Happy Cosmo in spite of the overcast today

This is one of the cosmo's in Diane's garden.  In spite of no sun today, the flower is standing tall and happy.

Angel Curls open today too

This is Angel Curls which opened today with a deformed top petal.  I do love the peachy color of this daylily.

For Annabelle Daylily FFO

Today was a very overcast day, only one new daylily open today.  This is a new fan that had not opened before.

It is called For Annabelle.  Description: The blooms are a light pink with a deeper rose pink edge, encircled in gold and splashed green at the heart. The pastel, cyclamen lavender-pink color intensifies just inside the heavily embellished quarter inch wide gold edges. The full, ruffled petals are overlapped and the sepals are rolled back. The texture is silky and diamond dusted, with sunfast color and firm substance.  Named to evoke the memory of the late Dr. William Dunbar, an orthopedic surgeon in Santa Barbara California. As a very little boy and then onward he always called his sister Annabelle. It was the last word he said to her on the phone, the day before he died of cancer at age 45.

Remember, FFO are not as perfect as successive blooms.  You can see how big the flower itself is by comparing to Diane's hand.  She takes the picture with one hand and holds the flower in the other.  Her camera has something called "stabilization".

Look at what some critter did to the garden!

This WAS a pretty catnip plant growing. Diane grows it for her cats, poor Leo is allergic to it, can't have any. I grew this a couple of years ago and the same thing happen, some critter got to it. If you look at the picture to the left, you will see one of the other flowers with a broken stem. Click on the picture if you can't see it.  I just hope this damage was caused by a critter and not someone who had jumped the garden fence and trampled the plants.

Coneflower starting to open - a mystery as to it's variety

Diane took this picture today of a new coneflower she saw just starting to open.  She said this is not one she has photographed before and that this flower is not ill or have anything on it, that this is the color it is.  Very unusual looking, even I don't know which variety name this could be.  If you click on the photo, you can get a better view of this one.

White Perfection Daylily with lots of scapes

This daylily is going to open soon.  This one is called White Perfection.  It has many scapes on it.  This daylily has diamond dust on the flowers too!

What is a scape you ask?  The scape of a daylily is a leafless stalk which bears the flowers. Most have two or more branches, each bearing several flower buds. Below the branches, the stalks have a few leaf-like "bracts." Sometimes, a small plantlet grows at the junction of a bract and the scape. This is called a "proliferation" and can be rooted to produce another plant.


Now, what the heck is diamond dust you ask!  Diamond dust is tiny crystals in the flower's cells reflect light, especially in the sun, to give the flower a sparkling or glistening appearance as if sprinkled with gold, silver, or tiny diamonds.

I can't wait for this one to open.

Pink Dahlia

I can clearly see double petals forming on this Dahlia now.  I suspet this flower will have multiple petals and will be a multi-layer Dahlia.  It is looking pink now.  You can see that one of the bottom petals is either damaged or just opening late.  This is from the tubers I planted from Lowe's.

Pretty Red Poppy

This is the last of the neighbor's beautiful Poppy.  The top picture will show you what the rest of the plants (as best we can figure, there are 6 different plants in mass here).  The colors were pink and the red/orange ones.

Blazing Star, Liatris spike

This is a picture of Diane's Blazing Star sending up its' tall flower spike.  This spike will start to open from the top down, it will be purple.  Quite an unusual looking plant.

My beautiful Lupine is going to seed

I was dismayed to see this beautiful flower going to see, but oh so happy to see that there are 2 new flower spikes coming up!  If you look at the bottom of the plant (by clicking on the photo) you will see 2 cone looking flower spikes.  Oh so happy to see this.  The picture below shows a closer up view of the bottom of the Lupine, you can see how the flower is seeding and see the new spike just to the left of the spike,

Dianthus Diana Blueberry

Diana Blueberry has come into full bloom on the plant.  Won't be long before this plant will go to seed and will need to be cut back.  But for now, have one last look at this most beautiful Dianthus.  Diane tells me that the 2 white looking with pink center flowers are the flower buds that are starting to age. 

Inherited Wealth Daylily FFO

This is a brand new first time to open and first time seen here, daylily.  It is called Inherited Wealth.  Color/Description: Pink blend with gold edge and olive green throat.

FFO= First Flower Open refers to the first flower to open on a plant each year - usually the bloom is not quite right - a little mangled or discolored. The FFO helps to establish the season of a particular CV (Early or Mid, or Late).

Gazania

This is my one and only Gazania plant I have in my garden. Certain to bring a smile to your face.  This flower requires lots of sun, it opens to the sun in the morning and will close it's petals towards late afternoon.  This flower will bloom all Summer and right into Fall.   No two blooms are exactly alike!  This is planted with my various unnamed Dianthus, near where my Viola Sorbet is, they are all low growing plants.

Balloon Flowers getting ready to pop!

The Balloon Flower is swelling up and getting ready to open.  If you look at the top of the bud here, see the lines that divide, that is where the flower petals will open to expose the full flower.  The petals are rather large on this plant.  I just love how the buds look like hot air balloons.

Ultra Crimson Star Petunias all in a row

These are Diane's favorite color Petunias. From the Park Seed website:

Ultra Crimson Star was the first variety ever to receive an All-America Selection Bedding Plant Award, back in 1988, and for our money it has never been improved upon. These extra-large, ruffled blooms of brightest crimson and white are very uniform, with a crisp, formal look that brightens beds and baskets alike. And the plant is early-blooming, very tolerant of stress, and dependable. It's simply the perfect bedding Petunia!

Ultra Crimson Star's blooms measure 3 to 4 inches wide, with large white stripes intersecting the crimson-red at even intervals. Very weather-resistant, they bounce back after rain much more quickly than most other Petunias. And they are so abundant on compact, well-branched plants just 12 to 14 inches high, 15 to 18 inches wide!

Notice how all 3 of the flowers have a different variance of red stripes. It is very windy in the garden and the flower petals do taking a beating.  You can see one of the flowers has a ripped petal.  Very nice look in her garden.

Viola Orange Sorbet Duet

These little gems were seedlings this year from a plant Diane purchased last year at Home Depot.  These flowers bloomed almost all Summer right into the Fall.  I was very impressed and wanted some this year.  Well, her original plant died, but all these little seedlings came up everywhere in her garden (and in other garden plots too, heeeeheeeeeeee).  Diane was going with all Daylilies this year, so I collect all her Viola plants and put them in one section of my garden.  Here they are in full bloom still.  Aren't they cute!

Here is a description from the internet of these little darlings:

These compact, mound-shaped 6 inch plants produce an abundance of 1 inch flowers that combine the charm of violas with the amazing color range of pansies. Easy to grow, Sorbet violas are both heat and cold tolerant and will bloom over a very long season.

Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy

Once again, I show you this most unusual looking flower bud.  In this picture you can see the red tinge color around the center of this flower.  It is not some type of spider!!  This will end up being a red flower with a brown center.  You need to click on the picture to get a close up view.

Blazing Star

OK, this is a new picture of a group of flowers I planted this year.  At Lowe's I got this package of bulbs of Blazing Star, Liatris spicata.  I've wanted this plant every year, but could not find it.  Anyhow, there it was on the shelf in bulb form, all neating packed in a package.  I took it home, waited a couple of weeks, then decided to plant the bulbs.  I was not aware that there were 50 bulbs in the package.  I planted all 50 of them, and it looks like at least 30 of them are coming up in this picture.  I found this about the Blazing Star on the internet:

The Cherokee used the bulb-like root in a preparation to treat intestinal gas, increase urination and to relieve backache. Practitioners of folk medicine used it to treat sore throats, kidney stones and even gonorrhea. It's use has been discouraged because if not prepared correctly ingesting the root can cause severe gastrointestinal upset and burning.  This flower sends up tall purple spikes for flowers.  You can see the spikes starting to form in both of these pictures.  The one at the top is a picture taken from ground level, the bottom pictures is taken from a standing position over the plants.

Coneflower - Day-by-Day growth

This is today's picture of the first coneflower to open.  Still has a long way to go before the "cone" developes and the petals fill out.

Volcanic Explosion at the garden

This is the daylily called Volcanic Explosion.  The picture was taken very late in the day, so the flower is actually washed out.

Daylily with a lightbulb center???

This is a daylily called Dottie's Rompers.  The center of this daylily looks like it has a lightbulb in the center, it is so bright.  I love the way this one looks.

Globe Flower

This is more of my beautiful Globe Flower in bloom.  I think I am coming down to the last blooms on this lovely plant.  The purple plant in the background is my perennial geranium.

Dahlia

This is another flower just starting to bloom on my tuber Dahlia planted this year.  This looks like a single bloom flower.  Will have to wait to see if this becomes a double or triple flower petal flower.  I just thought it was so pretty.

Balloon Flower Buds, Platycodon grandiflorus

This is my Balloon Flower,  in full bud.  The flower will be a bright blue.  I just love how the flower buds form before they open.  This will be the 3rd year in my garden for this plant.  This is the one that I thought had died over the summer last year.  I did not realize that they have a sort of tuber root and dug it up when getting the ground ready last year.  I actually cut in almost in half.  I moved it and just re-planted it and the thing grew and bloomed last year.  This year, I had a marker for where it was.  Not too long ago I noted I had another Balloon Flower plant not too far away from the mother plant.  It must have been a small piece of the one I cut in half, which did not bloom last year.

Shasta Daisy finally open

The Shasta Daisy finally opened, and to my surprise, it is not the named variety I thought.  I had 3 different Shasta Daisy's growing in my garden, they had merged together into one very large group.  When I divided them, I picked the wrong clump to give to Diane.  Thank goodness, she said she likes this one.

Choctaw Brave Best Bloom so far

This daylily, Choctaw Brave, started out with ugly, ugly flower petals.  After 3 or 4 blooms, the petals are finally starting to look pretty.

Daylily Blooms June 14, 2010

This is today's Angel Curls daylily bloom.

This is today's Dottie's Romper daylily bloom.

Becky Lynn Daylily

This is the daylily called "Becky Lynn".  It was a free fan that came with one of Diane's flower orders.  She has put this one in my garden as she did not know what color it would be.  She color coordinates her garden, me, I plant willy nillie.

Exactly what does 'Willie Nillie' mean


Willy nilly means to do something in a disorganized or unplanned manner; sloppily.

Can we say RED Dahlia

This is a picture of my red Dahlia I bought in one of those little 6-pack cell plants.  Look at how vivid Red this flower is.  This plant is all of 8" tall right now.

Dahlia

This is my pink Dahlia I planted from rather large tubers this year.  I love how the flowers first open hanging upside down, then stand straight out as the petals open.  I have no idea how big these flowers will be.  The flower in the background is pictures above.

This is the Cleome, Spider Flower, growing in my garden that has just recently bloomed.  The one on the left is pink, the one above is a white flower.