Picture of dahlias
Yard to Vase - Summer 2009 series
candy lilies
Opps, I see a weed in there...LOL Don't look
This message was edited Aug 5, 2009 10:17 PM
Weed? What weed? LoL. I really like the coloring of your dahlia against that maroonish vase. Nice composition, Happgarden. I am still waiting for my new dahlias to bloom. Tod over at the dahlia forum was kind enough to give out a box of dahlias for postage and I was lucky enough to receive a box. Planted them in May, and one is very close to blooming.
Terri - Nice job with the watering can and the "water" coming out of the spout. And, you are still making the most of your croscomia. I have let mines go to seed, and they say the seed pods make good arrangements, but I have never figured out how to incorporate it in.
Oh I wish I still had crocosmia, had it one year and it came back one time and that was it. I think it got choked out by the spiderwort.
Can't wait to see your dahlias there Dianne I have several in bloom and just love em.
Nice arrangement there happgarden, I really like the way it spreads in the back and the mix of color. I really like the addition of the blue as you don't often see that at least in any of mine, just don't seem to have much blue.
I am a little disappointed the candy iris (yellow flower) closed and I thought it would open this morning, but it didn't.
The colors are a little off in the pic, the Russian sage is purple, I really need a new camera, but hate to spend the money since this one works in the daytime just fine, just with flash it goes a little crazy.
These are the first blooms of my dahlias, they do seem to like it hot, they are planted against the west side of my house and once the temps get awful, they get happy. I read all this stuff about how to keep them, honest don't every throw any of them away no matter how dried up and dead they look. I threw one on the compost one year that was dried completely up, just to find it blooming at the end of summer. All I do is throw them in a netted bag and put them on the concrete floor in my garden room for the winter. I have collected several different types, but this is the first year of the cactus and I really like it.
Wish I had asked a long time ago, cause I put mine in grocery bags and when I get them out in the spring the ones that appear completely dried up and dead I toss in the firepit. Dang who knows how many I have lost over the years??? I will not do that again.
I know haighr I did the same thing! I was delighted and sick all at the same time. Never dreamed the bulb I threw out had an ounce of life left in it. Now I start them all in pots and I wait to see. Sometimes I will have one that doesn't come back but I would say the 99.999% of the time they come back.
The one thing I haven't been able to do even tho I found where they posted pics of it, is to divide them. I am never sure where to cut so I don't.
Pretty arrangement Joyce! I don't have any Dahlias, but enjoy seeing everyone else's! Lovely bird bath, that would make a wonderful container.. lol.
Thanks Dianne, maybe the pods will come in handy for Autumn arrangements? they could also be sprayed gold, Candee has a thread 'Going for Gold'
Here is a link of splitting photos happgarden, I used to be afraid to separate them, but no more, it is pretty easy, just make sure each one has a little bit of stem attached.
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/dahlia/msg041343391520.html
http://www.gardenaction.co.uk/garden_diary/garden_mini_project_september_1b_dahlia_overwinter.asp
I got 9 new dahlias this year, and hopefully will be able to divide in two years. The dahlia forum on DG has an excellent step-by-step how to divide also. Terri - I have no gold spray paint, but will consider that. Then I can say I have the golden touch LoL
Now -on to one of my favorite summer flowers - Amaryllis belladonna (Naked Ladies). This patch is in full sun and blooms the earliest - started about 2 weeks ago.
Some people don't like the bare stems, so tend to plant them amongst other plants. This patch is surrounded by Japanese anemones and azaleas. I don't mind the plants either way. They are carefree plants that don't require any summer water, and multiplies like crazy, and provides green color during the winter months.
And they make wonderful cut flowers - with a nice subtle, delicate fragrance. They bring back childhood memories as they were grown in many homes as well as surviving in vacant lots. I had a shorter vase in mind when I cut the stems this morning, but ended up putting them into a large pyrex container that was one of my latest finds at work. The stems grows as tall as three feet, so I should have cut some a little longer.
Interesting the naked ladies don't have any leaves, so is that why they are called naked? LoL
Beautiful in the vase Dianne!
Thanks, Terri. The bulb leafs out in late fall, stays green over the winter, and then dies back in spring. The flowers shoot up in mid-summer. I got a bunch of bulbs from my neighbor across the street because she was selling her house in the spring years ago, and did not like all those dying leaves on the bulbs. So, she dug them all up, and planted more presentable flowering annuals. Dropped two big sacks of bulbs on my front door step. I plant some in sun, some in part sun/part shade, and some in all shade. This extends the bloom period for about a month. Here is a patch with morning sun/afternoon shade, and partially beneath the cherry tree.
I even planted some underneath the persimmon tree when the tree was younger - not realizing that they will be totally shaded out when the tree is full grown. But, even in this environment, you can see about 8-10 shoots coming out of the ground. The wooden fence pieces are needed to prop up the persimmon branches to keep them from breaking once the fruit starts to get bigger.
It's nice you have them popping up in different places to prolong the flowering , good idea!
I have Crocosmia in the garden at home, which is just starting to flower now! and yet, It's been floweiring at the lottie for weeks.
Noid Iris
witch hazel
And then together in a vase...
ooh - Teresa - I would be so thrilled if my witch hazel got to be anywhere near the size of yours. Mines is over 8 years old, and still a scrawny little thing. I bought it to provide flower for winter arrangement, but it is too small for me to even think about cutting anything off of it, except to shape it a little. How old is yours?
Nice pairing of the two. Any idea the variety of the iris? I am excited to see what is growing in your part of the world since it is winter for you now, I am always on the lookout for new, winter blooming plants. Is that handsome young man your son?
Beautiful naked ladies, I never thought about cutting them for a vase.
I have them and they do multiple nicely, I am surprised they are so expensive to buy.
Thank you all for the info on the dahlias. I have looked at the ones on DG, but I am just afraid I guess. The dahlias are just beginning to start blooming. I am excited to get to see some of them for the first time.
Love the iris and the witch hazel. The witch hazel is so unique and beautiful.
Beautiful everyone.
I don't know how old the witch hazel is, it was here when I bought the house nearly 10 years ago.
I don't recall it flowering for the first few years & then all of a sudden it was - wow!
The boy in the pic is one of my nephews.
I was told I had a japanese iris but I am not sure if that is an accurate name for it.
It was also here when I bought the place & I rescued it from out the back when we landscaped, everything else was bull dozed, including a lovely pure white bearded iris that seemed to thrive on neglect.
It was dormant & I couldn't find it to dig out before the garden was leveled.
Beautiful arrangement dalfyre! Great textures and colour combinations.
I rescued my roses from the wind and rain last week!
and here they are in a vase!
and here it is with an added palm leaf (not from my garden) is that allowed here Dianne?? oops, I don't think so! lol.
Well, once in a blue moon we'll make that exception. and I think the moon did look bluish LoL. or, if you show us how you did it, then that would be OK too. Really nifty effect, Terri.
I see those naked ladies in many yards around this area and never cared for the bare stems, but you you have given them new life with incorporating them in the foliage of others, now I am falling for them! Gotta get some bulbs now especially when I see yours cut!
And I am in awe of your witch hazel, what a great plant of interest, you gotta make some more arrangements with that stuff.
Nice one there terri, I made a colorful arrangement yesterday and used some of the iris leaves and stuck them throughout the arrangement. I'll bring it in as it is especially for you since I actually did one that shows the "back side"
Meantime, here is one of my dahlias in a pot that has gone crazy. I posted a new thread of "giants in the garden" if anyone is interested. We shall see the color in a few days.
I am thinking the witch hazel might look good in an underwater arrangement...
but I don't want to cut the tree back too much :)
And if I don't hurry up it will be finished blooming till next winter.
But never mind there are more camellias just coming out & the roses are budding...
hope we don't get a hard frost to knock them back!
Oh I hope they don't get ruined in a final frost either!!!
Perhaps just one witch hazel with a camellia in a bowl?
hmm that sounds interesting - I was thinking of floating a few camellias... I have a red one just out & my pretty white with pink edges.
There is a nice pink too but only the flowers at the top are open at the moment.
And the top is about 10ft high.
I did have a pretty pink blossom in my back garden this morning...
Ohhhhhhh, why does he look so forlorn? Didn't want a pic taken???
Maybe he didn't like being called "Pink Blossom" LOL....what a sweetie.
Dalfyre - it is hard to think of needing a dog sweater for the critters here in CA - but I guess it is still cold where you are.
Instead of bringing a new arrangement to work this week, I added a few longer stemmed naked ladies, and added a few cycad leaves. The flowers from last week were still good - just had to go through the pinch off the spent blooms. Each stalk has about 10 buds, so as some dies, others open. They make great cut flowers Candee - you should give it a try.
The cycad that I have is getting huge - these leaves are about 4 ft tall.
So retty...love those leaves.
my little blossom is a girl...
I don't think my Mum would have knitted a hot pink jumper for my male dal.
Although he wouldn't care about what the colour was.
Chita needs the extra warmth, she is 15 years old next month.
It has been really cold & wet here the last few days.
Our maximum today was 9C!
I think I jinxed things by claiming it was spring
My camellias are flowering nicely, I just haven't been out to pick any yet.
And my first daffodils have opened too.
Beautiful Dianne!
A vase of Nicotiana...
The flowers are growing below your sunflower Dianne!
I added some Zinnias..
The Zinnias are still getting buds.
