Swan River Daisy

Swan River Daisy
Brachyscome iberidifolia
(brak-kys-koh-mee) (eye-beer-id-ih-FOH-lee-uh)

Black and White Daisies

Black and White Daisies

Over the shoulders and slopes of the dune,
I saw the white daisies go down to the sea,
A host in the sunshine, an army in June,
The people God sends us to set our heart free.

William Bliss Carman
Canadian poet
1861-1929

Dwarf Shasta Daisy

Dwarf Shasta Daisy
Leucanthemum x superbum 'Darling'
(lew-KANTH-ih-mum) (soo-PER-bum)

This is a petite Shasta Daisy that appears more dwarf than ‘Snowcap’. The flowers are 2 to 3 inches wide and that fits the stature of the plant. They look quite good when there is a carpet of flowers that are only about 8 inches tall. ‘Darling’ is suitable for the front of the border and seemed to bloom most of the summer with deadheading.


This week, with the big American holiday on Thursday, is going to be busy. There are probably going to be a few more Daisy pictures here. Looking back at some of the photos that I took over the summer the daisies seemed to do very well.

Today's Flower - Late Season Geraniums

Zonal Geraniums
Pelargonium x hortorum cv.
(pe-lar-GO-nee-um) (hor-TOR-um)

These Geraniums were still thriving and they looked pretty good with the late afternoon sun shining on them. Flowers are getting harder and harder to come by with the weather around here. We are having a bit of a late Indian Summer and after a cold October the temperatures have been nice. There is still not a lot left out in the garden. Traditionally Indian Summer comes with the leaves still on the trees so the definition here is a little stretched.


All of these pictures were taken on recent trips to Manhattan. These next two pictures are good examples of the stunning ISO performance you get with the D700. The first one is the lower Manhattan skyline. The Twin Towers would have been right in front of the building with the pointy top that the sun is shining on. This was actually taken in Weehawken, New Jersey. We were having a drink at the Chart House restaurant and I just stuck the camera up against the window glass. I had some fun in photoshop with it afterwards. It was a beautiful if slightly sad sunset.


Most people would have considered this church really dark. The D700 really amazed me with this shot. It is pretty straight out of the camera except I tried to remove a little yellow color cast. It was somewhat successful in this edit.


For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Moth Orchid

Moth Orchid
Phalaenopsis
(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

This Orchid is from the summer and the pictures have been sitting in the “To Be Used” folder on my hard drive. The Black and white is a monochrome shot from the D700. It just seems easier to me to have the camera do the conversion work then trying to change a color photo. My Nikon Coolpix 8400 has an electronic viewfinder and the view actually turns to b&w before you take the picture, which is helpful in composition. The D700 doesn’t do that and I wish it did.


Moth Orchids are easy to grow and come in a wide variety of colors and spots. I thought this one was nice since you don’t see to many with light spots.

Here is a link for the care of Phalaenopsis Orchids:
Plant-Care.com

Fernleaf Full Moon Maple Fall Color

Fernleaf Full Moon Maple
Acer japonicum 'Aconitifolium'
(AY-ser) (juh-PON-ih-kum)

This tree is a handsome addition to any garden. It grows to about 20 feet tall with an equal spread. It can be kept smaller if the need be. The fall color is often a dazzling mixture of orange, red and yellow. With a hardiness zone rating of 5 (USDA) it can withstand quite cold winters. This tree should be more widely cultivated but you sometimes have to hunt for it at nurseries.

This second shot is the fall color on a ‘regular’ Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum. There were a few of these in the garden that looked like someone had plugged them into an electrical outlet they were glowing so red.


For gardeners in Connecticut beware that there are still ticks in the garden. I have been bitten twice in the last week and am currently taking the Doxycycline treatment for 28 days as a precaution against lyme disease. That makes a total of five bites this year. Cleaning up the leaves has been the culprit but it is impossible to know exactly where they came from.

Maui Sunsets

Maui Sunsets
Sky Watch Friday

This Skywatch was taken right off the back deck of the house in Kihei, Hawaii. I had only been in Hawaii a couple of hours when this photo op presented itself.

This next sunset was also taken in Kihei (I think it is pronounced key-hey) but down by the beach. This sunset went on for hours or so it seemed. That is the southeast shore of the island of Lanai in the distance. It was a very mysterious island that always seemed to lurking in the background. This was taken with the D70s and 105mm Nikon lens. One area that the D700 performs better than the D70 is with digital noise. This photo has a lot of noise and I tried running a noise reduction program on it but it didn’t help much. It is not often that I wish I had the D700 but this shot was one of them.


This one won’t make into the travel brochure :lol:


Visit Sky Watch Friday for more skies around the world.
SkyWatch Friday Home Page

Golden Smoke Tree

Smoke Tree
Cotinus coggygria 'Golden Spirit'
(ko-TYE-nus) (kog-GY-gree-uh)

Dumbcane
Dieffenbachia cv.
(def-en-BAH-kee-ah)

Two From Central Park, Manhattan

Two From Central Park, Manhattan

Wordless Wednesday

See more Ruby Tuesday at Work of the Poet.

Pink Rose from Central Park

Pink Rose from Central Park

Yesterday was beautiful here and since we found ourselves in Manhattan visiting the park seemed like a good idea. There are always a lot of things to take pictures of and after a bit of searching I came upon this rose. It had the most delicate shading and even though there was a fence separating the two of us I imagined it smelled nice.

Keeping with the Beatles theme we have had around here the last couple of days this photo is from the Strawberry Fields Memorial in Central Park. The flowers were a nice touch. It was interesting to hang around for a few minutes and watch the depth of emotions of the other people visiting the site.

Strawberry Fields Globe Amaranth

Globe Amaranth
Gomphrena haageana 'Strawberry Fields'
(gom-FREE-nuh) (hag-ee-AH-nuh)
Synonyms: Gomphrena

This is the first year in many that we grew Globe Amaranth and the first time ever for the brilliantly red colored 'Strawberry Fields'. This flower’s brightly colored bracts seemed to bloom all season and performed well in a hot and dry border and containers. It got up to about 24 inches tall and did flop over a bit although the flopping plants and flowers were still graceful. I would recommend it as a free flowering low maintenance annual.


Previously we had only used Gomphrena globosa and that always had done well but this plant is a bit different (different species). The red Gomphrena flowers can be used in arrangements and dries as an everlasting.

Since yesterday a Yellow Submarine was featured here I though it was funny Strawberry Fields is today. The Beatles song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’
“was originally intended for the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), but was instead released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with Paul McCartney's "Penny Lane". "Strawberry Fields Forever" reached number eight in the US, with numerous critics describing it as one of the group's best recordings. It is one of the defining works of the psychedelic rock genre and has been covered by many other artists. The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour LP (1967).”
From Wikipedia

I know it blew me away the first time I listened to it. Since it is Sunday and that means Today’s Flowers here is an extra shot of an Orchid from work. It was a gift to the garden’s owner and it didn’t come in with a tag. It has been blooming for weeks now.


For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Royal Poinciana Tree

Royal Poinciana
Delonix regia
(dee-LON-iks) (REE-jee-uh)
Synonyms: Flamboyant Tree, Flame Tree, Peacock Flower, Gulmohar

To me this is one of the beautiful tropical trees there is. In 2007 I posted the modest goal of wanting to see this tree and the Jacaranda Tree in bloom. Now one of the trees can be checked off the list. We saw several Royal Poinciana in flower on Maui. There was one tree that literally looked like it was on fire. It wasn’t till I found this tree blooming in a parking lot in Paiai, which bills itself as Maui’s Coolest Little Town, that the flowers were low enough to get photographed.

The tree is graceful and beautiful in every way. The shape is stately and the foliage is a great color green and nicely shaped. The flowers have wonderful details and also give an amazing appearance from far away. The long and flat pods looked like they wouldn’t be great to clean up but they are attached to tree they look good and add more detail to the look of the tree.

This next photo is the Reefdancer in Lahaina. It isn’t actually a yellow submarine but a glass bottom boat. The song by the Beatles was going through my head the other day and it was frustrating that I couldn’t remember the words so I had to look them up. Something I didn’t know was the song Yellow Submarine was actually released on the Revolver album in 1966. The Yellow Submarine album was the soundtrack for the film. The film was freaky for its time and had some animation effects that were really cool (again for 1969).


Both of these pics were taken with the D70s and the Sigma 24mm/1.8 lens.

Pink Rose Close up

Pink Rose Close up

The name of this rose has been lost but its beauty hasn’t. There seems to be more and more color blends of roses all the time. This one is a nice blend since it has a ‘main’ color and a little blending. From a personal standpoint those are the best.

Today is our own version of Furlough Friday as work as slowed down now and is suppose to be really windy with some rain as the remnants of ‘Ida’ blow through the area. The storm has been pretty much stalled to the south of here for the last couple of days and in that regard we have been lucky. Good day to work on the new website.

Today is Friday the 13th.

From the Wikipedia article:
“Friday the 13th occurs when the thirteenth day of a month falls on Friday, which superstition holds to be a day of good or bad luck. In the Gregorian calendar, this day occurs at least once, but at most three times a year. Any month's 13th day will fall on a Friday if the month starts on a Sunday. In 2009 this applies to the months of February, March, and November. The next instance of this appears on the calendar for the year 2015”

Orange Daylilies

Orange Daylilies
Hemerocallis cv.
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)
Hemerocallidaceae (hem-err-oh-kal-ahh-DAY-see-eye)


These Daylilies were from this summer. I can’t remember exactly but think that they are two different cultivars. Both were really orange. Here is a link to the site:
FAQ about Daylilies at Daylilies.org.
That page should give any information you need or want about Daylilies.

There sure have been a lot of Daylilies posted here this year. There are still some photos to go through from my visit to the NYBG’s Daffodil and Daylily Walk and Planting Fields Arboretum’s Daylily collection.

Bridgette New York Aster

New York Aster
Symphyotrichum novi-belgii 'Bridgette'
(sim-fy-oh-TRY-kum) (NO-vee BEL-jee-eye)
Synonyms: Michaelmas Daisy

Wooden Frog Drums

Wooden Frog Drums
Wordless Wednesday

Black and White Maui Flowers

Black and White Maui Flowers
New Guinea Impatiens
Impatiens x hybrida
(im-PAY-shuns)
Synonyms: Impatiens hawkeri



These flowers were blooming in the up country part of Maui. I was leaning over a little planting bed taking pictures when someone walked up and that they were all native Hawaiian plants. I didn’t say anything because the bed did have some native looking stuff but I knew these flowers were native to South Africa.

It is one of my favorite annuals and we still grow it even though some years it doesn’t look that great. When it is on it is one of the most classy, dainty and dignified annuals in the garden.

When I visit Hawaii I expect to see some different things. It is in the tropics and a long, long way from home (5,000 miles) so things are bound to be a little different.


However I really didn’t get this Buddha with a chain around its neck. It was weird and went right over my head (probably better that way). Here is a regular Buddha that was ‘normal’.

Franklin Tree

Franklin Tree
Franklinia alatamaha
(frank-LIN-ee-uh) (uh-lah-tah-MAH-hah)

Yesterday there was a little extra time in the day so I checked out Lasdon Park in Westchester County.

It is quite a beautiful garden that is big and well cared for but not overwhelming or overdone. In fact I wanted some pictures of seed heads and broken down perennials but they had dutifully cut them all back already.


Seeing this Franklin tree in flower and fall foliage was a rare treat. They really had some nice other trees at the arboretum. The Franklin tree is named after Ben Franklin and is considered extinct in the wild. It is probably the latest flowering tree around here.

Here is a link for more information:
New Georgia Encyclopedia – Franklin Tree . I like how they refer to it as “The Lost Camellia”.

For more flower pictures from around the world check out:
Today’s Flowers . The links open at 1400 GMT.

Daylily ‘Lavender Illusion’

Daylily ‘Lavender Illusion’
Hemerocallis
(hem-er-oh-KAL-iss)

This large flowered Hybrid Daylily was introduced in 1975. It really had unusual color. It is considered to be a diploid type that grows to about 30 inches tall. There seems to be some variation of color between plants and even individual flower stalks. Maybe that is where the illusion part comes in.

The freeze came last night and the flower garden looks almost completely wasted. The Nemesia and some of the mums might make it but we will have to see what happens when the sun comes up. I have to work today but I am not complaining about it. We just got a large transplanting job and it needs to get started as soon as possible. The two largest plants are a eight inch caliper Variegated Japanese Maple and a ‘Hoopsi’ Blue Spruce that is about 12 feet tall.

Mums and Snapdragons

Mums and Snapdragons

This is one of the late season containers we planted at work. The mums are the ‘premium’ type and I am not sure exactly what type they are. Every year some of the pots get changed over to something like this when the regular annuals get tired.

This pot had some Salvia ‘Argentine Skies’ and they did okay but there wasn’t a lot of color at the end of the season. You can’t see it but there is also a ‘Blackie’ Sweet Potato and some Brachyscome multifida daisies in this pot. They were left over form the summer and still looked good.

Thankfully the forecasted snow didn’t come last night. We are in for a windy and cold day for today. Tonight it is supposed to drop to 27 degrees F and that is going to finish the garden around here. The gardens at work have a forecasted temperature of 32 degrees, which means a lot of cleanup on Monday.