Typ good for you for trimming around the nest! :-)
Greenthumb what is the fluffy purple bloom in the first photo?
FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING!!! May Flowers :)
Got a couple photos of my pathetic Allium schubertii. I'm beginning to think that's the best it'll do. I don't know what happened to the A christophii. :-(
CatMint, the plant in the first photo above is Thalictrum aquilegiafolium. I have a few available for the swap. Do you want one?
Allium schubertii performs best when grown in full sun, yours appears to be under a shrub.
It's very pretty Greenthumb-- yes I'd love some.
I have the A schubertii planted in multiple settings including full sun. These are the ones that are doing best.
This message was edited May 20, 2014 4:13 PM
That was a very pretty boo-boo you made there greenthumb. :)
Oh WOW Typ, the colours of those Irises are GORGEOUS!!!! **drool**. =)
Some new blooms from my garden...
WOW!!! ALL have the blues.....:o)
1--Crazy patterned bloom Iris--
2--Crazy striped iris--these grow eight next to each other
3--My :Multi Blue" Clematis showing off as usual...
4--The 3 Heliatropes I bought for a bit of $$$$.. Hope they do OK.
5--Another Clematis---"Lady Betty Balfour" (from Brushwood)
Lets try some other colors....Geez--Now it is all in the PINK!.
1--Close-up of my Koromo Shukibu Azalea--now done blooming
2-The whole "Lady Betty Balfour" Clematis nest to "Proud Land" Rose about to bloom.-
3--Mandevilla starting her annual climb...LOVE this plant!
4--Portulaca
5--A small-bloom, pink Azalea....the salmon beauty is not open yet.
need a day or two.....
G.
such pretty blooms G. I especially love your multi blue clematis!
do you overwinter your mandevilla?
Gita, I love all the blue flowers you have. I really like that heliotrope, too. Such cool texture to the leaves.
Greenthumb, thalictrums are so interesting!
Catmint, I see what you mean about your Schubertii. They don't seem to be opening up fully.
My peony has an amazing scent! I had no idea they smelled so nice. :D
I just double checked the care guidelines for A schubertii, and I see that in addition to full sun they like *dry* soil, sandy loam, very sharply drained. A. christophii is similar--dry, sandy, gritty, sunny. Argghh! Dry soil is what my yard provides the least of--there apparently used to be a little creek in the lot behind mine, and I still get water sluicing a pathway through my back garden when it rains--a pathway I have trouble growing anything in.
well, I'll have to think *very* carefully about placement if I get more allium bulbs next year. :-( (head hung in shame that the dry soil need didn't register with me when I planted them last fall...)
(although I have been wondering--should I make the best of it and start a rain garden...?) ;-)
Wind--
NO! I do not overwinter my mandevilla....I grow it in a pretty large pot new-every year.
It is worth $12 to me to have this every summer....I love it! And it climbs 10' up my trellis--
and then, it runs out of support--and starts hanging down all over itself---still blooming away.
I never buy the red ones. I like the pink ones with he "leathery" leaves.
They do much better.... Gita
Our longest lived and best performing A. schubertii are in a raised bed with fairly sandy soil.
Nice blues G :) Those iris are beautiful! I love portulacas as well.
Catmint, that's the reason I didn't plant any alliums at the bottom of the slope. It's just too wet near the fence line. I don't have sandy soil, but being planted in clay/compost amended beds seems to be good enough. Oh, and I don't do any supplemental watering near the alliums, and there aren't any new transplants nearby that need to be watered.
Catmint - regarding your wondering if you should make the best of it and start a rain garden... SURE, why not!? < =D That sounds like a lovely idea to me! Astilbes, Sweet Kate, Caladiums (which had already been started in pots), Jacob's Ladder, Bee Balm, maybe Switchgrass, some ferns...Tiarella, Goldenrod...?? Heck yeah!! < =D
thanks, Greenthumb and SSG--those are good recommendations. I guess it is a measure of how much I have learned over the past several months that last fall when I planted these it didn't register, whereas now it would. well, trying to look on the positive side of things--LOL! :-)
Speedie--switch grass would probably work well! It is a part sun area--not shady enough for shade-lovers, not quite sunny enough for sun-lovers. The main issue is that plants tend to wash away, plus the topsoil is rather silty there because of the rush of water it gets during hard rains.
Cat, why not just replant them in containers? You can move them around whereever you want them to be when they are blooming. Easy peasy! :)
Beautiful, Gita. I really like that 2nd blue iris, it looks tie-dyed! I bought a red mandevilla this year at MD Flower and Foliage for $7.50. It'll coordinate with my front yard bed, which is red-themed this year. *shrug*
Karen--
"Tie Dyed" is exactly what went through my mind as well..
I planted 2 other new iris last year. Hope they bloom--but not holding my breath.
The roots were pretty dry...clearanced bulbs at HD.
I think they are just.....growing this year...
G.
Catmint, maybe you could place a path where the water goes- no scratch that if the path is going to get dirty and silty every time it rains.
Some of our natives currently in bloom:
Penstemon pallidus - Pale Penstemon
Tiarella wherryi Foamflower
Sedum ternatum - Woodland Stonecrop
Hydrophyllum virginianum - Virginia Waterleaf
Porteranthus (Gillenia) trifoliata - Bowman's Root
Containers for the allium bulbs might work Typ.
Sally a path of some kind might be a good idea. Eg bricks or large stones along the edges to mark it-- but what to fill it with that wouldn't get washed away in a hard rain?
Wonderful pics of natives Greenthumb!
Cat, I'd start a rain garden for sure. What type of sunlight does this area get? Perhaps you'd have room for a metasequoia :wink, wink:
Metasequoia? Nah, a rain garden needs a cypress tree.
A Bald Weeping Cypress!! < =D
http://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=d945
Catmint, is it a natural location for a path? Maybe a path of stones or pavers,high enough not to get silted all the time, with a dry creekbed nearby or along it (like I have always wanted but don't have the right place for)
Metasequoia can take wet conditions as well. I was more joking than anything because that can become a large tree.
But, oh, ssssooooo pretty!
Oh for sure! I have one planted in our front yard and it's a joy.
Got any fresh new pics of your baby Seq? :)
David--
Thank you for the common names on your listed photos.......:o)
G.
Newly planted Pagoda Dogwood is blooming so is the Rhodie that sits right next to it.
Beautiful pictures, Holly. Hope you're feeling better.
Looks great, Holly! And Buddha is the perfect complement! :-)
LOL about the metasequoia you guys! :-) I guess 'path' is too grand of a word for it--it's really just a few steps. I took a photo of the main part of it. There are a couple other minor 'tributaries' ;-) that run from the back as well, but this is the biggest one. Every time I planted something there it would just strangely disappear until I put it together (only recently!!) that things were getting swept away in hard rains. It is a part sun area--gets direct sun in the afternoon.
Pagoda dogwood is such a pretty tree, Holly.
Catmint, I was wondering why I had some blank spots in one of the beds and realized that 3 of the Allium Schubertii never came up. Not one leaf. This must be a temperamental allium.
I had a few new blooms for today.
1) Both Sally (purple with white streaks on the falls) *and* Gita's (blue with white/pale blue standards) irises have now bloomed--pretty!
2) Peony is nearly open--yay! Last year the peonies seemed like they were open for only a few days. Hopefully they will last longer this spring.
3) My wisteria is open--yay! When I got it last year, it was a little thing with only a couple blossoms--I'm pleased with how it's done.
4) A second type of geranium (also from Gita last year) is blooming. Seq, any idea what kind this is?
5) Another view of the wisteria. I'm thinking I need to get some color of iris besides purple to go in front of it--the two shades of purple kind of blend in with each other. What color iris do people think would be best to set off the purples?
thanks, SSG. We'll have to try something different next year! :-)
Wow, look at the wisteria! It's just gorgeous!
That Pale Penstemon is gorgeous, Greenthumb. Who needs Snapdragons when you could have a beautiful perennial like that instead?
Holly, your Pagoda Dogwood is looking great. Nice that you got it planted before it bloomed.
CatMint - If I were you, before doing anything drastic, I would dig a trench about 8" wide by 3-5" deep right where the water naturally flows, line the trench with landscape fabric, and fill it with small rocks. The landscape fabric will help keep the rocks clean and make it easier for you to lift and clean them if they do disappear into the muck. I did this in an area where I need some drainage, and I actually wrapped the landscape fabric around most of the rocks, then added a layer of rocks to hide the fabric and keep it in place.
I created drainage, gave myself a place to walk without stepping on plants, got rid of random small rocks, and ended up with soil that I needed elsewhere. Win, win, win, win.
This message was edited May 21, 2014 8:06 PM
Catmint, That sure is a pretty Wisteria, is it a Black Dragon.