Mary, your poppies are lovely, and the pictures are wonderful ! I also hope the beer bottling went well.
POPPY Blooms 2013
Yup. Got about 40 bottles. Now we wait three weeks and put them in cold storage but they will be ready to enjoy. Thanks all.
I could use a Dragon or a Guinness right now! LOL! Mary the new camera is doing great, or should I say you are doing great with the new camera. Very lovely pics. My sister use to beat up a couple eggs and add some condensed milk to the stout and blend it up. Delish!!
I have never heard of Dragon but after drinking Smithwicks while in Ireland I tried Guinness and love it. Heard Murpy's was better but tried it and it is wimpy compared to Guinness. I will mention your sister's additions to the stout to my daughter then go out to the brewing store and talk with them about measurements. Sounds interesting.
I intend to actually read the manual on this camera. I love taking really good striking pictures of things, primarily flowers. They offer such a variety of nuance. Color, shades, backgrounds, textures. It will be a short lived pastime as winter will be here in a few months. Then maybe I can transition to larger scenes as the path I walk my dog on offers a whole new range of pictures. Things have just begun popping here with the cool air and moisture. The dahlias are really surging. I have four peonies with definite buds that should produce flowers and maybe one or two more. And also annuals and the lesser perennials that can be really striking like Alabaster.
I will be out of commission as of Wednesday for a week or so due to some minor surgery. But it generally doesn't hold me down for long. Mostly have to fight myself to stay still and rest when I want to charge out into the yard.
Mary, best of luck with your surgery, and I wish you a speedy recovery.
Mary I second Cem9165 on the best of luck with the surgery and we hope for a speedy recovery. Dragon Stout is brewed in Jamaica. My peonies are done blooming over three weeks now. I am inclined to think that your zone is closer to four or three.
Anchorage as a whole runs from a zone 3 to a zone 5. The zone 5 is a small patch by the coast in a microclimate which is where I live. Things have been dreadfully slow here due to really cold and wet spring. Although Mackinac Grand bloomed almost right on time but it seemed to weather the spring with no problem. All else is slower than usual.
thanks for the well wishes. Will be back in form very soon.
I caught this bee just hovering over a red poppy.
Mary nice catch!
Really enjoy that pic , here also ... nice!!
Ahhhhhh, Mother Nature at her best!
Here's another pretty one ....
It looks more a full carnation or simple peony. Just beautiful.
Very pretty PAgirl, which one is it?
Mary, I hope everything went well for your! Feel better soon.
Yeah. I am okay. Just stiff, sore and itchy from the tape. I still have been watering and pulling a weed here and there. I will have some new picture perhaps Monday. I take them and upload them onto my computer but haven't had the time to work though them. Daughter had a garage sale in our driveway so had to help with that.Now it should be just rest and stay off my feet.
Mary, glad to see you are up and moving around. Take it easy!!
Thanks Mike. Will do.I feel like a sloth --- Just call me "Sid" lol
Ditto, don't over do it. Follow your doctor's orders, and take care of yourself! The garden will be fine.
I'm a newbie to this forum, but I'll chime in. After having re-read the posts ... I agree with everyone. Take it easy on yourself, Mary. I had gone for 2 minor medical procedures on July 2nd, and three days later I couldn't refrain from puttering around the garden. Hubby caught me and scolded me like one would a naughty child! But he was right, I was doing too much too soon. Jane :>)
I am feeling much better today. I think I just overdid on Saturday helping Laura with her garage sale. It's funny that my back is what was hurting so much not the area they 'worked on'. Anyway. I still walk through the garden and in the afternoon sit by the pond with my book and small glass of wine but never read. I just watch the fish, look around the garden and keep adding to my list of chores for when I get back to normal. That should be the middle of August if I am lucky. By then I am looking toward getting the beds ready for winter. Oh, no frost til Sept sometime but I want to sketch out what perrenials are there and which I can dedicate to poppy beds.
Got another 2. The red is Flanders or red corn poppy. Originally thought it might be Oriental, but did some reading up online and definately red corn. The pale pink is a double shirley, according to the seed package.
Oh the double shirley is to die for. I just love how delicate they are.
Thanks, Mary. Glad you're feeling better. Got a question for you. Since we are almost the same zone, what month do your Oriental poppies bloom? I have a plant in my garden (for the past two years, never bloomed) that is putting out steady slow growth ... now ... in mid July. It did this last year around the same time too. By late Fall it's still very green and the leaves look good. It just never seems to get past this stage. It dies back during winter, then come spring it starts re-growing again, but it just doesn't grow gangbusters! How do I make this plant happier? Any suggestions?
I am no expert on the orientals. In fact I only have two. Princess Victoria Louise and an orange one that I can't get rid of .I think that they need to be dug up and split up every so often. I have had no trouble doing this but I have read hear that others have not had much success in the same process. I just dig deep to get it out, dig a deep hole to replant then water like heck. I know they need lots of sun. Or maybe yours are too old and need splitting. Not sure. I bought a new one this year planted it where I had the one I was trying to irradicate. It isn't doing very well. Not sure why. I have never fertilized them but you would think they would need it as big as they grow to be. Afraid that is about all I can think of.
Another one opened today. It's a nice way to start the day!
Gorgeous. I don't have any white ones. A nurseryman told me once that any white flowers are more delicate. Like begonias. Red and yellow are pretty though but white can be picky. True to form my red and oranges are blooming like mad and not a white one in sight. What is the name of your white poppy?
PAgirl60 you have some pretty blooms on your poppies.
Oberon & HazelCrestMike B,
Thanks, for commenting on my poppies. My white poppy is just another of the blooms I've gotten from a package of SHIRLEY POPPY DOUBLE MIXED COLORS. I like to think of them as "surprise poppies" lol
Got another ...
