My camera does not do these pretty plants justice. The blue is very, very vivid. They have unusual root systems with bulbous kind of clear bulb-like places in the roots. This plants does not bloom all summer like a lot of salvias do, but it puts on a very impressive showing in the spring. After that it gets a little ratty-looking through the rest of the summer. I have a very large stand of it along the back of the house. It spreads. The calyxes are black and the flowers are blue, hence the name.
Sunday, April 30, 2017
Crinums April 30, 2017
These crinums were given to me by my sister, Terry. She is gone, but I have this living memorial to her in my garden. They looked particularly pretty this morning.
The crinums below ere given to me by Janine Snapp. This crinum is really interesting. When the flower heads go to seed the form a huge, very bumpy ball. The ball eventually bursts open and a bunch of smaller balls fall to the ground. Then they swell up to the size of large marbles about an inch around. They will really spread.
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
The Flowers of April
Salvias, verbenas, roses, coreopsis, zinnias, daisies, poppies, and iris are all blooming right now.
Tickseed April 9, 2017
I seeded many of my beds with this Tickseed last fall, and it is in full bloom right now. It is growing throughout my Star Garden and the Rose Garden.
Day at the Farm April 8, 2017
I babysat for Koy and Cleo on Saturday and drove to the farm Saturday evening.
- I spent some time in the Vegetable Garden first thing. I covered the asparagus roots that I had partially covered three weeks ago when I planted them.
- I was surprised to see that not very many of my green beans had sprouted. I sowed a lot of green bean seeds! So I'm not sure what that's about.
- Next I filled the cadet with mulch and worked in the Star Garden weeding and laying down mulch where I weeded. I spent about four hours doing that.
- I watered in the Rose Garden throughout the day. The Tickseed is blooming and the other coreopsis that I seeded last fall is tall and getting ready to bloom. My Monsieur Tillier and both my Dame de Couer roses are dying. I don't know why. They are treated the same as all the other roses. For the last two weekends I have intended to flood then with water and press down the soil because what I usually find with my roses when they take a turn for the worse is that the voles have burrowed around the roots so extensively that the roots aren't getting any soil contact. But I haven't had time to work on that.
- I watered all the pots in the Star Garden.
- I bought some coleus and various sedums (I love sedums!) and purple basil to plant in the pots around the pool. And I mulched the tops of all the pots.
- Bert cut into pieces a tree that had fallen across one of the trails, and it was totally hollow in the middle. He and I managed to pick up one of the large pieces that was really interesting-looking, and we moved it into the Shade Garden - a natural sculpture.
- I planted 200 Iron Cross Oxalis in the flower bed that lines the path to the Boardwalk. These are wonderful four leaf clovers, very interesting coloration and not at all invasive like their country cousins.
- And I planted 5 Mojito Colocasia near the two that I planted last year. I mulched around them.
- Pam and Eric were riding their horses, so I took the opportunity to ask them about an intruder they found running from their house last weekend. Apparently some guy has been hiding in the yaupon near the house and staring at Pam. Pretty scary. They suspect someone that lives down the lane, but they cannot prove it. We are all installing or in the process of installing cameras now. Really distressing - you think you are out in the country and totally private.
Veilchenblau Rose April 9, 2017
This rose is very young. She hasn't really come into her own yet. In a few years I will have her strung across chains and attached to the shed and trained up the oak tree near her. She gets huge. This is another once-blooming rose. The name of this rose is violet blue in German.
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