Went Lily Crazy

They sure do! Tracey (magnolia) gave me one too and mine had three blooms.

I went ahead and ordered Asiatics ( 10 each of 6 varieties) from Brent and Becky's end of season sale. Horrible time to plant lilies here but I'll just have to baby them until it cools off! LOL. Can't ever pass up a sale!

I bought a box of Asiatics & a box of Orientals at Sam's. They were half price. Sprouting in the box, but looking good after a few days in the ground.

Been working on beds this morning. Weeded one & started on the big bed. Filling in with various things as I go. I must be gaining on getting them all perennial, not much room for annuals.

This bed I did up a couple nights ago.

Bernie

Planted this bed last night. Gets hot there on the west side of the house, so limit it to annuals.

This tree was a twig my daughter got for a reading prize when she was in first grade. 1984 I think.

Looking good, Bernie! How hot can it get there, anyway?? LOL It has been in 90's going into 3rd straight week here - about 10 degrees above normal.

We'll get lots of 90's, very few over 100.
They call this God's Country, so what can I say!
80º right now, sun, very gentle breeze, PERFECT!!

I bet it's not God's Country from mid-Nov until April! LOL. It is hell here from mid-June through August, but very nice actually here in both spring and fall.

If you like winter sports, it is. Ice fishing, snowmobiling, skiing.

yeaah, everyone tends to consider his own part of the country to be "God's Country". I like cold to a degree but apparently the countless northerners moving here every day think otherwise as I hear them say every day they'd never go back. I would like a happy medium myself.

Hmm.... would that make us in the plains states the happy medium?? It can be nearly as cold as MN and nearly as hot as TX ~ just not for as long on either count. Well, I guess that makes us 'medium', not necessarily 'happy'.

I want to live were winters get into the 30's, summers in the 80's, breezy all the time and only rains when and for as much as you need. Where is that? Is that asking too much?? lol

That would be California, Moby!!! LOL Maybe Oregon near the coast.

Bernie - great pictures! That first one is going to be a real wow facture when all those lilys start to bloom.

Weather here is strange. 90's today, 80's tomorrow, 90's the next day. You just never know. Today is just hot, humid and cloudy. Hung out some laundry and just hoping it will dry (love the smell). Winters can get into the 30's, but only for 1 or 2 days, then right back into the 70's with 50's for lows.

Great new beds, Bernie!!! :) You do fine work. :) How's Bertha doing? Did she get over her mishap? I hope she's well.

I should be out weeding, but instead I went goofing off with LeAnn aka Patsmuse and we went over to Wanda's Iris Extravaganza!! Wow, that woman has the most amazing iris gardens! Then we went over to Colette's, and her gardens are looking pretty fabulous too! As per usual, Colette was busy running around trying to send tons of stuff home with us...LeAnn scored some really nice hosta.. I'm resisting stuff, since I have a ton of things to get into the ground and more on the way...

Well the bloom is officially off the lily. We just had a wild storm roll through. It lasted almost an hour, 60 + mph winds, Hail and about 2-3 in of rain. Here is a shot at the height of the storm. The top of the Rose of Sharon was touching the ground.

Here it is tapering down, leaving the Hail behind

Lily blooms gone. Except one or two petals

irishsoul,
I'm so sorry! Stupid weather...but what cha gonna do? ;o( But I wanted to tell you your gardens are beautiful! I love all your little bears too!
Sherry

Thanks Sherry, now the good news, we got to enjoy them while they lasted. The Orientals are still coming and boy o boy the grass is sure is greener. Not to mention, the Roses will probably bloom a lot faster. We needed the rain badly.

So turn a lemon into lemonade. With the flowers gone it is bulb building time. Remove the top part of each stalk just below the little stems that host the blooms. That way you will prevent seed set. The green foliage will continue to nourish the bulbs for next year. Sorry the foul weather spoiled your show :(

Thank you Parda, especially since my Lily knowledge is limited at best. I will do that tomorrow.

So sorry to hear about your loss, irish. But as pard has said you can expect a bigger and better show next year, if there's a silver lining to this. Here in TX I always fear about what will happen during springtime as we're in "tornado alley" and get vicious storms and hail, with the potential to tear everything up. Most of my stuff weathered it OK this year. Just one of those things we have to deal with as gardeners :-(

Very true. Last year we tried to grow cantelope and pumpkins. Well they kept getting bigger. Next thing you know, they are gone. Raccoons decided they were a wonderful treat. This year we decided to try tomatos. We bought special hanging planters made for tomatos. Wouldn't you know it, the storm snapped most of them off. Were hoping that since the root is still good, that some might make it. Nature can sure pull a few tricks on you. But, it is always fun to see what is next.

Wow, I can't imagine not being able to grow tomatoes! I guess sometimes we all take it for granted and assume everyone can grow everything. LOL
Sherry

It does. And then eventually you learn little tricks on how to fight back, LOL. I lost a bunch of lilies I planted last fall (well the flowers anyway) as we had some hard freezes after they'd sprouted early in the springtime and the tips of the shoots were a mess and turned brown. Most of the stalk remained on most of them and even grew, so I'm hoping for a good show next spring.

We love the critters, we even feed the little buggers. But sometimes they want what you don't want them to have.

We had 24 plants in the 2 hangers and they were and are getting huge. We probably didn't need that many anyhow. It will save me trips to the neighbors passing out tomatos. It looks we have about 6 complete plants left, so that should do us just fine. Just as long as I get some green tomatos to fry up, I will be happy. And, a couple of ripe ones to munch on. Oops, there I go, my mouth is just watering away.

We just got back from a trip to Omaha for our 20th anniversary so I'm just catching up on the threads.

Oh irish I am so sorry about the lilies. Pard is right about trimming back the very top of the stem where the flowers were and letting all the leaves nourish the bulb for next year. It will be so great to see them increase for you.

Earlier you asked to use some of my pic for your screen saver, sure go ahead.

Still no lily blooms here but the iris are going crazy!

Oh Irish, I'm sorry. I echo what everyone else has said about cutting back the stalks. Just wait till next year and you'll have one of the best lily shows around!! I can hardly wait! :)

So meanwhile, be checking out Buggycrazy's site and Faraway Flowers and get your must have list put together for this fall and next Spring!! :)

Diann

Thank you Llily & Diann. I will check out the sites. Since I started this thread I have gotten so much information, which I really appreciate from everyone. I'm going to have to go searching for a couple of the beautiful blooms.

Happy Anniversary Llily! We just celebrated our 25th in April.

Bless you all!

Rhonda

Irish, Congrats on 25 yrs.

supposed to rain every day for the rest of the week, sure hope they are wrong.

Irishsoul, Congratulations on 25 years! Sorry about your bad weather. Our worry here has been frost, to be followed by high winds, hail, potential tornadoes, the list goes on..... No perfect weather anywhere, I guess.

I'm trying to get caught up on the threads, I was out of town all weekend. I see everyone has been busy posting lots of pics.

Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous!! I love all of the garden shots. It's nice to see how everyone else does there flowerbeds.

Irish, your gardens look so organized. You're doing a great job! I'm sorry to see all of the damage from the storm--you have a terrific attitude.

Ticker, I don't see any weeds, it's beautiful. How do you keep the clean edge on your flower beds?

Steve, your gardens are lovely, so full and lush. The pavers really define the garden areas. You have a beautiful yard.

Sue, I'm glad you finally untied the fairy. ;-) Your gardens are fabulous. I love, love, love your backyard. Maybe in about 12 years when my little guy is done "playing" in the yard, I'll be able to start gardening in the back. By then I'll be too old and won't be able to do half of what I want. ;-) Ah well, I can enjoy the beauty of everyone else's gardens.

Sue and Irish, Congratulations to you both on your anniversaries.

Bernie, your gardens are coming along nicely. That "twig" your daughter brought home has certainly grown into a spectacular tree.

Lilyfan, Congratulations on your 20 year anniversary! Wishing you many, many more!

Daltri, I'm good at hiding weeds. :) LOL I edge my beds the old fashioned way with a border spade. I usually have to do some clean up along the edges each year, but it's not bad. :)

Diann

I didn't get a chance to play at DG this weekend either and WOW, what fun to catch up on all these beautiful gardens. I really like to see what other people do too. Keep those pictures coming as your gardens change through the seasons.

Yahoo! I got my new pruning shears today. Boy, did I ever have to put them to good use.
Good news, I actually have 6 Asians that have not bloomed yet, so the colors are still coming. None of the Orientals were damaged. And, 8 of the 24 tomato plants are still intack. My poor Bog Sage is a little flat, but still blooming. Will have to go to Lowes and get a couple of cages to prop them upright again. All is right with the world!

Rhonda

Good for you Rhonda! I'm glad to hear it! :)

Thanks daltri :-) It has been so hot here lately I am surprised everything is holding up as well as is it! Still I hide the defects well :-)

Thanks Daltri, I think it is the Pollyanna in me. The glass is always half full.

So glad to hear things aren't totally ruined and you still have blooms coming.

Wish i had more of the Pollyanna attitude, it would have come in handy at work the last week or so!