August blooms

thank you very much... I have drip lines on those posts... makes life a lot easier.... just turn the water on and let them go... usually walk away in the morning and feed the pups... best thing we every bought

Onewish---

I just did look at your Album.....Beautiful pictures!

May I ask what camera you use???? If it is an SLR--I won't be considering it. Too much $$$ and too bulky...
IF it is a regular digital camera--what kind or model?

I am considering buying myself a new one for X-Mas....need all the input and suggestions I can get....

Thanks, Gita

thank you Gita... it's an olympus evolt e-520 SLR... bulky and not cheap... maybe someone else has a good suggestion for you

http://www.olympusamerica.com/cpg_section/product.asp?product=1386

onewish----

I forgot to add that I especially like how true your colors are. Vibrant! Intense!

I have a problem with blues and reds and purples coming through to true color--but, considering, that i am using a $70 Polaroid digital camera--I think it is doing OK....

Allison

Great photos - I have to ask - what is that in photo #129? I just love it...... Your plants look so lush and healthy.

Also, I really like the puppies!

Carolyn

Gita- we have had a couple of Canon cameras and like them a lot- I generally get better pictures with them than my Panasonic

the time of day really does make a difference Gita... before the sun gets intense early in the morning...or right at dusk are my best times

thank you Carolyn it's Agastache 'Blue Fortune'... from blue stone I like the color... but prefer the larger flowered AGA... I can say it's not my fav.. but anything for the hummingbirds is a winner in my book

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/53425/

I also like the blue agastache are very attractive. Took your advice and snapped pics on this cloudy day.

Finally got some Brugs!!!!

Roses--

That Brug looks very much like mine--but then--pink brugs are a dime a dozen and it is so hard to ID them.....

Jen - great thread and I love your 4 o'clock.

Allison - Blue Fortune - I really like it.... Can I possibly request seeds from both of you or should I not be doing that on this thread?

Here is my agastache. I don't know the name of it - It is 4-5 ft tall, depending on the summer. I received the seeds for this plant in a trade at least 5 years ago....

can do better than that.... I will root a cutting for you AG's are easy to root

I am guessing this is Ramblin' Shades of Pink petunia... loving it!!!!.... with AG apricot sprite & purple pygmy

Allison -

thank you so much!

This is Dahlia Friquolet

Carolyn

Lovely Brugs Teri. My pink with allgreen leaf one still hasn't bloomed, and is fighting the mites like crazy despite several treatments of Ortho Rose and FLower Care, and sprays of neem. Its in a pot but I think I've watered pretty well, it rarely has to wilt. Then my variegated Brugs (thanks Gita) are in ground and have bloomed twice. I also have two or three baby ones of those that are growin g great, and will grow even better now that I found and removed a caterpillar, one on each plant

How ya been Carolyn?

Hey Jen -

I have been great, how about you? Went out to visit my sister last week in Chicago and had a blast.

I am already thinking about next years plant swap! Are you?

I'm always thinking about a day away!!! LOL

Sally,

I have 4 Brugs growing this Summer. Two in the ground ans 2 in pots.

The first one I got from Chantelle 2 years ago--that was supposed to be a Charles Grimaldi turned out to be a large plant with nice pink flowers. X-Large would be more like it!

It sits by my shed and has had one or two full flushes.....Here....

Then there is the other one Chantelle gave me---this was labeled as a Dr. Seuss.......NOPE!
This seems similar to the one by the shed---also pink. The plant is very large--has a broad spread of branches....
Don't have a picture....
This one has also been fighting some kind of Spider mite chewing...I have sprayed twice and, for now, the leaves seem to be OK.

Then I have a real Dr. Seuss. Got the cutting from a friend that I had given a Dr. to before....
She has a sun room and this thing was blooming all Winter...I visited her and cut off a stem and rooted it last fall.
It has grown nicely--an has had a couple of blooms. Right now, it has a lot of buds on it.....

You can see it growing in the middle of this bed......I LOVE this bed!
Aren't all the Coleus just the cat's meow????/

And--lastly--I have a new Maya coming along....
Went to the Cylburn Arboretum's "Market Day" (the place I gave my BIG Maya to last year)
and begged for a nicely growing cutting of same...Mark, who remembered me as the donor--gladly gave me one for free....
They had lots of them for sale---for $12 I think....

It is doing well--and had ONE bloom on it so far. I thought I took a picture......???

Here it is....

She's gorgeous. Mine would be that size and that pretty if it did NOT have lots of caterpillar munchings. Sooo, next spring I can ask 15 from my (non DG) friends for these babies!

Sally--

You know if I had one ready--I would give ti you!
Not sure it will by this fall--it is too young a plant to chop upon....

I have two of the unknown pink ones growing NOW--as we speak!
IF you are coming this way--drop by and it wil be yours!

Gita

Gita, always so generous. I have two big Mayas and two babies myself, about the size of that one of yours. That's about all I can handle! I have some old friends I used to work with, I would not mind asking THEM for a couple bucks for one of my brugs, if it weren't holey from the caterpillars.
And all will be very happy with this rain. I sure hope all the region is getting some rain. We have had two downpours today.

Sally,

Sorry about all the caterpillar damage.....I don't think I have seen any here--but your Garden is a lot more of a "natural" setting. More free-style...You have woods and open spaces nearby--I do not...

I jumped into a discussion on the Brug Forum in a Post called "The sky is falling" and now there is a bit of a discussion going re my Maya.....I believe there has been a misunderstanding. Read Bettydee's post....

http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1122046/

My Houseguest just left after sitting around here for 6 weeks....same guy that came last Summer....An OLD--OLD friend....but we no longer have anything in common. His sister and her husband had so much going on with the husbands own sister dying of cancer--that they could not "jump in" and have him over to their house (in Elkridge).
I am SOOO behind on my garden work because of all this....it was almost like a forced idleness for me....

Have a lot of deadheading and pruning to do. Lots of seed-collecting also--from the monster Cleomies....
I would like to just cut back the tall stems and let some of the lower growth take over...maybe bloom?
They are SO out of place in my small front bed!!!!

Here!

Love this shot---I cannot tell you how impressive all the colorful Coleus is in all my beds.....
All from my small cuttings I had in the Spring........Same for the picture I posted here earlier of my side bed....

OK! have to get something done....gita

Gita, I kind of like the cleomes standing so tall saying "Look at me! Over here! Aren't I beautiful?" They look like they want to just grab anyone who walks near (that sounded like they were attack cleomes). I agree that your coleus beds look fantastic. The ones I got from you are growing well and I have cut a couple and rooted them. Hurray for free plants.

cat--

I agree that the Cleomies are beautiful--BUT--they are too tall for this small bed I have them in. I had NO idea they would grow this big!!!!

Can I share with you all the different kinds of Coleus i have?
It will be about 6 pictures....

Thi is a nice, strong color--but grows a lot taller than the others...

Another one....

I like this one...

This one provides a splash of color in the Garden....

This one grows a moderate size and really draws your eye to it--because of the lime-colored leaves....

This is my all time favorite (of the ones i have). I do know the name of this one---"Alabama Sunset".....

Last one---
This is very interesting--as it doesn't really have "leaves" per say--just this interesting jumble of colors.....
It seems to be a good space-filler...

It would be hard to pick a favorite coleus, the colors are great. The last one, is that one of the newer 'sun coleus' that can take more sun?
I think I prefer the regular but it does add a different texture.

Judy,

I think most of these are "Sun Coleus".....Saved a lot of $$$ taking cuttings from last year....Will do it again----Just that it was a huge bother--as they grew too fast and I had ti re-pinch then twice more....By the time seed-growing came along--I had no place to put them....
The only color i am missing, that I really love, is the dark reds and maroons....I love those....

Do you have any interesting ones? There are SO many!!

.

Your beds are looked fabby, Gita
Everytime I see a Coleus I want it(all Allison's fault!!! LOL)

Thanks, flowerjen---

You know what I consider a real "miracle"?
In the Winter--ALL my beds are bare. Nothing but level dirt....
Then Spring comes--and slowly but surely, all the beauty emerges from below--all in their own time....
Then things wither and new things bloom.....
Then I plant some annuals--and the canvas is complete.....It is a Miracle!!!!

I am shamelessly self-promoting when it comes to posting (again and again) the beautiful Poem I wrote to my Garden.....It still takes my breath away! As if it emanated from someone else's Heart and Soul...
May I?????


The Garden Wakes…..
(Gita Veskimets-- April, 2007)

The Garden wakes--
It's breast heaves slowly.
With all its dormant strength
it takes a breath
and blows away the remnants of Winter.
And it feels renewed.

The Garden wakes--
It sighs at all yet to be done
and hopes of glorious things to come.
It drinks in the dew in the morning
and the rain of the night.
And its thirst is quenched.

The Garden wakes--
It wipes the sleep from its eyes
and is blinded
by all the glory and the color
that laid beneath the earth so long.
And it revels in things well done.

The Garden gives--
Unselfishly--of all the bounty it has cradled
in it's loving arms;
And at days end
it rolls itself up in the green, green grass
And it rests.

The Garden sighs--
The burden now heavy on it's chest.
It gasps for cool air
and thirsts for refreshing rains and soothing nights
that now come so seldom--
And it tires of the effort.

The Garden struts--
It’s wondrous wardrobe of the Fall,
lovingly embroidered with the colors of the setting Sun,
and feels that it was a job well done.
And before the golden yarns unravel from its cape,
it lays its head on the soft, fallen leaves—

The Garden sleeps.

:::: running and hiding from Jen ::::

Very pretty Gita.


You funny, Allison!!

Sally that Pulmeria is just gorgeous. What are you going to do with it over winter? I have been thinking of getting a few but the house is pretty crowded already.
Beautiful pics Allison.
LOL Jen that Allison has converted all of us into Coleus lovers. LOL
Carolyn beautiful Dahlia, I never did get my saved Dahlias out till very later and none of them grew. Maybe I will get more for next year.
Roses beautiful Brug, I didn't plant any of those this year either. So many things I didn't get too earlier this spring. Hows the hand doing?
Gita beautiful poem.
I love the Blushing Susie vine growing with this coleus pot.

Passion Flower, Man Sally you were right about this one it pops up all over. LOL