Archive for the 'Flowers' Category
The hydrangeas in our yard are blooming this month. I have always loved hydrangeas, especially the ones that have blue flowers. For the past few years, we have attempted to get our pink bigleaf hydrangeas to turn blue by feeding them aluminum sulfate. We have not been successful. But after a few applications of the aluminum sulfate this spring, the hydrangea in the first picture now has deep purple flowers. Last year, it had pink flowers.
We did not apply aluminum sulfate to two of our hydrangeas. Their flowers were lavender colored last year. This year, their flowers are a light pink color. It seems that without the aluminum, blue or lavender bigleaf hydrangea flowers tend to fade to pink over the years.
We also have three oakleaf hydrangeas. The second picture shows our oldest oakleaf hydrangea with its white flowers. I like oakleaf hydrangeas. They don’t need as much water as the bigleaf varieties, and they usually don’t wilt in hot weather. The flowers of the oakleaves are not as spectacular as the bigleaves, but the oakleaves do have beautiful leaves that often turn red in the fall before falling off. Also, oakleaf hydrangeas attract lots of honey bees.
June 21 2009 | Hydrangeas | Comments Off on June Hydrangeas
I took these pictures in our yard yesterday. In the first picture, our orange tropicanas are just starting to bloom, and a red gladiola is blooming behind them. The second picture shows one of our hydrangeas just beginning to open.
June 08 2009 | Cannas and Gladiolas and Hydrangeas | Comments Off on June Flowers
Our pole beans have now completely covered the 5-foot tall wire fence I erected for them last March. I love this fence structure, because it is strong enough to support the weight of the beans. I made the fence using two wooden posts and a steel wire frame that is used for supporting concrete in construction. But perhaps I should have made it taller. The vines are already 8-9 feet long.
This photograph is a pink climbing rose called America that I planted as a bare root a few years ago. I love this climbing rose. I have planted several climbing roses including Cecil Brunner and Blaze, but this one is my favorite. It has done really well in our yard. It produces lots of beautiful pink flowers, and it has not gotten any black spot or mildew diseases. It grows a moderate amount, but it’s not too vigorous like Cecil Brunner. I got so tried of pruning the numerous long thorny vines of Cecil Brunner, that today I pruned two of ours to the ground, and I plan on uprooting them next weekend.
May 31 2009 | Beans and Roses | Comments Off on Pole Beans and Pink Rose
The star jasmine growing up one of our side fences is in full bloom right now. The fragrance of its white star-shaped flowers is exquisite. The flowers have a wonderful sweet smell that pervades the air. We often open the windows near the jasmine fence so we can smell the fragrance from inside the house. The jasmine growing along this fence has 2-inch thick trunks that must be decades old.
Jasmine is a great plant to grow along a fence. However, once jasmine gets established, it grows very fast, like ivy. When we replaced this fence 3 years ago, I cut about 2/3 of the vines off to make way for the new fence. Within two years, it had grown back completely.
Jasmine really needs to be pruned severely every year to keep it in check. Our Jasmine grows quickly up the branches of our nearby cherry tree. After a few years without pruning, it almost completely covered the tree with vines, blocking out most of the light to the tree’s leaves. Now, I cut off most its new growth each fall.
May 31 2009 | Jasmine | Comments Off on Jasmine Fence
This is a picture of peonies that were picked from a garden in front of the house we were staying in during our visit to western Kentucky last week. I have never seen peonies growing where we live in California. Now that I have seen how pretty they are, I am interested in trying to grow them in our yard. The bushes are smaller than I thought they would be. These flowers were from bushes that were only about 2 feet tall.
May 31 2009 | Peonies | Comments Off on Pink Peonies
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