Topic: Spring has sprung!

[Dianna]

Beautiful pictures, Peggy, of some beautiful flowers!

And, yes, Patty. I think begonia is a shade plant. They are really pretty...

[Patty S]

Wow Peggy, I want you to come over here with your camera, so I can have some decent pics of my flowers! I really enjoyed these pics when you e-mailed them to me, & I'm glad you posted them here!

Are your California Poppies really that orange, or is it just the lighting? (Or maybe my monitor!)

I dont know what that first flower is... is it on a vine, or how tall is it? 

The purple & white Iris is called "American Classic" but I dont know the names of the others.  I'm soooo tickled that you ended up with a variety of colors, like we were hoping you would!

Your Lilies are gorgeous!  I wonder why yours are bloomed already, just 20 miles away from me, when mine are just starting to bud up!  

I love Sweetpeas, but haven't really got a good place for them!

Keep 'em coming!

[Patty S]

Hey guys, am I the only one who's not on vacation, or are your cameras broken?  While Memorial Day is only the unofficial opening day of the summer season, I know that summer flowers are coming up all over, so lets get this thread filled up so we can move to a summer garden topic!

The Honeysuckle that I bought a few weeks ago is blooming already! The guy I bought it from said it would get 6 feet tall this summer, but it's not even 2 feet tall yet!
     
If I keep the flowers picked off, will that make it use its energy to get taller?

It's called Pink Lemonade.
     

My roses took long enough to get started this year, but a couple of them are really going great guns now!
         

I don't know the names of any of my roses... I just call these the pink ones!  (Of all my roses, they're the only ones that smell.)
     

The red climber is on the South side of the house & doesn't get the attention that my others do, cuz the thorns are tiny & abundant & I don't like dead-heading it. I thought I got rid of  this darned thing a couple years ago when I took out the woody base of it (not knowing at the time that it's next to impossible to kill a rose bush), but it came right back up, bigger & showier than it ever had been!
         
The California Poppies have taken over the entire bed under that rose, but are coming out very soon, so I can plant my annuals there.  Meanwhile, I sort of like the color contrast!

[plants n pots]

Wonderful flowers everyone!!!

Patty - I have a honeysuckle that looks exactly like that one - the hummingbirds love it!  But mine has a different name - lonicera heckrotti - Goldflame.

I sent Patti some cuttings last summer and am wondering how they are doing?
Youuuuuuuuuuuuuu Whoooooooooooooooooooo... Patti - long time no see?

Mine does look a bit pinker here in this pic from last year...
but it really does have the yellow like yours, in person...

[Patty S]

Lynne, I have no doubt that our Honeysuckle also has a couple hundred other names!  I guess that if people don't know the right name, they just make them up! "Lonicera heckrotti" might be the real name, cuz it looks more "botanical", & nobody can pronounce it!

The poor excuse for a camera that I've been using, finally bit the dust, so I went & bought a new one today.  (We'll see how long I can make this one last!) I haven't figured out the buttons on this one either, but maybe I won't have to, cuz my first shots turned out pretty good!

This is a better pic of my Nigella (Love in the Mist) than the one I put on the last page here...
     

And here's the white one. (These are both "doubles". The "singles" have just one layer of petals.)
   
I want to take a longer shot of this hill above the Iris, so you can see how pretty this section is, with the Poppies scattered among the blue spots. (There are less of the white ones. They're pretty, but I'm glad they come out like this, with the blue predominant.)  I'd just love it if the whole field were covered with these... but I'm not about to weed those 6 acres!
     
California Poppies close up when the sun starts going down, so they're not as showy here.  I hope this camera takes better pics during the day than the other one did.  I got used to taking pics in the evening, cuz  the colors were better & not over exposed.

[Bonnie]

Nice flowers, girls. I especially love the honeysuckle.

Bonnie

[Dianna]

I love that pink/yellow honeysuckle! It is so pretty.

If I keep the flowers picked off, will that make it use its energy to get taller?

Trent is always picking the flowers off of Aunt Bonnie's honeysuckle. Wonder if that is what causes it to grow so abundantly? Her little "wedding house" is loaded with the red...

I love that pink rose, too. So pretty...

The poor excuse for a camera that I've been using, finally bit the dust, so I went & bought a new one today.

What kind of camera did you get, Patty?

[Patty S]

...one of my tangerine and white Daffodils has a double bloom on a single stem.

I was deadheading roses this morning, & spotted a Siamese twin rose! ...one with two blossoms coming out of the same hip! I dont think I've ever seen any flower do that!

Here it is from the front... just looks like 2 roses, close together.
     

From the back side, you can see how the hip divided in half, to form both blossoms.
     

This must be the year of the mutants!

[Dianna]

I love that pretty pink color. It sure is neat to see the doubles going on in the garden...

Patty, you say that roses are almost impossible to kill? I sure hope so. I bought one (Helen Hayes - yellow) to put in my mother's memorial garden and it is still in the pot. I need to get my foot well so I can get it in the ground....

[Penny]

   Those are beautiful girls......i love the Nigella and the Pink Lemonade.......all are soooo pretty!!!!!

[Patty S]

Dianna, I think that the only way you can kill a rose is by not watering it. (Just remember to give it plant food.)  I've had a purple ("Sterling Silver") rose bush in a container for a few years now, & it's perfectly happy!
     
I'd rather have it in the ground, but I keep being promised a new deck, so I need to wait until that's done before I'll know where it can be planted!

I took the Blackeyed Susan bowl off the top of the arbor last week & replanted them at its base, cuz the vines wanted to climb up instead of draping down the sides.  Apparently I didn't shock them too bad, cuz they're a lot happier down there & are growing the way they want to now!  (The honeysuckle is still there too, but it had better get a move on!)
         

I usually only plant my Nigella in the bed I'd designated for them above the Iris hill, but last year I tried to save the seeds from the white ones separately from the blue. I planted a little patch of them in a bed in the back yard, just to see if they'd come out "true" (which I really didn't expect...
         
...but they did!) I have no idea if I'll be able to do that again... I think I was just lucky this time!

I should think that people are getting tired of seeing pics of my Nigella, but since it's my favorite flower, I just keep taking more pics!
     
     
While we're waiting for the other annual seeds to sprout, the Dianthus that I bought as bedding plants wait patiently, in front of the Sweet Wiliam that I moved to rescue it from the deck project.
         

Come on, folks!  Where are your flower pics?! I'm starting to feel like I'm the only one who's doing any gardening this year! 
 

[Peggy]

Everyone's flower photos are so beautiful...
I just love that honey suckle.. it's so pretty..
maybe I'll add one more photo today! lol

hugs, peg 


a tulip that came up in my backyard before I had joined up here.. enjoy!

[Patty S]

Beautiful, Peggy! I didn't get any Tulips this year... I think that with all the switching around of things in my garden beds I've done this year, I may have moved them or dug them in deeper, without knowing it!

It's raining today so I didn't get anything done in the yard, but I did go out & snap some pics, between showers.

This is a lone Calendula that I think BG planted on the slope above the Iris hill. It's so perfect (probably cuz it's not crowded, like I plant things) that this will be a good pic for a seed packet! These are draught tolerant & do real well in any type of soil.  This one is in plain ol' unamended clay.
         

The large pink roses next to the driveway are opening up now, after having been pruned almost out of existence.  They were way too tall for my liking last year, but they're zooming back up to almost the same height, so I think all the pruning did was to slow down the flowers!
     

Right next to that rose is a huge Hydrangea.
     
I have a few other small ones from another big plant like this that I divided & moved last spring, & they're starting to bud now. They didn't put out flowers for me last year cuz I think I moved them too late. (Peg, the one I gave you might do you the same way... I can't remember if I asked you whether or not it looks like it's going to bloom this year. If I'd have thought about it when you came & got the Iris last year, it probably would be flowering now, for sure.) 

[Patty S]

The Passion vines on my arbor are up & starting to go over the top now, but it hasn't put out any flowers yet.  Amy has wanted Passion Flowers for just as long as I have, & I mentioned that to Peggy last week.  She stopped by on Friday with some vines that she had dug out for Amy... & they already have flowers on them!



These are from the same stand that mine are from, so mine are going to look like this too!  Wish they'd hurry up!

[Jim]

Today will be the last day to post in this topic as tomorrow is the first day of Summer.  It will still be available to refer to, we will just put a lock on it and maybe someone will start one for Summer.

[Dianna]

That is a pretty vine, Patty! 

I have some bloomers today, also...

Yellow Four O'Clocks in a pot:



Impatiens in hanging baskets:

[Patty S]

Dianna, the Four O'clock seeds that you & Bonnie sent me had sprouted several weeks ago & the plants are getting bigger every day! I hope they'll make flowers for me this year, cuz I just love yours!

Since it's not officially "Summer" on the West coast yet, I'm going to sneak the last post in on this thread!

This was the view of my Lily bed from our front window yesterday.
     

There is another Calla (yellow) & 1 other Asiatic (white) that haven't opened up yet, & 3 other types of Lilies  waiting to blossom... sure wish they'd do it all at once!

[Dianna]

Patty, wait until you smell the scent of the Four O'Clocks! You will love them even more...

You reminded me that I, too, have planted some Calla lilies. I haven't seen petal nor stem of them in my garden bed, though. 

[Jim]

Actually Summer doesn't officially start here until 2:06 PM so get those late spring bloomers in here before the topic is closed. 

[pharmerlaura]

  I know all too well that today is the longest day of the year..It is also my Daughters birthday..laurasevilspawn..

[Jim]

We got her a birthday topic going too.  Thanks for telling us, cause she hasn't filled in that portion of her profile.

Summer is here so this topic is done.  Thanks to everyone for all the pretty pics.  I believe Patty has already started a Summer topic.