1-2-3 Go Garden!: July 2010

Monday, July 26, 2010

Dreaming is Free

So far, all I've ever done with sempervivum is make different planters every year. Well, I say sempervivum, but there's always some echeveria and sedum, and sometimes herbs and mosses in the mix, too.

Here are some planters I have done over the years.

Concrete Planter, 2004

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Blue Bowl, 2005

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Echeveria Collection and Sempervivum Planters, 2007

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The problem with sempervivum is that once they flower, the flowering plant dies. I've yet to discover a way to stop mine from flowering.

Flowering Sempervivum, 2006

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The flowers themselves can be very pretty, if ephemeral. Still, that is little compensation for losing your investment in the parent plant.

Sempervivum Flowers, 2010

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But, problems with flowering plants aside, what I really want to do, now that I have seen it done, is something like these vertical succulent gardens that Flora Grubb Gardens is able to make with their vertical garden D.I.Y. panels.

Photo from floragrubb.com

(Of course, that right there is $900 worth of panels, plus who knows how much worth of plants, so I think I'd be doing mine on a much smaller scale.)
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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post (except Vertical Garden photo) belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

The Last of the First

Well, we have had ridiculous rain for the last few days. Ridiculous in the sense that it is not the kind of cooling rain that brings relief from the heat. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I knew there would be a problem with the weather the other morning when I opened the front door to look outside (we have a storm door with a full glass panel) and saw that thick condensation had gathered on the outside of the door. Stepping out onto the porch was like stepping into a sauna. Yuck!

Anyway, in the midst of the heat and rain, my last not-yet-blooming daylily, Old King Cole had its first bloom. I just managed to snap a photo between rainstorms.

Old King Cole

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And, just as a demonstration of how bad the rain has been treating the garden, here is the very last Royal Mountie, a sad example of a water-damaged flower.

The Last 'Royal Mountie'

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

First and Last For Everything

Well, there was one new first bloom today, Royal Palace Prince. For the past two years, this one has had its first bloom on August 14. Before that, it was the end of July. For it to bloom on July 20 is quite early.

First Bloom for 'Royal Palace Prince'

'Royal Palace Prince' First Bloom, 20/07/10

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Royal Palace Prince looks very similar to Spiritual Corridor, except that it does not have the yellow piecrust picotee edge. Because of that, it has a bit less substance to the flower.

As I said earlier, it's also time that I can document the last blooms for certain daylilies. There are three of those today: Catherine Woodbury, Persian Ruby, and Lady Fingers.

'Catherine Woodbury' Last (and Second-Last) Bloom

The Last (and Second Last) 'Catherine Woodbury'

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Lady Fingers Last Bloom

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Persian Ruby Last Bloom

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There still seem to be plenty of daylilies sporting unopened buds in the bed along the east fence. Still, by the time August rolls around, I'm afraid there may be very little left blooming in the garden.

East Fence Daylily Bed

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I don't plan on making a trip to the daylily farm this year. I am running out of room for planting, so there is not really much point.
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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Slowing Down

New activity in the garden is slowing down. There are only two daylilies left that have not yet had their first bloom. There are many, however, that have already had their last bloom, and one of my new garden tasks along with deadheading has been cutting back empty scapes.

This is the last Grecian Gown of 2010, immortalized here.

The Last 'Grecian Gown'

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Always photogenic, and a late bloomer so still with plenty of flowers to enjoy, is El Desperado.

Photogenic 'El Desperado'

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And speaking of photogenic, the rest of the post is just going to be pretty pictures. Yes, armed with my favourite camera and lens combination (Pentax K10D with a 50mm prime 1:1.7 lens) I went out today to take photos of whatever I could find that looked good.

Ivory Edges

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'Tuesday' on Monday

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Sunday Gloves

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Both being "white" daylilies (white daylilies are actually cream-coloured), you might wonder how you can tell these two apart. Tuesday is slightly beige, with fuller, more recurved petals. Sunday Gloves has straighter, more elongated petals.

A Handsome Pair

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Spiritual Corridor

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Highland Lord

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Highland Lord is supposed to be a double daylily, but the flowers on mine are hardly ever doubles. I might get two a season, if I'm lucky.

And, as usual, in case anyone should imagine that I have only daylilies in the garden to brag about, there is some other beautiful stuff going on. Here are the pictures to prove it.

Flowers in My New Planter

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Echinacea in the Backyard

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Rudbeckia in the Front Garden

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Friday, July 16, 2010

Not Nothing, But not Much

No change in the daylilies today. But here is a photo of some hosta flowers that are just starting to bloom.

Hosta Flowers

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Busy Day

Ooh, baby! I want to shout out loud, "Africa!" Look at this daylily!

Africa! (First Bloom Today)

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And yes, that photo is true to colour. See how it's almost black? (The next one is not quite true, but also looks good. Yes, this daylily looks so good I have to put two photos of the same flower in the same post.)

Africa, Again

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I thought I posted Africa before. But I didn't. Thank goodness. Because that wasn't even Africa, it was Strutter's Ball (which happens to be located just beside Africa in the east fence bed). I would have known which one was which if I had just consulted the tags that I put in last year, though.

Where Is 'Africa' Again?

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Strutter's Ball had its first bloom on June 30, but for some reason I skipped posting it. Another one I skipped was Stoplight. It's a big beautiful spiderform daylily that had its first bloom on July 8. Here is what it looks like today.

Stoplight

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Today I spent about five hours in the garden. I did a lot of planting -- in fact I finally finished my sempervivum planters for this year. Look!

Sempervivum Planters

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I was also playing around with compost, both making it and extracting it. We had a few bags of coffee grounds from Starbucks, so I was making good use of them. I also used the finished compost in some of my containers that I planted.

Clean Work Area

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After I finished the planters, I cleaned up my work area. I don't even want to think about what it looked like before, but suffice to say that it was garbage day today, so a lot of plastic pots and carry-trays got recycled, a lot of old leaves and dirt got swept up, and a lot of stray weeds growing out of the patio got pulled.

Gratuitous Photo of Trailing Hens & Chicks

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It was a busy day in the garden for me.
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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A Day in the Life of a Daylily Gardener

You might be a daylily gardener if...

The sight of undeadheaded daylilies makes you cringe.

Does This Make You Cringe?

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You know that "undeadheaded" is a real word, even if your spellchecker doesn't.

Your dedication to deadheading every morning shows on your hands (and sometimes your feet) for the rest of the day.

Do Your Hands Get Covered in Stains?

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Your daylilies, like your flesh-and-blood children, can always rely on you to provide a little support.

Do You Provide Support When Needed?

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You photograph the same plant over and over again, just because it's your favourite.

Here We Go Again, It's... 'Lavender Rainbow'!

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You are obsessed with the date of first bloom for every single one of your daylily plants.

'Frans Hals' First Bloom, 14/07/10

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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Taking The Long View

One new daylily first bloom today. It's called Summer Wine and it's a dark pink daylily with a yellow throat and slight whitish midrib. Very reliable, but not overly exciting, as daylilies go.

Summer Wine

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Here are some long views of the garden. Now that the daylilies are all blooming like mad, there is lots of colour to these shots.

Looking North by the East Fence

'Lavender Rainbow' and Friends

Monday, July 12, 2010

All the Pretty Ones

Today is all about the pretty pictures. Even with all the incredible blooms that have been shown so far, there are three new daylilies today: Snowy Eyes, Mariska, and Executive Decision.

Snowy Eyes

Mariska, Second Bloom (First Bloom 11/07/10)

Executive Decision, First Bloom 12/07/10

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Vanilla Fluff had a polytepalous flower (that means it has more than the usual three petals and three sepals of a standard daylily flower).

Polytepalous 'Vanilla Fluff'

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And now, here is a particularly scattered Scatterbrain. Notice anything? I think this one is my ugly daylily from a couple of days ago, not Vanilla Fluff. (Well, I never have been very good with spatial orientation. I'm a bit of a scatterbrain where that is concerned. Kind of appropriate, isn't it?)

Scatterbrain Today

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And here are a couple of odd daylilies that both turned out particularly good-looking flowers today, Trahlyta and Light Years Away. This is why I keep them around, even though the flowers are not always at their best.

Trahlyta

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I managed to snap all these photos just as the rain was starting. (Grey skies make good photos.) I am glad the garden will be well-watered again today.
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Copyright © all rights reserved. All text and images in this post belong to 1-2-3 Go Garden! at kbgardenblog.blogspot.com.