Lilli.. That is such a cute idea..thanks for going back and getting the picture.
Garden Shots 2- Summer's here, keep those pics coming!
I wanted to have it too 'cause their yard was so pretty... wished I had gotten a closer picture but I didn't want them to think I was crazy. They were home and windows were up.
Here's a pic from the Hampton Court Flower Show in England.
Every one's gardens are so beautiful! I finally have some shots to share. : )
Another
This is my new garden. The Hollyhocks started going down hill as soon as they starting blooming well. I grew these from seed I started indoors late Feb. and they all flowered this year. All the stuff in front are annuals that got planted a month late. Keeping my fingers crossed they'll look good for at least a few weeks before the summer ends. There are fast growing annuals - Zinnia and yellow Cosmos in front. So I should get some blooms. There are Snapdragons that are just beginning to look like they may flower soon.
Here's what's survived the heat in my new rose/perennial bed
Helenium Sunshine Yellow
Helenium Mardi Gras that I haven't deadheaded
Tammy, what an awesome experience! If you start a thread of pics from your trip, please post a link here- I don't want to miss any!
Meredith, your gardens are coming along beautifully! Great Job! There's a plant I can't identify in that first pic, in the foreground with spikes of white, tubular blooms- what is that? Very pretty contrast with other plants!
phlox drummondii,started it from seed ,I LOVE THIS PLANT AND THE COLORS ARE YUMMIE
I obviousley planted the wrong waves,they are growing straight up in the air,wrong color too,thought they were spose to be deep purple,arrggg,making notes for next yr. Ive also seen some other gardens with the same thing happening to the peatunias,I think they were meant to be in a hanging basket.OH WELL,next yr Ill get it right !!
blackberry lily
New rooster !!
stock
Gemini I think you are looking at Delphinium exaltatum - It gave me a few shades of blue and the one that looks white is actually a very pale blue in person. The hummers like those. : )
Meredith79,Your gardens look beautiful,Iam working on changing from rock garden to cottage,its coming along.
huggergirl your gardens are coming a long beautifully! I love that seatless chair with the basket hanging on it! Such a great idea! And your rooster is very cute too : )
Meredith, upon closer inspection of your pic, I see a deep purple-ish one just to the left of the white one. I just looked Delphinium exaltatum, which I'd like to try now that I've read about them. But the plants I'm seeing in you photo have a more tubular looking bloom, or perhaps that's the calyx I'm seeing? The leaves I can see kinda look like Stock foliage.
I am so sorry I am really not sure! lol Maybe you could save the pic and draw a circle around it? The only flowers in there that are white are the LIatris pychostacya but I don't think it is what you are describing? I would love to be able to tell you which it is. It may just be appearing white in the pic? The plants are all so close to each other their foliage could be inter-mingled and tricking the eye : )
Good idea Meredith- guess that would have been simpler, LOL. Anyhow, I've cropped the pic down to highlight the plants in question, now I'm thinking they could be Acanthus, or Bear's Breeches.
And here it is cropped to just show the white one:
ROTFL - those are Lupines gone to seed! He he no wonder why I couldn't figure it out! : )
The plant in the center of the first one is a weed I keep meaning to pull! ha ha : )
Ahhhh, now I see! I've never seen Lupines in person, and have longed to have them in my garden for years. I've tried them a few times with no success, and thought they wouldn't tolerate our hot, humid summers. Having heard of success with them in Ohio, I've given them another go this year, and have some pretty good looking plants. This cool, wet summer we're having may be helping. Keeping my fingers crossed I'll be seeing pods like those next year!
I got 3 lupines from Bluestone last spring. 2 of them died, but the third one bloomed beautifully this year. It is now sprouting some new foliage. I hear they like lots of peat moss.
Not a great picture of mine here -- they were sort of on their way out. I was just thrilled to see blooms! (BTW - the first time I'd seen them "in person"!)
Gemini here is my two cents worth on lupines.. like figaro the first time I planted them they were potted plants, I lost one but the other bloomed and went to seed. They were supposed to be the wild blue type - Lupinus perennis. The next year I started lots more of the Wild Blue ones but also tried some Morello Cherry from seed and lost everyone of the twelve seedlings - some due to cut worms. The others just seemed to die out gradually. They were in a different area of the yard that had never had lupines. I tried the Morello Cherry and ones called My Castle again this year in my new bed - there was at least 6" of what the local landscape place calls super soil. It is basically good loam with a lot of compost mixed in. I have had better results so far, but won't know for sure how much until next year. The wild Blue type have done extremely well this year and the ones that self seeded seemed to do much better than the ones I grew from seed myself. Isn't that always the way though? lol So my two cents is that they seem to do better once lupines have been growing in that spot. I have read something along those lines. Where they are in the pea family, some seed companies recommend using an inocculent with them when direct seeding. If you have no luck, this would be an option. Also about them loving peat moss.. I'm sure that's true if you don't have an acidic soil. My soil is naturally acidic and we actually have to lime the grass areas so no peat moss needed for me. : ) After liming it still was 6.7 and we were recommended to add more. (Only to the grass areas though, I like wildflowers that grow in acidic soils.) Here is a picture of the one white one that popped up out of the blues. They bloomed over a very long period for me. I actually still had a few flowers on some up until about a week or so ago. As you can see I will have a lot of seeds if you want some when they are ready, I'd be glad to send you some. : )
Want to add that the reason I picked the wild blue ones is they are supposed to grow in dry and poor soil, so they are a lot different than the pickier Russel or hybrid types. So may be a better choice if you don't have luck with the hybrid and russel types. They are a native wildflower here in nh. Here is a link to a gorgeous shot of the Annual Lupine festival with the white mountains in the background. http://www.flickr.com/photos/11839524@N07/3624287233/
Thanks so much for sharing your experiences figaro and Meredith. I would definitely like to try those blue species Lupines, thanks so much! I'm sure I'll be doing the Piggy Swap again, so you can just save some for that :-)
Yes thanks for the info.now when I have lupine failure I ll know why.well I wont get my hopes up !!! I have 2 from seed trying to make it.
Meredith, thanks for sharing your experiences and providing this information. Your photo is beautiful -- and I love the wild blue ones in the link you posted! Earlier this season I visited a local iris display garden. There was a clump of maroon colored lupines in bloom amid all the iris. They looked great with the iris.
Boy - I planted some lupines this year too, red ones. I always assumed they were easy because I know they grow in the wild. But now I'm curious now to see what comes back next year. Yours are really beautiful Meredith!
Here is an updated pic with my hydrangeas in bloom now.
So pretty- cool and serene looking. I've really found myself being drawn to more and more to white and greenish blooms. How are your Lupines looking now? I'm kinda thinking if they're looking healthy through their first summer, the iffy time will have passed. I understand they scoff at winter, and should bloom next spring before the weather turns hot.
Gorgeous hydrangeas.
Three years ago I planted several "Limelight" hydrangeas along the street to kind of shield my garden from the view of all the passersby. I added the fence last year and put the roses along it to discourage kids from climbing over to take a shortcut to the creek behind my house. The banana trees are my homage to Victorian gardeners who put something 'unexpected' in their garden to attract attention.
The space is kind of tricky, because much of it is shaded by an enormous walnut tree (limiting the plants that will thrive), yet small parts of it get a half day of intense sun. That challenge lets you put plants in close proximity that one might not think possible.
Nearby, in a bed I use to overwinter the boxwoods I have in pots on the patio and force pots of tulips for the urns, I planted annuals and a red banana tree. Since I use the bed in the winter, I can't really put perennials here.
How do you overwinter your banana trees? Isn't your zone colder than mine - I am 7b? I just planted a Hardy Musa (no other name on its tag), and I don't have a clue how to take care of it. Now I Must Have a red banana.
Love the hydrangea hedgerow with the roses. It makes quite a statement. Your gardens are very beautiful and quite interesting.
In the fall ( before frost) I dig up the banana trees, wash all the dirt off the roots and cut off all the leaves. During the summer they put out 'pups', so I usually take off the larger ones to plant as new trees. They are 90% water, so the trunks are quite heavy, but I haul them to my basement, where I have set aside space in a dark, windowless room. I lay them on the floor for the winter. In late April I bring them out (much lighter then, because they have dried out somewhat) and plant them along my border. I dig a large hole and plant them in composted horse manure to give them a nitrogen 'boost'.
Beautiful, Leawood! The bananas add such a dramatic accent. I'm trying a hardy banana this year, Musa basjoo, I believe is the name. My start came from a plant that has overwintered successfully here in KY, and has increased in one year to an impressive clump.
I have so many bananas (it all started with one, given to me by a garden friend in 1994 - each year there are so many 'pups' I give away several and still have a dozen to plant in my own yard) that last year I experimented by leaving one in the ground to see if I could overwinter it with heavy mulch. I built a low (24") chicken wire fence around the tree, cut it down to the ground, and filled the fence ring with mulch. This spring when I uncovered it, all I had was mush - so much for my experiment (I was hoping I could devise a way to keep from all the digging and hauling to the basement - I'm too old to work that hard!). Some years I get them to bloom and make small bananas, but for the most part, they are just foliage.
oops - another of my photos on it's side.
Gary