Month: June 2019

The Blitz is Done!

| Flower Roberts

I am hoping that some of you will be sad that my June blog blitz is over.

I myself am relieved to be done.

Now for the data.

Did posting every day run up my stats? Yes

Was it worth it? No

I felt like I was my own Flower Twitter tossing floral confetti out into cyberspace.

If this is what it takes to get an agent and publisher, I may have to pass.

I will be quiet and rest up for the FAIRY PARADE on Thursday, July 4th.

I will be going back to my usual two or three posts per week.

I hope you folks aren’t too awful disappointed.

Slower Flower

Blackberry Lilies

| Flower Roberts

The Belamcanda chinensis are competing for attention in a rather crowded field of flowers today.

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These beauties are really in the iris family, but are called Blackberry lilies.

There are several colors.

My dark “Leopard Lily” must have crossed with

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my yellow “Candy Lily”

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to produce this unusual tie-dyed look.

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Another surprise in the garden!

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Glad Again

| Flower Roberts

The gladioli are blooming profusely now.

I am so glad that I moved them from their former, floppy location.

They need sun and staking to thrive. These are inside tomato rings for support.

The stalk I broke off by accident during a photo-shoot has looked lovely in a vase for days.

No wonder it was the “Funeral Flower” in the past.

I think the stalks are beautiful from the back also.

I have two types of white. One has purple pollen.

I am glad that it is Glad time in my garden.

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P.S. Be sure to tune in for the FAIRY PARADE next Thursday. It is crazy cute!

The Disappearing Pepper

| Flower Roberts

Mr. Flower had an extra Sweet Banana Pepper plant.

He gave it to me to pop into one of my beds.

It was rather small, so I potted it up.

I wanted it to get bigger before putting it out in the real world.

I walked by its pot on the steps numerous times each day.

Yesterday, I looked down to see a barren green stem in the pot.

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At first I suspected the little bunny that has been munching on my hostas.

Then I saw them,

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The caterpillar poop/frass.

They looked like tiny grenades scattered around the base of the stark stem.

Another donation to nature! Poor little pepper plant.

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Guilt in the Garden

| Flower Roberts

I have more blooms than ever before. I should be thrilled.

Instead, when I think of flowers as food I feel extravagant and wasteful.

I know this is not logical.

I did not plant the flowers to be food.

I did not tend and feed the flowers to feed the deer.

Here are some of today’s bloomers.

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Radiant Greetings daylily
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Changing Latitudes daylily
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Laura Harwood Daylily
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Sovereign Queen daylily
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Crimson Shadows daylily
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Outrageous daylily

I will get over the guilt.

Next post is about a disappearing Pepper plant.  Another mystery!

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More Mystery Plants

| Flower Roberts

We are composters.

All vegetable, fruit and egg remnants go into a bin to season.

Then that stinky concoction gets mixed with rabbit litter to amend the soil.

Seeds get inadvertently planted in the process.

Sometimes I leave these surprise plants.IMG_7001It makes for some interesting combinations.

I have a huge squash plant growing among the daylilies and iris.

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I do not know what melon this is,

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but the leaves are lovely so it gets to stay.

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Sweet serendipity!

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Building the Wall

| Flower Roberts

When you live on a slope, walls are a necessity.

This dry stack stone wall has not been high enough to stop the water flow.

The slope has been hard to plant and keep maintained.

After years of dealing with issues, I got another load of stone.

 

It took hours of hard work to make this low end of that wall higher.

There is a lot left to do, but I will wait for cooler weather.

It never ends here.

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Glad for a Mystery

| Flower Roberts

Bulbs sometimes surprise us.

I planted a “Glad circle” with many Pricillas and another mix, Mardi Gras.

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This circle had plenty of Pricillas last year, but no Mardi Gras.

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This year there seems to be one burgundy that may be a Mari Gras

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but what about these orange flowers?

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I guess I have some bulbs that have “bloomed incorrectly” again.

I won’t complain, since that is my favorite color.

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Bulbs add mystery to your garden.

You think you are planting one thing and something else shows up.

Serendipity!

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My Yellow Giant

| Flower Roberts

This is my favorite daylily.  Okay besides Nowhere to Hide and South Seas and …

I do not know its name.

I got it on a hot as hell day at a chaotic event at Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens back in the 1990’s. I wish someone there would identify this giant for me. Hello Daniel Stowe!

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It is a late bloomer. Its first bloom opened yesterday. I visited it many times. I photographed it with my hand for scale,

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but then decided it deserved a ruler for accuracy.

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This giant has big bubba blooms that amaze me every year. Here is its spent bloom beside a large variety, Mabel Nolan.

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Its a lovely, light yellow with a little ruffle along the edge.

Giant and gorgeous!

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FLOWER

P.S. Our other blog is in a blog relay tomorrow. It is about ART and EPILEPSY. Please check it out.

 

The Art Stayed