Garden Pics: See the loves of our labors...#9

TAGRO home page: http://www.cityoftacoma.org/Page.aspx?nid=306

Wow, everyone, what big projects-and Sally, gorgeous deck and staining. And, I too want to rip out my deck and replace it with a larger patio, but that's not happening this year. It will be a big, hard project if we do it ourselves, and expensive if we don't.

Funny, my DH is out of town right now, too, but it's too hot outside to do much real work today.

Lynn, nice project and ideas. The fences are very nice-they'll look great with whatever vines you end up with. And, the Ipomoea will take off soon now that it's warmer.

RJ, if you've got lots of wet spots, I've just divided my blue LA iris and have a couple of extra pieces. Would you like them?

Here's a daylily for RJ-an oldie, Ruby Spider

Spent all day working in the back yard. So exhausted. A very dear friend passed away this morning, and I had to keep myself busy with hard work or I would have had a total breakdown.

This plant appeared in my mint trough- I have no idea what it is- can anyone tell me?

Closer look:

OK.. I am WAY behind.. redchic..that picture you took of the water drops off the..whatever it is...is AWESOME!!

Ginger

the1pony..as pretty as the blooms are I am sorry to report you plant is a weed. I had them all over my yard lst year and the UPS lady told me. Out they went. Still get a few here and there! Sorry about your friends passing. In my prayers tonight!


Gaiilardia - Goblin

Rudbeckia by the front fence

Echinachia

The center of this Lily unknownus is quite interesting.

The lilies are in their third season and are just huge & very tall this year. The smell wonderful too!

The Koi were playing follow the leader tonight

while the frogs were playing hide and go seek.. eight..nine ten.. ready or not here I come!

(the little one is still learning the game while the big one counts! LOL)

There has been love in the air between Penny and Melvin. Caught them sharing a moment together today.

Thank you, Bea.

I figured it must be a weed, but it's kinda pretty... I'll yank it before it goes to seed.

Trisha, YEAH! FISH!!! You must be thrilled! Step one in the death of the red rock desert!

Lynn, you know my response to the Tagro question, but I will post it for everyone else...it is AWESOME!!!! I have never used the potting soil mix, but have been using Tagro as a top-dressing for gardens for several years and I would never be without it. Not that fond of the initial smell, but it goes away right away and the plants just LOVE it. And it has no foul seed....and is not as HOT as mushroom compost, etc. I have planted seedlings directly in a garden topdressed with Tagro...which means that they were pretty much planted in straight Tagro...and they thrived! Katye, if you had a big truck I would say that it would almost be worth the drive this far down as the cost is so much more reasonable than commercial composts, and I have found the results much more satisfactory. I would imagine however, that there has to be a similar processing plant up north...It would only make sense with the concern about "green" these days.


Susy, I would love some of your LA iris! I have a natural creek in my front yard, and my big pond between Mom's place and mine that are still being planted, and they would go wonderfully in either place. Both of these areas are being planted mostly with divisions of my own, and it would be wonderful to add something new! D-mail with your addy and I would be more than happy to send postage! THANKS! BTW...love your pic of Ruby Spider! I have over 400 DL varieties, and I still find that some of the oldies are my very favorites...you just can't beat a flashy clump of color with a single pretty face..at least not in my book!

Pony---Yup, WEED! Get it quick...those are horrible to get rid of if they go to seed! Hope your day was bearable, and hope that you wore yourself out to the point that you will be able to rest well tonight!

Bea, Beautiful blooms, but my favorite pic is the froggy courtship! What a cute couple! It would be wonderful if Penny and Melvin made some new additions to your froggy family!

Rosa Pinata Cl suffered dramatically from the rough winter, but the plus side is that this bloom is low enough that I could actually get a decent picture...

Way too tired to post much more, but wanted to share this cutie with you guys before I crashed. I was walking the garden taking pictures this morning, and was deadheading daylilies as I walked along. All the sudden I felt something on my finger---thought I had picked up a slug off of one of the DL stalks....glad I looked before I rubbed it off on my pants as was my instinct...I would have hurt him!

He was just beautiful...nothing man made could compete with the iridescence (sp?) of his beautiful wings. He just clung to my finger and let me take his picture.

I just admired him for the longest time, but finally put him on a heather branch so I could get on with my day.

Thanks, Julie. I did wear myself out pretty good. If the idiots with the fireworks will let me, I should sleep well tonight. I got a lot more done than I thought I'd be able to, so the pond project should be able to get underway quite soon.

What a beautiful little moth... I love his feathery antennae!

He's got stripey legs, too!

Clem. Roguchi:

Heliopsis Lorraine Sunshine

Begonia Sunburst

Eryngium Amethystinum

Beautiful pictures everyone. Julie, beautiful little moth! Pony...your weed made me cringe, I had those something awful for a while. They are kind of pretty, but boy do they spread.

Got the big blocks layed out and leveled today. I did my usual, ran to get some sand (shovel your own, used the litter buckets) cleaned up stuff and kept the water going for critters, plants and humans. 95 deg. today. I fade pretty quickly when it gets that hot.

O.K. where's rc? It's fire season again, so she might be out with patrols, but not usually this long.

Oh, that's weirdly beautiful!

Yikes, Sally- 95? It was 89 here, and I thought I was going to burst into flames.

I went ahead and yanked the weed. I've got enough problems with the back yard, I don't need to tempt fate. Yikes.

Great pictures everyone.
Julie, do you work the Tagro in,or just put it around the plants?
I bought the Tagro soil ($30/yd) and topped the load with the free Tagro mix (not soil) from the shovel it yourself pile. I piled it on top of the newspapers and cardboard. That should make a good flower bed, probably next year.

Bea, great pictures as always. Glad you posted the gaillardia goblin. I started some kind of op gaillardia from seed last year and my tags got messed up (was expecting berlandiera lyrata, actually) and was surprised to find out I had a gaillardia this year instead.

RJ, I'm headed out of town for the 4th-I"m just dropping in for a quick morning DG fix-I'll send you a dmail with info tomorrow or so?

1pony, sorry to hear of your loss, I'll be thinking good thoughts your way today. My condolences also on the weed, lol... :)

Sally, how could you do so much in the heat? Hope you're drinking lots of water!

Katye, love the Clem roguchi-how big does it get? I like that Heliopsis, too!

Happy Fourth everyone!

Katye, Love both of the Eryngium! I lost the only one I ever had, but they are just the coolest plants!

Lynn, I have never used the soil...only the mix. We have it delivered by the dumptruck full, so it isn't quite as economical that way, but we go through a lot of it, so it means we only have to shovel the S#$T one direction. :)
We have used it in the vegie garden, and there we till it in, but in my flower gardens, I have just top dressed (put around the plants).

Don't envy you guys down in Oregon who were hotter than we were yesterday. I am a WIMP when it comes to working in the HOT...had to come in and take a cold shower at least four times yesterday so I could keep going. Of course it doesn't help that the bed that I had it in my mind to finish was in the sun alllllll day!

I agree with Susy....hope everyone has a wonderful 4th!

I am loving the heat, although I did wait until 8:30 pm to start mowing the lawn. I didn't have time to think about how hot it was - watering was a must yesterday. I have so many newly planteds that were looking a bit sad - watering for most of the afternoon paid off - everything looks better this morning.
Sue - Roguchi gets at least 6', but is well-mannered. The Heliopsis is one of my favourites - the pictures don't do the foliage justice. It makes me smile when it blooms - very sunshiny!

Re: Eryngium amethystinum. Wrong picture - the one shown is E. planum 'Sapphire Blue'.
Late night picture grabbing - lol.

a knee-high view: part of the PNW garden

Lily Suncrest with Hypericum Albury purple

Clematis Rhapsody - yes, it's that blue!

Heleniums

Clem Mikelite

Clem Galore (Vulcan) on Veronicastrum

Clematis that was mis-tagged. But I like it!

Clem Mamori

Lily - I think it's Landini, but tags seem to wander off on their own.