6/15/2007

Garden Blogger Bloom Day

Sneaking in, just under the wire. Again.

The scarlet runner bean has a bean.



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Mandevilla laxa and Calendula officinalis opening up. Blurry pictures don't look so blurry when they're small. Heh.

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I feel like I ought to buy a special camera just to take close-ups of flowers for Garden Blogger Bloom Day; my camera just won't focus close up. In the normal course of things, I'm not that excited about taking close-up pictures of flowers. Boring, I think. What hasn't been done with close-ups of flowers? Show me something new about how a plant works in the landscape. But then GBBD comes along and I want crisp close-ups. Sigh.

The flowerless rosette in the middle is Echium wildprettii; the brass buttons is some Cotula sp.

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And that flower in the upper left belongs to Mimulus aurantiacus. I have the species...

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and a cultivar:

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These pictures don't pick up the floral distinction. No matter.

Deadheading the lupine (Lupinus arboreus) is a daily chore.

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I might still have the cineraria next month, but it recently started making seed.

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I've had to take out a lot of poppies because I over-watered to compensate for the droughty winter and the poppies turned into crowded shrubs. I have plenty more coming along with less irrigation that you'll see more of later.

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I can't resist doing this.

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Is it technically a calyx? It's conical and fused, and always reminds me of bugles.

Just one flower on the brugmansia right now. I really want to re-shape this plant, but I think I should wait until next year.

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Underneath it, Philadelphus lewisii and nasturtium.

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(The foliage next to the mock orange belongs to Datura wrightii--I'm sure to have pictures of that flower next month.)

This is not Oenothera californica, but it looks like it. I can't remember the species of this oenothera, but it's a Utah desert native so you tell me. :)

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The flowers are lovely (and it makes numerous, fragrant flowers), but the body of the plant itself is not so hot.

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(Over there next to it is Salvia 'Hot Lips' which I'm sure most people have seen before [i.e., I don't have a picture of it to show you]. Great hummingbird plant! Nicely fragrant foliage. I had it in the ground last year, but it got too big and clashed with higher-priority yellows and oranges, so I potted it. I can't say it seems thrilled to be in a pot.)

Do you call this armeria, thrift, or sea pink?

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Alonsoa meridionalis. So glad I bought this plant. I'd like to try some other colors. Seed is easy to obtain.

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This used to be mostly Cerinthe major, but now it's mostly Lathyrus odoratus. The sweet pea turned out to be pretty much the same color as the cerinthe! Weird!

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Do you know what these wildflowers are? Please tell me. I have them everywhere in all kinds of colors, and I have no idea what they are.

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Nolana paradoxa in hanging baskets. Should start trailing soon, I hope.

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Out front, I used to think this was heuchera, but know I don't know what it is. I love it.

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Eriogonum giganteum, hating life in a container on my front steps. I feel bad about it. I'll give this plant to my guru. I have to find something to replace it with first.

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Love the flower on this succulent once it gets going.

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On the roof, one of my favorite flowers and one of my favorite plants: Cotyledon orbiculatum var. longifolium. This is something of a family heirloom, from my granddad's garden.

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And a geranium.

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Thanks for coming by!

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Bye!

Link to last month's Garden Blogger Bloom Day.

12 comments:

JvA said...

Chuck, your garden looks so much more colorful than last time I saw it! Really lovely.

I thought of you today when I was in Ciscoe Morris's neighborhood. I took a bunch of photos, but for some reason my new post is not registering at the top of the blog. But it exists! Weird. Here's a direct link -- I know you're a fan of his.

http://midbeaconhill.blogspot.com/2007/06/ciscoe-morris-yard-again.html

chuck b. said...

The funny thing is that it's only incrementally more colorful in real life. I don't always do a very good job capturing the garden. Also, it really needs to mature. Being patient can be so frustrating.

Carol Michel said...

I love coming to see your garden because it is so different from mine. I don't recognize a lot of the flowers, but I do think they are all pretty and you did a good job on the pictures.

And I know what you mean about wanting a camera that takes better close ups. I asked another blogger her secret to close ups and she said she used the "portrait" setting on her camera. I bet she also used a tripod.

Thanks for participating in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day again!

(And if you leave a comment on my blog, I bet more people would find your post.)

EAL said...

I just posted about close-ups today and I agree. I want to see how plants look in context too. But sometimes they are essential.

Anyway, I don't think close-ups are required for Bloom Day. It's nice to have a variety.

Those wildflowers look like nemesia, but I am sure that is wrong. Beautiful flowers--looks exotic to this Northeasterner.

anna maria said...

Your beautiful garden is inspiring - it makes me want to grow more! and More!

Chris Kreussling (Flatbush Gardener) said...

Could the non-Heuchera thing be an Erodium?

Anonymous said...

Chuck, the dunce cap on the poppy is in fact called a calyptrate calyx.

What Brugmansia do you have? Is it a species? I just hack mine (cv. double white) back whenever I feel like it, but it does seem more vigorous than yours.

lisa said...

Nice blooms, as always! I like that echium-it's both wild and prettii! The sea pink is very nice, I was curious and found an interesting link:
http://home.howstuffworks.com/thrift-sea-pink.htm
As for the unknown wildflower, to me it looks like a lobelia of some sort...but not quite. (Sorry I'm not more helpful.)

chuck b. said...

The brugmansia is some sissy cultivar I bought from a catalog. It's grown 7-8 feet from a 4" pot in one year, so it's not really un-vigorous, but, definitely, it's taking its sweet time to develop a crown. I figure this year I let it do whatever it wants, next year I start hacking.

Do you water your brugmansia a lot? I don't water this one much, and I'm thinking that's the problem.

The ones I see doing well in my 'hood don't look like they get much water but I could be wrong about that.

Entangled said...

Perhaps your wildflower is some species of Linaria?

chuck b. said...

Thank you all for the ideas about the wildflowers. I'm going to follow up.

Anonymous said...

I give it some but not too much supplemental water in the summer. It's on the N. side of an 8" fence, though, so the roots stay pretty cool.