Archive for the 'Flowers' Category
We are visiting family in rural Kentucky this week. This is my first trip to this part of the country. It’s interesting to see what plants people are growing in their gardens in other parts of the country.
Many beautiful plants are growing in Kentucky gardens this spring, such as this lavender clematis that is blooming right now. Clematis is a deciduous flower vine. The vines grow up a support, such as a fence or post, and are covered with colorful large flowers this time of year.
I have noticed many differences about the way people garden here compared with how we garden in California. One of the most interesting differences is that people here in Kentucky seem to get away with relying almost entirely on rain to water their plants. Typically, enough rain falls in this part of the country in the spring and summertime to keep their gardens watered without supplemental irrigation. It’s interesting to me that people here can grow so many water hungry plants without constantly having to water them. It has already rained a few days since we have been here.
May 25 2009 | Clematis | Comments Off on Flowers in Kentucky
These are more pictures of roses I am growing in our garden. The first picture shows a beautiful pink rose that I inherited from the previous owners of the house. It’s flowers are always so perfectly shaped. They almost look fake. These roses form in clusters that look like bouquets of arranged flowers. Although they don’t have any detectable smell. I don’t know what type of rose it is.
The second picture shows a Mr. Lincoln red rose. I have had this rose for about 6 years. Every year it looks more healthy and has more flowers. The flowers are very large when they are fully open, about 6-7 inches wide, and they have a wonderfully classic red rose fragrance as they are opening.
The third picture shows a new rose bush that I just planted last week. It’s a Floribunda rose called Surprise. It’s flowers are initially yellow, fading to a deep pink as they age. The flowers have an interesting candy-like smell as they are opening.
Roses are a joy to have growing in the garden. They are so beautiful, and many of them will bloom repeatedly from spring through summer and fall under the right conditions, unlike a lot of other flowering plants. They are also relatively tolerant of a variety of weather conditions. But to really flourish, they need lots of sun and lots of watering.
May 14 2009 | Roses | Comments Off on More Great Roses
These are more pictures of flowers that are blooming in our garden this spring. The first picture is of a Cecil Brunner climbing rose. Each spring, they are filled with hundreds of cute miniature flowers for a few weeks. But they only bloom once a year. The rest of the year they grow profusely. A bit too profusely in my opinion. I stopped watering them two years ago to try to stunt their growth. But it didn’t work. They still grow dozens of new thorny vines every few months during the growing season. Pruning the new growth has only slowed them down a little. I planted them next to the fence, so they might be getting water from the neighbor’s yard. I am probably going to cut them back severely in a few weeks.
The second picture is a purple rhododendron. I have had this bush about 6 years, and it has bloomed reliably every year. I really love of the color of its flowers.
Rhododendrons like shade in warm climates, acidic soil, and lots of water. Ours is planted in partial shade, although our soil is not particularly acidic. I give it azalea/rhododendron fertilizer once a year in the spring and that has be enough to get it to flower.
The last picture is group of lavender bearded irises. These irises were here when I moved into the house. I almost never water or fertilize them, and they have produced very few blooms. This year they have more flowers than they have ever had. In our climate, we get very little rain from May through October. Bearded irises are supposed to be drought tolerant. I am not sure if they don’t bloom much because they are not getting enough water or fertilizer or both.
May 03 2009 | Flowers and Irises and Rhododendron and Roses | Comments Off on More spring flowers
Our deciduous philadelphus (mock orange) bush is full of white flowers right now. The previous owner of the house planted this bush. Because it doesn’t have a tag, I am not sure what kind of philadelphus it is. I didn’t even know it was a philadelphus until I encountered a very similar looking plant at a local nursery.
For the past seven years, it has more than doubled in size with very little care or watering. This year it has more flowers than it has ever had. For several years, it only produced a few flowers each spring. Ever since I removed an old tree that was shading it, this plant has really taken off and grown significantly.
April 26 2009 | Philadelphus | Comments Off on Philadelphus Flowering
Our backyard roses are at the peak of their first bloom of the 2009 season. The first bloom of the season is usually the most spectacular, because it is the only time of year when all of our roses have flowers at the same time. We have planted red, pink, white, orange, purple, lavender, and yellow roses around the edge of the backyard lawn. The orange rose in the first picture is a ginger snap, the purple rose in the second picture is an intrigue, and the rose in the third picture is a double delight, which has a nice fragrance. All three are hybrid tea roses.
After our roses finish their first bloom in about 2 weeks, I will apply a slow release all-purpose fertilizer to them to stimulate them to bloom again in the summertime. I have noticed that when I haven’t fertilized our roses after the first bloom in the past, they don’t get as many flowers in the following months. When I have fertilized them, they generated second and third sets of blooms that were as amazing as the first bloom. Last year, I gave our roses 2 or 3 applications of fertilizer, in the spring and summer, and our roses bloomed off and on until early November.
April 26 2009 | Roses | Comments Off on First Rose Bloom of the Season
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