Monday, July 23, 2007

a lot of stuff blooming!

Finally getting caught up with all the photos I've been taking the last week or so! In the coming days, I want to show you overviews of all my gardens - most of them are looking really pretty right now - but wanted to kind of catch up with individual blooms first. So, here we go!

I have iron window boxes hanging on the fence between the house/patio and the driveway. Two are in sun and planted alike. This is one of them: now that the petunias are draping over the front and back, they're looking the way I envisioned them back in May.

This is rudbeckia "Herbstonne" - it has a wonderful bright yellow flower, and the plant is over 6 feet tall. Yarrow - I used to have a lot of this, but then it kind of disappeared for a few years, and is now coming back. I love when plants do that! (well, not the disappearing part so much!)

The Rocket - ligularia. This photo has kind of a busy background - sorry! I like these tall yellow blooms. The plant itself is extremely thirsty and kind of a pain, but I still like it.

I love the color of this daylily - the blooms are very small - maybe 2-2.5 inches across.

This is my only double daylily - so far! I like the yellow a lot.

This is one of my favorite daylilies. Beautiful color.

13 comments:

Diana LaMarre said...

There is no way that I am going to post a pic of my squatty little ligularia 'Rocket' after seeing that beauty of yours! I have had mine for three summers now and it is tiny with two tiny blooms. How old is yours? Do you water it a lot? I keep mine watered whenever it's sulking (which is almost daily) and still it's a sad sight.

I think the rudbeckia 'Herbstonne' is interesting, too. I don't recall seeing that one before.

Your patriotic planter has filled out nicely. Isn't it wonderful when they finally begin to look as we planned?

Can't wait to see your landscape shots.

Jean said...

Can't wait to see all your gardens1 I love the reddish daylilies too. Great pictures! Lauris took a pic of my trumpet creeper you might enjoy.

Dirty Fingernails said...

I was thinking about my yarrow the other day.. Mine too seem to take a vacation.. I hope mine returns.. I love the foliage even more than the flowers.

Tristi Pinkston said...

So pretty!

I'm curious -- how much time do you spend in your garden to keep it looking so wonderful?

Connie said...

I love those iron window boxes...they are looking great with your petunias.... and is that white verbena?

Laurie and Chris said...

Love the planter the colors look great. I really like the rudbeckia "Herbstonne" I will have to put that on my list.

Iowa Gardening Woman said...

That is really strange because I used to have lots of yarrow as well, mine disappeared also, I now have just one small white clump of it.

Your Herbstone Rudbeckia has really caught my attention, six feet! I must try it. Does it over winter well? I have had Irish eyes which has the green centers but it only lasted a couple of years.

Great pics.

Trailhead said...

Love the day lilies as always. The yarrow is wonderful too. I wonder if I could grow that in Montana.

meresy_g said...

Thanks for listing that Rudbeckia. I inherited two of those when we moved to our house and I never knew what they were called. Mine are close to 6 feet as well and super hardy. I need to divide them next year as they have formed clumps almost 3 feet across. I have been tempted to plant that ligularia but I don't think I have the right spot for it. After reading some of the other comments, I think it might be a little too needy for me.

Kelly said...

I totally dig the color of your day lilies

kate said...

Your flowers are pretty ... I love the ones in the iron windowboxes. This is a Rudbeckia that I am unfamiliar with. It is pretty ... I like this pastel colour of yarrow better than the bright yellow ones.

And your lilies are putting on a good show!

Chitweed said...

I have eyed the Herbstonne at the garden center for a while now. It is always so beautiful when it is in bloom. I will have to wait and make a new garden for it I think, because they do get so big.

kris said...

Too funny Zoey - I'm guessing your Rocket looks very presentable!! I've probably had my plant about 6 years - 3 years ago I moved it to this spot. It's way happier, but it gets wilty every single day. I water it every other day unless it's super hot. It's a pain - but I love the foliage and blooms...

Thanks Jean! I'll have to check out Laurie's photo of your trumpet vine :)

Hi dirty fingernails - I agree, the yarrow foliage is awesome. The bloom is kind of like icing on the cake. Kind of weird that they disappear tho.

Thanks Tristi! At times it feels like I only work in the gardens - lol! Spring and fall are pretty labor intensive. During the summer, I do a walk-about each day. While out there, I deadhead and pull any weeds I see. Every once in awhile I have to add some fresh mulch or do some edging. But mostly I get to just enjoy them once things start blooming. Actually, this seems like a good topic for a post...thanks!

Thanks Connie - I am really, really bad about knowing what my annuals are! I buy most of them at the Minneapolis Farmer's Market - and if I have something specific in mind, it can take hours trying to find each plant. So I just go every year and talk to the sellers and buy what grabs me at the time. I'm really bad at the names for the vines, fillers, etc.

Thanks Laurie & Chris - that tall rudbeckia is one of my favorites - I like the height and the color is fabulous.

Hi Iowa Gardening Woman - what's up with the yarrow?? The Herbstonne is great. Mine is in partial sun - in full sun it will get even taller. I've had mine many, many years and never lost any to cold weather. It's easy to divide to get more clumps if you want - altho mine don't seem to outgrow their space overly quickly. One year we had a hail storm at the end of May - I had to cut it all back - it was shorter but still bloomed really well.

Thanks Trailhead - what zone are you in Montana? Think yarrow is pretty hardy (well, when it's not disappearing! It has very cool foliage.)

Meresy_g - I guess I've been lucky - mine are good-sized clumps but I don't feel like they spread as fast as a lot of other plants do. It's a big root just because of the size of the clump - but they divide up really well. I started with 2 plants from a friend, and have at least 8 nice plants going now in different places. The ligularia is very cool - but very, very needy. I haven't found the perfect place for it yet either.

Thanks Myutopia! :)

Thanks Kate! I love the show we get here in Minnesota in July - tons of different blooms and pretty colors - fun!

Hi chitweed - they are big plants, but very cool. I vote for a new garden so you can have some of them! lol