Lets see New lilies sprouting #5

I have one speciosum Alba but it is really in a bad spot. It grows but is short and didn't flower last year. I should just dig it up now that I have found it and give it a better home. How do you keep the pots from getting too much rain....oh, that's right. You guys don't get rain. Hope that has changed.

I kept killing off speciosum uchida after a couple of seasons because I didn't realize that it really needs acidic soil. It would bloom and not come back, but I loved it so much I kept ordering three. B&D lilies had it for about $5.00 each, which in the world of lilies is hardly terrible. This spring I am going to do it again and put them in a pot.

I always put the lilies I am potting in terra cotta pots. If you water them often the excess just drains off. So do deluges. We have been alternating deludes with 90 degree weather. This morning it was 57 degrees! Then it hit 85. The annuals and tender perennials I have started from seed seem to love it. So do the roses.

Dimension

Donna, that is what I had read about geraniums. That you should pot them in terracotta as they stay more uniformly moist and dry out uniformly. Man, I have a lot of plants in plastic. Would hate to think of the cost of pitching them.

Just when I thought the lilies were gone, I got this surprise.

This was somehow not my best lily season. i don't know how the lily beetle missed this.

Take a look at the next lily to see how I entertain myself when there's not much else.

I know I can't change Mother Nature, but I do my best the make lilies last forever. I take photographic license.

mstella ! That dimention is beautiful. I have them They bloom here in late June.The global garden here, gives us a second chance to see the beauties before snow flies.

mstella - scary. I just dug up geranium biokovo and put it in a pot two days ago. I'm going to do the same with my others. I have them at the feet of roses and it's gorgeous but they get very dry. At its peak it's lovely. One season after installation, at the feet of Zephirine Drouhin.

I have the opposite problem you have. I must have 100 terra cotta pots in all sizes. And they really have to be protected in winter in my climate, or they crack.

Cathy, very funny! Is that speciosum?

Very nice Dimension pic, the water droplets lend it a special 'dimension'.

No, I think it is "After Eight" or possibly Stargazer. The white margins vary in width. They're obviously my favorites, so that's what I buy each year. This one is in the garden, but I put lots in pots to gift. As long as they have good drainage, they winter well in (plastic) containers.

Cute, jmorth... I like to catch flowers with rain droplets. It adds a sense of motion, um, activity? Don't know how to express it. Not just a fixed picture of a flower, but the day to day process of rain, sun, etc. I took a nice picture of a clump of Snow Cap daisys in the morning with dappled sun on it. Same idea only with sunshine.

Orania, Division 8: Other Hybrids, Orienpet

Mstella, the enlargement of that image of Orania is a knockout!

It really is beautiful and huge. And the perfume is wonderful.

Just lovely!

I love the coloration on the back of the petals. Very beautiful.

More!

All of my lilies in the ground have bloomed but two late acquisitions - minatures, in pots, were yet to bloom. Here is ' Tiny Hope': dedicated to Donna Mack as today marks attainment of yet another milestone in life's grand adventure...

Hmmmm, now whatever could that mean? Very pretty lily also.

Dropping in to wish a very happy birthday, today, to DonnaMack! Hope you have a wonderful year filled with beautiful lilies.

Arlene

Happy Birthday, Donna!

I don't have a lily, but Happy Birthday Donna anyway. (Blue Star Dahlia)

Oh, thank you one and all. I wish that you could see the big sloppy grin on my face!

Donna

Donna, I hope you've had an amazing day. Happy Birthday, and may you be Blessed to see many more. Annette

Thank you Annette. It has been a lovely one.

Donna

Happy birthday, Donna. May you have a new year filled with many lilies.

Thank you Polly. I'm a bad girl. Already placing orders.

Nothing bad about that! Order some great ones!

Pearl Lorraine, August Ruby and Red Alert so far. Faraway Flowers has some amazing ones this year.

Sounds like you have it for the reds this fall.

I had alway been very pastel. Then I discover the power of red in a cool color garden. I like to plant them with grasses, which hides the stems and almost makes the lilies look like butterflies. I got Hiawatha because it echoes Ariadne, and added Red Alert, and later The Vamp. POW!

I planted some grasses, karl Forester, Blue Fescue, and blue Oat Grass. I ended up with little tufts of grass growing my in paths (a mossy path with wooly thyme and odd flat stones) where I didnt' want it, as well as in the flower beds. I tried cutting it before it went to seed but decided to get rid of the Karl Forester. My beds aren't deep enough to accomodate them and the flowers. Yours look just beautiful and what I would love to have. You are really good at design and seeing patterns in gardens. I can do that with spreadsheets, databases, and office proceedures. Patterns and flow, but I am darned if I can do it with a garden. I try to keep the tall stuff to the back and that is about my best effort.

Ornamental grasses and lilies. A girl after my own heart, Donna.

Miscanthus is pretty much my favorite, but I love, love, love Molinia Skyracer.

Thank you so much for saying it, you two. It means a lot to me. It's funny. I'm terrible with my hands. I can't paint. I can't sew. But I just love texture and design. I basically find what I love and find a place to put it. I really started with grasses, and then ornamental trees and shrubs. I found by accident that grasses hide a lot of flaws in other plants. And small trees are wonderful, because you can put a lot of them in even a small yard. When I discovered lilies, I found that you could pop them all over the place and even co mingle similar types in different colors.

If you want to see a rocking designer, check out Pam in Chalfont, PA. She has some design in her background, I think, and she understands texture and color like an expert.

a men

Definitely. I've seen Pams threads. Her gardens are wonderful.

My only problem with grasses has been cutting them back in the fall. But now I have a strong young man who does it for me. Those miscanthus can be a chore, right, Donna?

A strong, young man to do the hard work ~ isn't that every lady-gardener's dream? ;)

How I miss Neri! He dug out so many hollies and butterfly bushes gone insane and then moved this hydrangea and three others. He has called from Guatemala and says he misses us but not as much as we miss him!

He's gorgeous, too, Moby. Unfortunately he's only 16. He has the most beautiful big brown eyes. And he's polite, can you believe it.

Its hard to admit to needing help.
I will have a helper on a "as needed" basis. I thought to only have him spread compost but as time goes by in the garden I am finding other jobs for James.
Moveing a huge hellebore,planting clematis.
His father was a professional gardener and he worked with his dad.
My first most important question was "Can you identify perennials"? he said he was a High maintenance garden ,gardener.

You did well, Jo Ann. I loved having Neri since he knew all his plants, annuals, perennials, bulbs and vegetables. The only one he wasn't familiar with until he arrived was Houttuynia but he hasn't forgotten it!