9/15/2007

Garden Blogger Bloom Day

I don't have anything new, except for Centaurea cyanus. I have a pot of mixed blue and purple. But there's only a few flowers. It's often the case that we have Bloom Day, and then a week or two later I do a garden post, and it's Bloom Day all over again, but better. Carol, the 15th, just doesn't work for me. How about the 25th? Just kidding!

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You can kind of see the blue one back there, blurred. Anyway, whatever.

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(Above: Madia elegans (the yellow tarweed) grows over the Colocasia escuelenta 'Illustris'. This combination might make some CA native plant gardeners want to vomit.)

Here you're seeing yarrow and salvia, with a bee on the yarrow:

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Mimulus aurantiacus a non-stop show since (well, I'm not sure when this started...too durnk right now to click back and find out).

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No blooms in this picture, but mark my words, Salvia spathacea (foreground) + Fuchsia boliviana 'Alba' (background) will rock.

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Trichostema lanatum
(Betsy Clebsch pronounced it tri-COST-ema--much better than TRICK-o-stemma, my former pronunciation).

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As far as appreciating banal garden plants go, I have a real weakness for primrose. I just love 'em.

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Violets and pansies and impatients make me want to hurl, but primroses make me smile.

Obligatory summer princess.

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Okay, CA garden snobs, one reason I will keep this plant is the purple petals that litter the garden. Late summer color in the San Francisco garden.

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I found a place to plant my Lewisia. Is this Lewisia cotyledon or some other species? I wish I knew. Because L. cotyledon is the native. Right? Or, all they all natives? I don't know. I'm quite irritated the tag just said "Lewisia". Is that a clue that it's just some hybrid? Does saying "just some hybrid" make me a CA native snob?

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(You may recall I bought two--on a whim. The other one's in bloom too, but the pictures are blurry. So, please--just be happy with this one, won't you?)

Poppies everywhere, always. This one seems unusually...receptive.

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Last month's Bloom Day here.

ADDED: for a totally incredible west coast Bloom Day, pop up to Seattle real quick.

10 comments:

Carol Michel said...

Violets and pansies make you want to hurl? Say it isn't so, I really like them, especially in the spring because they'll live through light frosts.

I know what you mean about some flowers not blooming on the 15th. My asters will probably be very showy by the 25th, so maybe we should have a special bloom day just for those flowers?

I am going to be watching with interest as we get further into fall to see who still has flowers. I bet you do!

Thanks for participating in Garden Blogger's Bloom Day again.

Carol at May Dreams Gardens

Unknown said...

I love the way that those purple petals look "littering" the ground. Especially since the plants underneath it are light-colored.

Whatever kind of Lewisia that is, you should definitely keep it because it's very cute. I would assume that if it just says "Lewisia" on the tag it would not be a hybrid, or at least not one worth naming. Because actually giving it a particular name seems to justify charging double for a plant, you know. ;)

chuck b. said...

Carol, no more "thank you"s will be accepted from you. I am fully on board. I am COMMITTED to GBBD. If I ever miss it, it's me who owes you an apology. Thank you for visiting. :)

Kim, thank you for making that point. Is that culled from your nursery experience, or are you making it up? :)

chuck b. said...

No, violets and pansies do not make me want to hurl, literally. No. I mean that only insofar as I'm trying to raise the bar. Don't you expect something...different in Zone 9 and 10?

Don't you?

Anonymous said...

I like those blue petals on the stone walk. For that matter, I like the stone walk. Have you shown us this area before?

LostRoses said...

chuck, Carol is going to keep thanking you whether you want her to or not. She's very polite that way (but try not to cross her on other issues).

I'm so happy with the blue petals on the walk. I think we should all collect photos of fallen petals strewn along paths and such and turn it into a post at the end of summer. It's too late for me this year, everything is dying on the vine.

Carol Michel said...

Chuck... Okay, I'll thank everyone else in the future, except you. I'll just try to leave a smart remark. I guess if I was in zone 9 or 10, I'd be thinking about other kinds of flowers other than violets. But I still like them. Like LostRoses said, don't cross me on other issues! (What does she mean by that?? Hmmmm... I'll have to go back and see on her blog if I left her a disparaging remark. She is one funny lady.)

Carol at May Dreams Gardens.

Annie in Austin said...

Your bloom day entry is beautiful of course, and your photos are very cool. I like the petal idea, too... my plumeria flowers look kind of pretty fallen onto the patio, but there are only a few of them.

You have raised the bar, Chuck - most of the time I'm happy when common plants will grow for me, but yours are all known by three names, like starlets, congressmen or mass murderers.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Anonymous said...

1. I hate to spoil everyone's party, but, those Tibouchina flowers are very much PURPLE, not blue. However, I have to admit that it is otherwise an outstanding plant.
2. thirteen of the eighteen Lewisia species are native to Cali. I have no idea which is which.
3. Madia + Colocasia is my new fav. combination ever.

lisa said...

Nice stuff, Chuck...of course I expect nothing less from YOU! My lewisia is called "Little Plum", and its flowers have darker pink stripes the length of the petals, so I believe you can eliminate that one, anyhow.