Whats Blooming outside your door part 3

NW Gordon...What a lovely monkey flower!!
Yes, I call things by their common names....

The backyard raised bed is rife with color today. What has been covered in poppies in years past has this year decided to invest itself with foxglove, penstemon, delphinium, salvia and a host of other lovelies, and not a few weeds.

Balvenie, what a true cottage garden!!

WillieB, sometimes we get ourselves in trouble with those pesky common names that overlap (Golden Chain Tree and Golden Rain Tree). And some of the latin names are kinda fun (like witekaka - hee hee).

The dracunculus stinks real good, but it only lasts for a day. Not a very long pollination period, but it had flies buzzing around it. The flower will still be open by Friday. I won't be here, being the 4th family bbq at mom's. But stop in and check it out. It's right in the front yard, you can't miss it. Don't worry if no one is home Kathy, wander around, but don't take to many cuttings!

Okaaaaaaaay. Tee hee (too many means just so you can't see what I took, right?)

So I guess it will be done stinking by tomorrow? Do you have it by an open window? How bad is it?

The amorphophallus you gave me is doing great. Thanks again.

another poppy

Common names are good for somethings, but I have a dozen plants all called cobra lilies but are three diffrent genus.And they are similar, but look diffrent.Here is an arisaema, similar but quitw diffrent flowering and size.
But if I can use the common name I do, much easier to spell and say!

Poppy pix #3

It doesn't smell that bad, unless you stick your face in it, then it smells real bad!! I had to at least once! It smells like rotten meat, I mean decomposing dead animal in 100 degree heat after a few weeks, real bad! But from three feet away you an't even smell it. I've added more since you have been here last, so stop in when ever!

Well, if my memory fails me at the moment, I will use the common name! I am learning more of the botanical names. That part of gardening has been hard for me, but I am working on it.

Thanks, Gordon. So from three feet you can't smell it. Interesting. More plants!! Eeek. I meant to tell you that I'm enjoying the milk can you gave me tremendously, too. It's in one of my front beds. Frankly, I'm surprised at how much I'm enjoying seeing it every day as I drive up to the house.

WillieB - I don't know what it is, I can't remember a lot of things, but botanical names are starting to stick. What's with that? I'd prefer to use a little of that space to keep track of my car keys . . . Love the ruffliness of those poppies - they look kinda like very tall peonies. Beautiful.

Here is another of the poppies.
I like the ones that have several shades of color in them.

Yes, some of the poppies are the peony type. That is what the originals were.
Here is one of them that is super double, like a peony. Most of them are tall., even up to about 36 inches. Course, part of that has to do with the fertilizer I use.., Dr Earth! It has lots of good stuff in it. Build up the soil.

Oops! That was not the one I meant! This one is such a dark color.

Here is the last poppy.

It is the hard part. Easy to see a plant and go OOOHHH! I want the pretty pink one! But realy hard to tell someone about it on line. Even if I don't have a clue what you mean saying a plant name , I can google it, or look it up on plant files. At least on plant files you can use the common name, but you still come up with multiple listings. Try umbrella plant. I got a plant that said umbrella plant on a hand writen tag. But no idea what it was. Turned out to be darmara peltata. So keep learning! And there is nothing cooler walking in to the nursery and asking them if you have an amorphophalus and getting that blank look in their eyes, having no clue what you just said!!

Willieb, those are the best poppies I have ever seen. Dr. Earth, huh? I have been a cow manure guy myself, but I live in Snohomish, $20 a truck load.Good to be a local! But if you can grow 3 foot poppies with double and triple blooms, I'm willing to switch!

Nice Poppies! I didnt even know about Opium Poppies until my trip to WA, they are gorgeous and now on my 'MUST HAVE' list. do you have the names of those poppies? where do you get them?

I was amazed to see that there are foxglove growing wild all over WA! you all are sooo lucky! I have tried and tried to grow them here. Just bought one for $10 at HD before I left for WA, and it promptly wilted in that horrible heat wave we had. I am still trying to nurse it back into an upright position.

The foxglove really do like the shade - I have some that have lasted a month - I think I've found the perfect spot for them. Now I need some other colors.

hmmm, I have mine in morning sun, afternoon shade. maybe I should move it to shade....

I bought this at a Heritage Rose Garden. I'm pretty sure it's called Tequilla Sunrise. This is almost fully open.

And this after it is fully open.

Names for my poppies and where I got them...
Well, no, I do not have names for them.
Where did I get them? I started out with seeds that I bought. One packet was called peony type poppies, or something like that, about 5 years ago - or so. There were also seeds that I collected from someone else's yard.

I let them reseed themselves over the years since I started them.
The different forms and colors are how they hybridized themselves - that is the only explanation I have. Each year they change and become more gorgeous.

I do save seeds from them.. : < )

Clematis on top of my gazebo at day break. Getting ready to bloom
soon . Yeah!

How's this for weird? I've always thought of Foxglove as a shade plant, but these appeared on their own and get full, hot afternoon sun! They have been gorgeous, too.

I think I misstated - the foxglove will last longer without so much sun. And they like rich, humusy soil that stays somewhat moist (who doesn't?).

I think, though, Anjl, that Fremont sun is hotter than ours, so you'd want to treat yours a little differently (i.e. mimic our conditions if you can).

They also seem to enjoy protection from surrounding plants - it keept their roots cool. Sort of like clematis.

Beautiful flowers, Carole!!

Foxgloves - yes,they do like partial shade and moist places. But that is not always true about them. I have seen hillsides covered with them - in the full sun! They seem to like areas that used to be forest that have been cleared. They grow at the edges of clearings. And they do grow along damp areas - are larger with the moisture.

Foxgloves are biannuals. They usually die in the fall after blooming. Except some of them seem to be partially hardy after the second year. I have a white one in a big pot that is blooming again this year...Don't know if I will still have it next year.

I will save some seeds this year - if anybody is interested in some.

Then there are the perennials, that bloom year after year. Make sure the tag on them states that they are perennials.

Years ago, I found one that had a saucer shaped flower as the terminal flower (top flower on the stalk). I dug it up (in a waste area) and planted it at home. Saved seed and had more with the "sport" flower, but each year it got smaller and then was no more.!
Would sure like to get another one like that! A seed catalog had them pone year. But never again!

Found another poppy picture, taken last week.

Absolute Treasure Daylily.

Beautiful pictures.

WillieB I would love to get seeds... willing to trade too :o)

Look what else is 'blooming' in my garden :o)

DGS went 'discovering' :o)

Anjl..Your grandbaby is so cute. Teach her young to love nature!! Your garden is just wonderful. I can't believe how tall
your glads are by the fence ! Wow!

Murmur.. Love the foxgloves and your entire flower bed! Just my kind of garden. A bit of everything!!

I have some pretty poppies coming up all around my place.
These were from some old seed I found and scattered..not knowing if they were still viable. Guess they were still good. Glad I did not throw out the seed...

This one is very petite. Only about six inches tall and the bloom is no bigger than a quarter with a very slender stem. Not sure how it stays upright..but so cute!

These are beautiful also...

These I call the twins. The Eiffel Tower rose. Once established it is a huge & tall rose bush with "long stem" roses.
Great for cutting and bringing indoors. I am just waiting for the bush to catch up with the roses, which are taller than the bush right now. Looks kinda silly..

Gordon - you had a couple pictures of flowers that you weren't certain about - I think they're both lilies. Right now the Asiatics are in full swing, and the Orientals will be starting in another couple weeks. Of course, that depends on where you live.

Willie - I grow my O. P's in gravel - they put on the most spectacular blends of colours. They have done best for me at the edge of a driveway or walkway, in gravel or gravelly soil. They have normally grown to 38 - 40" tall, and those grown in lean conditions have been the most colourful. Yours are very nice. the birds consumed much of the seed i cast, so i don't have but a few this year. Little buggers love the seed...

Digitalis/Foxglove - i have many in my orchard, full sun. A few of them have passed 7' height & look like shrubs. Also - there are some perennial types. I have one - could be D. ferruginea or something like this. Flowers are much smaller, but completely surround the stalk & flower over a very long time. Full sun, moist soil, with daylilies & Heleniums.

The varieties of digitalis are endless! The D. purpurea types will grow just about anywhere you plant them. Full sun. rich soil. lean soil. Full shade. They grow, they bloom. More water and richer soil will give you a fuller plant with bigger flowers. I'm starting to pull them out because there are too many. I've tried to grow some of the nice D. purpurea varieties but they always cross pollinate with the wild types (which came over from England and are not native here, by the way) so I only get the true colors the year after I sow them. Here's one that came up by itself and I just love it. I am going to collect seed, but I fear that it will not come true. Lots of times you can get baby plantlets from the base of the plant, so I am hoping for that to happen.

This is Digitalis parviflora which I grew from seed. It's supposed to bloom in the second year, but these took three years. I'm excited!

Here is D. obscura, also from seed. I love the flower form and color on this one, but the growth habit is really irritating. It's very lax and has a tendency to flop on the ground. Probably my soil is too rich for it. It likes a leaner mix I think.

I went a bit crazy with the digitalis seeds last year, I fear. This is D. thapsi, Spanish Foxglove. I'm liking it, and it's liking where I planted it.

I grow a lot of D. ferruginea and when I saw a special cultivar of this plant I had to have the seeds. The flowers are a bit larger, as is the entire plant,, and they have this nice pink cast to the edges. You can see a bumble bee in this one.