Blaine you are truly a master at gardening. I wish my husband had it in him to be a gardener. I truly do envy you everything and I do mean everything looks fantastic. You really do have a god given gift for gardening. Is gardening a hobby with you or are you a gardener by trade??
Keep up the good work it's paying off for you. With all the wonderful blooms.
Linda
summer bubbler alternative.... and quick tour by request
Shirley - come on by anytime!! Things are really just shifting into the June show. Iris, bleeding hearts and stuff have been stars the last 2 weeks. Anchusa and silver sage are strutting now. Lilies (day, asiatic and orient) are all waiting in the wings and the hybrid teas/david austins are just showing color.
pssst, Kell - there "may" be Autumn Damask kids looking for a home this summer. Too darn hot and humid (and BRIGHT) outside for pics right now, but---- when I had the wild hair with the PC sucker in the stock tank, I also stuck a 8 or so cuttings of AD. Settled the pots in the straw in the shade under a cherry tree and put a dirty aquarium over them. I've used the dirty aquarium trick before. They haven't even wilted as far as I could tell this morning. I'll lift it for a pic this afternoon. She has a big flush, then will continue popping a few through the summer and if I don't tick her off with foliage spray, she'll throw a fall party. She does throw petals all over (which by the way, can be plucked/dried and makes great potpourri).
Oh yeah - I didn't put the pic up but Golden Lady has two big fat buds about to open and more on the way.
Linda, I guess you'd call it a hobby. I like flowers and the good bugs and birds it attracks. Did I say I like flowers? Gives me something to do outside which is where my vices are anyway. ;) Don't drink or smoke in the house. So it's a suitable replacement for the 20 Navy years spent in bars around the world enjoying the uhm, exotic sights and sounds. The foliage and flowers are my girlfriends now. Prissy, stuck up, rock solid, plain, delicate, rough-n-tumble, drop dead gorgeous, flash in the pan, morning only, night only, all looks and no fragrance or then you have something like Autumn Damask, David Phlox, Nicotiana or the Casa Blanca lily that makes my knees weak and I start fondling rocks and hugging trees... :) girls are a wonderful thing
Minniegrannie - I basically don't spray because I don't like to kill the good with the back so it all kind of balances out. There's always a little damage here and there but it never been extreme because the birds do such a great job. Then there's all the good bugs. Not having a monoculture helps too. I was elated to find out last year that the Firefly larvae's favorite food is SLUGS!
This message was edited Jun 7, 2005 12:19 PM
Blaine!!! Now I know why you haven't been over Snatchin' with us lately! Gorgeous!!! I'm jealous!!! I have some lovely crabgrass and chickweed I could send you though! Great looking garden, wish you weren't so darn far away!!!
Thanks for the pics!!
Nicole
Blaine,
I love your design for your yard and ALL of your flowers are so pretty and green. So colorful! Thanks for taking us through your yard for a tour, it was great! Such talent you have! I have the pump you have and I really liked your idea with the tub you have it on. Great idea. :-)
Your brugs are beautiful as well !
Hugs
Julie
blaine, your garden is so amazingly beautiful. LUSH foliage allover, and just gorgeous, gorgeous BLOOMS.
peaches and cream is wow. i hope to grow it someday. thank you for the tour.
I know I'm gonna get in trouble since this is a brug forum... but they're not in season yet.
do you like blue? here's something I just shot for another thread in perennials..
Gorgeous Blaine! I do :-)
thanks Nicole and I'm sorry. I have completely lost the bus. Got snagged up here in the brug forum with a new addiction. :) where's the bus now?
Moonglow - promise you won't disappear? and that you'll ackowledge receipt? There could be a PC in your immediate future.......
I'm speechless (and that doesn't happen very often). Everything is so beautiful. What is your secret w/ PNC? I thought this brug was hard to get to bloom.
I've have my PNC 3 yrs. and it has never had one bloom. It may just get too darn hot here in South Texas for it.
yeah, I don't know about PNC. I started hearing the same thing and have seen it repeated more. Dunno - got a sappy little rooted cutting back on Nov 22 and basically grew up in the basement under fluorescents and blue stuff mixed in aquarium water. I put it in the ground on the east side of the garage a little over 2 weeks ago I think, with one bloom. The bloom didn't drop, the other buds continued to grow and now it just keeps Y ing and setting more buds. Plus I think I've started 4 cuttings from her already and they've rooted easy for me. Actually, all the ones I've tried have been as easy as you can get. Maybe I just didn't know she's supposed to be tough. She's not slow either. I've also heard Herrenhausen Garten (sp) is supposed to be slow and non-bloomer. I've got a skanky specimen that did good till it became a mite magnet in the hoop house. I just opened a hole in the compost pile and PLANTED it. Thing is.... it's Y'ng and I do believe it's got a bud coming.
beats me... I just shoot everything in sight with a hose and drink lots of beer. :)
Blaine, got a lot of questions just like everone else.
1. Picture #10, the summer bubbler, are these all perennials? Your perennial bed? lLove the different textures and colors.
2. I see you are in zone 5a. Isn't that pretty cold? When does it start warming up? The little bit of sun we have had so far this year has burnt the leaves of the brugs. Do you plant them specifically to get the shade?
3. When do you start putting the brugs out in the ground?
4. Do you protect them with visquine or something?
5. What brand of beer do you drink? Maybe that's the secret. I watched a guy fishing one day. Right alongside everyone else and he was drinking beer (I mean drunk) and was the only one catching anything. We were all using the same bait and our hooks were a foot and a half away from his.,same depth etc. Think he had the beer on his hands when he baited his hook.
Jeanette
If it's the beer that's making his garden bloom so wonderfully, it would have to be BUDweiser.
Mary
1 - just about all perennials. 2 halfbarrels on the left are brugs. 2 halfbarrels in the middle are Ferncliff Illusion dahlias (oh man, wait till those bloom again) You'll see a little variegated looking thing to the right and below the dahlia containers. That's my favorite pelargonium that I've been carrying over by cuttings for 5 or 6 years.
2 - yeah we get good-n-cold. The last 2 days was really our first taste of summer. 80's and humidity. I'm close enough to lake Michigan that it takes me longer to warm up and longer to cool off in the fall. The first rose cuttings I ever rooted - I took the cuttings of new growth in Dec. Then Jan comes and we're in for a couple weeks of 0 +/-
3 - uh, I don't know. I could repeat what I've heard and read. See, I just 'discovered' brugs in November and got my first rooted cuttings on Nov 22. Likely as not... I'll treat them like dahlias or calla lilies and get them before the first frost. Cannas can take a couple hits.
4 - No. Don't think I've even heard that word before.
5- the last 2 years.... the coldest thing that looks like Bud Lite. :) The yard gets the cheapest thing I can find but not Lite beer. They usually get Milwaulkee's Best or maybe Busch. Although their first 2 feedings this year has been Corona. Gift from a neighbor who I made a new bed for. Except he doesn't drink and it's been in his basement and was SKUNKY!!!!
not to be confused with skanky and here's the poster child for skank...
This message was edited Jun 7, 2005 7:26 PM
But this one was in the hoop house with that bonehead and was never assailed by whiteflies or mites.
It's also from the first seed I got to sprout finally in February. It's a cross by Brugie and I'm so in awe of the massive leafs that I'm going to just leave it here under the apples and cherries. It's already snuck out the bottom of the pot anyway.
and when one resident of my hodge podge really ticks me off... I can go around the house and find a smile...
here's the dirty aquarium method I mentioned earlier. These Autumn Damasks have been in for 3 days.
I put another aquarium with it on the left today.... took cuttings of the Blue Bird Hibiscus. I haven't rooted this plant before, want more and don't know if the seeds come true since it was a sport itself.
and here's a Dr. Seuss and the Herrenhause Garten that was hanging out with the skanks and got caught up in the spider mite party. I did spray them 2 days ago and have been heaping the joy juice on them. They're wanting to make amends so I gave them a chance and planted them in the compost pile. It's mostly leafs from last fall and not cooking anymore anyway.
Hahaha, that will learn Dr. S and HG, by golly!! I'm going to try that with my Dr. S, who has never appreciated the digs here or my hospitality...
Bllaine what absolutely gorgeous large foliage on the brug, when it blooms should be amazing. Love your shot of the beautiful Clematis and lovely yellow iris. thanks for posting. DonnaS
WOWEEEEE--That is so pretty. I can close my eyes and smell the aromas of everything. The summer bubbler is a great idea, ummmmm.
My roses have some catching up to do, ha ha
The Brugs have really done well, you must be doing something right, smile
Thanks for the great tour, thoroughly enjoyed every inch of it.
Keep the Budweiser flowing, it works. ha ha ha
This Bud's for you-----------
gini
More great pics Blaine!! There's a new Snatchin' thread, come on over! Oh and I actually have my first Brug!! Vi gave it to me at the GA Roundup. It's still just leaves but it's Alive!!! I figured if Brugs had their very own forum I just had to try one! We shall see if I catch the 'addiction'!!
Nicole
Hi gini!!! I was wondering if you were lurking around here. When and were are you going to post pics of your gorgeous yard?
HARLOT - opened late yesterday afternoon
HARLOT this morning and she's darkened up
Wow, she's just so dainty Blaine, I like her! Very niccccccccccce
Lush and gorgeous.
Super pics - great gardens!
She's girlie and sophisticated, I hope mine will look like yours and won't be a redneck!! Is she fragrant??
I didn't detect anything last night and Autumn Damask had the whole yard snifferific this morning. This evening I'll be on all four with a nose check. Golden Lady will be open this evening as well!!
BRUGIE!!! - Thank you for Harlot!! She is the result of one of those little cuttings I got from you when I stopped by in March. Thanks.
You're welcome. She has done well in such a short amount of time.
Gosh, Blain - I'm pretty speechless seeing all this - what a great garden! I love, love, Harlot and that seedling of Brugie's your growing - wow - is that plant on steroids??? beautiful..thanks so much for sharing.
Diane Krny
Beautiful! No fair, no fair!
:) Donna
Oh gosh, I remember fireflies growing up in NJ as a kid. We tortured those poor bugs.
LOL Blaine: "The foliage and flowers are my girlfriends now". Your description made me roar. Have you met Root around here? You remind me of him.
Now I have to look up Ferncliff Illusion dahlias.
Oh Donna, I missed your kind offer before. I just went back to look at Blaine's Snow Angel and I saw it. THANK YOU!! Guess what......I was at a nursery yesterday and I found it!! It does not look as white as Blaine's yet. I hope it lightens up. I was so excited, I grabbed 2. But then at the checkout I said to myself, girl who are you kidding, you do not have room for even 1, so put 1 back. LOL
Since I saw Blaine's post on the name. Snow Angel, I have been singing Johnnie Angel till I am nuts. So now you all can sing it along with me today!
Johnny Angel, Johnny Angel
Johnny angel, Johnny Angel
You're an angel to me
Johnny Angel
How I love him
How I tingle
When he passes by
Everytime he says hello
My heart begins to fly
Johnny Angel
How I want him
He's got something
That I can't resist
But he doesn't even know
That I exist
I'm in heaven
I get carried away
I dream of him and me
And how it's gonna be
Other fellows
Call me up for a date
But I just sit and wait
I'd rather concentrate
On Johnny Angel
cause I love him
And I pray
That someday he'll love me
And together we will see
How lovely heaven will be
And together we will see
How lovely heaven will be
nice ditty and niiiice plant! Mine's done well on the east side of the house. She gets some morning sun but is in shade after lunch. I really thought you were going to say you went back and got a 3rd because... we have too!
Blaine, your place looks great! :-)
Don't encourage me Blaine. I am out of control. When I show some small bit of restraint, we must foster that. LOL
My star find besides my electric blue swirl pot, was a new mandevillea that Ada is hot over. When I saw it I knew immediately it was the one she told me about. It is similar to Mandevillea red Riding Hood but a beautiful bright red.
I love a few hot red spots ... especially late summer when the yellows and lavendars start coming in. That red annual salvia is great on high dosages of fertilizer. matter of fact I have one out back that was a volunteer in the basement this winter and bloomed under the fluorescents on a steady diet of blue water with the brugs. Left my thinking cap down there though. I finally drug it up and set it on a bench. That full sunlight fried most of the leafs and I figured it was dead. Nope - new foliage and started blooming hot red. It's getting planted tonight.
Karrie - thanks!
It's hard to remember that our plants have been under fluorescent lights all winter so when we go to place them outside for the summer they need to get use to the sun a little at a time. I had a hibiscus that I had overwintered and thought it had died, then all of a sudden it came alive and looked beautiful. Then I placed it outside and left it a little to long and about 3/4 of all the leaves were sun burned. It is coming back but it is slow, and it looked so good, before I did that stupid thing.
oh, blaine, i was just checking to see more of the tour and you said that. thank you and thanks again. i don't know what else to say. i am not going anywhere! you know since i got bit by the gardening bug, i don't even want to travel anymore. and that was my love.
wow, oh, wow. i am so excited.
geez, kell. now that song is stuck in my head now, too.
Don't you just hate it Annapet? I can't stand it. It goes round and round in my brain. Makes me even nuttier. I can have a song sing to me for several days before it leaves of its own accord. I can take a day of it, but more, forget it. Especially the bad tunes. LOL
I wish I had room for things like Salvia. That is for a meandering garden. Mine is a standing garden. LOL