There's one house near here where they have it growing right up next to the road, I mean about a foot from the pavement. I'm sure there must be some head turning when people drive by before it blooms. LOL
August blooms
Without a doubt.
Better watch for "missing" leaves as well...rotflol
Hart I grew a Texas Star from seed a few years ago.. it did not return the next year.. I was so bummed
here is my tiny passi... germinated on Jan 22
here are some shots I took yesterday morning
http://picasaweb.google.com/AllisonNJ71/8809?authkey=Gv1sRgCMXwy9Gzm7jmnwE&feat=directlink
Look at that little baby passi how cute. No hopes of flowering this year huh???? Are you going to dig it up and bring it in for the winter?
guess not... might just take a cutting and see if it comes back or not... should be well rooted by now
Be sure to mark the passis growing spot well, seems like mine came up very late in the spring.
So many pretty flowers...so little garden
thanks for the reminder Sally.. I should go put out a real marker
hart, that double Lotus is amazing!
Here's the lotus again, now bloomed fully out.
Dahlia Spartacus again, also now bloomed out so you can see the form.
The bugs really chewed the bud on this dahlia, AC P, but the colors are stunning.
The no name white dinnerplate dahlia again. This flower looks like it's going to reach 12 inches or close to it.
Another one that's going to be big - dahlia Taiheiyo
Another butterfly bush seedling. It appears White Profusion, with it's huge flowers, and the small flowered blue one I have crossed to make one that is blue with huge flowers.
Rudbeckia Henry Eilers just starting to bloom. Isn't it cool? The petals stay like this.
Onewish, my first Texas Red Star died too. I think they need more moisture than most of the hardy hibiscus. The one in the pond is doing very well. I think they might be a little more tender than some of the others. I've read you should mulch them in winter.
Rose Love and Peace, a new hybrid bred from Peace.
This message was edited Aug 11, 2009 2:48 PM
What gorgeous pics....hows the scent on that rose, Diane?
OK! I am so envious-----hart, you have the most gorgeous dahlias and Lilies and everything else.....
Everything I have is, pretty much, same old-same old every year with a very few exceptions....
I am a real miser--and almost never order anything from catalogs. The prices seem so high! But--I know the quality is too.
Also--I have NO WHERE to plant anything new!!!! My biggest frustration! The back yard is a lost cause because of the 2 Maples.....I am nicely perennializing my YUK bed--By now many really nice flowers seem to be thriving there....These must be tough as nails--because no annuals ever do well there--with the exception of Straw Flowers and Lantanas. Everything else dies.....
By now I have (the ones doing good) Shastas, Lilies (so-so), Jill's Not Chocolate daisy, Your Clustered Bellflowers, Some Salvia (from seed), Stella D'Oros, Autumn Joy Sedum, AND--to my surprise--the Butterfly Weed I grew from seed this Spring is starting to bloom.
I also bought a pot of Echinacias and planted them there and might transplant some Rudbeckia Goldstrum there next Spring from my front bed. That bunch sure took off. it is only it's 3rd year.
I guess that shows me how well things CAN grow w/o any tree roots competition.
There are some other things--just much smaller....Some ferns, Two Lenten Roses on either side of my Bird bath, Two struggling Butterfly Bushes on either end, Some Rose Campions, My "slowly-becoming-a-bush" of a Rosemary, my Chrisanthemum Pacificum and assorted bulbs in the Spring....Whew! Sounds like a lot!!!! Also--a forever existing/struggling Tropicana Rose (from Eons ago) and 2 Peonies.
Here is the better half of the "YUK" bed. I talk enough about it! You might as well see what it looks like. This is from June. The Bird Bath is on the extreme left. The Shastas and Jill's NCD is on the extreme right--where the bed takes a turn.
My property ends with the split rail fence. There is a young, single man living in the house you see. he is seldom home.
Here is the other half of the "YUK" bed. It is a lot closer to the HUGE Maple I have. You can see part of it's trunk on the right. Now--that is CLOSE! About 4' at he closest point.
The tomato in the big pot is an Early Girl. Further to the right (just barely visible) is a raised bed where I have my Northern Sea Oats--which seeded ALL over everything in the vicinity. I am pulling the better ones up and potting them for a plant exchange. The rest are, to me, like weeds! EVERYWHERE in this bed!
This fall--I am cutting off all the "Oat heads". I do not wish to have to deal with it!
Gita
love all the dahlias Hart
Hart- The lotus is lovely, how big is the Spartacus, love the color and form, and I can't believe the dinner-plate is almost 12 inches, do you have to stake them?
Gita- I love looking at your beds, (why YUK?) and reading what you've done.
I need to make a bed for these plants and a few more that i have picked up here and there.
Hart your dahlias are great. How many do you grow?
Chantell, Love and Peace doesn't have a real strong scent. It makes up for it with the number of blooms and color, though.
Gita, I don't know why you call that your yuk bed either. It looks very nice to me. Many of the dahlias came from a guy named Tod who sends boxes of dahlia tubers for postage every year. Look for his post about it in the dahlia forum in the spring. I've had good luck with cheap clearance priced ones from Walmart too. The big white one and the smaller red and white ones came from there. You might want to try a couple next year.
The Spartacus blooms right now are probably about 8 inches across. They're not quite as big as the huge dinnerplate dahlias. Yes, I have them staked. The tallest plant is probably about 7 feet tall now, most are around 4-5 feet and a couple are much shorter. You put in the stakes when you plant the tubers so you won't damage the roots doing it later.
I've been growing dahlias for years but never had a large garden of just dahlias until this year. I planted around 20 in the new bed, two didn't sprout. A few were planted later after I found a guy clearing out his dahlia tubers for $1-2 on Ebay so they're not ready to bloom yet. Plus I have the three older ones in the kitchen bed. Those have never been dug in winter. They're in a pretty protected spot and make it through the winter every year. I will dig all the others this fall.
They come in all sizes and shapes of blooms and many heights from very short border dahlias to the really tall ones, so you can pretty much find a dahlia for any spot so long as they get plenty of sun.
This seller has lots and lots of nice photos in his photo gallery if you'd like to get an idea of the vast range of colors, sizes, etc.
http://www.dahliasuppliers.com/accent/gallery2/index.htm
This is my new dahlia bed the other day.
I call this Maple-root infested bed mt "YUK" bed because it is impossible to even dig a hole in it--anywhere! I hope you know how the small feeder roots of Maples are everywhere! They suck up every drop of water and nutrients....It can pour rain--and in a couple days--they are bone dry.
Just as an example--that raised bed on the right used to be a regular bed. For years I grew all kinds of things in there--and then I bought these 2 whiskey barrels, put them over this bed, as it was getting too full of tree roots to deal with, and planted a bunch of stuff in them. Believe it or not---by the end of that same Summer, the Maple roots were so matted INSIDE the W.B's that I could not even dig a shovel in there. ALL through the ONE drain hole these barrels have!
Besides that--the Whiskey Barrels were deteriorating--falling apart--rotting....
I tried to remove them--slat by slat--the only way I could. The soil in them was totally a mess of maple roots. The ONLY way I could salvage what was planted in them was to ask my (then) husband to build a bed around them and fill it all in with dirt. He did so--with Landscape ties--about 5 logs high.
Since then--I have not really had any luck planting anything new that survived in this corner bed.
For me to even dig a hole large enough to plant a Perennial in--there will be a pile of the small, matted roots I have had to pull up--much to the damage to my back. It is almost impossible.
Yet--I plug away each year--and celebrate every tough plant that I manage to put in there and that thrives.....YES! This bed will be full of tough perennials one day--and I will not have to do anything more to it.
THAT is why I call it my "YUK" bed! I cannot physically deal with it any more--getting too old---and am trying to find plants that can survive in dry-harsh-cramped conditions. So far-so good!
I think all the plants that I mentioned above are the drought tolerant ones.....Bless them all!
Does this answer all your questions? You may look at a picture of this "YUK" bed and think---"Hmmmm! There's nothing wrong with it"!!! YES, THERE IS! IT IS "YUKKY"!
Gita
Here is another view of this corner bed from June, 2007. My other Maple (visible to the left) is a "Swamp" or "Red Maple". it is much smaller and "daintier". But the roots from this one are still all over the lawn to cause me pain if i step on them.....They are hidden under the grass--until I step on them and go "OUCH!!!!".....
I feel your pain. My nextdoor neighbor at my old house had a white maple (aka the big weed) growing right next to my front yard. It was a pretty small yard and I had a devil of a time growing anything out there because of the roots from that darned tree. Not to mention it was always spitting seeds, leaves or some other kind of litter.
Okay, here's some more dahlia photos. This one is Wyn's Pure Magic.
This message was edited Aug 12, 2009 6:42 PM
Look at the monster stalk on this one.
Mystic Moonlight with lots of buds and blooms.
Jack and the bean stalk.
no kidding that is huge!
Arabian Jasmine....beautiful scent
Bouvardia longiflora - just covered now...ahhhhhh
Gita, I don't care how "yukky" you think that bed looks to you, I think you did an outstanding job making that area look very pleasing to the eye :) I wish the beds I consider yukky looked half as good as yours! LOL
Hart, you're really tempting me with those beautiful Dahlias! I spent some time yesterday looking at the site you posted - over 1100 pictures!!! After you posted a pic of the new dahlia bed I had to go back and look for the one you posted on the Spring Projects thread - WOW! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/fp.php?pid=6636685
Chantell, all these fragrant beauties - do you have to bring ALL of them inside for the winter?
Chantelle--
What kind of digital camera do you use? Your pictures, especially the close-ups have such clarity and depth to them. Is it one of the fancy SRL ones?
Do you use a tri-pod----or a mono-pod?
I have 2 "regular" ones...and none come even close to yours.
Gita
Agree Debbie - I love Gita's yard as well!!!! And ummm, yeah...they'll need to come in. Good news I just "unloaded" my whole stapelia collection and most the remaining aloes to a neighbor who adores them. This means that there's plenty of room on the 5 shelf - shelving unit by my windows...and I'm contemplating purchasing a 2nd (they're nice-n-cheap at Wally World) for those tolerating bright indirect light - to put on the right wall beside the windows. Ok so that's what I'm thinking now...LOL. As for the big un's....well DD #1 doesn't realize it yet but since she has the basement (1/2 windows down there) the Brugs and Plumies and anything else that can safely be allowed to go dormant will be keeping her company. Sure she'll appreciate it.
Gita - mine is an older version of Diane's - Canon's Powershot S3 (not an SLR - just a nicer point and shoot). I made everyone a few years ago promise to give me Walmart cards for Christmas and God bless em' they listened...LOL. The main things, for me, when looking for a camera are: 1) to get the highest OPTICAL zoom I can 2) an image stabilizer, although I'm sure they all have that now (b/c I'm lazy about pulling out a tripod) 3) One that has a great super macro setting 4) lastly one with the fastest speed I can (love taking shots of my 17 y.o. DS when playing baseball). I truly believe you can't go wrong with a Canon - I've had Canons for decades & love them.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program....LOL - sorry for the temporary hijacking of thread....hugs all!!
Edited b/c I'm a moron and put you can go wrong...most certainly meant CAN'T go wrong...ugh
This message was edited Aug 13, 2009 2:13 PM
Wanted to add to what Chantell said, most people buy these little pocket digital cameras with little or no optical zoom. You're much better off to go up a notch and buy one with lots of optical zoom and a decent lens. These are also point and shoot but you have the option of either going auto with all the settings or doing them manually if you want to play with shutter speed, etc.
You can probably pick up Chantell's model for a pretty cheap price, even mine was only around $275 on sale. Wow, I just did a quick check at Amazon and both models are selling for around $600! Ack. The newer model was actually way cheaper. The new one has a 20x optical zoom, Chantell. drool
http://www.amazon.com/Canon-Powershot-SX10IS-Digital-Stabilized/dp/B001G5ZTZO/ref=dp_ob_title_ce
Anyway, shop around. Walmart's camera section usually has a good price on them. They also sell a good tripod for around $15-20.
Another hint, buy the best memory cards you can, professional quality if possible, and download your photos from the camera instead of removing the memory card to put it in a card reader. Taking them in and out eventually scratches the card and that will have a bad effect on your photo quality.
We have Canon 710, and a 610, and both made very good pictures, and come with a cable to upload photos directly. I also have a Panasonic which I found very easy to use without the manual (no manual cuz it was Target clearance) but don't like the color quality. Canon always seems to be right on with color. So I'd vote anything you can afford in a Canon.
Thanks, all!!!
I have and older camera--a Kodak Easy Share DX4530 and the newer one is a i532-Polaroid 5,0 mega pixels; 3X Optical zoom and 4X digital zoom camera. Not really enough of anything! It is much smaller that the Kodak and i use it the most. But--ease-wise, I like to use the Kodak one better.
I did not buy the Polaroid one, but won it as a prize at out HD X-Mas party 3 years ago. They sell for about $80---so they are a real "cheapy" camera.
As far as uploading pictures, I love the little black "thingie" my S.I.L. gave me for X-mas last year. It plugs into my USB Port and I can insert the memory cards into it and upload the pictures without having to go through the Computer. That was getting too complicated--especially with the Kodak easy Share program re-installing itself (we had removed it totally) if I just ONCE uploaded pictures from it.
Maybe I can gift away one, or both of them and then buy a Cannon one.
Gita
Cestrum elegans 'Smithii' finally opened....
Waiting still for 'Orange Peel' Jasmine to open...she's a hybrid derived from Cestrum diurnum and C. nocturnum - really, really can't wait to get a whiff of this one!!
This message was edited Aug 14, 2009 12:13 PM
