Tammy, that's a beautiful combo!
Murmur, that is an amazing transformation....lovely!
Lady and boojum....love the Siberians, those have so much impact and are so easy.
CC...great collage and gardens.
Ruth....those mountains are quite a backdrop to your garden......you are so lucky.
Continuation of Cottage Gardens....
WillowandSpike- I think foxgloves are one of the quintessential cottage garden flowers. One that I think might do particularly well in your climate is Rhemmania alata(Chinese Foxglove). It is one of the most water hogging flowers I grow. It would LOVE your garden!
Tammy-That is a great combo. I'm not as familiar with your weigelia, but I think catmint is another quintessential cottage garden flower. I have them planted in mass under all my roses. The butterflies just go nuts over them
Donna or anybody interested.
On Google type in "Picasa" . Download it free. It's a great program, easy to use.
All your pictures will be in one place also. Then it's just click on the pic you want. After you pick the ones for the collage, it's one click to make it & it will end up in your My Pictures folder ready to send to the world!
Bernie
I have Picasa and just tried my first collage, it was easy.
Bernie & fly, love the collages...kind of like taking a walk thru your gardens.
seed picker, foxgloves yes,yes,yes...they just scream 'cottage garden'. hollyhock and phlox,too. but I'm not sure they would like the dampness. aren't they both prone to mildew? Swamp mallow (hardy hibiscus) is another that likes to be kept moist.
Great photos everyone. DFor the dummy of this class would you mind giving an ID to what you have growing please.
I'm compiling my lists of what to look for and without names (common or proper) I'm going to have to take a lot of photos with me.
Thanks in advance,
Jude
Update time:
I resprayed season long on the area I want my first cottage garden in this morning. So far, it doesn't appear that any of the bermuda has been killed but it's only been about 24 hours. I'm not too impatient.
I'm heading out to take the before pics, for later comparison and to deep water my ficus and meyer lemon while I'm at it. The deep water tool Jo suggested is the absolute best investment I've ever made for a garden. It simply blew water deep enough yesterday that I was able to take a shovel and merely lift the so called soil from above the water. The soil is still like a rock on the surface which is fine since I guess I'm not disturbing any seeds which have been laying dormant in the subsurface.I sure don't want to bring to life who knows what that's been lurking 6 inches down, so I''m really digging deeper. I was working in the area where the aloe had been and beginning to add just a little organic to the soil there in anticipation of starting the gourds in early spring.
I'm not starting in the new CG bed yet, waiting for bermuda to die, then I'll have at it. I'm figuring roughly that the bed will be ready for some plants right around the holidays next month. That's my target anyway for the moment and with that in view, I'm trugging out to begin more prep.
Plant suggestion for this climate are eagerly awaited, keeping in mind there is NO shade whatever.
Please keep posting your pics as they are a major source of encouragement and delight for me and others here.
Jude
Grampapa--
Chinese foxglove is not a "true" foxglove like the digitalis species. It doesn't form a taproot like digitalis, but rather forms a network of shallow runners just below the soil. Since it's roots do not go deep, It dries out very quickly.
They look similar to digitalis, but I cannot grow digitalis(except for digitalis thapsi). We get too hot for them. The rehmannia I can grow, I just have to water the heck out of it.
I just thought that with all that rainfall, they'd perform well for WillowandSpike, and are a great substitue for regular foxglove.
Here is a link for rehmannia elata:
http://www.rainyside.com/features/plant_gallery/perennials/Rehmannia_elata.html
and this one has an AWSOME photo!:
http://www.huntingtonbotanical.org/WhatsInBloom/june05/june05-Pages/Image157.html
edited because I spelled rehmannia wrong, lol...
This message was edited Nov 6, 2006 2:45 PM
I posted a couple of pics on one of the other cottage garden threads but thanks to one of you DGers I have discovered Picasa and now have a couple of collages of my garden.
These were taken in 2004 , the year I won some awards in the garden competition.
These were taken this JUne 2006.
Fancyvan- Very nice!!
Wow!
Lovely Fancy!
Fancy - Just Beautiful!
Seedpicker, do you have any seeds of the foxglove that you posted a picture of?
I have never seen that color before. I have yellow and it self seeds all over my flower beds.
Thank you!
I have been doing a lot of 'renovating' this year - areas that were planted a long time ago mostly and also had to take out a large Russian Olive in the front yard so until that is replaced and grown up I have an unexpected sunny spot
The reason for all this - apart from the fact that I like change and variety - is I plan to enter the garden competition again in 2008 - so I am hoping to have all the really big changes done this year and just be tweaking next year.
Here is my favorite garden picture - this shows both the sun and the shade gardens on the south side of the house - and Bailey of course!
great photos fly_girl and fancyvan!! what wonderful plantings and colors.
can, it looks like you'll bea contender in the competition.
Bailey is a winner too
Hi, Bailey! Fancyvan, everything is just perfectly lovely. and all this in zone3!
seedpicker, the rehmannia is very pretty. and the flower certainly resembles the true foxglove.
fancyvan, Bet you win too. Great photos and great yard. Donna
Maxine-sorry, but I don't have any seeds of that. Mine didn't flower this year(and so subsequently did not seed). But, I bought them from Swallowtail a few years back. Here is their link for rehmannia:
http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/chinese_foxglove.html
and they have some really great hollyhocks, too! http://www.swallowtailgardenseeds.com/perennials/hollyhocks.html
(I bought the chamois, and peaches n dreams).
-T
Oh Sue, a real cottage! I picture delphiniums! My Mom's family are Irish, Scottish and Welsh so I'll be interested in more ''homeland'' photos.
Thank you Grampapa!
Neat pictures everyone!
One of my favorite delphiniums.
Sally
Ah, yes...love those delphiniums! Unfortunately, they are just an annual here ;0(
Oh, my - what a lovely bunch of photos to come home to!!!! The collages are fabulous - and, Fancyvan, congrats on some awards in 2004, and I don't know how you could NOT win the garden contest you enter . . . absolutely beautiful!!!
Thanks for the link Seed, looks like they have a nice selection.
BP, love Delphiniums and hostas, they just don't do well here :(
Gram.....your collage is nice, what s/w did you use and how did you get the pics different sizes and it looks cool with the frames around each one.
On mine I duplicated a couple...oops
thanks, fly. I use LumaPix FotoFusion. You can do a lot with it, but it's not free (I think $40). you can try a free download, but they put watermarks all over your pics until you pay for it. here's one from earlier in October. you can layer the pics and color the background, lots of stuff
http://www.lumapix.com/
Gram, that's beautiful!!! You really have some great flowers, to say the least. And you're right - Phlox is prone to develop mildew (some of the newer hybrids are more resistant), and Hollyhocks get that darn rust . . . nasty stuff!!
Fly, I didn't even notice that you had doubled up on a picture!!!!
Gram, that's so neat....love your pics
Murmur, you're just being nice :)
I put my HHs in the back because of that rust and the miners, luckily it doesn't affect the flowers.
OK, Jo suggested that I post before pics so the transformation would be seen. These are from today 11/06/06.
pretty scarey. other than dying bermuda, the only things here are one mandivilla red riding hood and a hibiscus painted lady. That's it.
soil prep and digging etc to commence.
BTW, name change, used to be pweelee but there were probs so I changed. past posts names were also changed at the same time if there was any confusion about that.
can't add pic in edit so I'll post it seperately
This message was edited Nov 6, 2006 7:53 PM
Grampapa, what is the top middle flower?
I just love the collages!
I didn't want to play favorites, but Fancyvan, you deserve an award!
Would Monkshood be considered cottage?
thanks, guys. it's always easier to get a good pic of one nice bloom.
billyporter & seedpicker, I love the delphiniums. the blue is outstanding. I planted some lavender ones this fall. I hope they make it thru the winter.
Hey_Jude is a cool name!
thanks billy, Jude is my name, so.....
anyway, here's the pic I left out in last post
billyp, that's eupatorium gateway. planted it late this season, but it had some buds so I thought it might get a small flower. I think monkshood is definitely cottage. another plant i'm dying to try.
I'm betting on fancyvan in the 2008 garden competition!
You're lucky your new name wasn't already taken!
That is the neatest wall!!!!
the dark splotchy area on the wass was created by the aloe which a friend dug out for me yesterday. There were two of the biggest aloes I've ever seen outside of Aruba. see earlier post for details of what he went thru (or not). thankfully they're gone. That spot is where my gourds will be come spring, it gets sun all day long and faces south.
Jude, it will be very exciting to watch your progress - please take photos even of "little steps." We'll love it and you will always have the record of your work.
I would definitely think Monkshood would qualify as a cottage garden plant!! I had some at my Seattle house, but haven't remembered to get any for this place. I'll put it on my list!
Jude, thanks for explaining the name change - thought I'd lost my mind (well, I have, but not in this case!).
Gram, I thought I should have known it. My neighbor has one of them and her's is about 6'.
Here's my one collage I've ever done (can't even remember how to do it now - will have to try it again!). The photos are from my rose garden, but it has phlox, daylilies, hollyhocks, primrose, feverfew, baby's breath, etc. as well.
