Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
I was walking around up on the hill yesterday when I noticed the roses starting to bloom. It’s amazing that they are even starting to flower with all the rain we have been having. Actually, I think the rain kind of stopped. It’s just cloudy now and really not all that bad. It’s good walking weather.
I figured that I would give you a few flower shots, since I haven’t in a while.
There are three colored roses up there…pinkish white, white and red. I took a few pictures of the red roses, but they didn’t come out at all. They were all blurry. For some reason, my camera doesn’t like really bright colored flowers. It’s like there’s not enough contrast or something.
Anyway, here are those photos of what I think are Knockout Roses.
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Pinkish white Knockout Rose with red roses in background
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Pinkish white Knockout Rose with small rose buds
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White Knockout Rose with small white rosebuds
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Saturday, June 13th, 2009
So apparently the Peonies are in bloom right about now. We have some very colorful pink ones over in the front/side garden. They really are some thick and substantial flowers.
Just wait until you see these pictures. The larger (more bloomed) flowers are so pink that the camera couldn’t get the color right. They almost look neon.
Okay, the purpose of this post is to show you the steps of a Peonies blooming. Strangely enough, we have a whole bunch of Peonies blooming right now and I was able to get five photos…one during each step of the bloom. It’s really neat. It’s like I took a picture every few days of the same flower. Check it out…
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Closed Peonies bud with ants on it
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Peonies bud opening slightly
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Peonies flower about half-way opened
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Peonies flower almost bloomed all the way
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Fully bloomed Peonies
That last picture of the fully bloomed Peonies looks a little weird. I have a feeling we’ll be getting some better looking flower very soon.
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Thursday, June 4th, 2009
Okay, let’s go. I have some photos of the most recent flowers that have bloomed ’round these here parts. They are pretty good shots. Make sure you click and then click again on the pink Rose picture. You can see a nice looking insect and spider web on it. It’s pretty cool.
In this batch, I have the Iris (some variation of the Bearded Iris, I think), the Hardy Geranium, Perennial Flax Flower (I think…or something close) and a few others that I can’t identify.
We’ve been playing nicely here. I post the pictures and you guys either correct me or simply identify the flowers that I don’t know. Let’s not stop now.
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Purple and yellow Bearded Iris (variation) #1
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Purple and yellow Bearded Iris (variation) #2
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Pink Rose
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Yellow and brown Bearded Iris (variation)
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Perennial Flax flower, Linum perenne
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Hardy geranium, cranesbill, Geranium, Tiny Monster
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White Columbine. Smaller inner petals, larger outer petals
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Purple and blue Columbine. Smaller blue and purple inner petals, larger purple outer petals
UPDATE: Once again, my trusted readers have come through. The two last flowers are Columbine variations. Thank you.
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009
I have a few more photos of flowers for you. I have three identified, but am having some difficulty with the fourth.
I just found a website that helped me identify the Mountain Bluet. I already knew what the Bailey’s Gold was, along with the Rose. The last one is a little troubling. I have actually never seen this flower before. I am going to write a description of it below the photo in hopes that someone with know what it is and leave a comment.
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Mountain Bluet, Centaurea montana
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Bailey’s Gold, Sedum floriferum, Weihenstephaner Gold – Photo 1
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Bailey’s Gold, Sedum floriferum, Weihenstephaner Gold – Photo 2
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Red Knockout Rose
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Dianthus barbatus – Pink flower with white specks and spiky green leaves
As you can tell, it’s that last one I am having trouble with. I wrote down that it has pink flowers with white specks and spiky green leaves. It’s a pretty cool flower. I just wish I knew what it was.
UPDATE – I have learned that the last flower is a Dianthus barbatus. Thank you.
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Thursday, May 28th, 2009
As many of you already know, I have a little trouble with flower identification. Actually, my next post has a few flower photos in it.
I wanted to tell you that I found a pretty good website that has a bunch of flower pictures. I found one of the flowers I was trying to identify and another one that someone else identified for me. If you are looking to figure out what type of flower you have growing in your garden, give this site a try.
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Sunday, May 24th, 2009
This is becoming a little tradition for me. Every year, I take some nice photos of the first Bearded Iris to bloom.
This purple and white beauty bloomed yesterday. A few more came to life today and I expect the rest will start showing their colors tomorrow. When the entire row is bloomed, I’ll take some pictures for you.
The bearded Iris is, by far, my favorite flower. The flower stems are like small trees. They are tall and strong. Although the flower itself has a short life, it’s really good looking. The best part of all is that the Bearded Iris multiplies, so you can pretty much expand your garden as far as you would like throughout the years. I have these flowers growing all over the place here.
I took a few pictures of this bearded Iris today. I tried to get a regular shot, one from the top and another close up so you can see the pollen. Lastly, I got a photo of another plant’s bud.
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Purple and white Bearded Iris
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Purple and white Bearded Iris viewed from above
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Up close picture of a Bearded Iris yellow pistil and pollen
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Purple Bearded Iris unbloomed bud
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Thursday, May 7th, 2009
Yes, it’s about that time of year, folks. It’s when the majority of Daffodil flowers die off in the Northeast. I’m not sure of anywhere else, because I don’t live anywhere else. Here, I simply look out the front door.
So, what to do when Daffodil flowers die? Well, it’s time to prune (or deadhead) the flower. I am going to do my best here, because I just did a little research on the topic. There was something I needed to look up that I’ll reference later in this post.
Now, I am only talking about deadheading the dead Daffodil flower here, I am not talking about cutting down the entire plant. Here, I’ll show you some pics.
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Dead Daffodil flower heads
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Pruning dead Daffodil flower head
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Pruned Daffodil plant
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Pruned dead Daffodil heads laying on sidewalk
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Seeds in pruned Daffodil seed pod, or ovary
As you can see from the above photos, dead Daffodil flowers look pretty nasty. Even if all the advice on the internet told me not to prune these things, over here, they would get pruned. I am just not going to look at that kind of thing. As for the Daffodil plant itself, I would say they don’t look all that bad. It’s a nice looking, green bushy plant. I’ll keep them around until they start to droop.
That brings me to another topic. When do I prune down the entire Daffodil plant? Well, from what I have been reading, you are supposed to leave the entire Daffodil plant standing until it dies off naturally. It’s important for the plant leaves to soak up the sun’s rays to energize the bulbs for next year. That’s what I have been reading anyway. From personal experience, you could probably run these flowers over with the lawnmower every year for the next 20 and never get rid of them. I learned a long time ago that people just love to copy each other when giving advice on the internet without any personal experience.
So this is pretty interesting – As I was pruning off the dead heads of the Daffodils, I noticed a sack, seed pod or ovary right at the base of the dead flower. I split one of these seed pods open and noticed a bunch of tiny white seeds (as seen in the photo above). After I saw this, I said, “Hmmm. What the heck are these things?” Since I had no idea, I looked it up. Here is what I found.
Daffodils multiply in two ways: asexual cloning (bulb division) where exact copies of the flower will result, and sexually (from seed) where new, different flowers will result.
Seeds develop in the seed pod (ovary), the swelling just behind the flower petals. Most often, after bloom the seed pod swells but it is empty of seed. Occasionally, wind or insects can pollinate the flower during bloom by bringing new pollen from another flower. When this happens, the seed pod will contain one or a few seeds.
Daffodil hybridizers pollinate flowers by brushing pollen from one flower onto the stigma of another. Then the resulting seed pod can contain up to 25 seeds. Each of these will produce an entirely new plant – but the wait for a bloom for a plant grown from seed is about 5 years! Source
I though that was fascinating, so I decided to sprinkle those pruned Daffodil flower heads around where I wouldn’t mind seeing more Daffodils in the future. Hey, who knows if they will just rot or if they will actually turn into a plant someday.
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Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Well this is refreshing. I actually have some names for the flowers that I am going to post today. It wasn’t very difficult. All I had to do is search for “different types of daffodils.” The second site I looked at pretty much told me everything I needed to know.
You know, I never really noticed that we had different types of Daffodils here. I always just took them for granted because they are kind of all over the place…drains, ditches, people’s front lawns. I always just thought of the Daffodil as a flower that probably wouldn’t go away if you tried to get rid of it. Upon looking at the flower a bit more closely this afternoon, I have come to appreciate it a bit more.
As far as I can tell, we have three different types of Daffodils here. The three types have a few different colors. Take a look at the photos in the gallery and then we’ll talk.
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Three Replete Double Daffodils – orange and cream
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Orange and cream Replete Double Daffodil
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Yellow Dutchmaster Trumpet Daffodil
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Cream and yellow Ice Follies Long Cup Daffodil
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Cream and yellowish blend Ice Follies Long Cup Daffodil
Okay, from what I can gather, we have “Ice Follies Long Cup Daffodils,” “Dutchmaster Trumpet Daffodils” and “Replete Double Daffodils.” I would say that’s a nice assortment. There are a whole bunch of Daffodils that haven’t bloomed yet, so I am hoping that we’ll have a few more varieties. At least that will give me an excuse to take more photos and post them up here.
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Thursday, April 16th, 2009
Bird Gardens: How to Support Wildlife in Your Backyard
Here’s a list of 15 ways to attract beautiful birds and songs to your yard, and 10+ more bird conservation tips from the National Audubon Society.
World’s largest hanging basket
Weighing in at more than a quarter of a tonne, the world’s largest hanging basket is certainly going to require a lot of watering. The giant eye-catching floral spectacular measures 20ft by 10ft and took a massive EIGHT hours to winch into position.
10 Incredible Living Walls
The idea of a living wall conjures up all sorts of images, but in reality it is nothing more than a wall completely covered in vegetation. This form of urban gardening is often designed as an art form to decorate buildings in cities and has been hailed as one way to make cities more enjoyable, healthier and ultimately greener places.
Eating You Alive? Try Eco-Friendly Garden Plants That Repel Mosquitoes
There are attractive garden plants that repel mosquitoes. Mosquitoes are horrible creatures that swarm around you and suck your blood. They cause itchy rashes and can carry disease. If you are interested in a more natural approach, consider these plants that will keep those pesky creatures far away!
An Introduction to Square-Foot Gardening
Grow your own food and save money. “The square-foot gardening concept is simple: Build a raised bed, divide the space into sections of one square-foot each, and then plant vegetables (and/or flowers) in just the amount of space they need…
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