|
Post by Kye on May 17, 2021 12:11:03 GMT
Cute!!
|
|
|
Post by Sarah W. on May 17, 2021 13:54:08 GMT
Foxes! And flowers! All lovely. :-)
I went to the store to buy a lemon the other day and came out with a hanging flower basket. Hopefully I can keep them alive.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 17, 2021 23:10:46 GMT
Those look like choice kits. Are they volunteers, or did you plant? If the latter, did you use seed or set?
|
|
|
Post by Moose on May 17, 2021 23:43:33 GMT
Foxes! I've only ever once seen a fox in the wild, years ago.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 18, 2021 1:54:26 GMT
IIRC, JoeP has a replenishing stock of foxes. This is at least the second litter he's mentioned.
Perhaps there have been more and JoeP's neighborhood is pumping out foxes to bedevil the gentry? Tally ho!
I'm charmed, for sure.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 18, 2021 2:10:21 GMT
Storm coming in. I ran out an staked five or six 'leaners' with open flowers. The bud-only stems will be fine.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 18, 2021 3:39:28 GMT
My tub of rhubarb... (I might note here that while JoeP has the cute foxes, I have the henhouse.) My iris and rose pairing... 'Vibrant' 'Val de Loire' 'War Chief' 'Butterlicious' 'Lenten Prayer' 'Pirate Ahoy' 'Dusky Challenger' 'Vibrant' & 'Lenten Prayer' paired. That must have been planned... Siberian iris A buncha 'Graphic Arts'. YOWZA! Everybody enjoying the show?
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 18, 2021 3:51:45 GMT
I dunno what I did to get that format, but I sure like it. Those are larger than the originals.
|
|
|
Post by JoeP on May 18, 2021 9:18:05 GMT
Those look like choice kits. Are they volunteers, or did you plant? If the latter, did you use seed or set? They are self-sown, I've just encouraged the growing conditions and not weeded them out.
|
|
|
Post by JoeP on May 18, 2021 9:19:52 GMT
IIRC, JoeP has a replenishing stock of foxes. This is at least the second litter he's mentioned. Perhaps there have been more and JoeP's neighborhood is pumping out foxes to bedevil the gentry? Tally ho! I'm charmed, for sure. The decline of hunting in Epping Forest may be significant.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 18, 2021 13:47:36 GMT
Those look like choice kits. Are they volunteers, or did you plant? If the latter, did you use seed or set? They are self-sown, I've just encouraged the growing conditions and not weeded them out. An excellent approach. I do the same with columbine and foxglove. That's what we call 'volunteers'.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 18, 2021 16:44:37 GMT
The goldfinches arrived yesterday to start harvesting the myosotis seed.
The expected rain did not arrive last night. A night full of thunder, but no rain. It looks like it could be a mixed bag today. The midlevel clouds are moving fast.
I should put some time in out front.
|
|
|
Post by Sarah W. on May 18, 2021 17:44:26 GMT
I am enjoying the iris show!
The birds have yet to discover the small feeder I hung up. On the plus side, no squirrels have discovered it either.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 19, 2021 1:55:16 GMT
Well, the rain arrived late and it was a gully-washer, or two, or three. It was a wet rain.
All the locals are thankful.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 19, 2021 2:04:32 GMT
'Sweet Surrender' again. 'Laugh Lines' 'Poem of Ecstasy' not fully open 'Lady Friend' caught in the rain Before the rain, this grouping was a skoshi closer. A cross-bed comparison of colors between 'Pirate Ahoy', 'Lenten Prayer', and 'Vibrant'.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 20, 2021 3:18:19 GMT
Looking out the back door:
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 22, 2021 23:23:27 GMT
The garden has peaked out in new iris blooms. The rest are 'late bloomers', some of them stunted from last fall's shuffle. On the eastern front slope, this unknown iris, which I call 'something blue': While, in the back, the eastern fenceline iris bed looks like this: 'Anything Goes' produced it's first bloom: And, 'Poem of Ecstasy' produced a fuller bloom:
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 23, 2021 15:21:34 GMT
Well, I've deadheaded my first two rose blooms and my first iris is long since blown.
It's time for the iris stem census.
Starwoman - 1 First Interstate - 2 Lark Ascending - 2 Tulip Festival - 1 Blueberry Bliss - 2 Double Ringer - 1 Lady Friend - 1 Supreme Sultan - 1 War Chief - 5 Vibrant - 2 Lenten Prayer - 1 Sultry Challenger - 5 Anything Goes - 1 Val de Lois - 2 Sudden Impact - 5 Poem of Ecstasy - 3 + 1 + 1 pastel light purple - 4 Laugh Lines - 1 Cherub's Smile - 2 deep purple - 12 City Lights - 10 Graphic Arts - 13 Powerpoint - 2 Rhinelander - 3 Night Ruler - 4 something blue - 3 + 1 Butterlicious - 1 Pallida - 4 Siberian - 3 Chinese - 1 Pseudocora - 16
Notes:
- While the replant of the Dusky Challenger clump, along with some Anything Goes, went well, the replant of the Lenten Prayer and Tulip Festival beds stunted this year's bloom. The same for the bed of Louis d'Or.
- The Starwoman was a save. I don't think it would have lasted another year in the midst of the maelstrom of rudies. I had one wimpy stem that never bloomed.
- I'm very pleased with the production on the Lark Ascending. Looking over my lists, I see I've planted this at least twice before. I put this round in last fall, right out front (as in, 'not behind roses or tubs'), next to the back door, with scads of sunlight. Yet, the white and pink varieties I planted 'behind' and 'next to' the stand of Dusky Challenger made no show whatsoever. Nor did any of the 'black' iris I've planted over the years.
- The iris pallida at the street surprised me. They seem to be flourishing where the Siberian iris was waning. Huzzah!
- I did some last minute moving in attempts to 'save' some rhizomes which had been condemned to low light environs. They went in out front and it looks like I might get one bloom off the lot of a dozen or so. My money is on a Poem of Ecstasy.
- I'm quite pleased with the bloom of the Val de Loire, but don't like that they are crowded 'behind' (from the view from the balcony) the rhubarb. By moving the rhubarb more to the southeast, toward the birdbath/bee beach & bistro, I would assure that the rhubarb's now assertive canopy won't shade too much that I care about. This means I need to move the Vals to a new locale. I've settled on the front corner of the shed porch, next to where the morning-glory pots are. Now sunnier, thanks to absent Dougs. This also means that the set of three rhizomes I placed on the balcony side of the rhubarb tub will get sunlight....but, will they then be 'in the way', and thus also need to move? If so, I think I've just the place...at the leading edge of the eastern fenceline iris bed.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 24, 2021 13:52:31 GMT
- I did some last minute moving in attempts to 'save' some rhizomes which had been condemned to low light environs. They went in out front and it looks like I might get one bloom off the lot of a dozen or so. My money is on a Poem of Ecstasy. And, so it is.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 24, 2021 14:48:27 GMT
The strawberries are bearing. I've fruit on.
The raspberries are blooming.
|
|
|
Post by Mari on May 25, 2021 8:44:42 GMT
For Marit....A follow-up on the toadflax...aka Kenilworth ivy: When I cleaned up along the Ho Chi Minh trail, I exposed the composters to more view: Note the growth out of the vents. That could all be torn away in less than a minute. No thorns, no stubborn roots. If you're slapdash about it, it will prolly grow back. (It looks rather 'pubic', doesn't it?) Ah thanks! I'll definitely see if I can find this for my garden
|
|
|
Post by Mari on May 25, 2021 8:49:12 GMT
I love the laugh lines iris. Gorgeous! We've finally had rain, but of course now we've had enough rain to drown in it, so the plants aren't sure if they're happy or not.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 25, 2021 19:10:35 GMT
Yes, we've gotten a drenching in the last couple of days, and it is starting to wear on the blooms. I'm hoping the roses power through and avoid bud blast. Back before the rains: My garden gargoyle, Murray B. Stubbins: 'Lark Ascending' is doing well: While the 'Sunflare' is starting to bloom as the blue 'Sudden Impact' iris hover far above... Today's first bloom, an unidentified fuschia self w/white beard: From the other side: Then, there was this: Ahem...
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 28, 2021 14:59:10 GMT
A look back at the balcony from next to the bee beach & bistro. I was back there to get a photo of this new bloom: Is 'Powerpoint'. I have two stems which will bloom. 'Sunflare' is ramping up with its bloom... 'Sultry Challenger' has gone group performative... Out front, in the parking strip, is my one and only stem of Chinese iris. At the landing to the front steps, there is a pot which has the 'Butterlicious' iris and these carnations. I love the scent (which I, for some reason, associate with Canada mints) and that fragrance greets all my approaching visitors. For the time being, at least.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on May 29, 2021 20:37:11 GMT
Ha! My first visit from one of the dragonfly inspectors. I hope the garden passed muster and I can expect future visits.
Today, I found that I have two more stems of the iris I've deemed 'fuschia you'; the fuschia colored bloom. One is near the first stem to bloom, but the other, although still in the same bed, is located away from the other two and in the center of the 'mater patch.
Another deep purple self bloomed in the furthest pot; one still repotted last fall. I was expecting a aneome that I knew the name of, but this self will require research. I vaguely remember having another rhizome of blooms that were as dark as my favorite, but more velvety in petal texture, than the satiny 'Sultry Challenger'. This looks like that vague memory. I have two stems of 'Powerpoint', too.
Also, it looks like my white Siberian will bloom...the Japanese iris looks not likely.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Jun 1, 2021 17:25:53 GMT
Catching up... This year's worst pairing...so far. 'French Lace' 'French Lace' again. Last gasp of the eastern fenceline iris, as the clematis and foxglove ramp up. My new water glutton. A bit hit with the local hummers. First bloom of a wan and pasty example of 'Double Ringer'. Bare ruined choirs; the faded glory of the eastern borderlands. My new miniature rose in a container. It is a replacement for the same rose I had in the ground just two feet away. It's name reflects the image it suggests. Another glorious 'Sweet Surrender' blossom. It is producing abundantly, too. I've already deadheaded a half dozen and gifted a bud to my back neighbor, and I still have a bush full of blooms. The bushful of blooms as seem from the balcony, looking out on to the garden. 'Honor', a bit more modest, but still flourishing bush to the left of the above. And, wedged down low, between the effusive 'Sweet Surrender' and the modest 'Honor', lurks the first bloom of many to come of 'Olympiad', my red rose.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Jun 3, 2021 4:03:28 GMT
Big happenings in the garden today. I posted an order online for more green lacewings; to do battle with aphids. Then, in the process of the morning assay, I noted that 'Touch of Class', my melon pink grandiflora rose, was showing leaf damage from powdery mildew, one of the nasty triumvirate of fungal diseases to which the rose family is subject. I whipped up a batch of my home remedy and applied tout suite. I'm down to having just one more stem of iris to open and I'm pretty sure it is another stem of 'Night Ruler', a deep purple self. That would make three stems of that variety, all of which could be lifted from their pots and replanted as a grouping next to 'Powerpoint' along the eastern fence. Good contrast there. The iris are fading fast, but the roses are now pretty much in the full display of their first bloom. The darker roses, red and deep melon pink, are for some reason this year, the last to bloom. 'Lark Ascending' with 'Gourmet Popcorn' behind. Rhinelander, near and far. 'Night Ruler'....I think my last stem will be the third of these. 'Touch of Class' 'French Lace' 'Pascali' 'Cecile Brunner' from a distance. The open bloom is barely larger than the end of my thumb. From the balcony. From the crossroads, looking back at the balcony rosebed. The rudies are making their presence known, with leaf stalks now above ankle height. The jasmine has produced its first flower.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Jun 3, 2021 20:46:12 GMT
Revision:
The 'Night Ruler' third stem being the last? Nope, there is another. In the same pot. It was hidden by rhubarb leaves and a columbine snag. I was checking to see how far I'd have to move the rhubarb tub to clear it from shading the northerly tubs next to the plaza, one of which holds the iris. It is still a bud, but it is very dark, so I assume it is one of the same.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Jun 5, 2021 22:48:17 GMT
The alstromeria has its first bloom today. More daylilies are opening, as well.
The roses are largely at full bloom now. I'll start deadheading early next week.
|
|
|
Post by whollygoats on Jun 8, 2021 20:45:44 GMT
Harvested garlic scapes today. Trying to figure out how to use them...
|
|