Garden pics " I spied with my camera's eye....." #3

And more wallflowers...

And one final wallflower...

Rj.. Love those wallflowers. I have the purple and was able to find the yellow this year. Must keep an eye out for more colors.

Neo, Heidi at Dragonfly says that the MK is one of the new "in" plants this year. I am not usually a follower, but the tag showed the fall color and I couldn't resist.

Bea, My wallflowers are all seedlings out of Ed Hume's "English Wallflower" seeds. They reseed themselves wonderfully (although never in the spot you would have put them!), and the colors are wonderful! They don't get bushy like the purple ones, but in my opinion are a must have in the garden!

Wow, so many gorgeous leaf and flower colors! That white star magnolia is also spectacular. I haven't been taking very many pictures recently, since either my hands have been dirty, the rain too wet, or it is already getting dark when I think of it. I did get this one a few weeks ago, of my flowering currant. The bed is fairly new, so not filled in yet. I put it in a spot I was agonizing over and hope it works out in the long run.

'Growing like a weed' takes on a whole new meaning when your kid towers over you and passes up his dad at 6 feet as well. This might sound kind of funny, but the drums kind of sneaked up on us. He started out using just a rubber topped practice pad (when he was 7). Then we got the single snare drum the following year, and later on more cymbals and drums of different sizes. Luckily, I don't mind the raucousness of drum practice, but my DH did build an outbuilding where the kid can play music with friends who have electric guitars with amplifiers. That does get to be too much to have in the house. The pic above was at a solo/ensemble contest. My boy did fine, but he never does play his best in those high pressure situations, where he has to get all that equipment onto the stage, play his piece, and get off all in 10 minutes or be disqualified. Also, the top of one of his mallets came loose and went flying into the seats on his final note. Next time, we get new mallets right before a show to avoid that embarrassment again.

I love the current MauryHill! Your son sounds like a great guy. If he's as shy as he sounds, I bet that mallet incident will haunt him for a long time. It sure would me, that's for certain!

Rj, I second everyones sentiments.... love the wallflowers! I need more now. That's not good for my pocket book. lol I really like the pinkish one. I agree that that was a stunning accidental grouping. If tall is what's important for you in a clematis.... then montans wilsonii (or any of the montana's) are perfect for you as the get to be 30 - 50'! I will definitely look forward to seeing your cedar tree 'bloom' lol.

Bea, great pictures. But, I especially like the one of the carnivorous daff!

Yes...it will...

I once flung a 16lb bowling ball behind me on national television.....

I am still traumatized...(send daylilies)

Ginger

Rotflol..... sorry Ginger, I can't help but laugh at that! That vision is a great one. And..... I'm so glad that it wasn't me!

Thank goodness the mallet event was not televised, and thank goodness it was not as large as a bowling ball. Yikes!

cool tree

rhody

acer p. Ukigumo

another rhody.

the leaves of the cool tree.

and the other side of them.

WOW Miss a night and look what happens!! Beautiful pics everyone!!

Irwells......Welcome! Beautiful roses, nice blend. And I love that frog.

I know.... don't you just hate that! Hopefully you were up to something interesting.

Mauryhill and Ginger, My dad used to call things like flying mallet ends and bowling balls "character building experiences". Unfortunately, I have had my own share of character built over the years myself. At least it gives you somehting to laugh about if and when the embarrassment finally wears off!

Mauryhill, love the currant, and can't wait to see what you do with the garden. There is nothing more fun than a new bed to work on!


Beahive, Redchic, and anyone else who is interested...my wallflowers produce quite a few seeds, and although I usually cut the first pods off to encourage rebloom, I am more than happy to leave a few and collect seeds for you. The colors you would end up with would be a crapshoot, but I would collect from the colors that you liked the best and we could cross our fingers! Just let me know if you would like some and I will make sure to save some for you!

Redchic, I really like your cool tree! Especially the reflection picture. That would add great color to a green world in the spring!

Wish I had a macro lens for this. It is so amazing beautiful. And there are at least three flowers on each stem.

This is where I have my Lewisia, in a strawberry jar.

This plant makes a good cover for spring bulbs. I can't remembe it's name. It comes up after they bloom and covers the leaves.

This message was edited May 4, 2009 10:14 AM

The bleeding heart is about 40" high at least and had many babies last year. I just moved a start and this morning it had been dug out by the cat. Darn.

Babies from a bleeding heart? I have three kinds, big clumps, and have never seen a baby.

I let the seed pod stay on the plant until I cut it down in the fall.

Rj..I would love to try growing from seed. I really liked the burnt orange colored one in post 6500228 and the pinkish one is great also. They are all great..so what is easiest for you, I would love to give it a go.

I will have to let my purple one go to seed as one side of the plant was damaged this winter and I would like to have this one again.
It bloooms early spring to the first frost. It is a trooper!

if anyone wants seeds let me know.(if successful collecting that is!)

Pretty Bea!

Willow, your place looks so neat and tidy! Some day mine will get there. some day..... I really like what you did with the lewisia too.

RJ.... I agree completely about the "cool tree". Cedrella Sin. 'Flamingo'. aka Toona sin. 'flamingo'. I love the fact that it's flaming hot pink this time of year. Brighter than any maple! I've been house sitting for a little while and I'm thinking that when I get home that mine will finally be leafing out. I hope anyhow. The one that I took the picture of up above was the inspiration for the two that I now have at home! Thanks for the offer on the seeds, but I usually have bad luck with them. So, I don't want to waster your time. However, if I see seed packets around here somewhere I might just have to give it a shot!

Patricia - is that an erythronium? That is stunning - your presentation is perfect.

Neo - if you're a good mulcher, you generally give up the natural seedlings. Do you lay down mulch in the fall? I have seen some of the beggest stands of bleeding hearts ever this year.

Kathy

I just now noticed the picture that you're talking about Kathy. It is an erythronium and it is soooo pretty!

I agree about the mulching... that's part of why I'm always a little late at getting around to it, if at all. :-p I can't bare to lose any valuable seedlings, so I won't mulch until I can tell what the seedlings are. By then the weeds are huge! If there's a ton of seedlings, the mulching must wait until fall!!!

My neighbors are awesome about mulching. They buy chicken 'n chips, which works into the soil in the spring beautifully, providing much-needed air pockets in the clay.

Each fall they get 10 yards or so and dad and his eldest daughter spread it all in two days. Things look so good during the winter. Someday I'll be there. Right now I'm on my third round of pulling up buttercups and shotweed. And this time around, in addition to those two, there are a couple more weeds I recognize, but don't have the names of. And with all my little arbor day trees (I'll bring some to the swap), I'm now having to weed in the pots. Argh!!

I think that you and are are on the same time line! :-p oh, well. That's not so bad is it?

No, not so bad. I keep telling myself that this makes me humble, as it should be. When it looks the way I want, I can get maximum satisfaction knowing that I "earned" every little square inch of my conquest. :-)

And I'm thrilled that I live someplace where things actually like to grow.

I found some treasures this weekend at Flower World. Most every gallon perennial is 5.99. They also had small shrub starts: P. 'Dart's Gold' in gallon pots for 5.99. That place is amazing. I splurged ($25 for a 5 gallon tub) on a big, hairy and soft-leaved geranium that smells like peppermint. They didn't have a name on the pot aside from "assorted pelargonium". I would like to find out what it is - it's amazing.

Sadly, though, I went to get more Polygonatum and Pulmonaria and those were two things they didn't have.

Thanks Katie and RC. I just love that plant. I will have to divide it this fall and spread it out.
I did mulch last fall, about two inches of compost, and everything came right up through it except not so many weeds.

I think mulching in the fall gives any seedlings a chance at becoming adult plants. I don't think that i've had any luck with any seedlings making it when I've mulched in the spring.

Hold on to your hats all anemone lovers!! I was killing some time on this rainy day and look what I found . It is called Oscar Schoaff’s Rue Anemone. It is just beautiful but for $29.99 for a 3" pot I had to pass. Perhaps they will go down in price one day!


Photo from Spring Hills

I dunno . . . it sure seems worth a few lattes to me. Beautiful!

Wow. It's lovely! However, I think that I'll pass until it is truly the price of just a few lattes for a gal size!

Just found that Heronswood carries it at half the price but they are OOS. Darn! It sure is sweet!

For certain!

That is truly a pretty one Bea. I'm with rc though, good price for a gallon size. LOL

Willow.....love that erythronium!

A little earlier start on some pics for tonight.