It's December - let's celebrate our gardens

Oh thank you ge, this looks like delicious perusing for this afternoon! :) I'll have to get a good cup of coffee or tea and some pumpkin bread to munch while I shop...just can't let DH know I have drinks by the computer! And I wonder why my weight doesn't go down.

Carolyn, I have my eye on some things from Swallowtail seeds too. They have some seeds I want to get going for hummingbirds. I just had my first time keeping some as they migrated through and I'm hoplessly hooked. From my years in the mountains, I probably miss the hummers the most. I can keep calling this iris "Sweetie", as she is beautiful and very healthy and hardy. My friend said she knew it was originally named, but couldn't remember what. I'm afraid I'm often guilty of not remembering either. I'm going to take Pirl's advice this year and use my camara to help my memory...of course I still have to write the name down, but it will certainly be easier.

I have sent 2 orders to Swallow Tail,they are fast with response.
Fragrantpaths is snailmail for sending the print on line order.But its what I want.
I'll give Swallowtail a look.

Nope Swallowtail 's larkspur are too dark.
Is it the time of year that makes finding these seeds so hard?

http://picasaweb.google.com/jgentle4/SHADEEAST2009

http://picasaweb.google.com/jgentle4/Bathroom2009

GE

gorgeous dahlia on the first set of pictures.... what is the flower in picture #17 of the second set of pictures? I like that one alot too.

If you mean the magenta flower #16 its Verbascum
#17is a collage

GE, I love that combination of the wine colored Monarda and the white bell like flowers.

I also love your White Henry.

This message was edited Dec 10, 2009 12:04 AM

GE -

you are right, it is #16 in the second sequence. It is beautiful - I love the color. What kind of verbascum? It is very pretty and I would like to get some.

Beautiful pictures. I am glad you shared them with us.

This is a really neat thread...harkens back before the freeze... Queen Kong ...early August.

Its Verbascum Violet
http://www.bluestoneperennials.com/b/bp/VEVIS.html

Gorgeous color! Thank you ^_^

I am not sure if the plant is steril or not.Second year for it here so no babies yet that I noticed this spring and then I am always planting so might have disturbed whatever there were.

jmorth, that is a beautiful lily. It looks quite tall, but might be just due to angle of the photo...how tall is it? The color is really striking.

Willow

Its still snowing and blowing so i made another album of the best of collages for 2009
http://picasaweb.google.com/jgentle4/BESTOFCOLLAGES2009?authkey=Gv1sRgCJGnxbj-xvTQBw

Willow, this Iris looks kinda like yours. I received it in a trade a couple of years ago, and like you, didn't keep track of the name.

Is it a TBI?

Yep, its a TBI :-)

Its so cold, windy, and snowy here, so this thread is a breath of fresh air! Sharing a little springtime:

Not a good pic, but I was focusing on an extremely late bloom I had on an Iris, way up into late June. It was really fun to see a bearded Iris blooming with all the Poppies and early summer flowers.

That was in my butterfly-hummingbird garden, where anything goes, all colors and things can reseed with reckless abandon.

Your poppies are sweet.

jmorth, Queen Kong has been on my wish list. How old and tall is yours?

Gemini, reckless abandon and butterflies are a great combination!

Ge, Wonderful photos and collages. What are the names of the yellow lily in #9 and the salmon one in #20? They are both very beautiful.

That Ratibidia in #17 is very sweet. I like the color combinations that you put together for the collages.

Sounds like a movie title LOL

Poppies and lychnis. Great combo, now I need lychnis to put out with the poppies Jo Ann enabled me to buy. Pretty little tulip too.

Love that Queen Kong!

Thanks stormy
The yellow lily in #9 is Sunny Crown asiatic
# 20 is First Crown OT.
It is a beautiful lily and hopes feo even better next year.

Oh and GE, I really enjoyed the different copper hued Tulips.

Polly, I thought the same about that combo too.

Polly you can sow lychnis seeds too.
Everyone I have to put in a disclaimer here,NOT all the flowers in the collages are mine.
Some of you may recognise Snowpeaks dwarf iris.

I keep a pic file on everything I buy and create combos from them.
The Tulip pics are from the dealers ,also on file so I can color match with Heucheras and other spring plants.

This message was edited Dec 10, 2009 10:01 AM

Ge, you're right! Maybe we DGers could make the movie. Thanks, I was hoping that was First Crown.

I guarantee Dee won't mind you showing pictures of her irises.

Alright, JoAnn, and what else should I be getting seeds of, you enabler, you.

I am only buying seeds I can early-winter sow or put directly in the ground where they will gro.
I have a nice collection of Nastuerteums for container combos with coleus.
Just placed an order w/Dianes for Zinnia Lilliput and larkspur galalie its tall and bright blue, also Black eyed susan vine.

Ge, Do you have a link to that site?

You can find Diane in Garden Watchdog

I'm looking for some airy things to self sow in the lily beds. That's why I want the forget me nots, plus I'll be putting them along the creek. And I succumbed to poppies, even though they aren't airy.

I had a woman contact me from South Africa and said she would send me some Dutch forget me not seeds. Now how wonderful is that! Daves Garden is wonderful!

Poppies get airy.
There are some dwarf cosmos varieties and taller ones too for airyness,is that a word?

Airyness sounds good to me.

I do cosmos. I already have them self seeding in that bed. I had cleome, but gosh I hat the pricker stickers.

I dont like cleomes for that reason.I grew them here the first year and needed a jackhammer to get the huge rootball out.

Polly, do you grow blue Flax? Its airy and such a pretty blue; I've got it with yellow and white OT Lilies. Its a short lived perennial that reseeds.

No, I don't. Pretty. I'll check into that one. Thanks.

Oh, and I just thought of another you may like, the Chinese Forget-me-not, Cynoglossum amabile. It's a reseeding annual and gets about 12-18" tall, and is a striking azure blue. I wish I had a good pic of just the Cynoglossum, but you can get a good idea from this pic with a stem of them in front of the Daisies.

stormyla, willowwind - Queen Kong is in her 3rd year and stands around 5' tall. A thin stake assits. Lily came from Buggy Crazy. I mistakenly said early August, it initiated bloom this year on July 7th