Garden Blogger's DEATH Day?!

A few weeks ago I found a blog that tickled my funnybone.

Katie, of Gardening Without Skills, has begun a timely tradition that can help

all of us as bloggers AND gardeners

face our failures with a smile on our lips.

(photo courtesy of USDA plant files)

As you may have guessed, it's called blogger's death day, and gives us a chance to admit ("I'm gardener Muum, and I've killed ten plants this week." 'Hello, Muum')

our failures and mistrakes.

So, here's mine. I started out with some cute buttercups, and moved a few to my 'spring' garden bed, thinking they would add color and interest after the spring bulbs, etc, had faded. This worked great for ONE year, and then the buttercups, 'dear, little buttercups' ruthlessly took over half of the bed.

My response was to try and dig them out, but they have clumpy, nasty roots, and root off of the stem, etc. So, I reluctantly broke out the roundup, because I've learned that it is better to head off an invasion earlier than later. In this pic above, you can see the results of my roundup attack.

Here (below)you can see the roots, as well as the lovely and attractive (said with a bitter and sarcastic tone) foliage.
A month has passed by, and I still have a few more to dig out. And a few that have come back after my offensive and are hoping I won't come back and get them. But I will. :]

Let me know in comments if you have a failure, disaster, etc that you are willing to post, and go see Kate's deadly blog.

Daylilies - the final count ( I think)

Ok, the count was 19.

Here is the last of the stella d'oros(20):

Here are some labels I found of day lilies I've planted in the yard:

L to R the labels read "Rajah" , "Catherine Woodbury", and "Wine Delight"
hmm. I s'pose I could match those up with some in my yard. The orange 'Rajah' could be any of 3 of them, though.

I did go back and compare two of the dark reds in the yard, which are identical, as you can see, so that brings the count to 19 again.

This one, of course, has no name, but is # 20.


Bad pic here -

but I do know the name: 'Raspberry Pixie' , which counts as #21!

This one is smaller than the other strong yellow. This one is almost green in color, and counts as # 22.

hmm. Could be 'Rajah' . Or not. But # 23, for sure.

I do believe I've inventoried the yard, and twenty three different types of daylilies may seem like a lot to some, but I know there are gardeners out there with many more than this!

Daylilies , how many do we really have?

'Tis daylily season, and thank heavens for them, because they are blooming during a lull in my garden. I do have to say, though, that I like irises more than daylilies, but I do appreciate the variety, beauty, and hardiness of daylilies.

We do have a LOT of different daylilies. I took pics, and there were a few that weren't blooming today, so I'll add another entry in a few days, to try and figure out how many varieties I have.

As usual, I don't know the names of most of them, so if you have any ideas/suggestions/guesses, let me know!

This daylily (above) was here when we moved in. We don't have the traditional orange 'ditch' daylily, but I love this double variation. I saw something similar for sale called 'Kwanzi', so maybe that is what this one is.

These are a buttery yellow, with large blooms. I never get tired of looking at them.

An unknown pk/yellow pastel.

This deep red is another favorite of mine, the picture really doesn't do it justice.

mrp. yellow/pk, unknown.

Hey, this one is called 'Pandora's box!' relatively new in my garden.

This is a lovely intense pink with yellow center, name, as usual, unknown.

Name unknown, intense red. The blooms are thicker than a lot of daylily blooms.

This is a mini bloom, Grapette.

This may be the same red daylily as above. ? don't know.

this is a purple-colored daylily, don't know the name.

A sweet pink/yellow beauty.

hmm. close to the last one, but not the same color. Name unknown.

unknown pastel yellow/peach.

'Naomi Ruth'

similar to naomi ruth, smaller in size, but a double.

large pk and yellow beauty, name unknown.

one of the 'candy' daylilies, I think.

I showed this dark red/yellow spider -type daylily before.

So, how many does this make so far? 19. I'll get the rest in a few days,when I can get some nice pics.

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day for July 2009

I have been looking forward to this bloom day. I am so glad Carol at May Dreams Garden came up with this great idea. Do be sure to go there and check out what is blooming around the world!

This first pic is of one of (the many) volunteer hollyhocks in the yard and veggie garden. I enjoyed watching this bumblebee hit every blossom before he left for more nectar elsewhere.

The crocosima is blooming, can't wait for the yellow variety to bloom!

Ack! what is the name of this Shasta daisy? We have the regular kind, but this one is kind of fun with its' feathery petals.

The daylilies are the star in my garden right now. I don't have the name for this one, but I love the strong scarlet red.

This is part of the silver 'collection'- and it's even blooming! Here's a closeup:

The Helichrysum, or licorice plant, is blooming. It smells like curry to me, though.

Just finishing up with a few of my potted plants.

I tried to put some color combinations together. The yellow-green sweet potato vine with the yellow petunias and a canna. Not looking all that great.

I like this red/dark red combo better:

-red petunias, and some dark red cannas, with some of the dark sweet potato vine (hard to see, but on the left in this pic).

Other things blooming- the roses, of course, sunflowers, cosmos, sedum, santolina, daisies and coreopsis, and too many to enumerate!

Happy blogger-bloom day!

blooms and pollinators

Came home from a trip, and the borage had grown AND bloomed!

(still not as lush and lovely as my daughter's, but that is ok)

I know I just showed pics of a borage bloom, but it is such an odd bloom that I can't resist showing it again.

Other stuff is blooming, too and attracting those bees/pollinators:
The cilantro/coriander is blooming (guess that makes it coriander now, huh?)

This dill volunteered in the middle of the veggie garden this year (along w/ about a dozen of its'
closest buddies) and I just let them grow, knowing they would attract bees to the garden, too.