BW. They really like it dry.
Your water lilies are beautiful. That purple bell flower is really nice. Do you know it's latin name?
Since we are talking Roses here is the America, this color is really not true, it is much more of a coral color. Got to get the right light to get the color correct on my camera. But I thought you would like to see how well they grow and in the background you can see my Clematis "The President". There are a lot more blooms on that plant to come and the other three Clematis growing on those trellises are getting ready. Also there is a Clematis growing in with America and it has it's first bud, can't wait to see which one it is as I really don't know. LOL
Oh, Fanfair, I got one of those a few years ago. They should have called it "Gaillardia Garden Mulch."
I had some of the Bonfire, Burgundy and a mismarked, really pretty solid yellow one but I don't think any of them have come back this year. I forgot, I had Dazzler too.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/989.html Here's the clustered bellflower.
Wait until you see the lotus blooming, Stormy. The dark purple Japanese iris I got at Webers' sale last year was blooming too but was fading when I tried to get a photo yesterday. I'll try again today. I definitely want to get another Japanese iris for the pond.
Holly, your America is stunning. I can't wait until mine gets that big.
This message was edited Jun 10, 2009 12:06 PM
Holly , we need to see that Clematis a little closer, please. Not just the flower but the whole plant and trellis. Gee, I don't ask for much, do I ?
Ladyg, Give me a couple of days. The last set of flowers are fading and a new set will open soon. Then it will put on a really good show.
Stormyla, Here is my Aruncus it's a Dwarf Goats Beard, shouldn't get much taller. I have a Dwarf Astilbe in here too.
That's a really cute one, Holly!
That is cute. Little baby goatsbeard.
Ok Holly. I have an Arctic Queen that is just loaded with buds waiting to burst, this must be it's leap year, last year I only had a few blooms.
This season seems to be a good one for blooms even with the crazy weather.
Hart: I love your clustered bellflower. You gave me some 2 years ago, but I think it never "took". And then a week ago I pulled out something that looked like a weed, and when I pulled it out I found a marker for the bellflowers you gave me. So maybe it made it until last week, and then I killed it (sigh).
Did you get yours originally from Bluestone?
I see it listed for part shade -- but the shade I have to deal with under the oak tree is fairly deep. But I'll try it! I may put a few plants in there and let them duke it out. Maybe I'll stick in some annuals to tide it over until the perennials fill in.
Does anyone remember when Bluestone's big 1/2 price sale is? I know there is one in the spring, and that they have some plants on sale all the time, but I thought there was also a summer sale. Am I misremembering?
This message was edited Jun 10, 2009 3:53 PM
Happy, You missed the mail-order sale. Tomarrow starts their sale for folks that can drive there. Things are pretty well picked over by now and after tomarrow it looks pretty bleak there.
Happy, for goodness sakes don't buy it. I have plenty and maybe we'll have a fall swap that I can get to. No, I didn't get mine from Bluestone. I got mine from a fellow gardener across the mountain in West Virginia. I'd been looking for it for years and she was nice enough to pull me some to get it started in my garden.
It does well in pretty full shade. I grew it right behind the house at my old house and it only got a little bit of early morning sun there. Same here, sun in the morning but mostly shade. Forget what you read about being able to grow them in full sun. They don't live.
If there's even a piece of root still alive on the one you pulled, put it back in the ground. It might surprise you. Keep it watered but not soggy until it pops back up.
I started here with about six plants, just pulled out the ground with no dirt. It took years for them to spread to what I have now but they will eventually spread. I pull the extras every spring. The lady I got these from actually kept hers pulled into clumps of about 18 inches across so it looked like very full single plants growing in the bed.
