Flower pix part #4

Okay, let's see what else is blooming around these parts. Came from here: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1006166/#new

This message was edited Jul 10, 2009 2:12 PM

Thanks for the new thread. Echinacea. Did I spell it right?

Thanks for the new thread Kyla. I don't know when it is difficult for dial-up users to load a page! If anyone has a problem please say so. You spelled it right roybird. Here is one of mine. I need to get an ID on it though. Bad exposure...

This might be a better pic.

They're both lovely.

I havta get some started.......

Beautiful Echinaceas, roybird and plutodrive. Did you all start them from seed or from plants?

My garden still looks pretty schredded. New lilies and day lilies are blooming surrounded by shredded green foliage. DH's insurance will cover all but $100 of the cost of removing the hail damage from his car. Pretty good, I would say.

That is pretty good, Paja! The echinaceas are beautiful, I have some purple ones just starting to bloom... will get some pics.

Mine were started as plants. They really liked all the rain we got last month. Nice ones, Plutodrive. This one has an onion with it. The onions were all over the place and I cut down quite a few. Pulled up some, too. Sometimes I like them and sometimes I don't!

Those were bought as plants. These E. pallida were planted from seed three years ago and they are finally blooming.

I have heard that Echinacea are easier to grow from seed than from plants. Haven't tried it though. Yours are really lovely, Plutodrive.

They may be easier to grow from seed because these plants have not been stellar. They usually look too dry. However, a neighbor has some very nice ones looking super healthy about 2 houses away. Hers are on the side of her gravel driveway. I think this is strawberry candy daylily. It did not have many blooms but still, first year!

Oooh daylilies! I mentioned somewhere I bought five on sale from a nursery that arrived with a few earthworms as a bonus? The sale was on the condition that it was a kind of grab bag and I don't know what I have, but, there are buds on two of them! I am so excited! ;-) and now hoping the other three will go ahead and send up a flower this season.

Yes, roybird, That sure looks like Strawberry Candy. The blooms often get nicer the second year. Mine here in Los Alamos have mostly been ugly because the hail beat the buds to pieces. The buds coming on now are nicer. Still, I would have been willing to skip the hail storm.

Yes, it would've been good to cancel the hail storm. It is hot here and clouding up every afternoon. So, I am on hail drill alert. Still, there is no way to be home all the time and trying to save everything.

Into every gardener's life a little hail must fall -- to butcher an old saw. It is hot here as well and I don't worry about protecting things from hail. Most years it isn't too bad -- shreds the lettuce which quickly puts out new leaves among the worst effects. This year was worse. Those come every 10 or 20 years or so around here. It is disappointing but not devastating.
My roses are starting to put out new leaves since the hail storm which means they are still alive. Now my biggest problem is trying to get everything planted before leaving for LA!

"to butcher an old saw" Well, I guess that's better than sawing an old butcher.

yuck yuck yuck

At least it won't get you put in jail or worse!

I once saw an old butcher!

LOL! ^_^

Good one, Roybird!

No pictures but I planted kTalia's Maltese Cross and Asclepias today in the back of my lily bed with lots of compost, alfalfa pellets and bone meal. Thank you, ktalia! Also divided some iris and replanted them and planted a new iris named Epicenter. Also hauled of branches to the dump and added a new layer to the new compost pile. It was up to 130 degrees by the end of the day. Wish I had time to add another layer before I leave but I doubt if I will. Well what is there can cook while I am gone.

This message was edited Jul 12, 2009 9:24 PM

You guys are hilarious.
I've been out of town--had to go to a folk festival this weekend and get a dose of Cajun, Cumbia, Croatia, Mariachi, ...
Kyla, was that your morning glory on the previous thread, growing in a pot? Wowzer.

Trompe l'oeil is a fabulous idea for our shed wall. Unfortunately, I'm completely unskilled in drawing & painting. Dahlia, can you draw?

Picante, you would do a fabulous Trompe i'oeil, it just might be more reminiscent of your home dimension than of the more currently familiar earthly one.

Anyways, you could always just paint over the sucker if you didn't like how it came out.

and yes, those are my morning glory babies, aren't they just splendiferous!?

;-)

I grew all my euchs from seed. Easy/peasy. Might your orangy one be Sundown Plutodrive? Mine is much more pinky/purpley orange than the russet orange you see in the catalogues. I had to move my euchs when we ripped out the upper deck. They hated that. They are still alive but sulking. I'm not sure if I will have any flowers this year.

They are easy to start from seeds. Cheap too. That clump above is nine plants. It is Sundown, dahlia. I needed to deduce. Mine is getting darker now. It is too sunny to take a decent photo. I'll do it later. Were your plants big when you moved them? I planted mine close together and may need to move them further apart at some point.

Yes they were big plutodrive and I did it early in the spring when they first came up. Can euchinacea get too crowded?

I get the impression they like to be crowded. Or maybe I just like them crowded! Mine are o.k. this year but usually wish they had more water.

They don't get very wide then? I have them planted on 12" centers. They still have room to grow. I took another pic this afternoon but it is difficult to capture the color.

Mine don't do all that well, though! How do you like my most recent home-made bird bath?, by the way. It is a plant stand and a metal bowl with a rim from a thrift store. I was afraid the metal wouldn't be good for the birds but thought about it and realized that the birds probably wouldn't live long enough anyway! Sad, but true. I do clean it daily.

I like that idea, roybird, and I'm going to steal it. I don't like most of the birdbaths I find in stores (except an occasional super-pricey one).

I wouldn't think the metal would necessarily hurt the birds, depending on the metal.

Very nicely done, Roybird! My only worry about the metal would be how hot it would get.

I did something similar, found a huge old plastic tray for under a pot, probably at least 24" across, filled with water and put a big ole rock in it, it is on the corner of the deck railing.

So far only wasps and a Scrub Jay, and maybe a robin, have found it, but the rock looks nice up there. I was a bit concerned about the plastic for the birds but drew the same conclusion.

I have one that is a big plastic saucer, the kind that goes under a pot. It gets dirtier than the metal and needs scrubbing fairly often. Birds use it all the time. Same with the metal one. The plastic one is in the shade and the metal one in partial sun. The metal is aluminum. So I was kind of uncertain about it. But, the other thing is that birds come and go so we really don't know where they drink. No dead birds around the yard so far. I can't afford the ceramic bird baths here. Even for a glazed ceramic dish without a stand they are around $100. I like to keep my eyes open at thrift stores for vessels that might work or things that could be stands. Also, do we Really know that the ceramic bird baths are glazed with non-leaching glazes that are safe for eating and drinking? No, we don't. Many of these expensive birdbaths are made in countries where who knows what is allowed. Not to mention that birds might not have the same sensitivities that mammals do. My budgies have plastic drinking dishes. Parrots live a long time. I would be more careful if I were setting up bird baths for parrots. But, wouldn't it be cool to have parrots at your bird baths!

It surely would!

Roybird, I know wht you mean about the priceiness of chi chi birdbaths, and yet, searching online I have found some that are less than a hundred bucks, some a lot less, and some made of glass...... in other words, lol, I am still tempted one day to buy one.... but for now my dishes work okay. When the bluebird family was hanging around they used that glass bowl I set in the back. I just think birdbaths are among the prettier things one can have in a garden, aside from the actual plants.

Salvia May Night...

Daylily Russian Ragtime

Ligularia Little Rocket

From June....Allium Globemaster

Oh, very nice!

I have three daylilies with buds on.... no idea what kind tho.

My big Moulin Rouge sunflowers are probably going to be open tomorrow, they were starting to unfurl a petal or two today........ they are giants, wow!

Beautiful!, Edder! Love the alliums. Kyla, I have seen some really pretty glass birdbaths recently, too. Online is a good idea. I tend to buy locally but sometimes it is just impossible. Strawberry candy day lily. One that Pajarito gave me.