Well, they last a bit longer than the fireworks.

Happy 4th everyone!

Fabulous!!! Thanks for such a delightful Fourth of July photo!

Nice mix, very well done.

Very pretty! What all is in there?

Gwen

Murmur, Laurie (How are you?), and Gwen:
Thank you all. I first started making these for the 4th about 5 years ago. That year, the only blue I had was Salvia 'East Friesland.' For some reason my salvia are really late this year. Here's what's in the bunch.

Red: Rosa 'Taboo', Coreopsis tinctoria red, Crocosmia 'Lucifer'
White: Sweet Pea, Rosa 'Simplicity' White, Penstemon 'Husker Red'
Blue: Brodiaea 'Queen Fabiola', Delphinium 'Black Knight', Eryngium Sapphire Blue

R. 'Taboo' has the most beautiful blackish buds, and I love the black eyes on D. 'Black Knight'. Usually my delphinium are done by July. This year they came up late, or perhaps 'just in time'. Are perennials late for anyone else this year too?

That's such a nice selection - Au Natural, do you keep a cutting bed? I am building one up slowly - its great at the beginning of the flowering year - I have gotten really good at building supports for the Peonies so I get them very long stemmed - and I keep Dahlia Requiem (shocking hottest pink! but looks great for lifting a slightly pale bunch - but I don't think I would ever put it in a decorative bed! It is such a tart!) (also looks great with Crocosmia - it is so 60's orange and pink! You can almost hear it whistling "England swings like a pendulum do.. bobbies on bicycles two by two...) and Bhishop of Llandalf (black leave/RED blossom), along with three roses: Pat Austin, Brother Cadfael, and I can't remember the name of the third - all strong scents. But I find a real lull mid summer and have to go rob the regular beds. I'm trying more annuals - this year Didiscus Caerulea has been a wonderful filler blossom, but my other annuals got absolutely decimated by a very hungry rabbit that is no more. - (I want to hear NO 'oh, poor bunnies' Beatrix Potter-ish sighs. Bunnies do not belong in the garden!)

what are you growing for Mid summer posies? have you ever figured out how to use Hollyhocks as a cut flower? Mine droop, almost immediately.

I know the obvious answer is grow what I am growing in the beds, but I would really like something different for cutting. Any ideas?

Laurie,
As I'm reading your message I can't help singing," Kill da wabbit! " --Elmer Fudd
I've had rabbits, but fortunately we have wild coyotes in our neck. Very animal kingdom. My bane is now a mole! I believe it is just 1, but can that sucker dig. The only sure way to rid them is by trapping, and that is now outlawed in WA state. Go figure! I wish the coyotes would get underground dwellers too.

I wish I could help with the cutting bed, but I don't keep a one because that would take planning. I'm woeful at garden planning, and move things around all the time, even in July, because I just can't wait until fall.

I love Bishop, and his children too. Mine did not come back. I guess I need to lift them here. This is my first year with Dahlia 'Dark Desire.' It's been around the UK for years, bt it's new here in the US. I love this color. It's in a part sun area with Cosmos atrosanguineus of similar color.

I'm no help with the hollyhock. There is a black hollyhock I've been trying to start from seed for 3 years now. They germinate, make great seedlings. I plant them out, and the sl-uugggghs get them. One survived only long enough to succumb to rust. Bah!

Mid season: I love Achillea, Echinacea and Helenium. American native prarie flowers that have been hybridized so they don't come true from seed. They bloom forever. E. 'Sundown' started blooming this week, Helenium 'Moreheim Beauty' is is bud, and A. 'Terracotta' has been blooming since June in shades of oranges and yellows. These should all go through 'til Fall.

This year for annuals, I'm trying osteospermum. I'm in love with the butter yellow color of O. 'Lemon Symphony.' It lifts blues in the salvia, and blends beautifully with the dark maroons in the cosmos and dahlia.
http://whatcom.wsu.edu/ag/homehort/plant/african_daisy.htm

-Au

I agree with the 'move things around'. I constantly cannabalize beds, and I am a great follower of Christopher Lloyd's advice "the best time to move something is when you are thinking about it". Yes!, permission to dig! Excellent. I moved a Bishop LLandalf last weekend - in full flower! I figured it wouldn't be out of the hole more than 30 minutes so as long as it didn't look down and see that it was travelling I was counting on the fact that I could probably fool it - I hummed a bit of Abba, that always distracts. Success! A bit of a droop in the afternoon, but by morning it was bright and breezy and even had opened out several more flowers. Well done Bish! I have placed it to back a long swathe of Helenium Moorheim Beauty and Helenium Wyndley. Makes a very nice dark punctuation. Really pleased with the placement.

Dahlias disappearing - lifting is always reccommended with D tubers - but have you tried improving the drainage where you plant them by adding in organic matter and grit before planting - you do need to improve quite a large area so that water runs away rather than just pools into the improved area - then giving a mulch of something like grass cuttings to keep the frost off. I have had pretty good success with this (we garden on heavy clay - but my D have been in for 5-6 years, and have really bulked up nicely. I never bother to lift them any more). Might be worth experimenting next year.

This weekend - I'm tackling a Polystichon (is that spelled right? Hmm) that I have found under one of our big oaks - the whole area is badly overgrown, and when I started digging out some ghastly purple rhodies last year I came across this magnificent fern - I can't imagine who tucked this beauty back in the work yard area (although it wasn't the work yard then). So out it is coming and relocating to pride of place in the shaded garden! This is going to need some serious consideration - first how to get to it, and second how to lift it. I'll let you know how it goes. although I may leave out the most embarassing bits.

Laurie,
I'm almost ashamed to say this. But not really. I dig up Western Sword ferns around here and toss them in the compost pile. I wish I could send them your way. More ROCKS!

Transplanting in summer usually doesn't bother my plants. A good long drink helps, and the plants also appreciate a bit of water too ;-)

However, no transplanting today. We're in the middle of a heat wave in the Western States now. It was 96F here today. By contrast my mom in the Tropics enjoyed 31C. But things should be back to mid 70's this weekend.
-Au

Argh! On the compost - I'd be scavenging.

Dashing out to garden. Weather not wet for two days! Wheelbarrow and gardener not sinking. Excellent.

Laurie:
Regarding cut hollyhocks, here is what I came across while browsing the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens site:
http://www.bbg.org/gar2/topics/design/2003sp_cutflower.html

-quote:- "Hollow Stems
The stems of hollow-stemmed flowers, such as amaryllis, bells-of-Ireland, dahlias, delphiniums, and hollyhocks, need to be filled with water. Simply turn the flower upside down and pour water into the open cavity of the stalk. To keep the liquid in, you can plug the stem with a small piece of cotton and then place it in the vase. Alternatively, place your thumb over the opening at the bottom of the stem and then put it in the water. The water trapped inside will keep the stem strong and straight. I have noticed that when I fill the hollow stems in this way, the heads of my dahlias stand upright and the small buds on the tip my larkspur actually open!" -endquote-

I am out to cut some holly hocks - let you know what happens. Thanks Au, how amazing if this works. And I have enough hollyhocks to practice with!

I cut some dahlias and they died the next day. Should I do that with them too or is there another 'secret' for dahlias?

Gwen

Gwen, with Dahlias I cut them before they are completely open - and get them in water pronto (if a warm day take a bucket with and plunge them in immediately - but maybe that indicates that the hollow stem treatment would work.