Some pretties

'Quietness', a Buck rose. I have previously ragged on this rose, but I was stupid. I moved her in the winter to the west side of the house which is pergatory for roses, expecting her to croak, but she fooled me. She loves it and is growing and blooming. And I'm a happy gardener.

'Quietness' - Not only a beautiful face but an exquisite fragrance as well.

A fading flower

Easily a 4-inch bloom

And more coming.

Dianthus chinensis - the brightest, most cheerful flower in the garden

'Maman Cochet' on her way back from the thrips invasion

Same flower the next day

'Sherry Lane Carr' daylily and larkspur

'Capitaine Dyel de Graville', a sport of the Bourbon, 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'. I call him Lady Killer.

'All American Magic' daylily

'Pinkie, Climbing'

'Mary Guthrie'

Again - she just thrills me.

'Marchessa Boccella', one of a few Hybrid Perpetuals that grows well in Florida.

She's fragrant, too.

And seems to enjoy living in a purple pot.

She's a very sweet rose and bush.

'Madame Abel Chatenay', my baby. I would have a whole garden of her if I could.

A close-up of her. The tinge of brown is thrips damage. She fared well against them and never even balled.

Covered with buds

Salvia farinacea aka 'Victoria Blue', a completely wonderful perennial companion plant for Florida

'Lilian Austin' and an immature Purple Coneflower bloom - I like Lilian a lot.

The peahen has paid our neighborhood several evening visits since Saturday. This time when I heard her I followed her voice and caught sight of her just as she flew from the neighbor's front porch roof up to the turret roof. Very regal, don't you think?

On to the front garden

At a time when things in the garden are changing and also appearing out of the blue I am sad to say I did not get to walk through it today. Instead I stayed inside with DH while our DirecTV satellite installation was completed. Others are bookworms. I am a TV slug. I love movies, a few shows like The Closer, Fox News, football and small doses of other sports that DH likes. But mainly I hate the huge bills that Cox Cable was sending us every month, so the change was made, and I like it.

However, that leaves me with no memories or photos of today. The missed photos of ‘Polonaise’ yesterday were followed by more missed photos today. Is distressing too strong a word for my feelings? Well, maybe you understand. I do have some photos from Sunday, so I’ll just pretend today didn’t happen. Ooh, I don’t like the sound of that. Here’s Sunday.

This is the northeast corner of the circle which is situated in full southern sun. It’s almost a vanity shot with some gratuitous boasting thrown in. Leaves, leaves, and more leaves…and green leaves! I cherish spring for the leaves it brings, but I apologize if it’s a boring blob. To me it’s dense foliage. What could be better, I ask you? Or until now, rarer? Maturity brings all kinds of improvement, you know, and bushy rose bushes have been a wishful dream for me, so I can only hope leaves are here to stay. I don’t think you can see clearly the distinction between the bushes. I’ll tell you what and where and maybe with a zoom capability you can see where one ends and the next begins. Bottom right: ‘Clotilde Soupert’; bottom left: ‘Souvenir de Francois Gaulain’; above him: ‘Duquesa’; to the right: three bushes of ‘Hermosa’; top middle: ‘Pinkie, Climbing’; far left: another ‘Clotilde Soupert’; and top left: ‘Clotilde Soupert, Climbing’. These are my leafiest roses. Glorious, aren’t they?



‘Le Vesuve’ is on his way. He’s not quick out of the gate because he loves the heat, but above him yesterday was a veritable cloud of flower buds. I eagerly wait.



My volunteer larkspur forest. I’ve been assuming that they would all be purple because that’s the color they were last year. What a pleasing surprise when I saw that they are also lavender and pink. I do hope that the breeze blows their seeds absolutely everywhere. The pink one on the right sprouted from a vacant rose pot. I never even considered pulling it out – even to transplant.



This is ‘Lilian Austin’. She was a tiny thing after pruning. Her eagerness to get going is a nice surprise. She’s blooming on new growth that is only a few inches long.



Another ‘Lilian Austin’ bud.



The grande dame of my daylilies, ‘Sherry Lane Carr’. Some of you may not know that my affinity for this daylily is rooted in her name. You see it’s almost the same as mine. Change one little letter, and you get Sherry Jane Carr, the girl I used to be before marriage changed everything. Seeing this daylily’s name in print still catches at my breath and makes my heart flutter. It must be the thrill of fame – sort of, or at least as close as I’ll ever get. Anyway, this plant is a division of one that was buried about three feet back, under ‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’. I dug up that plant in February, I think, divided it in two, and they never missed a beat. This one has a budded scape. The other original plant that I did not divide but which is really quite huge has six scapes on it… the last time I looked anyway.



‘Souvenir de la Malmaison’ or 'Borderer' and friend. Looks too peachy to be SDLM, but I can't be sure.



Does anyone else buy packaged bulbs and bareroots with the best of intentions and then sort of forget them? I really need to stop buying them because so many don’t make it into the ground. This new sprout is a dahlia ‘Le Baron’, one of three planted about ten days ago. Hopefully, the other two will pop up and join this one.



The first Purple Coneflower blooms don’t look as shabby as first blooms usually do. They’re a welcome sight.



And more are coming.



‘Softee’ is underway. She’s a miniature that grows in a pot. By the way she’s almost thornless and quite healthy and pretty.



‘Le Vesuve’ again.



This is ‘Anda’, a small polyantha single. This flower is about two inches across, maybe a tad less, and the petals have a habit of rolling on one edge or the other for a rather unique look. Her color is really deep red which usually explodes in my camera as fuschia. I think she’s darker than this photo shows, but at least it’s red – on my monitor anyway. She gets some black spot but not terrible.



The ‘Queen of Beauty and Fragrance’ again, followed by the nightmare of every rosarian.



This is a balled flower of SDLM. It will never open, sealed shut by untimely moisture and/or thrips. This time I think it was moisture in the form of Saturday night’s downpour in the middle of a thunderboomer.



he-he. No, it’s not a very grainy photo of the garage wall. It’s a photo of the bird netting I “installed” so the two clematis vines would have something to hold onto – hopefully. I didn’t expect the mesh to be this small, only half inch. Hopefully, that will not be an impediment to their climbing. I also put some of the netting on ‘Maman Cochet, Climbing’ since her companion clematis ‘Duchess of Albany’ has had to lay on the ground for two years unable to grab hold of that Tea Rose’s thick canes.



This one is ‘Henryi’ (closer to the camera above).



And this one is ‘Westerplatte’. Hopefully, the snapdragons on both sides of them will keep their rootzones cooler.



This is clematis ‘Princess Diana’, already to the top of the four-foot obelisk.


So cottage-y. Hopefully, this ethereal sight distracts from the big hole on the left side of the garden…


…where ‘Maggie’ is just getting started.


Gardeners can’t have it all all the time. There’s always something not quite right – or very wrong. We hope no one else notices.

Yesterday

I have no photos of the garden today . This evening was grocery store day and cook dog food day . The dog food cooking is so funny . I got the idea from Connie at Hartwood Roses . As is my weird way, I modified her recipe of ground turkey, rice, kale, carrots and green beans . I added chicken livers, lamb neck bones or shank and switched from white rice to brown rice . This is the third time I've made a batch which was 22 cups today since I forgot to add dry dog food which I'm sort of glad I did . The funny thing is that Ellie knew exactly what I was doing while I was making the second and third batches which are about six weeks apart . It doesn't matter how many people meals are cooked in between . She knows when I'm cooking for her, and she's very attentive especially when I'm scooping from the food processor and filling the containers at the end . I always give her a taste . She absolutely loves this food . I add a heaping tablespoon to her half cup of dry food twice a day . It makes me happy to see her eat it all down in one breath . So thank you, Connie, for the idea .

However, yesterday I took a quick walk through the garden with camera in hand. Here follows the day-old news .

'White Maman Cochet'

I have tried to compost with variable success, so since much of my debris is rose cuttings I usually donate it to the city .

I wanted to show you 'Mme Abel Chatenay', such a lovely healthy and lush Hybrid Tea albeit from 1894 . She's just putting out new growth for her next bloom .

'Pink Gruss an Aachen' was a transplant over the winter . She's doing much better .

I have several echinaceas . This is the oldest plant and the one with the most blooms . Ones grown from seed this year are not blooming yet but are close .

'Bermuda's Anna Olivier' - when she's on, she's stunning . When she's not, she's a mess . The heat is here so I guess she'll decide to do her best .

Above and below 'Pearl Harbor' is a lovely show-off . I can't decide if I have enough yellow daylilies or if I should fill the garden with them . The decisions of a gardener!

 

This is the only Fordhook phlox seed that actually survived to maturity . Actually, I'm quite impressed . I had no clue what phlox was so this is a total win-win . It flopped from its earliest days and has been a sprawler, but I have never seen any spent flowers . It always looks like this . Can't vouch for its tolerance of our humidity since it hasn't really arrived yet .

The femme fatale of the garden, of course, 'Souv de la Malmaison' .

A 'Full Moon Rising' bud

'Secret Splendor', evergreen mid-late rebloomer

'Duquesa' Tea rose

My mounding dianthus are scattered everywhere . They take the full sun all summer and stay green all winter even at temps under 20 degrees F . They come in shades of pink, burgundy, red and variations of white with pinwheel patterns out the ying yang . These photos are each a different plant . Unfortunately, the deep reds and fuschias are often beyond the reach of my camera and simply explode out of focus much of the time . I really love them . They're only about 10" tall, and when they need deadheading, I just give them a haircut .

 

Flax Lily and 'Aaron' caladium

Clematis texensis 'Princess Diana' blooming again

'Le Vesuve' - a partial full bush shot . She tends to bloom on one side and then the other side . Don't know why .

A closer view from the other side and farther back (below) . Her non-blooming side is out of frame to the right .

 

'Leonie Lamesch' is in a pot with canes almost 5' long . She is turning out larger that I thought she was going to be. I need to find a spot in the ground for her . I wonder who's on the bubble .

Daylily progress is slow and minute, I think because the plants did not have much root system at arrival . Thankfully, they're tough and are able to grow a root system and then grow leaves .

 

Several of the daylilies aren't showing any new growth yet .

Above and below is 'Blush Noisette' which is a shrub right now, but I understand it can be a climber, too .

 

Above and the next two below is another noisette 'Princesse de Nassau' from before 1829 . I have it climbing on a pillar .

 

'Crepuscule' - a Tea-Noisette climber from 1904

 Old news is good for more than just wrapping fish, don't you agree?