Beautiful Lupines! I also can't keep them going but my aunt who lived 30 minutes from here used to grow them every year. She lived at a higher elevation in a wooded area.
winter 2018
Red lupin started from seed in March. I have seen better reds in magazines but it is the best I could find in my seed catalogues. Also seeded yellow but no blooms yet
You started that in March? I think I should give up on starting seeds. All my stuff stayed pretty small this year and a lot of it is just getting chewed down by this and that.
1,2) Japanese garden
3) Oriental lilies in frit perennial bed
4) Carrick Wildon daylily in made over perennial garden. Replaces Queen of the Prairie shown in previous years
5) orange Asclepias in made over perennial bed
Just beautiful! Everything is so lush, in its place and perfect! My stuff is always overgrown or undergrown, getting nibbled by something or falling over! And where are your weeds? Something sprouts here everyday! My lillies have been devastated by lily beetles.
Believe me Loretta , there are weeds! Not sure if we have lily beetles. Had a similar conversation with Sharon about horn worms and she convinced me that we must have them since we have hummingbird moths but i've never seen them.
There are different kinds of hornworms on different hosts. This is the Tobacco Horn Worm at our community garden. I brought it home and put it on my volunteer tomatoes. I was going to pull them anyway. We have snowberry clearwing moths lately but that is from a different hornworm.
Keith, I agree with Loretta - your garden is unreal.
If you've ever noticed, I never post a picture of anything more than a foot away.
And Loretta is rescuing hornworms? I thought they were evil.
Thanks Loretta. That clearwing moth looks like what I have been calling humming bird moth.
Thanks for the compliment Wee. You made a good point. One can definitely hide a lot with closeup photography ! LOL Edit the weeds
This message was edited Jul 18, 2018 10:30 PM
WR, over the years, most of the hornworms I've found were infected by parasitic wasps so they seem to have a natural enemy keeping them under control here. I get a lot of tomato and tobacco weeds so plenty to share.
Keith, we call them hummingbird moths too.
First overall glimpse of newly renovated perennial bed replacing overgrown Queen of the Prairie. A little spacious yet but should fill in good next year
Again, beautiful Keith.
I just can't figure out why weeds don't grow in Ontario?
Thanks Wee, don't forget I am retired. The weeds certainly do grow here. I just have more time to keep up with them
It's definitely a challenge to try to squeeze gardening & yard maintenance into weekends only. I've got my Medicare card, which means I could retire any time, too. But can't seem to pull the trigger. One of these days...
Older perennial bed in front of greenhouse
That is a nice patch of variegated heliopsis. I have some too but they are in shade and stay small. Mostly they have self sown into healthier solid green plants but I do get a variegated one here and there. I let them stay since they host a few things and bloom a long time. I need to collect the variegated seedlings and give them a good spot.
A few closeups from the new perennial bed
1) bleeding hearts false sunflower
2) lemon yellow coneflower
3) Adobe orange coneflower
Not only is your garden always weed free, nothing seems to overgrow!
Very pretty.
My job for today is to plant a nice Acer triflorum.
I ordered it last fall from a local nursery but didn't come in 'til now.
Hate to plant it in the midst of summer, but it's been relatively cool lately,
so I figure it's no worse than sitting in a pot.
How big would the maple you are planting be
It's about 8ft tall. Here it is freshly planted. I plan to put rocks around it to discourage deer from destroying it. Should have beautiful fall color, but it's best attribute is it's beautifully shaggy bark. Which is why I have to be sure my voracious deer don't ruin it. We'll see.
Looks like a well planted tree. I like the HIS &HER wheel barrows. Nothing like teamwork
Looks like a well planted tree. I like the HIS &HER wheel barrows. Nothing like teamwork
Yes nice job! and looks like you might have some space for some more plants at least for a few years.
Still waiting for a bloom from the red coneflower in this collection but these two are really making a splash
That's a perfect combination. My coneflowers are burning out. The finches are coming for the seeds now. I didn't get many good pictures since they flopped over pretty early on.
First is ligularia. The second picture is Turtlehead. You can definitely see it. The bees love the Angelica again this year. The tiny moth in the fourth picture is an Orange Mint Moth. The last is phlox, one of two blooming. Considering I had a lot more, I wonder what happened to them all.
Very nice Loretta especially that phlox. Surprises me some of the things that you have trouble with there. I havs trouble with ligularia here when it's hot and yours outlasts coneflower
Well ligularia blooms now. The cone flower has been blooming since the end of June. It will still open a few new blooms. Phlox isn't a tough flower around here. It is most likely my fault they are missing.
Most ligularia I do have trouble with like Rocket. The one that is a weed for me is the one in the picture - ligularia dentata. It reseeds steadily.
My favorite phlox - David. I want more of that one. It blooms so long in its shady spot and it took awhile but clumped up a bit.
Allium 'Millenium' - picked up a left over last year. I should have taken all the leftovers and made a nice clump.
I bought some caladium corms this year. I was nervous because you don't get them until May but it turned out fine. If I can overwinter these, I would try some more. These are all from a white mix bag. It wasn't much of mix - only 3 types with most of them being the one in the middle.
I had (I guess still have) several great ligularias, which were always realiable this time of year, but most of mine are toast this year - just too hot, or too little water, or combo of both. Don't know if they'll recover next year or two. I agree w Loretta that they reseed, but sparingly - maybe one of the seedings will restore the glory of their forebears.
I love caladium Loretta but for the same reason I don't have any. They need to come earlier so that I can give them a good start in the greenhouse.
I am pretty sure this coneflower is Mozzarella. Started it last year and these are my first blooms
Caladiums are entirely too delicious to my deer.
I love them, but might as well just give candy to the deer ….
I put some rock around the perimeter of my newly planted A. triflorum.
Still need to figure out how to place more rock to prevent erosion.
And hoping surrounding rock will inhibit deer.
Trying to figure it out...
This message was edited Aug 29, 2018 7:39 PM
Love the rock work Wee. Those are some hefty sized rocks
Yes they are but it looks great! Your land looks like a park, Wee!
The anemonopsis macrophylla finally bloomed! Unlike you, WR, we have had a lot of rain so I'm not sure if that was it or that it was here for three years now. I haven't done well with ligularias because in general, I don't get enough rain. They will live but I won't even know they are there until I accidently find the scrawny growth.
I am partial to the white anemone coneflowers, Keith. I didn't know about Mozzarella! I think I have Cupcake - picture from last month. I had Milkshake too but I think I lost it after transplanting. Honestly, I don't know which survived.
Not great pics but I'm getting lazy with picture taking now that I'm using a phone. And one more caladium - Desert Sun. Yes it's loud but I like the pinkish background and the red veins.
Beautiful as usual Loretta.
Thank you! This year though I've been sidetracked with raising butterflies. There was a bumper crop this year so it turned out to be a lot more work than my last year's attempt. I think I've had 80 monarchs coming through. I've stopped collecting anymore. In the past, they never made it to adulthood in my yard. I would find them dead and deflated at some point, possibly Assassin Bugs which I finally caught in the act.
Next will be Black Swallowtails which I collect because I don't see them like I used to. We have a parasitic wasp that lives and lays its eggs in the caterpillars. So instead of a butterfly hatching, you get a wasp. I also have a couple of Giant Swallowtails which is also have a comparatively good year for a butterfly I hardly saw around here before.
Congratulations on your butterfly successes.
Loretta, I love your anemonopsis, but I'd particularly like to see a photo of you getting the frontal shot - you must have been lying on your back! Strong work!
Mine hasn't bloomed yet - but it similarly has disappointing down-facing blooms.
Otherwise a very pretty flower.
My usually reliable ligularias were a dud this year. Not enough rain.
I worry they might not rebound next year - really stunted.
I've got some weird computer issue which won't allow picture downloads.
I'll post some things once I get it figured out.
Trying to find a 12-year-old to help me out...
Lol! First, thank you Keith! Just yesterday I was joking with a friend how we used to tease my father and uncle about their sudden interest in birdwatching and here we were raising butterflies! Black Swallowtails are coming in now after all.
WR, sorry to disappoint you but that is the only time I use the selfie setting on my smartphone! Haha! It's too hard to get up from the ground plus it's in the front yard! Hard to focus though.
Now I had a problem one time downloading the pictures but sorry to say I don't remember how I fixed it. If I do, I'll let you know.
Ligularia "The Rocket" is half price right now - $5 or $6 each. I am tempted to get three or so and plant them next to my sons Eagle Project that we are working on now. The ground is moist there. Should do well.
I don't know if I've figured out my computer issues, but I'm giving it a try.
I'll start with my favorite cyclamen (C. graecum ssp candicum).
Full bloom today. Not quite hardy here but does well in a pot.
Edited to add: apparently I haven't fixed the picture-posting problem after all....
This message was edited Sep 8, 2018 7:26 PM