Spaceship Earth at Epcot

Spaceship Earth at Epcot

Spaceship Earth at Wikipedia

Asterisk Daylily

Daylily

Hemerocallis 'Asterisk'

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

This is going to be short as I am being hustled out to the theme parks again today. This Daylily not only has an interesting shape but also a very nice color scheme. The tips of the flower have kind of an orange/pink tint and that goes down to a green in the center. The flowers are also huge getting up to 8 inches across. Part novelty and part majestic these flowers are well worth growing.

Today's Flowers

Kiku Chrysanthemums  
Chrysanthemum 'Hatsuhikari'
(kris-AN-the-mum)
Synonyms: First Light Chrysanthemum

These are some more Kiku Chrysanthemums from the ‘lost roll’ I found this week. They would have to be classified as more traditional types that we are used to seeing in our gardens. Googling the Japanese names returns mostly obscure and useless information. This clear yellow daisy type was a winner. Since it is Sunday means Today’s Flowers and an extra snapshot.

This white mum was quite attractive. Sorry for the short posts but I am totally worn out from vacation. We still have two days left on our Disney passes but we are taking today off. The Princess dinner was fun and I got to met Cinderella, Snow White, Belle, Aurora and my favorite Ariel. It was quite magical for Erika.



Cascade Anemone Mum
Chrysanthemum 'Gum Drop'
(kris-AN-the-mum)

KIku Chrysanthemum

Chrysanthemum x morifolium ‘Hagoromo’

This shot was taken at the NYBG’s Kiku festival last fall. It was on the “roll” that was in the compact P6000 camera and I found it when I downloaded the Disney pictures on the card. The flower looks a bit fierce but was actually friendly. The flowers at the festival were amazing and their beauty is easy to remember. I can’t talk long as we are again hitting the parks today. I am attending a princess dinner at the castle among other things. Wish me luck :lol:

Here is another picture of my destination. It looked especially beautiful at night. I hope the serving wenches cook up something good.

Magic Kingdom

Magic Kingdom

Guess here I am? That’s right the Magic Kingdom. We did have a truly magical visit to WDW yesterday with our granddaughter. I have to admit I had fun too. My camera didn’t seem to be working too well and I just used the 50mm/1.8 lens on the two days we have been here. It is not my favorite lens and is coming off the camera today. Of course lighting conditions at the parks aren’t very good and most of the time and usually the 50 handles it better. I shot most of my photos in Aperture priority mode since you have to be really quick to capture the moment. Even though it's a little slower the 60mm/2.8 micro-nikkor is a better lens for me.

Other than being a little exhausted we have been enjoying Orlando. The weather has been just perfect and there have been no other problems to report.

Dwarf Dahlia

Dwarf Dahlia

Dahlia 'Apricot Sunrise'

(DAHL-ya)

Synonyms: Royal Dahlietta Series

Monte Carlo Red

Daylily

Hemerocallis 'Monte Carlo Red'

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

White Siberian Iris

Siberian Iris

Iris sibirica

(EYE-ris) (sy-BEER-ah-kuh)

This Iris has been an amazing performer. It just has been growing and growing and flowering through the years. I didn’t plant the original patch but have since planted hundreds of divisions at several different gardens. It’s getting to the point that I won’t be dividing it anymore. Too much of good thing sometimes is a bad thing.

Siberian Iris is an easy and rewarding garden perennial. This white is a little unusual (but not rare) color. They are mostly in the blue and purple hues and I have seen a light pink before. They grow nicely in boggy soil and at the edge of ponds but can also colonize dry areas. They can also grow in partial shade but I have found that they are not as vigorous in those conditions.

We are getting ready to leave for Florida tomorrow. I have to decide which equipment to take. I will be looking forward to seeing some flowers and getting outside a little more.

Double Daylily

Double Daylily
Hemerocallis 'Peach Magnolia'
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

This Daylily has been featured on this site before it hasn’t got any less beautiful since then. It has several traits that I find desirable in a Daylily. The extra flower petals are just pretty and ruffled enough to make it special. The fact this Daylily can rebloom is also nice. The huge flowers are another asset and they can be gazed upon with admiration. This hybrid comes from Joiner Gardens of Savannah, Georgia and hit the market in 1986. It has been charming gardeners and award judges ever since.

Sunday means Today’s Flowers and an extra snapshot.

Gerber Daisy
Gerbera jamesonii ‘Festival Mix’
(GER-ber-uh) (jay-mess-OWN-ee-eye)

Shasta Daisies in Black and White

Black and White Shasta Daisies
Leucanthemum x superbum 'Becky'
(lew-KANTH-ih-mum)

We woke up to a big puffy blanket of white this morning. It’s still coming down with a final tally of 4 inches. I really can’t complain about the amount of snow we have been getting it has been on the light side. Especially if you compare to last winter freaky accumulations. I have come to the conclusion snow is only romantic when it’s falling after that it is a pain in the butt.


Since we had a black and white yesterday he is another of one of my favorite perennials. Shasta Daisy can have a few insect problems but other than that it is a carefree and beautiful plant. They work in borders, masses and even as accents. A few years after planting you can start dividing and getting free plants to colonize new areas in the garden. They do occasionally seed but I haven’t found that to be a problem and in actuality I have enjoyed and cultivated these seedlings. They can be easily transplanted to more desirable areas if necessary.

“The daisy's for simplicity and unaffected air.” Robert Burns, Scottish (1759 –1796)

Black and White Daylily

Daylily

Hemerocallis 'Gentle Shepherd'

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

These photos are from last summer. As usual when going through the garden with my DSLR my compact camera was tagging along set to monochrome. One of the reasons these came out well is ‘Gentle Shepherd’ is almost a pure white Daylily. That is a rare but not unheard of color for Hemerocallis. With just a hint of chartreuse in the throat and sometimes a tiny bit of pink shading it gives an all white appearance.

It is a relatively short cultivar (28 inches) that is very slow to fill in. I would have to call it slow growing compared to other varieties. It has skipped two dividing cycles already so in hindsight I would have planted more together at the time. It is a Diploid type that was considered a breeding breakthrough for whites in the early 1980’s.

The little P6000 camera does well with this type of shot. I love compact cameras and mine can be set to fully manual if needed. Normally these types of shots are really not “set up” properly and are generally lucky shots.

We got a dusting of snow again last night and I can’t help feeling there is a large dump coming soon. Tonight and tomorrow we are suppose to get 3 to 5 inches. We leave for Florida on Tuesday morning and I’m just ticking off the hours right now. Being inside this much isn’t good for me but over the years I have learned to manage it.

Tree Cotton

Tree Cotton

Gossypium barbadense

(gos-SIP-ee-um) (bar-buh-DEN-see)

Synonyms: Creole Cotton, Sea Island Cotton

It was weird coming on to this plant in the upcountry section of Maui. I had seen a small grove of Citrus trees on a back road and noted the location for later reconnaissance. Driving around Maui looking for stuff to photograph is quite a luxury. You never know what you may find. Unfortunately I am not going to make it out there this winter.

We have grown the black leaved Ornamental cotton (Gossypium herbaceum nigra ‘Black Cotton’) in the garden before. It is a plant that is rarely sold here but if you look you can usually find it at specialty growers. Even with that experience I wasn’t ready to see the majesty of the full-blown cotton balls growing on the side of the mountain. The plant was looking a little ratty but the brilliant white made up for that.

White Coneflower

White Coneflower

Echinacea 'Heavenly Dream'

(ek-in-AY-shee-a)

A rare double photo Wordless Wednesday :)

Garden Mum

Garden Mum

Chrysanthemum ‘Jacqueline Orange Fusion’

(kris-AN-the-mum)

Canna Lily

Canna Lily

Canna x generalis

(KAN-uh) (jen-er-RAY-liss)

This is a flower from a few years ago. It was an unusual color for a Canna Lily and very beautiful. As a professional I use plants for specific reasons more than most people and Cannas have been used for their foliage more than the flowers. However if the flowers are as nice as this one that could change. The advent of the plentiful dwarf Canna has helped their use factor too.

A few years ago I practically gave up on Canna Lilies because I was getting a fungus on the leaves that seemed incurable. I have since found out changing the soil seems to help this problem. I have also been buying my plants from smaller/more expensive dealers. So while I won’t plant big masses like we used to having a few here and there and in containers is working out.

Morning Glory

Morning Glory ‘Heavenly Blue’

Ipomoea tricolor

(ip-oh-MEE-uh) (TRY-kull-lur)

Even though many people consider the Morning Glory vine to be a pest I think it is a great plant to have in the garden. This white one has grown from seed the last five years and has steadily become more and more beautiful. Its getting to the point where I may start pinching it a little more and remove a few of the seedlings.

The composition is a little different than most of my photographs. I have found the front of the morning glory flower to be difficult to photograph so I switched to the back. The gentle striping and luscious curves were enchanting.

This is a link to Today’sFlowers. I really hope it doesn’t throw the formatting off. Sunday means a bonus snapshot. This week it is a Wax Begonia.

Wax Begonia

Begonia x semperflorens-cultorum

(be-GON-yuh) (sem-per-FLOR-enz kul-TOR-um)

Synonym: Fibrous Rooted Begonia

Cattleya Orchid

Cattleya Orchid

d ‘Nancy Off’

(KAT-lee-ah)

Let me start off by again apologizing for any formatting problems you maybe encountering when you visit Digital Flowers. All I can say is I am working on the problem and that it appears to be an AdSense thing. I don’t want ads here that is not what this site is about. The best way to support this site (besides reading it) is to buy prints from Digital-flower-pictures.com. That way we both get something.

This white orchid regaled in its allure with shimmering whites, yellow throats and fern background. It was also emitting a heady fragrance.

Please report any viewing problems and I want to thank Janet and Denise for doing that. I am using Firefox 9.0 in Tiger (Mac 10.5) and it seems fine but there are some variations in browsers.

Plains Zebra

Plains Zebra

Equus quagga

We have a whole new look here, which will undoubtedly be changing over the next few days. I finally had to pull the trigger on a new template as the old one was just acting up too much. For many years I had a slick system writing my posts in MS Word and pasting it in to blogger. That gave me a separate savable file for each post. Lately Blogger has been giving all sorts of hassles when pasting so I am trying the new editor function here and see if that stops the formatting problems.

If you have and trouble or weirdness when viewing this site please report it in the comments section. I am sure this post will look strange until I get used to the new system.

Today’s picture was taken from a safari bus in Arizona. The animals were very close as this picture was shot using a 70mm lens. Zebras are fascinating animals to me. Each one is individually striped and it is thought the stripes have several ways of distracting predators. Closely related to the Horse the Zebra has never been truly domesticated.

Purple Coneflower

Eastern Purple Coneflower

Echinacea purpurea

(ek-in-AY-shee-a)

Tickseed

Tickseed

Coreopsis cv.

(kor-ee-OP-sis)

Moon Carrot

Moon Carrot

Seseli gummiferum

(SE-sel-ee) (gum-MIF-er-um)

It is always fun to have an unusual flower to post and Moon Carrot is a quirky, unusual and beautiful biennial. It is relatively easy to grow as long as a few specific conditions are met. The most important condition is having super winter drainage. Moon Carrot is surprising hardy and evergreen when located in a warm, dry area of the garden. A native of the eastern Mediterranean this plant can grow to 3 feet tall when blooming. The foliage is a great looking ferny/carrot type that is a beautiful blue green. The flowers appear pink in bud but actually open up to white.

Sempervivum Flower

Sempervivum Flower

(sem-per-VEE-vum)

Not sure of the identification on this flower. Part of the problem I have been having searching the archives for this winter’s flower pictures is that I can no longer remember where or what the pictures are from. Luckily I often snap a photo of any sign or tag that is with the plant but that doesn’t always work out. This photo did not have any tag so it remains a bit of a mystery.

Sempervivums are an interesting group of plants native to Northern Africa and parts of Europe. They are known for the ability to grow in harsh conditions. As a garden plant many are able to winter over outside and are often found in the gardens of collectors populating everywhere from cracks in stone work to being pampered in containers. The flowers are usually pinkish and seldom whitish, which kind of blows my ID out of the water.

Today is Sunday and that means Flowers from Today and a bonus snapshot.

Cactus Dahlia

(DAHL-ya)

This was an interesting Dahlia that came in a bag of mixed Dahlias for the cutting garden. The recurved petals gave a slightly other worldly appearance. The color mix was fantastic too. The flowers got really big for a Cactus style and I would have really loved to know what the variety name was.

Bishop Of York Dahlia

Dahlia

Dahlia 'Bishop of York'

(DAHL-ya)

This is one of the dark leaved cultivars of Dahlia. The chocolate colored leaves are the perfect foil for the sunny yellow flowers. Last season was the second time we have had ‘Bishop of York’ in the Dahlia garden and it performed wonderfully. Changing the soil in the garden worked out well. We didn’t get any of that virus/crinkling of the leaves that we have had before. So if you are having fungus/disease problems with your Dahlias or Cannas I would recommend a soil change.

Speaking of performing wonderfully our new little band is chugging along. I love my new guitar and it has brought a classic Fender guitar sound to the mix. We should be ready to play out by late spring. I am going to be writing some reviews at some of the bigger guitar sites about the ’51 Fender Pawn model Stratocaster.

Black Snakeroot Flower

Black Snakeroot

Actaea racemosa

(ak-TEE-uh) (ray-see-MO-suh)

Synonyms: Black Cohosh, Fairy Candles, Cimicifuga racemosa

This plant changed names on me. I have always called it Cimicifuga racemosa but now see it is called Actaea racemosa. It is amazing to me how these things change over the years. This is a fun, large perennial that loves the shade garden although my experience has been that it does like some light but doesn’t want direct sun. It can also live in moist soil (a requirement actually) but doesn’t like standing water. The large, candle like flowers have a nice fragrance that can really perfume its area. There is some seedling activity but just enough to increase the population and not enough to be a nuisance.

Large-flowered Clematis

Large-flowered Clematis

Clematis 'Nelly Moser'

(KLEM-uh-tiss)

‘Nelly Moser’ seems like a very nice variety of Clematis. It has performed well as a perennial and is a strong bloomer. The color is nice with the red adding a nice touch to the white background.

Clematis is one of those plants that I have never really captured what the ideal growing conditions are. Basically I use my secret gardening sense of what it needs and go with that. It is mostly luck but things seem to work out in the end. Currently we are trying to get a purple one to climb over a metal arch in the garden and the vine is being uncooperative. It seemed to grow about 4 inches and had about 4 flowers on it last year. Oh well better luck next year.

Cactus Dahlia

Cactus Dahlia

Dahlia ‘Ruskin Andrea’

(DAHL-ya)

Wordless Wednesday