It's really fall!

SW - I have to laugh when you say that you are not that crazy about cut flowers. One of the criteria that I use in deciding which plants go into my garden is that they do double duty as a cut flowers after I enjoy them in the garden. I ordered a bunch of new perennials this year from Annie's annuals (contrary to the name, they sell a LOT of perennials) mostly based on the fact that they are good cut flowers and blooms into the fall or until frost. Here is some roses that I cut last week - haven't figure out what kind they are yet, but I have been calling them Cecil brunner for years until I found out that what I have is not a Cecil Brunner. I love it because it starts blooming in May and up into November.

I don't grow tulips here either - I like bulbs that I can put into the ground once, and then have them come back every year.

This message was edited Oct 16, 2009 12:05 AM

Beautiful Flower display, soils+up! Sweet sprays of roses!
I like to leave the flower on the plant til it drops or the birds eat the seed. I'm a lazy gardner. LOL!
I do sometimes use some of my flowers for cut flower arrangements, but I grab whatever is in bloom and easy to reach. I've been known to incorporate some unusual greens in floral arrangements.
These babies are the ones from the market that didn't sell, and some of them aren't looking so great. So I try to find them new homes, after removing any spent blooms. These ones are doomed to a quick demise so we dumped the ones I couldn't find homes for into the crock, after making fresh cuts. Gave a huge bunch of pink carnations to my Mom, gave some to my Chiropractor, for his Mum's 90th b.day yesterday, sent some home with my friend, oh and I gave some to an acquaintance who no longer has roses in his office. He likes to bring them from home. His roses aren't blooming right now.
I packed away my vases a while back, and am more likely to appreciate a single flower than a whole bunch. Especially my orchids, and I don't pick them!
I much prefer my living ones to the cut ones. No fuss, no muss inside the house. I do have a new kitten, and he acts like the energizer bunny sometimes (or maybe the Tazmanian Devil!). Safer for the flowers. Then my friend's dog, Lilly actually likes to stop and smell the flowers.
I like my photos, because the flowers never fade. : - )
Laughing is good, and I'm okay with it. My criteria is easy maintenance, and lately, flowering shrubs and flowers that also are food sources for birds and b.flys.
Those are the tulips I'm looking for! Soils you described them perfectly! : - )
I am also interested in finding another source of Pink Daffies. I did find one.
Oh, and ima, I thought you'd like to see how the babies you sent me are doing. I haven't lost a single one, but they've been breeding! Not necessarily blooming but definitely breeding.
Okay, time for bed.
WIB,
SW

About the only things I ever bring in from the garden are alstroemerias. I just love them both places, but they last inside better than outside, where they fall over & get eaten by bugs. Plus the plants are happier if their bloom stalks are pulled out, so they WANT to be picked! I often have a bouquet in my studio where I can enjoy them while I'm pottering.
I learned by accident last year that the gorgeous leaves from Alpinia Zerumbet "variegata" last for weeks in a vase. Just added one more plus to a fave of mine.
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/55244/

Oh, I need to get me one of those!

I have a LOT of Mexican Bush Sage..but, really, I can never have too much...

Sue, it's great in a pot. I've had mine for several years in one about 7-gal, and it's very happy----never bloomed, but with foliage like that who cares?

Gypsy, yours is a beaut----I like the plants like yours with more purple than white. Mine is the "Limelight" cultivar, and it's going berserk. I've had to cut it back twice and I need to do it again. Hopefully that means it'll be coming back every year.....

My S. Limelight got to be a monster and it can be affected by hard frosts, it's not as tough as the Mexican one. I take cuttings that I keep in a sheltered area so I can replant it every spring.

Ima - I use those alpinia leaves in arrangements too. But, the good thing is, if there is nothing else in bloom, they also look good by itself. I started bringing in cut flowers on a regular basis when I took them to work. I leave the blooms on the plants as long as they look good, and then before they start to taper off, I cut them. This way, I can enjoy my yard at work, and since it is in a public place, I am reminded to get rid of the dead flowers. At home, on the other hand, the dead flowers can stay in a vase for weeks before I get around to dumping them out.

Gypsy - I wish my mexican bush sage looked like yours. I have it in a too shady of a spot so it is scraggly with spotty blooms.

Very nice arrangement!

The leucantha does like full sun and that particluar plant has been in that spot for quite a lot of years, so it likes it there. This is the first year that I've been able to keep Limelight alive...now that it's in partial shade, but it does sprawl and needs cutting back frequently early in the season. None of my mexicanas got cut back enough this year and they're all leggy...good intentions but can't seem to get to it all...lol..
You know, I never used to care for the purple w/ white leucantha, but I really like them now when they're planted together, I need to do that.

This one is leucantha 'Emerald'..it just followed me home a few weeks ago and I find that I really do like the 'lacy, frilly' look of the purple and white..this one is also a lighter purple.

Never heard of Salvia leucantha "Emerald', couldn't find anything online either. A new variety perhaps?

Picked it up at the Fullerton Arboretum sale a few weeks ago...full sun, to 4' tall. I think I found some info online, will have to check again. Also got variegated leucantha, though it's not as variegated as I'd expected. Do like it though, thin rimming of white around the leaf edges.

soilsandup, I really like that green arrangement. Somehow relaxing and refreshing too! : - )
I like the part where you said, "This one is leucantha 'Emerald'..it just followed me home a few weeks ago ",
good one wcgypsy, good one! ; - )
WIB,
SW

Yes, if she drove past my house, I would see a trail of pots following her! LOL

LOL~
Too funny. I have a visual of a string of potted plants trailing behind a car, just like the cans and shoes tied to the vehicle that the bride & groom leave the wedding in. Only with potted plants and soils&up, stopping after a block to help them into her car instead of ditching them like the bride & groom does. (snicker, like I didn't do it too!)
Good one.
WIB!
SW

Kaper C, thanks for the info on the Rogers Red. Mine is only a couple of years old. Guess I'll just have to be patient.

WC--Beautiful Mexican bush sage--a plant which I can't seem to grow to save my life!This one is from May of 2008 and I haven't been able to grow it since. I yanked the firebird penstemon and white sage (stupidly), too. What was I thinking?

Surf....That's an absolutely beautiful combination. It's odd about the MBS, but I do know how that is..I have certain plants that I cannot grow..period...and they just grow wild for others. I suppose that's just to teach us that we can't have everything, huh?

THat is a beautiful combo Surf. Don't you just hate it when something that beautiful won't grow? Can you grow it as an annual?

But you mustn't give up if it's something you really love. For years I couldn't grow alstroemerias, and now I have a BUNCH of them----don't know what's different, but one year they just stopped dying!

We've been getting rain today since about 11:00----but a nice gentle one. Glad I cleaned up the leaves and other mess from last week's storm yesterday!!

We're having gentle rain too and when the sun came out there were sparks where the rain hit the swimming pool. Had to take some time just to watch.

go ahead, gloat, you northerners! hmmmph :-)

It's sunny here, though I caught a whiff of ozone earlier - very weird. The most we can expect is some drizzle with the fog tomorrow, then it's supposed to warm up again.

Another bonus of this morning intermittent showers this morning, spotted as I was looking out my kitchen window. (yes, that is a hideous pink house across the street, currently up for sale, I do hope for a decent color change!)

I'm ignoring the house. The partial rainbow is beautiful! : - )
WIB!
SW

Such a heavy storm cell passed through here this afternoon, lots of flooding, they had to close an underground train station in SF for a while because of it, some flooding in under passes of freeways, street gutters. This was around the corner from my house, shot through my windshield. Storm drain completely flooded and water up over the sidewalk. Just down the street I drove through such a large puddle (I sped up for fun!) that the water sprayed up and over my Jeep! That's what lifted Jeeps are for LOL!

Stopped at a local rose garden between showers, rain drops on petals make for an interesting look.

Don't believe a word of it...Sue just left her sprinklers running !

Beautiful, Sue.

Akkk, oh pity my water bill JD!
Thanks KC!

Oh, for cryin' out loud, I've been looking for these clippers for months. Look where I found them! I even went out and bought a new pair.

Now that's a creative place to hide your clippers! So sorry that you've already bought a new pair. I hate that when that happens.

Yeah, I bought a new pair in case I misplace my old pair and now can't find the new ones....lol

ROFL Surf! That's hilarious and exactly like something that would happen to me.

SurfCity you are not alone. I've done the very same thing with my clippers, although I am sure I thought it was convenient at the time, since I was up on a ladder. Had to laugh. Maybe we should start a club for all of us who misplace our tools.
Your clippers should still work, clean off the rust, sharpen and hit with some w2 oil, and they should be fine.
Calif_Sue, loved the reflection of the street lights in the puddle on the street in your rain photo. Wish we had some rain. : - (
wcgypsy, I have that problem too. I am blaming it on the little people. They will eventually turn up. They always do.
I do so enjoy the chat.
Walk In Beauty!
SW

I bought 2 pair of good Felcos, and one of them went missing about 2 years ago. I suspect I put them down and they ended up going into the big green recycling bin. I'm still looking for them, though......and I'm QUITE VIGILANT about the remaining pair! DH got into serious trouble for borrowing them, and now I hide them in my studio where he can't possibly find them.

LOL...the DH hides his tools from me.....

There's a new invention out. It's called a scabbard. It's a leather "holster" you wear on your waist. You feed your belt through it , then put your belt on and put your clippers in it. Problem solved.

Surf: You must be really tall if you can reach the rain gutter. I can't even do that and I'm 6' 3" .

You'd think the bright red or orange handles would help one from loosing tools, doesn't seem to, I waste more time wandering around looking for them, retracing my steps.

JD, that sounds good, in theory, trouble is, I would forget to actually use it.

Think of it as a tiny purse...LOL !

Cheeky!