May 2009 in the Garden

Soils, such wonderful flowers! I love that yellow flag iris of yours.

I posted some annuals here.

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/982535/#new

Hi Yardqueen!!! I thought you were ignoring me.. LoL!
Pleased to hear you are enjoying a lovely spring in the garden. You have a fantastic collection of plants!
How are the Cannas doing?

Dianne, Tritonia, looks pretty I haven't seen it before have I ? did you have it last year? Your garden is Bloomin' lovely!
Blossom, your Iris are stunning, IRIS!! (your new name) lol. Haven't put my bulbs in yet!!
dalfyre, lovely Campanula, haven't seen one that colour before.

My forget me nots have gone over, they are my next job to do in the garden. Pull them up and put my new plants in!

Foxglove and Weigela

Foxglove close up!

Weigela close up..

Little Azalia my SIL gave me last year..

Roses, Blue Mooon and I don't know the name of the red one! but they both smell lovely.

bit closer on the roses...

There are loads of bee's around the chives, don't know if you can spot one? lol!

There are so many Beautiful flowers on this thread.......

Stick some in a vase, no excuses. LoL!!! http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/989496/

Those lavender roses are outta this world lovely. Watsonia??? now that really is a new one along with the and I like that white iris it would look great in an arrangement hint!
Isn't it great to see so much in bloom and the season is just getting underway.
Now Terri, why do you pull up the forget me nots? Where do you keep them until next year? I am lazy and just end up planting things on top of each other, you are quite the organizer if you pull and then replant.

This message was edited May 26, 2009 12:06 PM

Hi Candee, I give the forget me nots a shake as I pull them out and they seed themselves everywhere.
They will be back next year!! I don't have that much space to play with in my flower beds. lol

Terri,

I would NEVER ignore you! LOL And I'm glad you don't ignore me either... A lot of people do! LOL
Love the Blue Moon Roses! and the chives... I see 2 bees! Your weigelia is darker than mine... so pretty! Mine is not blooming now, but did earlier. What is the flower in the last picture? I can't quite bring it to mind...

The cannas are doing so much better than last year, at least so far. They are not looming yet, but growing like crazy. Loveing the rains we've had like they did year before last. I do expect blooms this year!

About the sticking in the vase part. I have not had time... I wanted to make some more wreath bouquets also but no time yet. Still planting believe it or not, and mama was here 3 weeks and we took her back and now we are back at her house AGAIN! Got to find a way to convince her that she cannot drive. SHe is 81 and hasn't driven in about 10 years, and now that Daddy is gone she all of a sudden thinks she can drive. SHe also thinks she drove until last year... She has altzheimers and has no business behind the wheel of a car. She hasn't tried it yet because her license is expired. We are going to take her to renew it and make her take a test. She will not be able to pass it. Then she will have to quit bugging us about it!

About the

Oh terri, thank you! Guess my name is changing with the bloomers!! LOL

Yours are stunning too.

I love the bees on the chives! We need more bees here. About the only bee we have been seeing is a big bumble bee. We used to have loads of honey bees but they are dying slowly but sure. Terrible thing we are loosing the pollinators.

Here is our wisteria. Its only half in bloom! Guess the icestorm worked its magic on it!



This message was edited May 26, 2009 6:23 PM

Hi Yardqueen!
Glad we got that sorted out. LoL! Sounds like the Cannas will be flowering this year, everything else has!
Your soil must be good. Sorry to hear about your Mama, so worrying for you. Hope things settle down soon.
The flowers in the teapot in the last picture are Peonies I bought from the supermarket. When I bought them they were in bud and pink, they opened pink and have turned white over the last week.

Hi Iris!!
Your Wisteria is BEAUTIFUL, Merci Beaucoup mon ami.

Sedum Golden Carpet

Dalfyre - yes, tritonias come in a variety of colors. And your description is pretty accurate - like freesias, but no fragrance. The photo that you show looks very much like one. They are short - maybe about 10-12 inches max. Terri - yes, I had some last year, but didn't take any photos. Then I was too slow in picking them this year for any arrangements. The bulbs are pretty consistent in coming back every year.

Candee - Watsonias bloom really well for the people around me - I have had sporadic luck with them. They make great cut flowers though because of their nice tall spikes.

Blossom - lovely wisteria. As I said before, I had one for over 10 years and it never bloomed. I finally cut it down.

Yardqueen - my mom is turning 80 this year. She only drives to church on Sundays, and then takes the bus everywhere else. The bus is free for anyone over 75 years old, so she has been taking advantage of that. She also said that she will not renew her license for the next time. So, she realizes her limitations. Hopefully, your mom will too.

Thanks for the help with ID on that mystery bulb.
I will have to tell Mum, she got them from a friend & only knew that they were not freesias.
Terri this pic is my creeping campanula...

yardqueen, sorry to hear you mum is having problems. Hope you can convince her to give up the keys and use some other means of transport. My folks died at an early age and when I hear stories such as yours it makes me thinks how different my life might have been and what I might be facing now. I hope you and she find a smooth transition to the not driving years.
Dianne, I bet they would make a great statement in an arrangement. Matter of fact I think this year when my hymenocallis ismene bloom, I may just make something of them.
Nice dalfyre, never knew there was a creeping campanula, seems that is what I had cause every time I looked at it in the garden it had fallen over on the ground LOL!
I told you that a good traumatic experience is all the wisteria need sometimes, that is exactly what happened to mine when it split after the storm, best blooms ever. Congrats!

Phew Dianne, I thought I hadn't seen it before, sometimes I get muddled up and think I'm losing my marbles mixing everyone's flowers up in my head!!!
dalfyre, I think I have that creeping campanula but yours looks more blue , mine is lilac.
The rain has been watering the garden for me for the last couple of days!
Hope the sun comes back soon.

I would dearly love a rainstorm now. My automatic sprinkler system for the lawn and my front garden is out, and I have had to hand water for the last three weeks. That is one time consuming job. I have delayed buying one of those oscillating sprinklers in hopes that I will be able to get the sprinkler system fixed soon, so I have one impulse sprinkler that I have to move from place to place. No fun :((. It is going to be 95 degrees hot today.

Soils, you cut it down??? OH NO! It probably was just getting old enough to bloom. The wisteria do not bloom until they are at least 7 years old!

Dalfrye, I love that freesia.. its another one I cannot grow.

Well heres the wisteria again.. ignor my weedy beds this year. the rains have literally made the grass take over. As soon as I can get mowing around here, then I am going to have to start working on those grassy beds.

Oops!!!

I think she better go to the cafe for CUPPA!...

I have 4 vines on my arbor... 2 are China Blue and the other two are a purple that we had at the old farm. The one from the farm and a China on the south side bloom first for some reason then the other two follow. Now the old one from the farm is ancient. The China blue, I got at a local shop, but they were in bloom when I bought.

When you buy a wisteria, ALWAYS make sure it is in bloom. If you do not you will never know if it is old enough.

Now I have heard you can take cuttings off an old plant and they should bloom pretty soon, but if you start by seed.. no way. Then you have to wait your time for the plant to mature.

You can make starts by taking a runner from the parent and put some dirt over it and cut it later after roots are established. You need a little space in the garden to try that though.

So sorry soils, man terri, I think she may have fainted.

I had a wisteria come up in my garden after I have been here about 6 years...
It died down over winter & came up again in spring...
I finally used round up on it because it was in the wrong place...
bit sad but I suspect it might have been chopped out of there years before for taking over.

We had a pair of turtle doves build their nest in our wisteria! They are beautiful birds to watch and they seem to love that arbor. The hub says he thinks there is also a finch living in the arbor. Nice the two birds are gettin along.

Well here is my May Night Salvia. Its a bit puny this season.. Every thing grew so fast and the beds are so full of grass I am having fits on it.

What used to be more "formal" beds here have turned into a jigsaw puzzle mash of all sorts of perennials and grass. I need to eradicate the grass.

So how and when do you prune your wisteria. For some reason I just can't figure out that it "blooms on the second year growth". I think I cut it back too much some years and not enough others as it blooms but never as fully as it did after that storm.

We pretty much just prune it as it gets eyepokers when you walk under it or when its too top heavy. Occassionally we whack it back about half way. Ours seems to grow so fast we can nip tails off it daily. We feed the scraps to the chickens. They love the leaves.

Here is one of my old fashioned iris...

Yellow iris

Peony - pink

Another pink peony....

Pink spiderwart

Rye

Sunflowers -

Sweet William in white

The wisteria again

Fabulous pictures!!!

I must admit I like the pink spiderwart and I was just gonna go pull some of mine!
Sally is that you in front of your gingerbread cottage? What a lovely home.

Yes, that is me. It is called Fulton Mansion. VERY old. Right on the Bay. They had the first cooling, heating and plumbing!

Sally, that is awesome!

Well, I hear we are moving to a new link as JUNE 2009 in the garden is beginning and I am still behind on finishing May, so bear with me before we go there!

Here is the rest and final of my May flowers. Got about 15 to list yet before I can start my Junes!

Here is Babtisia Australis.. its the blue thing in amidst my weeds... (sigh)! Do you all have yours done?