July 15, 2007
I have wanted to participate in Bloom Day for a couple months now. I love seeing what is blooming in different areas. At the Estate and the other gardens I am in charge of there are literally hundreds of things blooming so I went for a few of the things that I had taken pictures of. I wanted to get this post up so I may try and add a few things later today.
What a wonderful year for Roses we had. There are a few still hanging on. This first one is a David Austin variety named ‘Heritage’. It has slowed down but I wanted to post it since I have so enjoyed it this year. I went into the rose garden on Friday just to see what was blooming and a couple of the varieties were still going strong.
‘Iceberg’: strong white bloomer.
‘Strike it Rich’: I featured this on another post. I can’t say enough well about this new rose. I highly recommend it. It had the most flowers of any rose in the garden right now.
‘Love and Peace’: This one combines two of my favorite roses. Still had a half dozen nice flowers as of this week.
‘Mr. Lincoln’: An oldie but it is still blooming very well in the heat.
Numerous shrub roses. This one is ‘Seafoam’. You can see it has started to mingle with my Korean Silver Fir. Very nice white and loaded with blooms.
This next one is a new plant for me, Monarda citriodora. It seems to have numerous synonyms including Lemon Bee Balm and Lemon Mint. It grew in a wildflower mix so I am not sure if it is an annual, perennial or biennial. Only time will tell that though I will encourage it to reseed. I think I like it better than the regular Bee Balm I have been growing. Although this year is the first year in many that the perennial species has not gotten Powdery Mildew.
My Gaillardia Oranges & Lemons has been blooming steady for weeks now. It is on the downward curve right now but still had flowers. It is the longest blooming of the Blanket Flowers that I have seen. Wonderful plant and I have been enjoying the various shades that the flowers come out on the individual plants. I want to see what it does after I cut it back.
There are hundreds of Coneflowers out now. I have been planting the various new ones as well as growing a lot from seed. Here is my favorite white. Echinacea purpurea 'White Lustre' has done well and I have enjoyed the contrast with the pink Coneflowers.
I love Zinnias but had given up growing them because of the numerous cultural problems. This is the second year that I have grown ‘Dreamland Red’ and have been pleased with its disease resistance and blooming capabilities. Red flowers seem to be really hard to capture with my digital equipment so I have taken to slightly underexposing them and then running them through Photoshop. I don’t have it down quite yet but this method seems to help. I wanted to share this with the Zinnia lovers out there as a good cultivar that doesn’t get too tall (10 inches) and is a prolific bloomer.
I haven’t quite seemed to figure out how to grow consistent Hydrangea macrophylla in Connecticut. This is a planting of about 18 plants that ring a driveway. I added the Boxwood for some structure during the winter. This planting blooms well maybe 6 out of 10 years and this year is an ‘on’ year. Rather than trying to turn them all blue I sprinkled some Aluminum sulfate randomly through the plants. It gives an interesting range of colors. My thoughts are that it is a combination of having a not too cold winter and not pruning the dead stalks off until well after bud break is the key to success.
13 comments:
Your flowers are beautiful. I grow zinnias without too many problems, but roses gave me fits, so I gave them up. After seeing your pictures, I am thinking perhaps that was a bit short-sighted on my part and I should add them roses to my garden.
Thanks for participating in Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day!
Carol at May Dreams Gardens
Hi Carol,
It is my pleasure to join in the fun of Bloom Day. It is funny how I gave up Zinnias and you gave up roses. There are a lot of roses now that don't need too much care and give a lot of rewards.
Chris
What a fantastic photographer and gardener you are! Well done!
Gorgeous blooms and superb photography.
Chris: Every one of your photos is a work of art! I love red in the garden and that zinnia would look great with 'Bright Lights' chard. How tall is it? Also, your roses look great and I often have trouble with them overwintering here in RI. What is your secret? As for hydrangeas of the macrophylla blue species...the only one I can get to flower reliably is the new 'Endless Summer' as it blooms on the new wood and does so with great results! I am surprised you get such great bloom on yours as often as six out of ten years. They must be in a protected spot.
Lovely pics, especially those of the roses. I'm very partial to roses, you see.
My blooms are up too!
I surely did enjoy my visit to your gardens. And your photography is great.
Thanks to everyone for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Layanee,
The Zinnia gets about 10" tall, which is short as far as Zinns go. The H. macs are growing in the Southwest tip of Connecticut which is more mild than the rest of Connecticut (very close to Zone 7). I have two brothers who are Landscape architects and they both have been recommending 'Endless Summer' to me. I will have to give it a try.
Yolanda Elizabet,
I love roses, too.
Hello Chris,
Your roses are beautiful. 'Iceberg' was planted in masses at the Chicago Botanic Garden years ago. It's still on my favorites list.
Oranges and Lemons is one I've only seen in photos - very nice!
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie, Hi.
Oranges and Lemons has been a good plant for me this year and I will look to use it again in the future. Does Blanket Flower grow in Texas? We are in for some cooler weather and I hope the roses snap back.
The discussion about roses and zinnias resonates with me. I had given up on both of them, but I'm starting to grow a few zinnias again. The new Zowie Yellow Flame came through last year unmildewed.
The Monarda is interesting. I've been reading about it in various places, but never have seen the flowers close up.
I enjoyed your photos!
The white coneflowers are quite elegant. I haven't seen that Monarda before and looks like an interesting plant. I have been less than entranced by the common Monardas but this one may be something I should plant. You have access to so many more flowers and plants than I do so the photos are a great resource and introduction to new plants but definitely to the detriment of my wallet. ;)
Ki,
I still don't understand why I don't get an email for your comments. You are flying in stealth mode. Thanks, as always for visiting and taking the time to comment. I thought it was funny when we both posted the same thing (Coneflower). It is easy to garden with others people's money but I do try and spend it like it was mine. You should set up a gardening consulting business and buy wholesale.
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