Look whats blooming at my house!

I just love how all these ground covers intertwine, making an interesting tapestry.

Senecio ‘Mixed Hybrids’ aka Cineraria stellata, Old Fashioned Tall.
I bought a six pack years ago and now have them self seed everywhere. Love the early jolt of purples, occasionaly I will get a blue.
Slugs like the leaves it seems!

This message was edited Apr 7, 2005 11:36 PM

And more of the above, with a lime geranium and an old blue iris in the background.

Sue, your tapestry pictures are just stunning. Is your Arum under control? I've written in several forums about the plague of Arum that consumes my garden until March, when it dies down and I can finally see the rest of my plants. I wouldn't go so far as to call it the devil's spawn, but my vision of heaven is definitely Arum-free.

What GORGEOUS pictures you are all posting!
mmqc, your clematis are lovely, such deep rich colors, & Calif_sue, your colors are so bright & I love the way they all blend so well. Just wonderful. In your second picture, the pink on the left, I know I know what that plant is but I cannot think of the name. Please put me out of my suspense. LOL
Isn't this just the BEST time of year? We are so blessed to be Californians & have the weather we have. I have lived here all my life & never really known anyone outside of CA until joining Daves & meeting people from all over the nation & realizing just how different their weather is from ours. It gives me a whole new appreciation of our loooong growing season. :~)
Donna

Donna, that's Diascia barbarae“Twinspur”. http://www.anniesannuals.com/signs/list/parent_redirect.htm

Zuzu, that stuff pops up everywhere, I try to pull the little ones where I can, some I leave if the spot is free as I do love the leaves. Such a weird plant, how it spreads. This year I am now finding it in the front yard as well.

Yes! That is the name! Duh. LOL I have 2 plants, one is pink & just starting to bloom again, and the other is coral & it is just waking up. I just love them! I have one in hot sun & the other in full shade & they are both happy. Thanks for releasing my brain lock.
Donna

I have this one growing in a very large pot. Cantua buxifolia
"Sacred Flower of the Andes"
http://www.anniesannuals.com/signs/list/parent_redirect.htm

hi, I read about Thunbergia Togoensis, I love it but cannot find out how to purchase. HELP!! I have to have it.

Hey Calif Sue, That is a beauty. Does it grow from seed?

Oh Sue, that is so pretty! I have to look that up, I have not heard of it before.

Racerwidow, I know the place I got them is out of business, but I just did a search on google & I see a seller on ebay has it. I don't know the seller so this is not a referal. It is rather rare so you will not have an easy time finding it. But if you do, you will LOVE it.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=20529&item=4371454883&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Good luck!
Donna

Not sure about the seeds for that one, guess I will have to try and save some and find out!

Sue, the leaves are pretty, but if there's any way you can contain it, do it now. In my neighborhood it spread from a single house plant, which some unknowing person planted outside, to a dense carpet that covers the gardens of 45 houses, each with at least half an acre of land. There's no way of killing it, and the gophers don't even want it.

One neighbor got rid of it by mowing his entire yard every time it came up for a couple of years, but you can only do that if you're not growing anything else. Besides, it eventually spread back into his garden too. Another neighbor put his house on the market and moved to Occidental to get away from it. We all hate it!!! It's so healthy here and grows so tall that you can't even see your azaleas blooming until the middle of March.

Wow, that is bad! I have had it here for years, mostly in a small section of one bed. I just keep pulling the little ones and it keeps them in check so it really hasn't been much of a problem. I have a small enough yard that I can check for any strays easily and get rid of them.

ok now you all have me scared, i just planted a few arum blubs in the front garden.

anna

Oh, no! Dig them up and put them in a pot unless you hate your neighbors.

Hi Clematis lovers,

It's been fun reading this thread. This is Madame Baron-Veillard. She has big floppy flowers.

Gourd, I don't think that what you have is a Josephine. Josephine is a double. Maybe you can give us a close up?

I bought a few clematis from general mailorder houses like Parks. Never again. I buy my clematis from Chalk Hill Nursery now. They already have woody growth, can go right into the ground and if you plant them in the fall, they bloom the following spring. Enough of this waiting around forever.

http://www.chalkhillclematis.com/farm.html

Good to see you Doss....did you ever get to the iris farm? Is it too late now?
Your clematis are beautiful, I was looking forward to seeing the link...but it wouldn't open for me. I don't have any clematis...and I probably need one!
Have a good day!
Margie

Here is a link for it I found...hope it works! I love Healdsburg!!!

http://shop.store.yahoo.com/chalkhillclematis/info.html

Very pretty Doss. I had not seen her before.
I went out this morning to see how my clematis were faring in this rain we have been having & I was amazed to see how big the blooms on my Nellie Moser are this year. This cool weather has really made the clematis happy. I measured and this bloom is 8 inches across! The biggest I have had.
As for Gourds Josephine, I have been told that on the doubles, to not expect every bloom to be one. They are apparently not 100%. But mine has not bloomed yet so I am only repeating what I have heard.
She posted a previous thread about her Josephine & the pic looks like the images I find on google images.
Interesting, isn't it? I bought Piilu thinking I would have a mass of doubles & now I am wondering if I will only get an occasional bloom that looks like the picture advertised. LOL I guess it makes sense that they are going to show you the best possible bloom.
I just love seeing all the lovely flowers that Californians are producing!
I have been drooling so much over all the clematis pics that I have seen lately, I even went to the Co-op forum to see if by chance anyone was opening one. But sadly, not. (hint, hint) HA!
I am going to check out the site you posted. Thanks for the info!
Donna


This message was edited Apr 9, 2005 9:42 AM

Margie, my Bearded Iris are just really getting into motion now. I haven't been to Nola's Iris Garden (aka Prevost Ranch) this year. I don't drive and while I always expect miracles, I've not gotten as healthy as I thought I would. Hope springs eternal.

Here's one of my favorites though, it's 'Fancy Dress'.

doss, this is the second bloom on Josephine (label from parks), and it is still opening up in the middle, it's been almost a week that it has been open and I did take another pic today, but my camera is not hooked up.. the first pic up showed the lst bloom which was broken by the winds...

What do you all think it could be, if not Josephine?

edited to say: just checked google and the one here is finally opening up and is fuller in the middle.. It looks like Josephine, could be I took the photo too soon on the other bud.

This message was edited Apr 11, 2005 1:02 PM

This one is Will Goodwin (I've posted these also on the Vine Forum) sorry about the duplication. Niobe is opening up today also.. only one bud on Niobe. Will post it sometime this week.

Sorry Gourd. Couldn't be anything but Josephine. And lovely too.

Any idea who this could be?

Hey Doss, You can go to the clematis encyclopedia at http://www.clematis-nursery.com/wms/wmsg.php/3507.html&plant_number=237 And check it out.
It kinda looks like fireworks Mimi

Thanks for the link Racer, I added it to my favorites. I like having sites that I can use for visual reference. There is another one I use http://www.clematis.hull.ac.uk/index.html that lets you search the database by putting in details about the clematis flower, like colors and when its blooming, like that.
Good luck Doss.

Thanks for the link. I guess I just am going to have to dig through my files. It was marked but the marker is unreadable. Ah well. Digging today.

Everybody is blooming - well not everybody. What you see here is mostly "Eye of the Tiger" Iris.

I just love the Nellie Moser. I have purchased one that is called something else from Lowes, but it sure LOOKS like Nellie. Hopefully it will do as well as my other clematis has done. They like their feet shaded - so I plant smaller plants in front of it.

Karrie, do mulch the roots too, but don't get it next to the stem. Your other small plants probably would like a nice mulch too. Don't use something like gravel. It holds the heat in.

Yes, we mulch every year - it's this very dark, almost black mulch - it even improves the "look" of the soil - and adds contrast against the flowers.

I know I'm not from California, but hey - I'm a native Californian - I was born there! Besides, some of what you guys grow interests me - I am growing tropicals here, that I take indoors in the winter time. (We get lotza snow - I was 7 years old when we moved up here, and I'd only seen snow on Sesame Street - I had no idea it was cold and wet and ran out to play in it in my bare feet, lol)!

Well, it's overcast this weekend, perfect for some gardening and photography. Here's how it looks this morning. It's my spring cool pink & purple color combos but I am already gearing up for the warmer shades of summer with like cannas, coleus, daylilies etc.

A golden geranium with roses Sally Holmes and pink Mary Rose.

Whoops, lets add the shot at least!

View toward pond

Strawberries & Cream rose

Another view

View toward arbor in back

Everything looks so lush, Sue. Really pretty! Are you getting the drizzly weekend too?
Donna

Just overcast today Donna, no drizzle so far.
Red Alonsoa

Sally Holmes rose and it's buds