What's Blooming? # 12

If you've never dug to move a balloon flower before be warned they have a huge carrot like root though they don't fuss if part of the root is shovel pruned as much as others might.

Right Pirl and because they are just seedlings and this is their first real show, their "carrots" shouldn't be as long as the ones that have been in the garden forever. I just want to move the 2 splashed ones out of the grouping (there are 10 seedlings and the rest are all white) so that next spring I will know that they are the splashed ones. They are late to arrive in spring and I because they are all so close, I won't know which ones the splashed ones are unless I separate them. So, once they are done blooming it's time for the move :)

You might want to tag them right now to be 100% sure.

"I'm sure I'll remember", when it comes to gardening, is death to planning.

My Balloon flower does the same thing, Kim! The cultivar I have is 'Fuji white', and while most flowers are pure white I would say about 10% are speckled and splashed with purple like yours. Each one comes out different, I love it.

That poppy is gorgeous! I think you are lucky to get the poppies to bloom for even a couple of days. I've been trying to grow them for 2 years now with no luck. I've had at least six or seven different plants (only one made it to this year), but no blooms. I think our weather has messed them up both years, too much rain & heat around bloom time and the buds sort of rot away.


Here's my Balloon flower from about a month ago. If you look closely you can see the rogue flowers near the center of the plant.

Oh Aspen, those are SO pretty! I love the speckled ones :)
I love balloon plants. I have to say they are definitely one of my favorites :)

I planted quite a few poppies and MOST of them didn't do a thing! I think they are picky as to location and soil because the only ones that bloomed are the ones in windowboxes and the ones right under a tall pine tree in my front yard. The others that I planted in other beds didn't do a thing. I plan to plant some in the new bed hubby made me this year with amended soil to see how they do next year.
I'm HOPING to winter sow some oriental poppies this winter that will return year after year so that I don't have to keep planting them only for most of them not to even grow. Fussy little buggers *lol*

Anita, very pretty bouquet. I love the splashed balloons too. After watering this am took a couple snaps.

New one this year 'Jubilee Celebration'

Also new and starting to look like a good one 'The Shepherdess'

The next three are of bees being bees and happy that the squirrels planted this sunflower. Oh and also proving the size does matter.

First: there are three occupants here if you look closely, the last to arrive was the BB.

The next to arrive...a smaller bee and the two little guys have bugged out

This message was edited Aug 27, 2007 1:27 PM

and in the end the big BB wins the whole thing and the little bee just can look on from a far....lower left corner.

This message was edited Aug 27, 2007 1:26 PM

Great sequence, ngam! And the sunflower looks gorgeous.

Wasn't sure if they would make it this year after being shipped late (June 11th) but one of eight Dahlias has finally bloomed.

Bodacious:

wow!!!!! wow.... great pics!!!!! love Bodacious.... and About Face is one of my favorite roses....

Kim and Aspen - love your little rogues!!

Ngam - lovely pics from your gardens today, and the sunflower drama is as interesting as the sunflower is pretty!

David - glad to see your dahlia was worth the wait!!

I was sure I lost About Face but in July some growth started. Must have been a tough winter for it. I also lost 2 Honey Perfumes and one more is finally in bloom. The rest of my roses didn't seem to have a problem.

Well worth the wait David. I haven't tried that one yet. At least you have something to look at while you wait for the rest.

David that dahlia is very neat, looks like flames on a stem. :)

Longly awaited debut here today as Fancy Frills echinacea is open now.

It really does have recognizable form, here's the sideview with the shaggy bottom.

Great shaggy bottom, Al!

Nice beard.

Oh I like it. Looks like a big pink thistle from a distance. I will be interested to hear how it progresses. I hope CG gets all those sold out ones in for spring orders. Do you give a thumbs up Al?

Al, love the look of that Fancy Frills. I can't wait for my new echinaceas from GC to arrive. I'm having fun deciding where to put them.

Boojum - I forgot to tell you before that I liked your pics a lot...that About Face is something! I hope your kidney stone has decided to give you a break. They are horrible!

I was in pain for only 3 hours. Of course it was the worst pain of my life!! But I feel great now and happy to be alive and normal! Thanks for caring! Also happy that About Face is alive and well. Gardening sure requires tremendous patience. Glad I didn't yank it out!

ngam - I am happy with it so far, the final judgement of course is saved until I see how it overwinters. I didn't official lose any last winter. Sundown(ugh) and Fragrant Angel are back to flowering now.

Ooh - sorry to hear that booj. I heard they are extremely painful. Glad you're feeling better. Al, you should update your Echi and Rudbeckia satisfaction list.

boojum, I am so sorry about these miserable kidney stones, I know it is a killer, , I remember my DH carrying me around , could not walk nor even stand up

great photos today everyone... hope you feel better soon boo

I had kidney stones two years ago and know the pain quite well........ah morphine!

I am glad you are feeling better Boo. Never had kidney stones but they sound very painful.

Kim,

I'm so glad you posted that pic of the Balsam. I planted some seed early this summer that I thought were too old to grow and I wasn't exactly sure what they were. About 20 of them grew and I had to keep transplanting from the window boxes to the garden. The ones in the garden are close to 2 ft call and covered top to bottom with blossoms, my favorite are the light pink. Now I know what the are!

I absolutely have fallen for them this year too papabear :) I have never had them either. I had some seeds in my seed box (and I'm sure they were quite old). I scattered them in a window box in April/May and then had no idea what they were. Ecrane ID'd them for me and now I will never be without them again. I don't have the light pink but I have to say out of the colors that I have (white, hot pink, purple, coral) I LOVE the coral colored ones. I have marked each one with the color of the plant so that when I collect seed I can keep them separated. I plan to bring the pot inside should it get cold before all the seeds are ripe enough to harvest. They look like little parrots don't they? Do the ants love yours too? Let me know if you'd like any of the colors I have OK?

Kim - are you 100% sure they come true to color?

Oh goodness Pirl, I have NO idea. This is the first year that I grow them but now that you mention it, the bees go from color to color when they visit so I'm sure I must be going to get "mixed breeds"? Maybe labeling them was a total waste of time *lol*. Man.....I love learning something new everyday. Someday I will be a "real" gardener *lol* and not some "redneck" backyard goofball *lol"

Just plant them in small pots. When they bloom tuck them in the ground exactly where you want them.

That's a great idea too. Mine didn't get as tall as they can because i have them in a window box. I also have been growing them in full sun....duh. Next year I will put them in the ground someplace shadier than where they are that's for sure! Thanks for the tips, friend :)

Love that Fancy Frills, Al !

Ngam, you have SO many beautiful roses! I'll bet it smells heavenly in your gardens.

To my delight, my backyard was butterfly central today ;-) I don't know which this one is, but it's the first time I've seen it in my yard.

Al, is there much variation in color among all those pink Echinaceas you have??

These guys are much easier to photograph than the Monarchs. They are beautiful and fearless. This guy was going back and forth between the buddlejas and the zinnias, taking on any bumblebee that got in his way, and winning. I watched him land directly on top of a couple different bumblebees, then chase them away.. neat.

This is me trying to be artistic. And failing, lol. Today was a gorgeous blue-sky kind of day here in PA.