Photo thread two. It's peak season, share your pictures:

Campanula

The first blooms on my Jackmani Suberba. I put it in last year. They tell me to expect blooms to get larger in the 3rd and 4th years.

This is a hybrid seed from my poppies. These have grown after scattering last fall in my seed bed. Does anyone have a name for this one or is it new?

this is the leaf structure and texture. I have 3 different varieties of poppy and this is the best.. The other 2 are Red and pink./ Oops I'll rotate.

This message was edited Jul 15, 2007 9:40 PM

I was at DBG yesterday for a class, and I noticed that whoever picked the flowers for the major borders this year is REALLY into Hollyhocks. They are everywhere, and they are the tall (12') kinds. But I have never seen one this dark -- anyone have an idea what variety this might be?

Don't know what variety that is, but it is one gorgeous poppy!

here it is

Sorry green jay not Idea. Shot out into the sun this morning from the secret garden.

Garlic, garlic, garlic! No vampires around here! The purple skinned ones are "Siberian" and they LIKED our 0*F winter. The white ones are "Apple Gate", I believe, and while we got an OK harvest from them, not as many of them bulbed up good. Others might have done well except there was a large dog found in the garlic bed in late spring - bending stems over and curtailing further growth. The garlic in the photos are about 2" in diameter - the ones pulled early due to doggie damage were barely 1" in diameter - but they fit nicely into a fancy bottle I have, so now are making garlic olive oil in my fridge - looks very nice.

Everyones' flowers are so lovely. I only have one brave yellow marigold bloom - and something chomped at it - but it is a lovely bright yellow among the green.

Beautiful garlic! One of the biggest problems I have is how to grow both flowers and veggies at the same time. I have a total of 1/2 acre, but I find I can do a wonderful veggie garden or a wonderful flower garden. This year, I did more flowers than in the past and few veggies. It is very frustrating. I want to do both! I also took 3 trips this spring when I should have been planting. Why can't we do it all???
I had never finished landscaping my yard so I carved out time for that this year. It looks better, but I will need another year at about the same intensity as this year. That means that I will not have such a big veggie garden next year, either. But year after, yes.
Also, I vow not to take 3 trips in the spring next year, though it is a lovely time to travel. I will limit myself to one or fewer. Maybe that way I can have more veggies along with my landscaping.
We did have some freshly harvested garlic tonight. It is a pleasure to cook with. But I didn't plant anywhere near enough.
My gardening is partially limited by my supply of compost. That affects both landscaping and veggies. So I hope to get more compost going between now and winter.

I travel a lot and often on short notice for my job ( I could quit and actually retire... but there is this sassy little green house that is calling my name), and they always seem to choose prime planting time to send me somewhere... this year I scheduled two days vacation in the spring when I knew DH would be on travel of his own! It was a great success and I think I shall do that again for next spring... but if they want me to go to Italy and teach Office 2007 at our offices there, I may have to make an exception! PajaritoMt, I bet your landscaping looks great, too - and will just get better and better as it matures.

Garlic was an experiment this year. Cost me about $3 a bulb, but I can't find garlic with that much flavor and "kick" at the grocery store. I may never be able to eat the "plain white grocery store stuff" again. Other than canine intervention, I was surprised that growing them was very easy. Something that LIKES the desert?! Yippeee!

Taking a couple of days of in Spring to garden is a great idea, both for the garden and for one's mental health. Home grown garlic is the best and I think it grows almost everywhere including the hot wet South.They grow different varieties that the West, but there is creole garlic. I get my garlic seed from Seed Saver's Exchange. Their garlics come from Russia, Georgia and all kinds of places you've never heard of. I also buy locally grown garlic from our local food coop ( in Santa Fe). You can be sure that that locally grown garlic will do well in your area, but I do recommend the SSE garlic starts.
You are right, there is nothing like home grown garlic. All you have to do is protect it from the dogs and other critters! Actually, the critters have never bothered my garlic.
At the moment it appears I will be home in the spring and you are right, my landscaping has already added to my enjoyment of home. But I want to do it all, darn it!

You garlic people. I wish I liked it. Occasionally in a soup stew etc. But my favorite is ginger, and curry.

But Steve, it doesn't grow very well in the rockies, I've tried...

I've tried a handful fo gingers, and they've all done poorly. They tend to come up in July and have little time to grow. But there is one called Curcuma in that looks more promising.
I can get off on a tirade, eh?

Funny how my "southern" plants are doing the best now.
Flower on Magnolia. Smells like light lemon/vanilla.

Lilium 'Altari' in front of Annabelle Hydrangea.

Funny. I can grow a magnolia but have failed to grow simple wallflowers until this spring. And I have just one plant- this amazing creature that has been blooming since mid spring, and is still going!

I visited the MARBLE/marble symposium, where sculptors from all over the world congregate to hack at white rocks all day for a few weeks.

False solomon's seal there, humbled by the spilling marble boulders strewn everywhere.

Each sculptor has a tent...

-

I think these belong to the African gentleman.

Some logistics for you tool-brains.

Steve, think about all the tools to power.
There were two or three of these compressed air junctions feeding everyone's tools.

Meanwhile, in the toolshed, these were the tools not currently being used...

Behind the Redstone Art Center,
http://www.redstoneart.com/
a splendid rock garden in their sculpture garden.

This message was edited Jul 16, 2007 12:23 AM

Meanshile, back in Grand Junction...
Zantedeschia 'Indian Summer'

And I thought that Oriental Lilies refused to grow here. I'll be danged. This one came back this year slightly better than last year. It probably gets underwatered...

A colour-changing mini Waterliliy I'm impressed with over others- 'Graziella.'

I like the shape of the 'Satisfaction' Lily.

American Sentinel

Wow! Great pictures. Love the marble place. Who would have known that scuptors went to "marble camp"? Great flowers. I envy your luck with orientals. I have a few coming back but not many.

Oh Kenton soooooo many questions. First how did Michilangelo cut perpendicular through the marble striations. Second did he change his chisle or mallet when doing the fine work on the "Pieta". Third can you see the layered direction of marble when working or did Michilangelo have several unfinished "Pietas" with a nose chipped off........... I would like to have been a fly on the Cistine Chapel ceiling.
Now to the important "men" issues. Air driven power is far superior to thermodynamic electric wheels. How often do sculptors sit by the fire and drink a beer after a hard days work? And most importantly when are we going to see your first work of art. And I want a blow by blow description of the process. Seriously I have always wanted to see the art formed. I have always felt guilty when I first saw "David" besides being humbled I was later ashamed that I didn't know what I was looking at until I took a humanities course during college. (of course as veterinarians we did not have any such electives)

This has been a fun week - the lilies have started to open.
'Emerald Angel' and it really glows...

'Suncrest' an Asiatic in its first year - over 4' tall.

'Golden Reflections' an oriental, very fragrant...

Gladiolus 'Chantal'

Lily 'Triumphator' - this oriental has faded from the sun; typically a darker pink throat.

Clem. 'Niobe' - 2nd year. Seems much more of a wine-red in person.

at one entrance to my veg garden:
Berberis 'Helmund Pillar' (left) & 'Crimson Pygmy' (bkgrnd)
Hemerocallis 'American revolution'
Echinacea 'Sundown' and 'Sunrise'
Heliopsis 'Lorraine Sunshine'
Pennisetum - ???

Katye very nice veg. entrance. good combination. I have both of the echinaceas but only one blooming.

DonnaS

Kayte that is a beautiful mix of textures and color. I love it. It looks like a walk in the meadows of a Harry Potter movie, or at least New Zeeland.