Eastern Purple Coneflower

Eastern Purple Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea
(ek-in-AY-shee-a)

Here area couple of Coneflower shots from this summer. They are both of cultivars but I am not sure which ones they are. The pink ones had a nice tight formation with good color. One of the keys of growing these flowers is giving them a nice dry winter. They really don't like wet feet in the winter.

This bonus snapshot is the less seldom seen white type of Coneflower. The estate has a big collection of 'White Swan' Cones and we tried to spread the seed in the beds as we cleaned up. It usually takes a couple of years for the population to build up and mostly you end up with some nice light pink ones from the seeds.

Happy New Year.

White Coneflower
Echinacea purpurea cv.
(ek-in-AY-shee-a) (pur-PUR-ee-uh)
Synonym: Echinacea purpurea alba, Brauneria purpurea, Rudbeckia purpurea

Reed Stem Orchid

Reed Stem Orchid

Epidendrum Princess Valley 'Innocence'

(ep-ih-DEN-drum)

Wordless Wednesday

Star Of Siam Waterlily

Waterlily

Nymphaea 'Star Of Siam'

(NIM-fee-uh)

I thought I would share this really nice blue waterlily flower picture. It is a tropical day-blooming type. The flower does resemble a sapphire star but also has the additional beauty of chocolate splashed leaves. The mottled foliage spreads out to a medium sized plant.

Christmas preparations are getting in full swing here now. Despite our agreement that we wouldn’t do too much this year it seems like the same amount s previous years.

Since it is Sunday here is a bonus snapshot of a waterlily and Koi fish. He just seemed to swim in and out of the frame as I was lining the shot up.

Waterlily

Nymphaea cv.

(NIM-fee-uh)

Large Fothergilla

Large Fothergilla

Fothergilla 'Mt. Airy'

(foth-er-GIL-la)

Synonym: Fothergilla gardenii x major, Fothergilla major

Jungle Beauty Daylily

Daylily

Hemerocallis 'Jungle Beauty'

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

While going through some old files I found a “roll” of unexplored Daylilies. There were some astonishing reds and pinks in the folder. This first one was introduced in 1990 and had a nice velvety black color. The scape had a good bud set and a strong frame. Quite an eye catcher and well named.

This second flower had a warmer brighter color. I have to admit to really liking the Woodside collection of Daylilies. Dr. Darryl Apps just knows how to breed colors that I like. He recently retired and the whole Woodside collection was moved to large wholesale nursery in New Jersey.

Daylily

Hemerocallis 'Woodside Fire Dance'

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

Yellow Daylily

Yellow Daylily

Hemerocallis cv.

(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

Out of the hundreds of thousands of plants on this estate I have found one little patch of Daylilies. No one seems to know what color or the cultivar name so that is a mystery that will be solved next year. Most all of the flowers are white in the garden and I am interested to see how the monochromatic color scheme works. The landscape architects were here yesterday trying to come up with a plan to fix the most heavily storm damaged areas. We are still cleaning up but most of the mess is now taken care of and we are getting back to our regularly scheduled winterizing of the garden.

Mexican Sunflower

Mexican Sunflower

Tithonia rotundifolia

(ti-THO-nee-a) (ro-tun-dih-FOH-lee-uh)

Wordless Wednesday

Leopard Prince Orchid

Doritaenopsis Leopard Prince

Doritaenopsis

(doh-ry-ten-OP-sis)

Parentage: Doritaenopsis Sun Prince x Phalaenopsis Ho's French Fantasia

A heavily spotted version of a Doritaenopsis intergeneric hybrid. I have to admit about being confused about Doritaenopsis as a genus. The names Doritis and Doritaenopsis are now out and these orchids belong to Phalaenopsis. The names seem to keep changing and plant names are much less settled then I once believed them to be,

I got my Christmas present yesterday and it was something I waited a long time to get. Since my old guitar needs to be retired due to stress cracks in the pick guard I wanted another Fender Stratocaster to replace it. Ironically the new guitar is almost an exact replica of the old one. The people in Guitar Center were getting sick of me demoing every Strat in the store. When I plugged in the 2003 Eric ClaptonSignature Model  I knew I had found my perfect prize. After playing hardball on the price it went home with me.

Here is a Sunday bonus snapshot. This flower was at the orchid wholesale nursery and was unnamed. It really had a rich, velvety appearance.

Julia Child Floribunda Rose

Julia Child Floribunda Rose

Wordless Wednesday

Zygopetalum Orchid

Zygopetalum B.G. White 'Stonehurst

Zygopetalum

(zy-go-PET-al-lum)           

Continuing my education on different orchid genera here is the beautiful Zygopetalum type. There are fourteen species and they are native to South America. The waxy fragrant flowers are easy to grow and last a long time as a cut flower. I am looking to add a few of these to the new orchid collection at work.

Since it is Sunday here is the bonus snapshot. The other day we went to this super huge wholesale nursery on Long Island and the person with me bought a 4-inch Aloe plant for $2.15. It felt kind of funny walking out with just the little guy. I have also been dreaming about going to Hawaii this winter but that is kind of tough since I just started a new job. This Aloe was blooming in a foundation plant on the Big Island. I really like the yellow ones.

Aloe

Aloe sp.

(AL-oh)

           

Lipstick Palm

Lipstick Palm

Cyrtostachys renda

(sir-toh-STAY-kiss) (REN-duh)

Synonyms: Cyrtostachys lakka, Sealing wax palm

This is one of my favorite palm trees. The color of the stems has always enchanted me. I can’t even comment on how the rest of the tree really looks. The thinking of getting one for the greenhouse at the Estate kind of went out the window after I read that is one of the tenderest palms available. It can’t even reliably last at 60 degrees F., and sometimes times the greenhouse gets that low at night. 55 is my target for overnight temperatures but I am having a little trouble zeroing in the state of the art climate control system. Oh how I long for a simple dial thermostat.