Show your Summer Annual Blooms

I have seeds from Irish Eyes and Prarie Sun. If I search long enough, I should find some Becky. They are all my own open pollinated ones so what they'll look like is anybody's guess, as shown above. If you want some, email me.

Karen

gemini_sage: OK, I found some Becky, too, if you want some of those. Dmail me.

Karen

Viola. The fragrance is wonderful. My favorite viola.
Arlene

This message was edited Apr 2, 2008 9:38 PM

Another,

Beautiful Violas, cattjovi.

I love the subtle coloration on the first photo especially. I think they are the same ones I have in the garden...perhaps they are called "Etain"?

I love all those rudbeckias, too. I couldn't live without them in our garden. Hope they come back or reseed this year.

Cat, Pretty! That's the kind of pic we don't get to see when we buy the seeds or plants.

I ran out to look at mine. There is nothing there! I have a feeling they didn't make it, but some of the regular native violets are barely getting started, so maybe i need to be more patient.

Thanks for posting...

Suzy

tabasco: Quite a few of my R. hirta look pretty good. Parts of them stayed green all winter. Some were lost, but more survived than I expected. They were wintersown last winter, so this will be their second year.

Karen

Thanks for the confidence builder, kqcrna. I've been out there inspecting the garden soil looking for some sign of life from them but they are pretty dormant/dead looking to me. I shan't give up quite yet, though!

Heavenly Blue morning glories....I love them...and plan on having them every year.

DeeS

Fantastic! Those are sooo pretty...how many plants, or did you just put out a pack of seed?

I love the Arbor thing - what is it? It looks like an arbor you walk through but there is an extra support. I am looking for designs I can use here, that's why I am asking.

Suzy

Very pretty Heavenly Blues!

A bunch of stuff for the summer @ Lisa's

My zinnias are at their peak. These were "volunteers" from last year's crop. Doesn't get any easier than that!

Love those colorful zinnias!
Lin

Dale_a_gardener, the shrub with red flowers?
roberta

Roberta, It is a Florida native, that is the dwarf form and if my life depended on it I still wouldn't be able to remember the botanical name. I will remember a couple days from now, but, I won't be able to remember which thread to go to. Old Timers disease don't ya know.

SD may be a bit too cool for it, not really sure. It doesn't put on new growth in the winter, but, it is evergreen and flowers for months in the summer and fall. Only after the weather warms up does it grow well. It likes days in the 80+ range.

Another photo of a bunch of Florida plants>

An unusual annual you don't see every day..

Amaranthus - Love Lies Bleeding

I really like it...well, if you remember, let me know! : )

Not my annuals, but, I will show you anyway>

ohhh....Dale that picture really brought a smile to my face! Thanks for sharing...

Of course not all annuals in this pic, but I really love these 4 o'clocks! They are popping up everywhere in different colors!

Have to say I think one of my favorites this summer was the colendulia. They went crazy !!

Purslane or Portulaca oleracea to the techincal folks.

I haven't had any portulaca for a while. I'll have to think about adding a few next year.

I did grow 4:00 for a few years which brought back memories of my childhood when it seemed every yard had them. I've given up on those for a while though because I got tired of pulling up all the volunteers. They're still popping up all over, even in the lawn. They also don't really start blooming much until late summer in my climate, either. They sure are pretty though, in all those different colors.

Love lies bleeding grows a little to well for me too. Here's one of mine last year with my 6 foot husband.

Karen

They're always a challenge to keep upright! But they are really cool plants.

My soil seems to grow everything to look like plants on steroids.

I forget what these are called.

Calibrachoa?

Beautiful, btw.

Karen

Pentas will live over the winter, but, they always look best the first year.

marigold

Red Bernard Zinnia

Teddy Bear Annual

Lavender Cosmo

Burpee Burpeeana zinnia

Burpee Giant Hybrids zinnia

Burpee Burpeeana Giants zinnia

Mainman, those are outstanding photos. The images are so clear and crisp, and the colors are so vibrant. What kind of camera do you have?

This message was edited Sep 8, 2008 2:11 PM

shebs45,

"What kind of camera do you have?"

Actually, I don't have a digital camera yet. I am currently borrowing my Wife's Kodak EasyShare Z712 IS. I have learned to get decent pictures with it by trial and error. It's little sensor goes nuts with brilliantly lit full sun pictures of bright colors. The colors just bloom and wash out every semblance of detail.

To avoid that, I take pictures in various depths of shade, and try to have a little more light (or less darkness) on my subject than the background. It's a balancing act. Too much shade and digital noise becomes a problem. Too little shade and the sensor saturates and washes out the detail. The only illumination is various amounts of overhead blue sky. My garden is basically just a clearing in a rather dense woods, so I get entirely different lighting effects as the Sun moves to different places behind the trees.

A good digital camera, that is, an expensive digital camera, can take good pictures in any lighting. Since I am as interested in photography as I am in gardening (specifically, zinnia breeding), I hope to scrape together the budget to get a good camera. I'll probably start with an entry level Nikon (the new Nikon D90 looks interesting), but later I hope to move up to a near pro class camera like the Nikon D700. In the meantime, I will continue to use my Wife's Kodak and "watch the sky".

MM

One of my favs.

Butterfly vine

Thanks for the reply, MM. I have a Kodak Easyshare, too (different model). I've been pretty happy with it. Hope you're able to get your new camera soon. Maybe Santa will bring it! December will be here before you know it.

High Bis Cus