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Post by whollygoats on Apr 14, 2019 16:56:18 GMT
Niiiiiice. Is that an Oregon grape, in yellow? I think you're right. It has the holly-style leaves so I think it's Mahonia aquifolium. It doesn't look so impressive from a distance. It's growing against a north-facing fence - maybe invaders from the adjacent neighbour's garden - like the bloody ivy! Heh...Oregon grape (mahonia) infesting Britain. Now that's payback! The spreading Scots, Welsh, and Cornish immigrants to North America so loved the gorse which grew in their homelands that they brought it with them to North America. Little did they know that it would become a pestilential invasive weed, spreading from coast to coast, particularly along rail lines. Of course, the conditions in much of North America are considerably drier and warmer than the British Isles. In consequence, the gorse (called 'Scotch broom' here) turns in to tinder ready to catch fire from embers and sparks generated by the railroad. Extensive grass fires have resulted, setting fire to railroad ties, even. The railroads and landed interests have been attempting to exterminate the gorse for decades....more than my entire lifetime, actually. As for the mahonia, it may well be spreading from the other side of the fence. It grows by a spreading root clump. It's pretty easy to extirpate with a shovel, but to be effective, you will need the cooperation of your neighbor. I personally like the fragrance and have thought of adding mahonia to my garden. Hmmmm....They look like what we call 'woodland hyacinths'. My garden is infested with them (they are just about to bloom). Somebody, back when, really had a thing for them. I get them in mostly blue, but with occasional whites and even rarer pinks. They 'naturalize' (i.e., spread) quite well. There are so many that I don't even try to avoid digging them up when planting something else. I just set aside those I've unearthed and hand them on to them what wants woodland hyacinths. I assumed that they were the same as 'Scilla', like from the 'Flower Fairie' illustrations from Britain, were the British term for the same; mayhaps not. I didn't realize that there were different strains. I also have a few remaining regular hyacinths, which are easy to distinguish from the more wild 'woodland' variety.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 18, 2019 1:06:28 GMT
Yep. My woodland hyacinth are blooming full on right now. It looks quite nice in the shade of the newly leafed rose bushes, which have a garnet undertone. The rose leaves look quite nice with jewels of raindrops scattered about.
In other news, everything is up and expanding to fill the empty spaces of winter past. The lilac has blooms forming. The bleeding heart is quite active blooming, as well. And, by this time next week, I should have my first iris bloom.
A pleasant afternoon in the garden with the French doors open for the fuzzwads.
Retired indoors at dusk for an Irish coffee. Leftover tortellini for dinner.
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Post by Moose on Apr 20, 2019 3:23:47 GMT
Irish coffee is superb
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 20, 2019 17:49:43 GMT
My first iris of the season was open this morning. It probably opened on the evening of Good Friday. I think I shall call it, 'Entombed'. The lilac opened it's first blooms today, too.
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Post by Kye on Apr 20, 2019 19:27:52 GMT
So pretty!
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 20, 2019 20:22:53 GMT
Heh...Yeah, I know.
Stand by...By a month from now, you'll all be digitally knee-deep in fleur pix from me. By mid-June, you'll be sick of them.
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Post by Kye on Apr 20, 2019 21:04:33 GMT
I'm happy to at least see pics of flowers. We're still waiting for crocuses around here...
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 20, 2019 21:20:39 GMT
Looking down in to the Balcony Rosebed from the balcony. That's woodland hyacinth in the beds and violas in the potpot.
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Post by Kye on Apr 20, 2019 21:45:22 GMT
Lovely!
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 23, 2019 17:40:51 GMT
Better iris pix:
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 26, 2019 0:35:28 GMT
It was actually warmer outdoors than indoors today. A first for the year.
I started turning over the remnants of the lawn, including relocating a portion to a tray. For Murray.
I also saw the need to spread slug bait around the garden. I'm starting to show buds on many of the iris and if I don't act now, the sluggers will devour them.
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Post by whollygoats on Apr 28, 2019 21:01:06 GMT
I was out and about in the garden, but have taken refuge against the blazing sun. I came in seeking more iced tea, finding that my stocks were low and I had to reset the sun tea maker. Time for lunch and a nap. Time to allow the high sun to throw longer shadows. The bleeding heart is blooming quite nicely. It's been in that location now more than thirty years. Some starter Kenilworth ivy blooming in between recycled rubble stepping stones. It looks sweet and innocent, but if untouched, by summer's end, it will cover the entire walkway, obscuring all from sight. All three stems of my earlybird iris in a tub.
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Post by whollygoats on May 1, 2019 21:40:46 GMT
The Eastern Front Slope, as viewed from the street: My woodland hyacinths are at their peak. Next week, they will be gone.
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Post by whollygoats on May 1, 2019 23:15:59 GMT
Mz. Daw ('Jill') came by today to beg handouts. She got frankfurters I didn't like and seemed content with that. She watches from a respectful distance, but if there is food offered, she'll come within five feet of me and not be overly concerned. I am obviously marked as a soft spot. If I'm out, she'll make a point of showing herself.
'Sparky', aka Mz. Hummer, came by today, too. That was when I was refilling the bird bath with the hose and sprayer, and watering the few items which need it. It turned out she just wanted a morning shower, so I accommodated. She is quite bold. Of course, I think of her as 'my lodger'. I'm fairly sure she has taken up residence in the white camellia above and behind the garden shed.
I came closer to planting my new strawberries in the back....where the raspberries failed. I've been dragging bags of composted amendments around the back, but still have not yet managed to get the starts plugged in to the ground. This means that, with the dryish weather, I need to keep them watered. This meant I had to link up my hoses, which I did yesterday.
Shiploads of weeds. Daily lion hunts.
I need delphinium starts. Maybe even melon starts.
I just realized that this fall, after I harvest my medicinal crop, I can plant in bulbs in the potpots. I can bring back tulips and add more narcissus! Oh, goody!
I need to get my sweet basil. Their pots are ready.
Time to go to the nursery! YAY!
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Post by whollygoats on May 2, 2019 17:41:35 GMT
Sweet basil starts are in.
I picked up four delphinia for a couple of my pots.
ETA: Damned SQRLz...Mere hours after I'd planted my basil starts in their pots, the twits have turned up the soil and buried half of the little starts. My felines are not nearly diligent enough.
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Post by whollygoats on May 3, 2019 19:29:39 GMT
New blooms! I found a 'Double Delight' rosebud. And two newly opened iris varieties. Buds, iris and rose alike, are forming up everywhere. I've still a slug problem, but I've spread the bait.
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Post by whollygoats on May 6, 2019 21:32:39 GMT
The open Double Delight rose:
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Post by whollygoats on May 6, 2019 21:59:30 GMT
I'm flouting my heritage and taking refuge indoors from the midday sun.
I shall return out of doors when the shadows lengthen.
It is a lovely, if somewhat warm, day. I turned the heat in the house off yesterday and it has not been restarted.
I may have to kick on the A/C if the rumors of a weekend heat wave are true. Expected to top out above 34 C on Friday and Saturday, before subsiding to more seasonable temperatures next week.
It's a bona fide heat wave!
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Post by Sarah W. on May 7, 2019 14:52:32 GMT
I love that purple iris! Completely gorgeous. :-) The rose is lovely, too.
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Post by whollygoats on May 7, 2019 20:11:16 GMT
I should get you a better pic of that purple iris with the plicata falls. Let me see what I can do.
It's another lovely day in the garden, but I'm waiting for Swimmer to come by for out lunch date.
Oh, that rose smells divine. That's it's other 'delight'...visual and fragrance.
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Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2019 1:08:14 GMT
Heh...Today was 'Take Your Kid To Work' day in the SQRLz world.
I saw an adult with a pint-sized SQRL in tow, dutifully checking the neighbor's gutters, before moving on to other duties.
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Post by Moose on May 10, 2019 2:13:18 GMT
They are all lovely. Flowers make me happy.
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Post by Mari on May 10, 2019 13:22:51 GMT
Take your kid to work-day is really a real thing in the US? I always thought it was just a thing they had in films but not IRL.
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Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2019 14:53:30 GMT
Yes...It is a real thing. It is not acknowledged by all employers, nor all parents, but it does happen.
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Post by whollygoats on May 10, 2019 18:36:35 GMT
So...The morning tour turned up several positive things.... In the dark corner, along the back east fenceline, two variant columbine make a showing amidst fading woodland hyacinths. A columbine to which I could get a mite closer. A repeat, but now a cluster on two stalks. A bright spot in something of a dark corner, which only happens in the morning. This was a surprise. It is a floribunda rose, 'Baby Talk', down front in the stairwell rose bed. I hadn't even noticed any buds. As promised, another, better, repeat of the purple with plicata falls. The first of my purple selfs. (Self: A blossom where the upright standards and the cascading falls are the same color. Often the beard can be a strikingly different color, but these are also purple.) This is not a particularly good shot, but worry not, I'll come back to the masses of these when there are like two dozen blooming at the same time. It is a heritage iris for me, as I harvested it from my mother's garden, where I grew up, in a neighborhood not far from where I now live. Another new bloom and precursor to many more...'Anything Goes' is the variety name. It is an orchid bloom with vermillion plicata falls and an orange beard. This is a favorite of Swimmer. Stay tuned. My garden will reach its zenith, in terms of blossoms, over the next two to three weeks. It is basically the transition between the peak and decline of the iris bloom, with the start of the first, and usually best, rose bloom of the year. It looks like this year, because of the warm and relatively dry spring, the roses will be starting a week or so early....This is good for many of the pairings I tried to make with roses and iris bloom colors.
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Post by whollygoats on May 12, 2019 2:33:49 GMT
By this morning, the leading phalanx of deep purple selfs had made their initial showing.... If I'm lucky, some of these will still be in bloom come the soiree, a week from tomorrow.
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Post by whollygoats on May 12, 2019 21:18:01 GMT
Lookin' out my back door: Jill, aka Mz. Dawe, is now a regular visitor. Here she is sitting in my dogwood tree (at the front end of the Ho Chi Minh Trail), with the weigela in the background. This tall, gangly pastel violet with a white beard hovers over the landing of the front steps (note Jill Dawe in the background): One other bloom was hiding down lower on the eastern front slope: Regarding tall, gangly specimens, these are in a pot on the patio in the back garden: ^Yesterday and todayv Behind the phalanx of deep purple, the double ringed purple on white blooms are just starting: A more recent addition, 'City Lights', in the same eastern back fenceline bed: Nearby, in the balcony rosebed, the 'Silverado' iris bloom is timed well with its neighboring floribunda rose, 'Sunflare'. And, immediately next to that tableau, my favorite rose, 'French Lace' is producing its first bloom:
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Post by whollygoats on May 15, 2019 0:33:34 GMT
Updates: One becomes many. Intended combo. One becomes many. That pot of leggy purple selfs. Now each in bloom. You can see the successive buds down the stem. If you are lucky, you might get two buds per bud stem; up to eight or ten per main stem. The usual is four or five blooms per main stem.
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Post by whollygoats on May 16, 2019 22:29:17 GMT
From the balcony, looking out over the balcony rose garden, toward the eastern fenceline iris bed, lilac, and berry patch around the bird bath: And, at the eastern end of the balcony, you can see the neighbor's wiegela blooms cascading over the top of the fence: Down in the garden, this is the fenceline iris bed from a different perspective: The bicolors in the bed, white ringed with dark violet is another of my 'heritage' collection. I rescued them from my mother's garden. I knew it as 'Graphic Art', but I've seen it reappear several times in catalogs, each with a different name: And the other singletons appearing throughout the back: Rose grandiflora 'Olympiad' Rosa grandiflora 'Sweet Surrender' Gold Galore, one of my favorites. 'Pascali', my only hybrid tea rose (I think). There were others, but the photos were subpar. I'll be following up daily for a while, so you'll see the development of clusters of both iris and roses. This is a banner year, because the iris are in full swing and the roses are just about to be at peak (within the week). Usually, the iris are done, or fading, before the roses really reach peak bloom. Believe it or not, I've got to deadhead in May. Hang on to your seats.... Doo, du, do, doo....Looking out my back door....
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Post by Mari on May 17, 2019 8:53:08 GMT
Lovely!
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