Monday, September 15, 2008

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

It is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again which was started by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. I missed last months so I will post a few things from last month as well as what is currently in bloom in the yard. Things are certainly starting to gear down now and looking a little weathered but it is an enjoyable time of year. This is because there is next to no maintenance, almost all of the weeds have germinated and been pulled out as well as there is really no watering needed in the fall. Just sit back and enjoy, that is until the leaves fall from the trees.

All images have been taken with a Nikon D40 w/ 18-55mm stock lens. The images have not been cropped or edited although they have been resized so they load faster.

Brugmansia, This was taken in August

Brugmansia just opening, also taken in August. This is a great plant,
in the fall you take it into a cool, dark spot, basement or
garage to overwinter. Stop watering when you bring it in,
it will drop all of its leaves and go dormant. Then all you
need to do is water in lighly once a month until spring. Then put
it back outside and it will flower most of the summer.

Toad Lily (tricyrtis formosana)

solanum family, I have lost the tag so not sure of the variety.
It grows to a large spiny plant with glossy leaves and produces
small green, veined fruits in late fall. It is poisonous.
I will post photos of the fruit once they develope.

Dipladenia


Black-Eyed Susan (rudbeckia)

ligularia dentata

Japanese Anemone


The urns with fall plantings w/ the front
perennial border in the background.

cimicifuga ramosa

cimicifuga ramosa

Great Black Wasp in flight, very ominous.
Taken with continuous shoot mode.
Plant is veronicastrum virginicum
Take in August


Great Golden Digger Wasp, thanks for the ID Hap
Plant is veronicastrum.
Taken in August

Painted Lady Butterfly, Taken in August.
Plant is liatris.


Red Banana

Dwarf & Semi-Drawf Banana's
_____________________________________________________________
This is a time line of the window box over the summer. It has done really well this year, I think it is because the window box was upgraded to a wide, deep one so it has even moisture.


June


July


September
_____________________________________________________________

* next post will be the pickle & relish recipes followed by the wish list, things learnt and potato layout.

11 comments:

  1. Hi Dan, This is Tina from in the garden blog with Skeeter. There are three of us who post on the in the garden, sorry if any confusion:) It was my Angel Trumpet you saw today. I am going to give one to Skeeter next spring (she doesn't know yet-but she REALLY needs one too). Yours is very lovely and I love the color. I have found these extremely easy to root from cuttings. Digging them is a big job but I see you do it each year. You might try a few cuttings as they grow so fast during the season. Also, I don't know if it would work in your area but someone told me to cover the rootball with a bag of compost or soil, make a basket and add leaves to it to insulate the rootball. Here in my zone 6/7 area the angels have been known to return. I hope mine does but in case I have cuttings. Your toad lily is very nice and I so envy your racemosa. I like that plant very much.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dan, those are some great pictures. Your garden looks good, I especally like how that window box turned out.

    Thanks for joining in for bloom day!

    Carol, May Dreams Gardens

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your pictures are great. It looks like you have a lot going on in your garden. I bet you had a busy summer and will enjoy the low maintenance fall.

    I think your unidentified orange wasp is the Great Golden Digger wasp. There was one digging in my garden yesterday that I cautiously took a picture of. I will probably post it soon.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Tina - I just planted the toad lily a couple weeks ago after forgetting it in its nursery pot for a month or two, one tough plant to survive that and still bloom right after planting. This is the second try with this plant, the squirrels ate the first one.

    I too really like the racemosa but it never seems to grow very tall. The first time I saw one was at a botanical garden and it was this tall wispy plant. Mine has been in for 4 years and only grows about 3 feet tall, I've been wondering if I bought a mislabeled plant.

    carol - thanks for checking out my GBBD photos.

    hap - That is exactly what the wasp is, thanks for the ID. Now that I think about it, I did look it up but did not find anything under orange wasp that looked similar, should have tried golden. I have never seen one of these in my area before and it seemed to always be with the great black wasp which is one freaky looking creature. What is your site address?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Yup, the rodents sure love toad lilies. Voles ate mine one year. They recover usually, just be sure to keep well watered and watch. I will be posting it as my choice for plant of the month on Wednesday. 3 feet tall is a pretty tall plant.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Three feet isn't bad and it is as tall as the green leaved cimicifuga I have. The one I originally saw was at least 5 feet tall. I guess I need to dig out the plant book and see what variety gets the biggest.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hey Dan sorry we confused you over at “In the Garden”. I usually post a topic on both Sat and Sun to give Miss Tina some family time and a break from the stress a daily blog topic can do to a soul... lol.... this Saturday we will confuse you again as we are posting a dual topic of our Veggie Garden updates… We don’t mean to confuse but we do at times to others so don’t worry about it… We like to keep people on their toes! LOL…

    Tina, I did not read anything you wrote here so you can still keep with your surprise plan… tee hee… I will get a hole dug soon… lol…

    Anyway, you sure do have a lot of color in the garden Dan! Great pictures as always…

    ReplyDelete
  8. Yup, I got one marked with your name on it. Start planning its spot. Don't tell the Saint. You're too funny Skeeter.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Those are great photos. Your brugmansia looks spectacular and lush. The toad lily is amazing...I have always wanted to grow one because the flowers are so intricately detailed.

    And those window boxes sure are impressive. Maybe next year you could try planting alpine strawberries in a window box. Might be worth a try, as the berries are simply delicious.

    ReplyDelete
  10. What beautiful blooms you have in your garden. I especially like the window boxes. It really frames the windows and makes it look pleasant!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Love your pictures , beautiful hanging basket , how it has grown.

    ReplyDelete