Violas

Viola

Viola 'Columbine'

(vy-OH-la)

This is what we found while looking for a few Pansies to augment some of the containers at work. I fell for the streaky purple coloring and fresh smell of ‘Columbine’. Overall I would have preferred Pansies because of their larger showier flowers but only Violas were ready at the nursery. It was nice to see they were offering (this is a grower) several different types for a change. We also got a flat of dark purple/white Viola and they seemed to compliment the lighter ‘Columbine’ flowers nicely.

Since I have a virtual mountain of work email to send out this post is going to be a little short. There is also a mound of paperwork that has to be dealt with. Get me back to the garden where I am more comfortable, please.

Poor Man's Azalea

Pansy Flowered Geranium

Pelargonium x domesticum 'Purple Majesty’

(pe-lar-GO-nee-um) (doh-MESS-tik-um)

Synonyms: Regal Pelargonium, Martha Washington Geranium, Poor Man's Azalea

We couldn’t resist getting a couple of these flowers for the pots we planted last week. The touch of almost black makes these plants stand out. It is nice when an exotic flower is easy to grow and these plants do well in the conditions we have been experiencing. It dipped below freezing last night but the light wind seemed to keep any frost from forming. The containers are in a very protected location so I wasn’t worried about the annuals. Geraniums shouldn’t really have a problem with that and they also seem to be enjoying how dry it is right now. After the epic rains of last summer and fall we are in need of a good dousing.

Since it is Sunday here is a bonus snapshot of one of the designer Pansies we planted. This ones color is a little more subtle then most of the flowers in the mix. It was a good mix of red, white and purple. 

Pansy

Viola x wittrockiana

(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-na)

Pansy

Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana 'Delta Blue'
(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-nuh)

Pansy

Pansy

Seeing these little guys on the way to Florida sure was uplifting. Compared to the flowers of Southern Florida they are a little passé. Today I went to Fairchild Gardens here in Miami and they had all sorts of delightful botanicals. The Palm collection is considered one of the best in the world and it is amazing. Palms come in almost size and shape and a few colors too. Look for a couple of Fairchild pictures in the up coming week.

Our dog is doing much better (thanks for asking). She has responded well to the antibiotics and while not 100% she is getting there. Luckily is a strong dog and has been able to deal with it pretty well.

Pansy

Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana 'Delta Premium Pure Primrose'
(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-na)

Purple Pansies

Purple Pansies
Viola (vy-OH-la)

Pansy Close up

Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana
(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-na)

It wouldn’t be spring if there weren’t a couple of Pansy macro photos posted here. This was taken with my Nikon Coolpix P6000 and the minimum focusing distance on this camera continues to astound me. This photo was taken about 1.5 to 2 inches away from the flower and it probably could have been closer. The Pansies have been doing well this spring and this light purple one was bought to be combined with a really deep purple Pansy. We added a few white Ranunculus (what is the plural of Ranunculus?) just to give the planting a little extra boost.

Some more information on the origin of Pansies can be found here. It would seem every flower has a story behind it. I know that it is fall type of plant in a lot of areas but to me the Pansy is always a true harbinger of spring and I always look forward to seeing their happy faces.

This was an interesting little Daffodil that was booming on Friday. It has several flowers per stalk and is highly fragrant.


See more spring flowers from all over the world at Today’s Flowers .

Purple Pansy

Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana 'Delta Premium Neon Violet'
(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-na)
Click Here for a Larger Version

Variegated Algerian Ivy

Variegated Algerian Ivy
Hedera canariensis 'Gloire de Marengo'
(HED-er-uh) (kuh-nair-ee-EN-sis)
Synonyms: Canary Island Ivy, North African Ivy, Madeira Ivy

This was one of the most colorful plants we have seen in Sedona. It was almost completely covering a large wall and added a lot to the earth tone of the stucco. It was nice to see as it is not that hardy in Connecticut. You can grow it there but a lot of times it will die back to the roots and doesn’t really have a chance to get very big by the end of the season.

There have been a few Pansy plantings but they have all looked a little beat up from the weather. Here is a nice red/purple one.


There are a lot of these statues, wall coverings and other artworks all over. This has been really enjoyable. You never know what is going to be around the corner. This one looked old but I’m not sure. The plant was a Gold Dust Tree (Aucuba japonica).


These pictures were all shot with the Nikon Coolpix P6000 compact camera.

Pansies and the Subway

'Delta Premium Pure Golden Yellow'

West 4th Street Station, Greenwich Village

These pictures were taken Saturday just a few hours apart. It is a bit of a juxtaposition. It sure was an interesting day.

juxtapose
verb [trans.]
place or deal with close together for contrasting effect

True Blue Pansy

Pansy
Viola x wittrockiana 'Delta True Blue'
(vy-OH-la) (wit-rok-ee-AH-nuh)

While the Pansy has always been a symbol of spring to me more and more they are making appearances in the fall. They make a nice display in the autumn garden and are a nice change from mums and Asters.

The Delta series seems to be a popular one and these were spotted at the local wholesale nursery. I enjoyed walking by the huge carts loaded up with them for the blast of color and fragrance. Last year was the first year in many that our Pansies overwintered. I am not sure which one those were but they were beautiful all the way up until May.

Over wintered Pansies

Over wintered Pansies

These are few of the Pansies that over wintered for us. They have just gone crazy and have grown twice as big as the new Pansies. The weather has been conducive to Pansy culture. When something unexpected but good happens in the garden it is wonderful. More times than not we would have ripped these out at the end of the season last year.


It’s raining again. We need the rain but it doesn’t make work any easier. I am after a lot of different plants for different gardens so I will be visiting a lot of nurseries today.

Three Pansies

Three Pansies

The Pansies have been the only thing keeping the spring going here. The weather has been a little rough on them but they have kept their heads up and look good. A little weird thing was that virtually all of the Pansies we planted last fall survived the winter and look amazing. Usually just a couple here and there make it through the winter. It must have been the snow cover because the winter was pretty harsh.

Florist's Cineraria - Today's Flower

Florist's Cineraria
Pericallis cruenta
(per-ee-KAL-liss) (kroo-EN-tuh)
Today’s Flower

This plant’s colors continue to amaze me. They are so vibrant and since it comes with a simple Daisy shaped flower that makes them even more special. This is the darkest colored one I have seen. I really love the blues that the Cineraria comes in but this wine colored one was really nice. I don’t have any experience in growing these but would like to try it sometime. Next time they are at the nursery I am taking a few home.

Cineraria is a tender perennial that likes shady areas. Apparently the slugs like them too so you need to take precautions against them. They seem to be easily grown from seed and there are several mixes available. They can reseed in warmer climates.

I read an interesting article on Reuters the other day. It was called:

Thirsty plants can Twitter for Water with New Device
By Robert Muir

Washington (Reuters) - "Chances are you've never had a conversation with your house plants but if they could talk, what would they say? "Water me."

Researchers at New York University's interactive telecommunications program have come up with a device that allows plants to tell owners when they need water or if they've had too much via the social network blogging service Twitter.

"Obviously plants can't talk or Twitter directly, so we have to help them along with that," said Rob Faludi, co-creator of the device called Botanicalls."

The rest of the article is here

Definitely falls into “they have thought of everything category”. Like most electronic items the price is going to have to come down before I buy it.

Since it is Sunday and that means it is Today’s Flower day I thought I would share this unusual flower that was blooming at work. These pictures aren’t the greatest and please humor me as a proud parent. This vine has been at work for two years now. It grows in the container garden in the summer and in the conservatory in the winter.


Bat-leaf Passion Flower
Passiflora coriacea
(pass-iff-FLOR-uh) (kor-ee-uh-KEE-uh)

I remember reading after buying this plant that it doesn’t flower much and being a little disappointed with that (it turns out that is wrong after further reading). Although the foliage alone makes it worth cultivating, it really does look like a bat. It hasn’t flowered previously and it was surprising to see it blooming this week. The flowers are really small maybe the size of the center of a regular passionflower and the small purple fruit is ornamental. Even though there were only two or three flowers on the whole vine I do hope a fruit grows.


Passiflora coriacea is native to Central and South America. There seems to be some question about how hardy this plant is. It grows at high elevations in its native habitat so it must have some cold tolerance but I don’t believe the 15 deg. F I saw on one site. That is still not as cold as it gets here in Connecticut so it will continue to spend winters inside.

Wow, was it windy here yesterday. The peak gust was 49 mph. It just doesn’t feel like spring out there. More like some kind of weird limbo. This is one of the Pansies we are growing this year.



For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . It starts at 18:00 GMT on Sunday. We are working all day but I hope to check out some of the postings.

Bloomingdale Ranunculus

Persian Buttercup
Ranunculus 'Bloomingdale Special Mix'
(ra-NUN-ku-lus) (a-see-AT-ee-kus)
Synonyms: Turban Buttercup, Persian Crowfoot

On the chance of being boring here is another Ranunculus flower. After seeing this plant blooming in California and now here in Connecticut we decided to plant some. The local wholesale nursery (Valley View) had this mix in 6 inch pots so I got a few of them and some Pansies. This flower came out after I got them planted and looks great. The other Ranunculus have buds but you really can’t tell what color they are. Valley View has a new website and it is way better than the old one.

The ‘Bloomingdale’ strain comes in the mix and also different shades like Lavender, White, Rose and many others. This is considered a dwarf, growing 8 to 10 inches tall. It has smaller foliage and the flowers are a little larger than the species. The series was introduced by Sakata Seed in 1983. It’s funny that I am just getting around to trying them now.

Here is one the Pansies that are planted with the Ranunculus in a couple of really big pots. I used some dark purple and primrose colored pansies, too. Still working on pictures of those, if you get my drift. These Ranunculus better be able to withstand a little nasty weather as it is forecasted to continue to be cold.

Italian Pansies

Italian Pansies
Viola x wittrockiana

The Pansies have been blooming here like crazy and the colors and shades seem to be endless. These purple with yellow and ruffled edges looked really attractive. This was just one of the many varieties Sea World had planted in their extensive gardens. The annual plantings were astounding, as was the $65 admission price. We were able to get a two visit for the price of one ticket (per person) so to make it worthwhile we will be going back to photograph some more flowers and animals.

Small picture of the gardens at Sea World

We have been hanging out a lot in La Jolla and that seems to be my favorite neighborhood. It reminds me of Westport and Greenwich Connecticut combined although it is a little more densely settled. Yesterday we went to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla and it was a nice little place. I will probably post some pictures of that tomorrow. Today we are cleaning the house as we have some guests arriving from Sacramento and then on Tuesday another one of my brothers and his girlfriend are going to be staying a week.

The weather hasn’t been postcard perfect but its not bad either. A big storm is expected for the weekend.

Red-bellied Piranha (Pygocentrus nattereri)

Pansy Macro

"The beauteous pansies rise,
In purple, gold, and blue,
With tints of rainbow hue,
Mocking the sunset skies. "
Thomas J. Ouseley

Wordless Wednesday - Pansies