Still Early

Well, it's not yet July and yet we still have some more early bloomers putting on a show.

Yesterday's Mini Might was one of the few miniature daylilies I have. Another one is Little Bumble Bee, which had its first bloom today.

Little Bumble Bee


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My hands are quite small. Many of my daylily varieties have flowers that would easily cover my hand, but miniature daylilies must have flowers less than three inches across in order to be labelled as such.

One of the larger varieties is Persian Ruby, which also had a first bloom today.

Persian Ruby


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Its deep red petals and wide yellow-green throat look well among the sea of lemon yellow blooms in the front garden. Persian Ruby is the farthest right daylily in this photo.

Front Garden View


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A final first bloom today is also in the front garden, Russian Rhapsody.

Russian Rhapsody


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And not to neglect the back yard in this post, here is a shot of Lavender Rainbow, in context, looking northwest from under the Deborah Maple tree.

'Lavender Rainbow' in Context


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A Few More

Well, daylily season is underway, so I'm hoping for frequent posts from this point forward.

First, the first blooms: Bela Lugosi, Luxury Lace, and Mini Might.

Bela Lugosi


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Luxury Lace


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Mini Might


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But the photography bug has gotten into me and there are a few more photos I want to post. First, a delicate little heuchera that blossomed recently.

Heuchera Blossoms


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And this bud on one of my 'White Swan' echinaceas in the front garden. I just love these buds before the straggly petals start to emerge. There's something about the green-on-green and the spiky texture that I find very photogenic.

'White Swan' Echinacea Bud


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And speaking of photogenic, yesterday's Lavender Rainbow flowers may have been the first blooms, but today's flower is such a beautiful example, it's worth another look.

Today's Lavender Rainbow


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And so it goes, from now until mid-August or so. Lots of daylilies, with a few other flowers interspersed between.
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Five Alive

Five daylilies had their first blooms today.

(Yes, we call that excitement around here. Sad, isn't it?)

Dominic


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Remember my speculation about Dominic? Well, this is definitely Dominic, and it's definitely blooming, and it's the first bloom I've seen on this plant since I acquired it a couple of years ago.

Here is one of my earliest acquisitions from Canning Perennials, and also one of my favourite daylilies. I like the watermark pattern at the eye, which may not be very obvious in this photo, since I wanted to include both flowers that bloomed today.

Lavender Rainbow


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Another dark daylily that I had been anticipating has bloomed today.

Ed Murray


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Ed Murray is so consistent year after year that I hardly need to take a new photograph each time. And it always looks the same, regardless of the weather. Some flowers, especially the fleshy pinks, don't do well with rain. Here, the colour of this flower is uneven because of the downpour we've had in last few days. I hope to see some better flowers on this plant when the weather is dry.

Moristar Mix


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Sadly, I have no proper name for this daylily. It was labelled "Mix" by its grower, Moristar, so I have always called it Moristar Mix.

And finally, here is a daylily that is new to me this year. I acquired it in a charity sale, where it had been dug from someone's garden. Someone with heavy clay soil, as I could tell from the lump of dirt that surrounded it in the pot. But daylilies are very versatile, so this one didn't seem to mind being transferred to my garden, where the soil has a bit more organic matter.

Crimson Pirate


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Crimson Pirate is a delicate, spidery flower. I don't have a lot of daylilies in this particular shape, so I was glad to discover I had bought this one. (I bought it on spec. I was lucky to even get the name. The other daylily I bought at the sale was labelled, "dark burgundy". So, we'll see what we end up with when that one blooms.)
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Mellow Yellow

Well, finally. Another daylily has bloomed.

This one is 'Grecian Gown'. Another yellow daylily, which I happened to plant next to 'Moonglow'. Yes, every year I say the same thing. I need to rethink that. One of these years I will actually make the change. But for now, just a photo of the first bloom (with a little bonus 'Moonglow' in the background).

Grecian Gown Daylily


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I took this with my iPhone camera, which likes to focus on things behind the things you are taking pictures of.

Which is why the daylily flower is in glamorous "soft focus" while the walkway bricks are sharp and clear.

In case you were wondering.

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Waiting and Works in Progress

It seems an inordinately long time since I've posted. I haven't been posting because there's nothing to post yet. I am still waiting on the daylilies. It's been raining just about every other day. And so there isn't really much to say about the garden.

Still, yesterday we had an earthquake, which is about as exciting as things get around here. Other than that, I suppose I could post a photo of the delphiniums that have bloomed in the past couple of days.

Delphiniums


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I guess the only other garden news is the success of 'Hokus Pokus' hardy geranium. In 2007 I acquired it as a new plant in my garden. The label indicated it could take sun -- and most other hardy geraniums do -- so I didn't think twice about where I planted it. (By the way, I tend to use "hardy geranium" and "cranesbill" interchangeably, as the mood strikes. As far as I know they are just different terms for the same thing.)

Rescued 'Hokus Pokus' Hardy Geranium, 2008


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So anyway, poor 'Hokus Pokus' fried in the afternoon sun, and it wasn't until I had only one leaf left that I rescued the poor thing and moved it to a new location where it would get mostly shade. In 2008 it had recovered to the point where the little plant had six healthy leaves. This year, I can say the rescued plant has sufficiently recovered and is thriving.

Thriving 'Hokus Pokus', 2010


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It's holding its own in the side bed, putting a bit of light purple colour halfway between 'Hollywood' heuchera and the bronze foliage of 'Palace Purple' heuchera.

Side Bed


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There really isn't a lot of colour to show off in the garden at large. Until the daylilies bloom, there's just the different cranesbills that are flowering consistently.

Looking West, with Cranesbill Blooming


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Oh, and here is an ugly photo of a "work in progress". (By the way, those jagged pieces of broken pottery are there because a local cat used to hide under the bench and prey on birds in our yard. I wanted to discourage the cat from spending time there. The owners have since put a bell on the cat, and we no longer feed birds in our yard, so I will be removing that broken pottery as part of the makeover.)

Work in Progress


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I used to have a huge sprawling patch of Clematis jouiana 'Mrs. Robert Brydon' between the arbour bench and the composter. The flowers were lovely, but the plant itself needed to be tied to the bench, and it was a lot of work to manage it properly. Lately it had spread in all directions beyond the composter, and was threatening to take over the entire area. Here is a photo from its better days.

Tumbling Clematis, September 2006


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My new idea is to plant tall echinacea in the area instead. To that end, I have purchased a few on sale at local nurseries: 'Magnus', 'Ruby Giant', and 'Hope'.

Echinacea 'Magnus'
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I would have liked to have all 'Magnus', but there was only one pot available, so I went with a variety of choices instead.

The other "work in progress" will be to complete my sempervivum planters.

Sempervivum for Planters
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I'm hoping they will eventually look similar to this photo from the archives.

Sempervivum Planters 2008


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Someday. Soon. I hope.

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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.

It Begins

Well, almost all of the daylily plants (except the very late ones, and some that definitely need dividing and moving) have scapes now.

And the harbingers of daylily season have bloomed!

Here is my first Moonglow daylily.

'Moonglow' First Bloom


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By evening I had several flowers blooming on the same plant.

Evening Moonglow


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The usual date for a first bloom in a dry, sunny year is June 23. In the previous two very rainy years, these flowers bloomed late. In fact, in 2009 it was early July before I saw a Moonglow bloom. This year's warm April has put everything nearly two weeks ahead of what we've seen in past couple of years.

Watch this space for more frenzied daylily activity. Daylily season has officially begun!

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Garden Creatures

Both of these photos were taken with my iPhone camera. That's because I did exactly what these creatures did as soon as we saw each other.

Stood. Stock. Still.

But they let me fish my iPhone out of my back pocket and fiddle with the camera control until I managed to snap these photos. Unfortunately, the frog one is kind of out of focus, because the iPhone camera doesn't do close ups very well. (Is it a frog? It might be a toad.)


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Luckily the rabbit was at a distance, chomping on dandelions on my little patch of "grass" next to the front garden bed.


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If we had a perfect lawn with no weeds, the rabbit wouldn't have been there for me to take a photo of.

Okay, so cancel that call to the Weed Man I was going to make.

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For more on garden creatures, check out some of these historical posts:

Jackrabbit
A Family of Skunks
A Cute Little Green Frog
A Hawk
Another Cute Frog

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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.

Anticipation

It is going to be a banner year for daylilies.

I know I said there were a few plants with scapes already, but really, it's a lot. By the end of June many of my early to mid-season daylilies will have their first blooms.

Now, historically my first daylily blooms have always been 'Moonglow' (before I acquired 'Little Red Spring Song'). And in 2008, for example, they were blooming on June 30. There are of course plenty of scapes on that plant, so maybe it will be earlier this year.

'Moonglow' Daylilies (2006)


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However, the exciting thing about this year is that, also in the vicinity of 'Moonglow' there are 'Raspberry Swirl', 'Ed Murray', 'Dominic', 'Grecian Gown' and 'Luxury Lace', all with scapes waiting to bloom. (This post will include photos, but since scapes are boring, I will dig into the archives for photos of the flowers I am expecting early blooms for.)


Daylily Photos from the Archives

Raspberry Swirl (2007)


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Luxury Lace (2009)


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Ed Murray (2007)


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Grecian Gown (2009)


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Actually, for 'Dominic' I don't have any archival photos. (If you click on the link, it goes to another person's Flickr photo of a healthy 'Dominic' daylily flower.) The year I planted 'Dominic', I clumsily knocked off all the buds from its lone scape. It has never bloomed since. That's why I'm extra happy that it might be blooming this year. I say "might be" because I might have misidentified which plant has the scapes. Until the scapes actually flower, I can't be 100% sure.

Backyard Daylily Garden, Late July, 2009


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Over in the side and back, many of the daylilies are mid- to late season. For example, the dedicated daylily bed by the east fence is entirely late season daylilies (with the exception of 'Little Red Spring Song', which you've seen a lot of already on this blog). But there are still a few daylilies with scapes. 'Wayside King Royale' in the side garden, and 'Lavender Rainbow' under the Deborah maple tree.

Wayside King Royale, 2009


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Lavender Rainbow, 2008


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Anyway, these are some of the early daylilies I am expecting to see bloom first this year. I can hardly wait.

And with that, I will leave you.

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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.

Small Flowers

Well, it's definitely time to get rid of the brown and dried-up tulip foliage, but it's worth noting that there are also some pretty flowers emerging in the front garden at this time.

They may not be as showy as big flowers like irises and poppies (and later daylilies, which will be very early in the garden this year -- I counted four plants already sending out scapes), but they are also worth looking at. The heuchera in this photo are strong and healthy, with 'Gypsy Dancer' on the left pushing out several scapes of delicate little flowers.

Heuchera Flowers


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In the background behind the rock you can just see the bronze stalks of Penstemon digitalis 'Husker Red', which are also blooming at this time. Look at these flowers. Not so big, but very photogenic.

Penstemon Flowers


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And here is another plant that is blooming with small flowers. I know it is some type of hardy geranium, but I don't have a label for it, so it remains a mystery plant for now. (Don't you love the long pistils with the starlike appendage at the end?)

Unknown Hardy Geranium


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And in the back garden, my columbine volunteers are still blooming, but they have started to set seed and I am now waiting eagerly for them to be ready to collect seeds from. I'm anxious to propagate these pretty plants, and hopefully have them grow somewhere that is not in the bricks of my patio.

Columbine Setting Seed


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In spite of the emphasis on small flowers in this post, I should mention that the sister to yesterday's white poppy is also blooming. It looks a little bit better than the one which flopped on the ground and provided shelter for snails.

New White Poppy


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And with that, I will leave you.
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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.

Storms and Surprises

Well, we had a huge rainstorm yesterday that put paid to the poppies. They are definitely in a state of disarray. Turkenlouis is nothing more than a naked stalk now. (Granted, this would have happened with or without a rainstorm, but it certainly didn't help.)

Turkenlouis Stalk


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Another ordinary poppy that just bloomed is now a wreck, without my having a chance to photograph it in its glory.

Ordinary Orange Poppy in Disarray


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And the lovely white poppy! Well, it's still around, but I didn't get to photograph it at its best either. I had to lift it off the ground (where it provided shelter to snails) to get this photo.

White Poppy with Snails


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But if the poppies were adversely affected by the rain, not everything was. The 'Honey Baby' honeysuckle nestled in amongst the poppies is just starting to bloom with its yellowish-white flowers.

Honey Baby Honeysuckle
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And here is one of the containers where lamium and pansies are thriving, regardless of rainstorms.

Lamium and Pansies


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Speaking of honeysuckle, the Harlequin honeysuckle has reached critical mass in the side garden. Here is a photo showing it with Hollywood heuchera and plantaginea hosta in the background.

Harlequin Honeysuckle Side View


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'Johnson's Blue' hardy geranium lost a few petals, but is otherwise unharmed by the heavy rainfall.

Johnson's Blue Hardy Geranium


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My earliest blooming daylily, 'Little Red Spring Song', barely registered the rain.

'Little Red Spring Song'


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Remember a while ago I said I like surprises in the garden? Well here is another very pleasant one:

Unknown Iris


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I have no idea when I got this iris (although I'm guessing it was probably last year or the year before), or what variety it might be. It just bloomed in my garden today. I am not complaining. It is certainly beautiful.

And with that surprising find, I will leave you.
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