A Better Raspberry Swirl

This is what this daylily is supposed to look like.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Garden Updates

Last week I had started to put together a post on evaluating how my containers are doing, one month after being planted. Unfortunately, my photography let me down and I couldn't seem to get any good photos to back up my words.

So the "containers" section of this post will be mainly a couple of photos that did turn out nicely. And the rest of the post will highlight some other things that are blooming in the garden now.

Dahlias and a Pink Happy Thought



Violets



Pink Petunia



A couple of people mentioned the lamb's ears in a previous post. I thought I'd show another view, and talk about how I decimated this clump. Back at the end of May, it looked like this:



The clump was taking over far more space than was available for it. So I removed about 60% of it, leaving this:



In the end it didn't look too bad, even from the front:



Now you can see that although there is a nice amount of bloom, there is a section at the back with only leaves.

Blooming Stachys from the Front



I don't like to show too much of this view, because by the time the end of June rolls around, the elm tree is in such bad shape with cosmetic damage caused by insects.

Oh, and as another follow-up, I wanted to confirm (for Sigrun) that yes, 'Splish-Splash' hardy geranium did not come up white this year, but purple with white detail.

EDIT: Actually, I had two of this plant. The one I gave to my mom for her garden this year is white!

'Splish-Splash' Hardy Geranium 2007



Also, 'Rozanne' has finally become the plant I remember, with a profusion of beautiful blooms that I hope will last into October as they did last year.

I find I prefer certain types of hardy geranium ('Rozanne', 'Johnson's Blue' and 'Ankums Pride') because the flowers spread out among the foliage. Other varieties seem to have one stem with blooms surrounded by foliage. I don't like that as much.

'Rozanne' Hardy Geranium



Oh, and finally, I wanted to show that 'Tequila Sunrise' coreopsis is now blooming.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

The First Daylily Post (But Not the Last)

Well, my 'Raspberry Swirl' daylily bloomed on June 22, even though it's still in the pot. It doesn't look like much just now (I've included a link to what it's supposed to look like), but I'm happy it has decided to bloom. I love its ruffled edges and white midribs. Well, I mean, I'm sure I will, when they decide to show themselves to advantage.

'Raspberry Swirl' First Bloom (June 22)



On June 23 I had the first 'Moonglow' blossom. Though I didn't take a photo of that one, they will bloom steadily into July now. They are not quite as long-blooming as 'Stella d'Oro', but I much prefer their lemony yellow to the orangey gold of Stella. Anyway, here is a recent example of a 'Moonglow' bloom.

Typical 'Moonglow' Daylily Bloom



Much earlier this month, I had an unexpected bloom from 'Siloam Plum Tree'.

Siloam Plum Tree (June 3)



Unfortunately, this one was quite blemished. It should really look like this:

Siloam Plum Tree (2006)


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Catching Up Again

New blooms today! Blue Delphiniums (Delphinium elatum 'Guardian'). Delphiniums are also known as Larkspur.

Blue Delphinium



I wanted the dwarf ones called 'Blue Butterfly', and I had snapped up a rather sickly one at the end-of-season sell-off last year. However, a few things I planted at that time haven't come back this year. I'm afraid the dwarf larkspur was one of those.

This little honeysuckle made it through okay, though, without being attacked by aphids like its larger, showier cousins. This variety is called 'Honey Baby'.

'Honey Baby' Honeysuckle



The Jacob's Ladder I got last year from another person's garden (she had pulled it out and left it with the rootball exposed for a while, but I thought it still looked healthy and I guess I was right) turned out to be a white one, which makes it probably Polemonium caeruleum 'Album'.

White Polemonium (with Red Columbine)



The dahlias are blooming, so now my third container is starting to look like something.

Dahlias and Pink Happy Thoughts



With Blackswamp Girl in mind, I took a photo of my Salvia lyrata 'Purple Knockout'. Just by way of comparision, I'd never dream of cutting the flower stalks, even though they don't look like much. Not that I don't sympathize with the urge. For me, though, they need those stalks to hold their own in my garden with the heuchera and 'Tequila Sunrise' coreopsis.

'Purple Knockout' Sage



A Longer View



And now it will just be mostly pictures that I've taken since I posted last.

Hosta 'Sun Power' (Likes the Sun, Obviously)



Stachys and Buddha



Echeveria Elegans Flowers



Ruffled Pansies (A Happy Escape from Hungry Rabbits)



'Hollywood' Heuchera


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Well, that's it for now. Hope you all had a great weekend and I wish you great garden weather for the next week.

Both Kinds of Geraniums Make Me Happy

I'm not sure I can string together a coherent post, so maybe I'll try for an incoherent one and hope everyone gets something out of it.

First of all, I've been meaning to show photos of my hardy geraniums (cranesbill). The only one not flowering at the moment is 'Splish Splash', but I might be able to dig up a photo from last year.

'Johnson's Blue' in Its Glory (from May)



'Rozanne' (2007 First Bloom Today)



'Splish Splash' (from Last Year)



'Mrs. Kendall Clark' (Still in Pot)



'Elizabeth Ann'



'Hokus Pokus'



Ankums Pride



My Unknown Small One



Actually, the small one might not be around anymore. I moved it to another place in the garden, and found out that it doesn't like the afternoon sun, so it's a bit shrivelled right now. Some of my new heuchera have been suffering too. Sigh.

Well, here are some things that Snappy might find interesting. Last year I planted an Asiatic lily that my mother gave me as a gift, and this year there are two coming up where I planted one. Here is what it looks like with tiny little flower buds just starting to form.

Asiatic Lily



And speaking of buds, someday soon I might have dahlia flowers in my container. Here is what the plant looks like at the moment.

Buds on 'Dahlietta Lauren'



I also found out the names of all my brocade-leaf geraniums that I bought for their beautiful foliage. It turns out that the names were printed lower down on the label, covered in potting mix. When I cleaned them off, I confirmed that I do have 'Vancouver Centennial' (like Snappy's) as well as 'Mrs. Pollock' (with tricolour variegation), 'Indian Dunes'(with large red flowers), and one whose name is almost better than the plant itself: 'Pink Happy Thought'.

Brocade-Leaf Geraniums



Right to left, top to bottom they are: 'Mrs. Pollock', 'Vancouver Centennial', and 'Indian Dunes'.

And in this very busy photo, at the far left near the top, you can see the yellow and green variegated foliage and pink flowers on the very lovely 'Pink Happy Thought'.

There's a Pink Happy Thought in There Somewhere


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

And with that pink happy thought, I will leave you.

Purple Poppy and Planter Project

Today was a busy day, with lots of projects getting done. The main one of mine was finally planting my new IKEA pot. When I finished I had to shuffle some of the other pots around to display everything to advantage. Anyway, here is what the planter looks like now.

IKEA Planter with Geraniums and Coleus



Here is a bit of a close-up from above.

IKEA Planter from Above



I was a bit worried that my purple poppy (it's a light purple poppy, must be a cross between a white one and a dark purple) wouldn't bloom, since I was gifted with 'Turkenlouis' this year. I sometimes get the feeling they are in collusion, these poppies, over which ones will deign to bloom for me. I am glad to be proven wrong in this case. So here are a couple of "interpretations" of this poppy. It's the best I could do, since the stems on most of my poppies this year are all twisted.

Purple Poppy Front



Purple Poppy Back


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

Taking Time

In last year's post about poppies I lamented the lack of blooms for 'Turkenlouis', a fringed red poppy that I planted in 2004 and had never bloomed since. Well, this year, for the first time, it did bloom.

'Turkenlouis' Poppy



I feel that I should say a few words about my photographs. I mentioned on this blog back in October that I was taking a photography course. Here I am going to post some photos that I hope demonstrate some of what I've learned (using a dedicated macro lens, adjusting the aperture for maximum focus, knowing that I had to use the flash to balance dark and light, adjusting exposure to get a better image, etc.).

Poppy Macro



Even an ordinary looking photo like the next one is not effortless. If I posted the photo that the camera gave me using its own settings, it would not look the same as this one. For this photo I had to consciously decide to let more light in the camera (that is, overexpose the photo).

Two-Day Old Poppy


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without permission.

I put a lot of work into my photos because it fills the same creative need in me that gardening does. That's why I love having a gardening blog. It allows me to exercise my creative passions, and share them with others.

I would just like to thank all the wonderful people who stop to read my blog and leave a comment. It really means a lot to me.

Garden Update As June Begins

I should really keep up better with my garden blogging, because so much is happening in the garden all the time now.



The first poppy bloomed on June 1. I also made a trip to Terra Greenhouses with my friend Jane (Better Safe Than Sorry), a person I met online through blogging. We stopped at IKEA first (mmm, $1 breakfast) which is another of our mutual interests. I got a new plant pot there, which will eventually make its way onto this blog when I have found what I want to plant in it.



At the nursery I had a hard time deciding exactly what to buy. I kept picking things up and putting them back. I knew I wanted some pelargonium geraniums for my urn planters in front of the garage, and I also wanted some hardy geraniums for the garden. Well, I got both, including some lovely dark Martha Washington geraniums for the urns, set off by some ordinary hot pink ones. (I couldn't find quite the right shade; I was looking for some that were a bit more purplish, but this combination works anyway.) Along with some licorice plant and bacopa for the trailing action, it should work out well, so long as Martha Washington geraniums are as drought-tolerant as their plainer cousins.



Currently the other containers by the house are filling out nicely. The lamium has started to bloom and the petunias are thriving. I even have three buds on the dahlia, so eventually even the end planter will look the way I envisioned it.



If only the backyard were equally successful. The backyard is plagued by pests that make a mess. Some pests are cuter than others, though. Jack Rabbit from last year has taken a wife and had a child, and they are eating all my pansies! So I have had to move my nice ruffled pansies to higher ground. You can see in the photo how lopsided the planter's contents have become.


Photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

The other pests I am not going to show you a photo of. I will just tell you a story of how I first encountered them. One day at lunchtime I watched some goldfinches precariously perched on my honeysuckle that was poking through the lattice on the deck, quite close to the house. They were pecking at the flowers. I was delighted to watch, but I thought it odd. Sure enough, when I examined the honeysuckle closer, the whole thing is infested with aphids. Ugh! Well, I am usually a (mostly) organic gardener, but not this time! I got some insecticide that billed itself as "eco-friendly" (though only in a relative sort of way, I'm sure) and emptied the bottle.

If only aphids were cute, like rabbits.