and another (unknown):
What's happening in your spring garden #5
and my first daylily of the season:
Kathleen;
You should tell the story of the "BOP" Penstemon. (Or maybe I was the only one who didn't know it.)
I'm having fun seeing all the new to me iris opening up too. This is Fabuleux that just opened yesterday.
Solar Fire
My first Canna blossom of the year.
This Columbine is just loaded in blooms. And there's a Canna in the background.
Nice Columbine, DP. I saw a blue one at Lowe's the other day that was a nice color, but a little straggly so I didn't get it.
The story, straight from Las Pilitas http://www.laspilitas.com/nature-of-california/plants/penstemon-margarita-bop
Quoting:
Penstemon 'Margarita BOP' is a nice tidy perennial that looks like candy tuft or a dwarf boxwood when not in flower, and a mass of bright sky blue to reddish purple flowers when in bloom. (The soil, sunlight and watering all can change the flower color.) Sometimes the color will vary year to year, sometimes plant to plant, usually tints of purple in a mass of clear deep water blue. Penstemon Margarita BOP was a seedling that came up sometime in the early 1980's. It is a hybrid between Penstemon heterophyllus and Penstemon laetus. Every year it would flower and be gorgeous, clear sky blue, fading to purple, at the bottom of our front porch. We've never watered it nor maintained it. Every year we talked about how beautiful, neat, clean it was. The bicycles, skateboards and dogs had run over it tens of times but it still looked good at the Bottom Of the Porch. (This plant will 'key' to P. heterophyllus but we believe it is a second generation hybrid with P. laetus. Seeds are fertile and will come back Penstemon heterophyllus. Many of the Penstemons in the Transverse ranges have forms similar to this, good luck figuring out which species they are!) The original plants died in 1998(after 14-18 years, were not sure.) when a tree fell on it. The arborist parked his rig on the plant, cut and put the wood on the plant, the wood was moved and a cement mixer was then parked on the plant and cement spilled on the plant fixing the retaining wall the tree broke. I figured out the plant was in trouble when I realized the dirt where the plant was supposed to be was 2 inches of cement. (You have to realize this was a very big tree.) So, I killed it. I guess this Penstemon is not quite as tough as I thought, it cant live under two inches of cement for three months. Oh, well I still like Margarita Bottom Of Porch for sunny edges of semi-watered areas. It makes a great blend(foil) with non-native sunroses, native poppies, or Mock Heather.
I actually tried to look up the BOP cultivar on line !!! LOL
Thanks for clarifying the story.
Kathleen: I'm stunned that those water lilies grew that FAST !!!
They were huge, JD! They just needed to get settled and get warm and they all started popping. Some of them already had buds.
BTW, I do see the BOP cultivar in other nurseries now and have seen it listed online, so I'm surprised you didn't find it.
Kathleen.
I enjoyed that story when you told it to me the other day. I figured everyone else would get a kick out of it as well. Thanks for putting it on the thread.
Golden Panther
Iris envy! I detect Iris envy! It's a flaw I'm working on. ^_^
I especially loved the colors on imapigeons unknown.
Now that Penstemon Margarita BOP is exactly the plant I'm looking for to plant in a specific area. I'll have to try to track some down.
Boy KC, you sure weren't kidding about how quickly they grow! I'm glad to see how pretty the pink lilies look in your pond. You have Yellow ones too! Lovely. Sigh.
WCgypsy, feel the same way that you do about the shooting star hydrangea. Mine was doing great in the gh. Until the heat hit. Now I'm going to prune it back. Never did thrive outside. Needed more moisture. Now it needs shade! Probably do well for you being outside what with you being closer to the coast.
DP, I didn't know the story about the Penstemon POB either. Thanks for asking, 'cause now I do! ^_^
Lovely Canna. Mine have barely come up, will be a while before I get blooms. I love Columbines but just can't grow them here. Although last time I tried, I didn't have the gh. Enjoying yours! Sigh. Does this mean you are back from AZ?
Calif_Sue, really great photos of your iris. I especially liked the Solar Fire and the Golden Panther. Gorgeous.
Hope to have something to post later on. Too hot to go out right now.
WIB,
SW
This happened out in my gh today.
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/985623/
I just had to share.
WIB,
SW
What a treat, SW! Very nice photos, also.
Is this beautiful, or what?! Salvia Costa Rica Blue:
Salvia curviflora:
I have it too, it's my favorite one!
(Costa Rican Blue that is, didn't know you were still uploading another picture.)
This message was edited May 8, 2009 11:14 AM
I'm really liking this cistus creticus Lasithi...going to have to plant a whole lot more cistus:
Yes, I've been looking at it more, too, Sherry. Maybe this Fall.
wcgypsy, I love all your salvias. I think I have that blue one growing in my gh. I haven't had any luck when I plant them outside. They always die. : (
I think I have a cistus Lasithi, but I'm not sure. I'll have to go take a photo.
Right after I took this photo of my plumeria one of the blossoms dropped off. By the end of the day the other had wilted. Too hot here, too soon.
WIB!
SW
The last of my Christmas cactus in bloom. Later in the day, the dogs got into a scuffle and knocked the plants on the ground and I lost my blossoms. Sigh.
WIB,
SW
My Poppies and Nastriums are blooming! I can't wait to see the garden in a month or so.
pretty shelby !
My first epi blooms, this is Campfire
My favorite rose, Eureka!
Good name for that one, Sue! Love a true red.
I can take pictures of it every day and not get tired of it!
A scabiosa in the front of the yellow blooming Molineux and the pink tinged Christopher Marlowe, both David Austin English roses. A self seeded euphorbia blooms in the middle.
I don't get in here nearly as often as I sometimes like. It's great gardening weather here today. Just enough May Gray to keep you from burning out. Been at it all day so far and am heading back out now that I've fed myself.
Oh let me see if I can find something I haven't already posted.
I don't thing I've shown you this. It's a rose my youngest son brought home and planted at one of our houses in AZ. (the house he's living in)
Sue, I love your combination in the last photo - just beautiful!
DP - beautiful rose, I am so into the orangey roses right now I can't stand it. I have to tie my hands behind my back at Alden Lane. And, I blame Sue... she put up a pic of her Brass Band and that started it all!
BEautiful combination Sue, as usual. :-)
ARen't all of our gardens doing well?
I'm starting another thread and we're on to early summer!
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/986514/
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