Morning Plant Update

We spent most of the week in Minnesota seeing family and endless lawns (my goodness, lawns are popular out there, but I guess grass likes the prairie).

This morning the sun woke me up early and I went out to take some photos in the garden.

Here's my Kent Beauty oregano in its new pot on the side porch. I lifted it up to get it out of the way of the trenching that is to come. It turned out that I had plenty of pots -- I don't know what I was thinking to be mulling over buying another one. I just had them stashed all over the house. Last weekend I gathered them all up and washed them, then stacked them by size in the basement. Much neater.

This spring I bought a bunch of poppies at Annie's, and then realized I'd managed to pick up only pots with no labels. So I don't remember what this one is. Something pink, I suspect, given my poppy preferences.

Here's another mystery poppy, purple this time, almost done for the season and covered in seed pods. The brown ones rattle when you shake them. This was kind of a subtle poppy this year, always blooming during the week and nearly always blowing its petals immediately. But I hope it got pollinated enough to reseed.

Here's my Love-in-a-Mist, coming up near the Mme Alfred Carriere rose. I like these flowers a lot, because they look weird and fluffy and they reseed themselves without being total pests.

Despite being broken off at the base of the stem, the borage is doing well with its stake. I guess I better keep an eye on this guy, because that could be a warning about how hard it will be to keep it in check. But I do love the big blue flowers and the fluffy foliage.

The dahlias have started blooming, too. Mostly they're covered in buds, but this one -- I think it is 'Park Princess' but the dogs broke off all the labels so I'm not 100 percent sure -- has broken into bloom.

Its neighbor, which appears to be the same variety, is also blooming. The blooms are only about five inches across, rather than the extravagantly promised 10 inches, but I'm very happy with them. And I think they will get bigger as the plants settle in (and if I gave them more regular water).

Here's some new blooms on a polemonium near the nectarines. This plant has been very subtle all spring, and only now has it shown much sign of being anything other than a weed.

The lilies are getting ready to bloom. They've completely overtaken the citrus trees, which is amusing to me. A little water and compost and these guys are very happy (though I think one may have died in the recent heat wave; we were away and nobody got extra water). I do think I will move them over by the cottage with the amaryllis belladonna when they are done -- they're a bit tall for where they are and I was thinking of putting some daylilies in in their spot.

Technorati Tags: dahlias, gardening, plants

posted by ayse on 06/17/06