1-2-3 Go Garden!

Saturday, June 30, 2012

Daylilies in June

This is the first of several daylily posts. The month of July on this blog is usually devoted to daylilies. Many of these daylilies do not usually bloom in June. This year is really unprecedented [I lie, though unintentionally: now that I look back, this year is actually very similar to 2010], with more than a dozen varieties that have bloomed already. I didn't catch every one with the camera on the actual first day it bloomed, but I did keep track of the correct date of first bloom.

'Kwanso', First Bloom June 29

'Cricket Dance', First Bloom June 28

'Raspberry Swirl', First Bloom June 27

'Cimarron Knight', First Bloom June 27

'Destined to See', First Bloom June 27

'Little Bumblebee', First Bloom June 26

'Russian Rhapsody', First Bloom June 26

'Always Afternoon', First Bloom June 25

'Ice Carnival', First Bloom June 25

'Cassadiana, First Bloom June 24

A first bloom from yesterday (June 29) is a mystery daylily I bought from a local plant sale in which gardeners contributed divisions from plants that were thriving in their own gardens. Well, someone had identified this one only as "Burgundy Daylily". From the looks of it, however, I think it is 'Wayside King Royale'.

(Probably) 'Wayside King Royale', First Bloom June 29

June 30 first blooms -- it's too hot today to get photographs; the flowers are fading in the heat -- include 'Darkside' (which is not as dark as usual this year and is drifting back towards red), 'Executive Decision' (a true red), 'Sunday Gloves' (a "white", which is actually cream), and 'Dad's Best White' (cream).

ETA: In removing the Honey Locust tree last fall, the arborist destroyed most of the plantings around it. I have lost my familiar 'Moonglow' daylilies, which were the first ones I ever planted in this garden and were ALWAYS the first ones to bloom.

The large yellow daylilies down in front are called 'Grecian Gown' and they survived, with their first bloom occurring on June 26 this year.

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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, June 15, 2012

Wait and See

The poppies are pretty much done. I do love the poppy pods that are left in the garden after the fact, though.

'Patty's Plum', The Last Poppy of 2012

That Japanese Iris I was worried about because it apparently needed lots of water, apparently got what it needed, because it bloomed. Beautifully.

Japanese Iris

Nearby, the 'Honey Baby' honeysuckle is blooming.

'Honey Baby'

And not-so-nearby, but still in the front garden, Penstemon 'Husker Du' is in its glory, while the ordinary white hardy geranium (cranesbill) is doing well in its shady nook beneath the magnolia. (Note that the flowers are tiny, about the size of a US quarter. The extreme close-up photo is deceptive in that regard.)

Penstemon 'Husker Du'

White Hardy Geranium (Cranesbill)

I am waiting for daylilies (other than 'Little Red Spring Song', which is a prolific bloomer!) to flower.

'Little Red Spring Song'

Most of the plants are healthy and pushing forth stems with small, developing buds. I'm waiting to see the damage from last fall's tree removal. The healthy plants seem to benefit from the extra sunshine, but many plants were located near the trees that were removed and may have been subjected to boot-trampling and other stress. I suppose I should be happy to have an excuse to acquire more plants, but it's harder to do now. My favourite place to buy, Canning Perennials, was up for sale the last time we visited a couple of years ago and is (probably) no more. And it's a long trek to the daylily farm. So this year is going to be mainly "wait and see" for the 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.

Monday, June 04, 2012

Beginning of June

Well, in spite of the mess of weeds and horribleness in the back garden, the flowers still bloom. (That's why you see so many close-up glamour shots on this blog. The garden itself is not worth photographing -- the archives from five or six years ago show it during its heyday. I wish I could get things back to that state again.)

Here is the first of the daylilies, Little Red Spring Song.

Hemerocallis 'Little Red Spring Song'

In the front garden where we removed a couple of trees, the poppies are doing very well with the additional sunshine. However, my hardy geranium (cranesbill) 'Mrs. Kendall Clark' is suffering from the lack of shade. She wilts in the glare of unrelenting afternoon sun. Of course, we've had a rainy, cold weekend, so she's all right for now.

Geranium pratense 'Mrs. Kendall Clark'

Poppies in the Front Garden

The poppies in general are looking good this year. They complement the flower pot (zonal geraniums, tickseed, sweet potato vine, and lamium) that currently sits on the "shelf rock". The individual poppies have been blooming at different times, though. And the rain has taken its toll on some.

Battered Poppy

Red Poppy, Four Days Old

The white poppy is blooming again this year. My garden is a mystery to me, and poppies are finicky. I get leaves every year, but the plants do not always flower. After a few seasons, you forget what you've planted. When weather and light conditions change, it changes the mix of what blooms. Anyway, this year I have a white poppy, but no light purple or salmon pink poppies, at least not yet.

New White Poppy

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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, May 25, 2012

The End of May

This is my garden at the end of May. The first poppies have popped. The weigela bush is in its glory, covered in little pink trumpet-shaped flowers. And 'Ankums Pride', the first of the hardy geraniums to bloom, is showing its purple-pink flowers.

Two Allegro Poppies

The first poppy, of course an 'Allegro', bloomed yesterday, May 24. This is early for poppies to bloom, in fact the earliest date they ever have for me. (In 2010, the first poppy bloomed on May 24, also, but the norm is closer to the beginning of June. The latest date occurred last year, a very cold year, when the first poppy did not bloom until June 9. Does it matter when the first blooms are? I don't know. It matters to me, so I keep a record of it. Maybe someday it will help a scientist study Climate Change. But even if that never happens, it's still worthwhile to me to know when things bloom year after year.

Poppy Bud (About to Pop)

This bud that is about to pop will probably be the reddish-pink 'Manhattan'. The poppies may start blooming on different dates, but they tend to follow each other in a regular order.

Weigela and Bee

Zen Garden

The weigela bush in the backyard is entirely covered in small, pink, trumpet-shaped flowers. The pollinators love them. And the pink provides a welcome respite from the unrelenting backdrop of green that is my garden right now. (The tall irises had a great year last year, but have not done well this year. Normally they would be blooming at the same time as the poppies. Perhaps I should have divided them in the fall.)

'Ankums Pride' Hardy Geranium

I used to put an apostrophe in when I wrote "Ankum's" in 'Ankums Pride'. Then I saw somewhere that that is not correct -- but now I don't remember where I saw it or why it's so. I'm not even sure why I mention it. Maybe I should just end the post now and be done with it.

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Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Shortcuts

Some cell phone snaps of baskets of flowers I bought today. (Using a cell phone is a shortcut. I really should have used a proper camera. They take much better pictures.) I am currently using the baskets to add some colour to the garden, as the tulips are finished and the poppies haven't popped yet.

In this first picture you can see a basket of flowers in 'hot' colours: pink (zonal geraniums), yellow (tickseed?), chartreuse (ipomeoa), and purple with variegated leaves (lamium).

The colour is not very accurate on the above photo, but you can see how lush and full the basket is. I got charged double for this basket as it sat in the cart, because the cashier felt sure there must be two baskets in there providing all those flowers. Luckily I caught the mistake and got a refund.

This basket of petunias and lobelia is definitely a shortcut to add some colour.

Some other plants I picked up were some Ajuga 'Chocolate Chip' (my favourite low-growing plant for the front of a border) and a Hemerocallis 'Catherine Woodbury' that I bought to replace my original plant, which is getting weaker every year. I really love 'Catherine Woodbury' and I think it would break my heart not to have any. I also bought some Japanese Iris, which may or may not be a good idea. I should probably have done more research before picking up that one on a whim. They need lots of water, something my garden doesn't have.

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Monday, May 07, 2012

Mid-Spring

Just a few pretty photos of some blooms in the garden today.

Tulips

Daffodils

Dwarf Iris

Garden View

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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.

Saturday, April 21, 2012

Purple-Leaf Sandcherry and Daffodils

Just a couple of photos from the front garden today.

Purple-Leaf Sandcherry

Unknown Double Daffodils

(Edited to add: Probably 'Orangery', based on a helpful comment.)

'Easter Bonnet' Daffodils

The Easter Bonnets are the first daffodils I ever planted, and these two come back reliably every year.

Friday, March 30, 2012

Out Like a Lion

Forget hard frosts -- tonight we finally had seasonable weather for this time of year. That's right, it snowed.

I took the picture tonight with the flash, since the snow will probably be gone by morning (at any rate, the weekend is supposed to warm up again).

Flash photography is not one of my strong suits. And besides, I was out for dinner and drinks tonight so that might be why the composition of this photo sucks, but I like the way the snow turned out.
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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, March 26, 2012

Told You It Was Too Early

So, a couple of days after the magnolia started blooming, we got a hard frost. Bye bye blooms.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Too Early!

The magnolia in the front yard is blooming today. It's about a month too early for this.

Most of it is the highly unseasonable warm weather we've been having. But also, we removed the big honey locust tree last year and this is the first spring we've had without it.

The garden is getting more of the sun that's there, and there's more sun to get. Boy is it making a difference.
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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, March 13, 2012

Early Signs of Spring

I think this is about the earliest I've seen crocuses come up in the garden. We had a very mild winter this year, and it looks like Spring is following suit.

Monday, August 01, 2011

On Hiatus

Blog is on hiatus until Spring 2012.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Backyard Bounty

This post is just to show some flowers that were blooming today in the backyard. Stoplight is blooming now. It's one of the few spiderform daylilies in my garden.

Stoplight

Africa is one of my darkest daylilies, with more of a reddish base than a purple one. This year it's not bad, but last year it was spectacular.

Africa

Nile Crane's ethereal colours (like watercolour) are enhanced by an otherworldly glow today that I attempted to capture with my camera. I'm not sure this photo does it justice.

Nile Crane

Here is a definitive example of Scatterbrain, a daylily whose stamens are attached to its petals.

Scatterbrain

And here's a couple of little Catherine Woodbury, probably the last ones of this summer. Or maybe ever, from this plant, as it gets weaker and stragglier every year.

Catherine Woodbury

And finally, some echinacea, which is also blooming right now, and looking good in spite of the long drought we've been enduring through most of July (broken by a rainstorm yesterday, thank goodness).

Echinacea