What is happening in your early summer garden?

WOWZA !!!!! lookin' good : )

love the fluffy Callistemon 'Jeffersii' and the Lotus crassifolius var. otayensis is so pretty !

(thanks for the link ima, I'm ok with any color popping up)

Beautiful, ecrane!

I bought a new camera yesterday and as soon as I figure out how to use it, I'll post some new pictures. I think I need a class in photography now. Wouldn't want to have features I paid for just sit there unused.
Randy

Nice thing about digital - you can take hundreds of practice photos and just delete them! I should use my own advice. :-}

I'm so lazy about figuring out my camera--it has this "intelligent auto" mode which figures out the best settings for most things automatically, so I pretty much always just use that setting and have never bothered to figure out anything else!

ima - thanks again for the link, I just ordered 8! Already received an email that they will be shipped Tuesday, great customer service.

Cool! Hope they do as well for you as for me!! In our heat they die down mid-summer, but come back when it cools off a bit in the fall.
Just in case you don't know this, you pull out the entire stalk when you pick the blooms or deadhead them. I didn't know it, and I think that's one reason I didn't have much luck with them the first couple of times I tried to grow them. Now they just thrive!! I've read they can be invasive. I'll take it. Invasive and gorgeous I can handle....LOL!

no, I didn't know that.... I had one in my old garden and it would die completely to the ground when the temps would drop below freezing and come back in the spring.

5 are going in the slope, I don't care if they spread - I hope they do ! Thanks for the tip, I would've done it wrong.

I've been growing them for a while and have never had issues with them spreading out of control. I know that the species Alstroemeria psittacina has a reputation for being invasive, but I think the pretty hybrids may be a little better behaved. And then you throw our summers on top of that and I don't think they'll become too much of a problem!

Great plants guys! What fun to see the color. This is rose 'Portlandia' (which I'm not crazy about because the blooms fade too early) and clematis "Negritianka".

doss, you and ecrane always have wonderful plants and combinations!!

ecrane, don't worry about the hummer photos. I just posted a whole bunch. You should post the photo of X Chiranthofremontia lenzii (with a ladybug visitor), on the macro page. Good photo! Loved the tour of your yard. Been working hard trying to get mine in order.
DP read the manual. Practice doing what it says. Use delete button. I took about 400 photos the other day and ended up keeping maybe 100. Even still some of them aren't very good at all. Don't give up. The photo forum folks can generally help you out if you have a specific question. Some of the old threads have good info too. Congrats on the new camera! ^_^
redtootsiepop, wow, you learn something new . . .
Doss, love the color combo!
The invasive cone flower I'm trying to get rid of.
WIB,
SW

Sea Lavender.

Lavender colored Lantana.

Society Garlic.

I can't remember if this is plumbago or lobelia. It's a happy bush.

Pink flower with a green spider visitor.

I'm very excited to have a photo of the white sage I transplanted a few years back is blooming. Incredibly small flowers on spikes.

The beautiful yellow iris from the mini RU.
Thank you again!

Kanita's gift of the Monet Iris. I realized, the photo never was posted above.

Don't know what it is, but I found it growing in the gf/turtle pond.
Last one from me tonight.
Been working hard on trying to catch up with yard work.
Happy Memorial Day. Remember those who came before us.
WIB!
SW

Very pretty flowers! The blue one is plumbago, and the pink one underneath it with the spider visitor looks like Cistus.

Thanks ecrane, I always have problems with id'ing those. Sure wish my garden looked as neat as yours. I'm working hard to get things tamed again. Everything went sort of wild this last year or two.
Got most of the courtyard I'm building cleaned off again. DH helped get the fountain going again. I've missed it. I can see it from my kitchen window, Hope the hummers like it too! DH even helped me move some plants back onto the courtyard that were too big for me to move. I'm reclaiming my living space for the summer in the gh. LOL!
I like the way that your Echium 'Blue Candles' look. The Callistemon 'Jeffersii', look like a pink version of the bottle brush plant. You garden is lovely.
WIB,
SW

Thanks! But my garden's not really that neat...I just didn't show you the overgrown jungle parts or the parts I haven't got around to weeding yet! LOL

great weather here this morning for deadheading & tidying up my "meadow garden":

ima, you're just as bad, (said fondly), I think your meadow garden is gorgeous too! Okay, I'll get off my duff, and get to work on my own yard instead of ogling yours. LOL!
WIB,
SW

Imapigeon, a very lovely meadow garden.

Canna 'Orange' is the best I can do with identifying this plant. It made its way under the chainlink fence from my neighbors, then I planted it where it is now. The foliage is awesome and it loves the hottest part of my garden.

Jman, love that Canna! I guess he knew who'd take good care of him. LOL!
All I got today is a balloon flower. Hope it opens up tomorrow. Waiting with baited breathe!
WIB!
SW

This isn't my garden. It's DSs neighbor. I'm just trying out a new camera I bought this weekend.

This is in my garden. But the photo is less than perfect. I still like my Foxglove. One of my favorites.

DP,
Those are good photos, and I know what you mean by less that perfect (in your eyes), loved the pretty rose, and your foxglove is gorgeous, if less than perfect, I can see why it is one of your favorites.
New camera, willing audience, lots to photograph, practice, practice, practice! You're off to a good start. Keep it up. I'm already drooling.
WIB!
SW

Wow, those are really nice and sharp, DP----whadjaget???

Singing Wolf - I guess he did know! The ones on the neighbor's side of the fence looks pretty bleak indeed - they planted two (TWO) Ficus benjaminas about ten feet from our fence. I'm thinking I'll be root pruning for the rest of my days! The cannas over there are no more - I guess they forgot to water them. They might come back if they water them right now.

Desert Pirate - I think your camera works! Those are nice pictures. I need a decent digital camera - I keep using my phone!

Jman, say it ain't so! Tell him DP, we can't have him continuing to be techno impaired. LOL!
WIB!
SW

I spent more money than I should have, but what the heck. I'd have probably just spent it on food that somebody will tell me is no good for me.

I got a Nikon D-40. It's an SLR digital. Took my first 20 or so pictures yesterday. I'll take it to work today. That's where all my blossoms are.

This is another pic of the neighbors wares. Poor Man's Orchid

This message was edited May 26, 2009 5:40 AM

Nice pictures, DP. You'll be having fun.

Ima, I love your meadow garden - what do you use on your path? Gravel or dg?

This Columbine opened this weekend. Pretty little thing.

I rescued this Hydrangea about 6 weeks ago, it didn't have any foliage on it at the time. I think it likes its new home.

My Aggies are starting to bloom. I thinned them out this year, probably have only 25% of what I had last year, but they're healthy.