Just enjoy the pictures, more of the same

Oriential Lilies

The Oriential Lilies are finally blooming.  You can not believe the size of each of these blooms.  I bet they are more than 9" across.  To see these in bloom takes your breath away!

Mr. Lucky daylily

Can you say hello to Mr. Lucky?   Diane bought this variety because she has a cat she rescued off the street about 5 years ago and she called him Lucky.  And lucky he was to find this family.  He has needed to go on thryoid medicine, has had all of his teeth (except for a couple) pulled due to dental disease.  He needs to see the vet every 4 months for regular checkups.  The vet has estimated his age at at least 18 years old.  He is on his last leg of life as of now.  Diane gave him the best life he possibly could have had.  He is pictured below at around the time he was rescued from the street.

Sunflowers blooming

Sunflowers growing in the garden, not mine or Diane's, but  one of the other gardens.  This must be 15 feet tall!  The little birds love the sunflowers.

Hollyhocks!!!!!!!!

This is a nice closeup of the group of pink Hollyhock in bloom.  I did not know the colors when I planted them, all I had was 10 tubers in a package that said mixed colors.  I was hoping for some yellow, but did not get that color in the mix.

There has not been many photos over the past 10 days.  It has been so HOT, too hot to be walking to the garden.  Yes, it has really been that hot, and it is continuing this week.  Lots of rain, so I've not had to do much watering.  The humidity has been really high too.    I am not really a hot, summer type person.  I much prefer the cooler weather of late September and October.

Hollyhocks in bloom

The top phots not only shows the Hollyhock in good bloom, but you can see my white delphinium.  You can see the purple delphinium leaning from all our rain lately.  It got really, really tall.  Did not expect the height from this plant for this year!  I see that I have one Hollyhock plant that is a "single bloom" plant, all the others are what is called "doubles". The Hollyhock are in colors of white, red and pink.

The middle photo shows the pink Hollyhocks and you can see some of my Blazing Star in bloom.

The bottom photo shows the pink single flower Hollyhock.  If you click on the photo, then click on it again, you can get a good close up picture and see all the details of the flowers.

This is a new flower blooming for me.  It is called a Cardinal Flower, never grown it before.  I only bought it for its' name.  You all know how much I love Cardinal birds.  This is just the beginning of this plants blooms. You can see the top of this flower has a LOT of buds yet to open.  The flower buds are very delicate and little, but the plant itself is very hardy.  Loves the water.

Long View of my Garden

This is a long view of the back of my garden.  Can you spot the Hollyhocks at the very back.  The garden with all the sticks belongs to the garden right next to me, that only has veggies.

Cleome are ablooming!

The cleome (spider flowers) are blooming like mad.  This is only 3 plants.  When I planted them in April, I did not realize how big they would get.  This is all without the benefit of any fertilizer or miracle grow.

CSA July 10, 2010

This week the CSA was what I expected for each week.  I had so much I was actually able to share with my youngest daughter.  The bag contained a pint of blueberries, 1/2 pint of raspberries, 8 ears of corn, 2 yellow squash, 2 zuchinni, 2 cukes, 4 pickle cukes, about a pound of green beans,  romaine lettuce, mint, and tons of rhubarb.  CSA produce is picked on Friday afternoons.  I pick up on Sat. mornings. The one thing I don't like is how they bring the bags out from the cold storage on Sat. morning and the bags just sit in the hotness on the floor waiting for the CSA members to pick them up.  Most times the herbs and lettuce are badly wilted and I just end up throwing the lettuce away.  This week was week 4 of my CSA and as I've not been at all happy with past weeks, this week was plentyful.  The picture IS NOT of my CSA, but one from Google Images.

Where I've Been?

No new pictures for a few days.  It has been so hot here for over a week, it has been just too hot to go to the garden.  Temps have been in the 90's with high humidity every single day!  No air conditioning at the house either!!!!!!!!!  So, until this weather breaks, no new pictures.  I do share a picture from a few weeks ago of little miss Ivy that never made it to the blog.  Stay cool whereever you are.

What is this you ask? Click on the picture to get a better view.

This is one of the 6 cardinal flowers I have in my garden.  It is just starting to set up bloom.  I was very surprised to see what the bloom looks like close up.  So click the picture twice and take a look.

Gloria, this post is at your request

Here is the long view of both Diane's garden (left) and my garden (right) this morning. If you click twice on the pictures, you will get a better view of what is actually there.

Not a lot going on today as far as new flowers open, so I thought I would show you some of the other gardens

As you look through the pictures in the previous post, you can see what other gardeners are doing with their gardens.  You can see how big the raised garden beds are getting compared to last time I showed you them (see the June 20th post).

Views of other gardens in our Community Garden

Here are many different gardens today in my community garden.  The top two of of some pretty flowers in one garden, the white one is a gladious and the purple is a Hibiscus.  One garden has a beautiful little rock garden going on, that big purple plant is a purple basil!  The one near the garden hose (without the flowers in front) is what I call the corn field.  Each year, corn is planted, but no one gets ears.  Our summers are just not hot and long enough (even though today you couldn't tell me that as we are in day 3 of a projected 7 day 90+ high humidity heat wave).

Lilac Lady is strutting her blooms

Princeton Silky is sharing all her blooms

This pretty daylily called Princeton Silky has many blooms open at the same time.  This one is so pretty, but then, I think they all are.

FFO for Daylily called Tuscawilla Tigress

Introducing Tuscawilla Tigress.  She is a huge, orange bloom with 7" flowers with gold mid-ribs and darker orange eye.  This one is a real beauty.

Red Daylily Blooms on July 4th

Cherokee Star (bottom) and Red Volunteer (top) open up wide on the 4th of July.  Real fire crackers they are.

More July 3, 2010 Daylily Blooms

This is even more blooms for last Saturday, July 3rd.  Was busy over the 4th, never had a chance to put everything up on the blog.  Why do I keep putting up the same daylily blooms you ask.  WELL, each daylily only last for one day and there are only a few blooms to each daylily.  I like to be able to compare how the bloom improves with each new one being sent out.

Echinacea

(ek-in-AY-shee-a)

The cone flower's botanical name is Echinacea. It is from the Greek word echinos, meaning hedgehog or sea urchin, referring to the spiny seed heads of the flower.

It has long been esteemed for its herbal qualities and was widely used by the Native American Indians and the white settlers, who used it to treat snake bites, rabies, and other wounds.


In the late 1800s, a traveling peddler from Nebraska, one Joseph Meyer, began making a tincture from the root of Echinacea. He touted his tonic as being able to prevent and/or cure poisonous snake bites, giving rise to the pejorative term "snake oil salesman."

Despite its colorful history, Echinacea is one of the most popular herbal remedies used throughout the world today, mainly for warding off colds and flu symptoms.

Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy up close

Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy

I have to show you all 3 of these pictures of my Rudbeckia Cherry Brandy in bloom.  I'm telling you, this plant is spectular.  It is about 3 feet tall and 2 feet wide and just covered in blooms, with lots still not open.  This one was well worth the wait.  In the above pictures, click on the photos, you can see pollen on the flower petals.