That's an excellent shot of the phlox! I like the tall daylily too.

If it doesn't rain soon, I won't have any more photos! Dry, dry soil. It's a miracle that my plants are all still alive!

I'll have to live vicariously through all of these beautiful flower photos!

Cameron

Got 1/4" rain last night. Yippee.

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A foreign roadside weed whose flower nevertheless has a lovely color. When shooting blues
is one of the few times that I bother to shoot in RAW format.
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I like that blue too, it's chicory isn't it? So when shooting RAW files do you adjust the color on the computer after taking the shot, then save as a jpg? Or does RAW just do better with the blues? I've got a Canon but I think it was the year they took RAW capability out of that model. I'll have to go back and double check.

I got over 2" of rain last night, and very welcome it was.

That is Chicory, and it's such a lovely blue color. I've tried using it as a pressed flower but unfortunately the color fades quickly.
I'm jealous of any of the rain you guys are getting. It rains in towns all around me but not in my yard. I'm getting very frustrated with this drought.
Alicia, the color of that Phlox is electric. What is its name?

Meh - A few rushed shots....

Celosia
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Curry
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Cyan Peppers
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Daylily

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Gerber Daisy
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Lantana
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Pixie Lily

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My garden is looking kind of blah....I've been growing this gem for several years though and I believe she's never looked better than this summer........

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I promise I'll have garden pics soon. I'm staring my hibiscus down just waiting for a bloom to open. I winter-sowed them last year and these will be my first blooms!

That cyan pepper is wild. Is that real? I'm gonna go Google that thing! Great pics everybody. Irislover, what kind of thumb do you have to grow a lovely blossom like that? -amy

Nah. They are actually ornamental peppers that are all red. I was just having fun with photoshop.

Aezarien -- too funny! Got me there for a minute!

Loved all that rain here last night. I took some pics this morning.

Ruby Star:
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Echinops 'Ritro' getting ready to bloom! Love it!

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Salvia greggii...some debate over whether this is 'Navajo Red' or not.

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Agastache Acapulco 'Salmon and Pink' (I think):
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Tithonia 'Fiesta del Sol' for Monarchs:

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Garden paths:

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Cameron, I like your Echinops and Agastache. Your gardens are really colorful for this time of summer!

Both of the daylilies I'm posting today are from NC hybridizers.

Witch's Stick

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This Dianthus is the one I've mentioned often here on the forum. If I say "my passalong dianthus" this is it.

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And for those who wondered if Canna 'Panache' bloomed in part sun.

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Eucomis

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Belle Isle Lipstick

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Here is a link that might be useful: June 30- July 4

Almost Paradise

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Vitex negundo

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Yucca pallida

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Salvia greggii, seedling daylily and Georgia aster foliage on the right

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Here is a link that might be useful: July 5th

My husband and I went to Ralston last week. I was impressed with the Eucomis blooms. Are they easy to grow? I haven't done the deer resistant research on those.

From Raulston:

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Here is a link that might be useful: Pics from Raulston, 11am-noon, July 2nd

Shari, is Witch's Stick really as red as it looks on my monitor? I've been wanting a red (not orange leaning) daylily for a long time and that one looks as close as any I've seen. Do you know if any of the daylily places around the Triangle have many of the spider types? From the ads in the newspaper it looks like this might be a good time to go visit one.

I haven't had much garden time the past few weeks but I did make time for my daily walk round. I've had lots of rain from these afternoon/evening storms so things are looking pretty happy.

Summer salvias:
S. coccinea 'Black and Rouge'
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salvia villosa
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salvia patens Guanajuato
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salvia nubicola
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salvia greggii flame
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salvia farinacea Henry Duelberg
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salvia blepharophylla
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allium millenium
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allium senescens
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Foliage, etc:
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coreopsis major
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Cameron, my Ruby Star isn't as well established as yours yet, but I love the intensity of the pink:
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ennealophus euryandrus
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Griffinia liboniana
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hemerocallis altissima
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hemerocallis citrina 'Tetrina'
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This Amorph bulbifer bloomed from a relatively small tuber and is really dwarf compared to my others. Don't know if it's really different or if there's just something environmental going on this year. For scale, the foliage in the background is Tradescantia sillamontana:
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Semp:
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The Bishop:
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Nice pictures Karen! I especially like the budded crocosmia(?). Witch's Stick is a reddish or violet purple w/blue eye. What you don't really see in that photo is the petals & sepals twisting and curling. I've had 3 blooms and they've all had character.

Cameron, I haven't had my Eucomis very long. Planted it fall of 2006 I think and last year doesn't really count because of the drought. I'd love to see a bloom stalk like those you pictured.

Cameron, Eucomis are pretty easy. Mine do fine in sun or shade, but the ones in shade can get a little floppy. My favorites have spots or stripes on the foliage and/or stems -- most species tend to just have that on the outside but E. vandermerwei is heavily spotted on both sides. The deer haven't bothered them so far.

Shari, sounds like I need to look for Witch's Stick, then. I can't tell you how many 'red' daylilies I've tried that were really rust red when they bloomed. Not that they weren't nice, but they weren't what I was looking for.

Shari, that witch's stick is drool worthy! Do you know if it's available locally? Really like the yucca pallida, too- love the twists. Your butterfly pix are gorgeous.

Karen, what is the second foliage plant shwon? Is that some amorph leaves together? It's really pretty! All your pix looked nice- so much color.

So many beautiful photos!

Karen, you are obviously a salvia expert. What do you plant as companions? Do you plant different salvia together, or do you mix them up with other flower forms to give them a good backdrop? I planted the pale yellow 'Luna' and it's getting lost among other plants so I want to move it to a place where I can actually see the blooms!

That 'Black and Rouge' is something! What is planted as a companion? I've seen photos from Bressingham of crocosmia 'Lucifer' planted with sea holly and rudbeckia. I wonder it one could get that same look with the 'Black and Rouge' salvia, echinops and BES. (I did move one of my baby echinops close to my crocosmia to try).

Cameron

Karen, what is the black & rouge? A hybrid or just a new color form of coccinea? My first thought was black & blue crossed with coccinea. Is it annual? It's really neat.

Cameron, i'm jealous of your echinops. I've tried that more times than i like to count but they always fizzle on me. I think they like better drainage (more sand) and more sun than i can offer. Perhaps i'll try them sometime in the back where the soil is deeper.

My echinops in the photo are at the very top of my slope garden next to the open meadow that gets full sun...east, south and west all day long. The soil is thinner there and drier. Don't irrigate them much at all to get them established. Don't put any fertilizer on them. I've got several young ones down midway on the slope that I've recently been transplanting higher as they've just sat there in the shade of taller plants.
The echinops 'Ritro' in that photo was overcrowded in a 4" pot, planted in early summer 2007. I bought that one from Dickinson's Garden Center in Chapel Hill. It was the only one that I'd seen around here and the only one that they had. I ordered the others from Bluestone last year. They were in 2" pots. They're healthy, it's just that they need more neglect! LOL

Tammy, you could call around to the local farms and see. It's one of Elizabeth Shooter's of Marietta Gardens which is close to Lumberton. Marietta's price is high for it though. Here's a link to a grower in SC who has it listed at a better price.

Here is a link that might be useful: Witch's Stick at Aren't I Pretty

Oh- gasp- that was a bad bad idea! Good golly i think i OD'd with just a quick peek! Deep breath.
It's a lot more purple in their pix- which doesn't bother me a bit, but might Karen. There were quite a few that were really red- one that looked like an amaryllis. I sure liked the look of tuxedo and thurnder & lightening, too.

Thanks for the advice, Cameron! I had grown mine from seed before, which isn't too hard and can be mail ordered if you don't see it at the big boxes or target/wallyworld or the like. They take a long time to sprout by times and like to be buried, unlike most seed.

Shari, I found your other pictures from Witch's Stick. I really like the contrast between the chartreuse/green eye and the petal colors, I think that's what makes me think 'red leaning to purple' rather than just 'purple'. You're right about the crocosmia ID. It's one of two that I got at PDN, mainly for their blue green foliage color and how it contrasts with the orange of the flowers. This one is Walrhead, which has done the best of the two. I've been as happy with the buds as I have with the flowers.

I took two days of vacation to get my kids ready for camp. This is no vacation, though, can't even get through a whole post without some crisis interrupting.

Tammy, the second foliage plant is Amorphophallus konjac. Just one small tuber, the view is from above down into the unfolding leaves.

'Black and Rouge' looks like a coccinea to me, but apparently it may be a coccinea-guaranitica (black and blue) cross. I believe it originated in a garden in NY, seeds were collected ?from guaranitica then some of the seedlings bloomed red. From what I've read on one of the Hummingbird forums, it sounds like it's been passed around as a seed strain. Although it sure looks like just a really nice coccinea, I've read that at least some of these have formed tubers like guaranitica does, suggesting that maybe it does have some guaranitica genes. I'll be curious to see if mine does that, but I'm a little skeptical that a hybrid would be that consistent from seed. A tuber forming red salvia that overwinters and blooms profusely all summer like black and blue would be a good thing in the garden, on the other hand, a nice seed strain of coccinea with contrasting black calyces isn't a bad alternative.

Cameron, I'm no salvia expert, but I'm fortunate to have met a few. The way I garden is I stick the salvias in wherever I think they'll be happy. They usually end up looking good with whoever their neighbors are, whether that's other salvias, tropicals, roses, grasses, etc, etc. If I do anything consciously, it's mainly to create contrast. I find the pale greggiis and their hybrids to be the hardest to show off well. You might try planting Luna with something very dark behind it to bring the flowers out, maybe black mondo grass or a very dark Colocasia, or a dark leaved shrub.

Hi all!!
I'm always visiting here and never posted so I decided to to it today. Here are some of my beauties blooming today in my garden, I hope you all like them!!!!!

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I have many more, but I don't want to take too much space. I hope you all like them!!!

mommy to2- your pix are nice, thanks for posting. I especially like your last group pic- nice cluster of plants! Don't worry about taking up space- we like to look at pix. New faces/gardens are always welcome. I'm curious how you got your pictures to center up rather than going to the left.

Karen, thanks for the info. So, my guess was right- how wild is that? You're right, either option would be neat. How many years have you grown B&R? Has it reseeded or wintered over for you? I lost my coccineas reseeding when i started mulching more. :(. I did collect seed from my fair garden last year but never got them planted. Probably save them for next year at this point. I had pink, red & white- not sure if they'll seed true.

I had a feeling that foliage was an amorph, but am surprised it's konjac coming out so late. Very cool perspective!

I've died and gone to flower heaven. All are so beautiful, but I am especially drawn to the day lillies, the darker and bolder the better! If they were a food they would be ice cream! Rich, sensual, and ooo soo yummy

mmmmm.. I love Star Gazers. They smell so delightful.

Those images were centered by using the center html tag. It has been deprecated in favor of other methods for use in web design but it still works and is the easiest,quickest way to accomplish centered elements for this type of application. The link below has more information on using the center tag.

If you ever have a question about how someone did something in their post you can always go to view->page source (may vary depending on your browser. I'm using firefox but it isn't much different in IE.)A window will open up and if you go to edit -> Find in this Page and search for their nickname. There you can look at all the tags they used in their post.

Here is a link that might be useful: Center Tag Use

Tammy, this is my first year with Black and Rouge, so I can only relate what I've been told or have read on the internet. Over the years most of my reseeding coccinea seem to have gone pink. I got some red from Ralph at the last swap so I can try to get another population going again, and I've got one other named form called 'Spanish Dancer' (red).

A lot of my amorphs are running late this year. Maybe they've lived with me long enough to start taking on my personal characteristics (or maybe they're all teenagers), but I've seen others make the same observation on the Aroid Forum this year. Kiusianus isn't up at all yet. I even dug up the tuber a few days ago to see if I had rotted it but it was fine and had roots. And then there was that little bulbifer I posted above that bloomed almost 2 months after the others.

I come here everyday to get a daily dose of flowers!

Karen, my amorphs came up late, too, but they've been up for a couple weeks now. Some of my seedling bulbifers aren't up yet, but i thought maybe i'd killed them since they're still in their little cup. 1 of the 5 is up and has been 2 weeks. Maybe by the time we get back from vaca the other 4 will have woken.

I'll be really curious what happens with the B&R. I had the opposite happen with the coccineas i got from Betty- started with 1/2 pink, 1/2 red, and the reds were predominent withing 2 years. Which was ok with me. I had 1 really pretty extremely pale pink one, but it didn't reseed i guess. The ones from the fair last year came from BB's & seeds i and john had started.

Mommyto2, thanks for sharing your pics. I've always wanted an Agapanthus and just haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

I had a 'Coral Nymph' coccinea last year and was really disappointed that it didn't reseed. I wouldn't have cared what color it was. It's really funny what will reseed from one year to the next. This year I had lots of plants that had been in my garden at least a couple years to reseed for the first time.

Physotegia 'Miss Manners' started blooming this week

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Chamaecyparis thyoides 'Glauca Pendula'

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daylilies Almost Paradise and Let It Rip

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Here is a link that might be useful: pics 7-06-08

Shari Lavender Stardust is lovely. I especially like the third pic of it.

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Beds under construction
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Alicia, I knew you would like Lavender Stardust. I may have to trade it to you for some of that beautiful Scuttelaria. I hope I have Phlox like that next year. I can't believe I went this long without it.

Hibiscus 'Red Flyer'

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Here is a link that might be useful: last week's pics

Shari, I really love that seedling, and especially the butterfly with it! By seedling does that mean it was a fluke for you, or is it a named cultivar you grew from seed? If it is named, what is it? I just love it!

Amy, I love it too. It's a seedling that I ordered from Valley of the Daylilies last Fall. The hybridizer has a "clump sale" of his seedlings that have been under evaluation but he has decided not to register. I'm not sure if I got all of this one or if he was splitting them up and selling to more than one person per seedling. You don't know what you're getting when you order- just specifying dip or tet and you can request parentage which I did and proceeded to misplace:( I'll find it one day,lol. I ordered 2 of each and 2 are to die for IMO but I'm not the one putting my name on them so... I'll just enjoy them!

Zinnia 'Purple Prince' very, very close up.
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A young Russian Sage witha Rudbeckia 'Prairie Sun' behind it.
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Phlox paniculata 'David'.
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My very young, just-planted-this-Spring perennial garden.
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I took a ton of pictures this morning. What a gorgeous day it was. I am pleased the recent rains have saved my grasses that are out of my watering zone.

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Adele

Here is a link that might be useful: July, 08

Shari the yellow noid must be the one you told me about -- very nice. I love the seedling pictured before Ice Carnival (also gorgeous, BTW). Love the white rim around Hearts of Fire, and the dark splash on Galaxy Explosion (well named).

Sandi, what is being the white phlox? Your new garden bed looks very nice.

Adele, what are the two phloxes in the first pic? And where did you get the big jar?

Sandi- I love your table/stand with the armillary sphere. It caught my eye right away.

Adele, I haven't had time to look at all of your pics but from what I saw your garden is exploding with the rain you got. Amazing isn't it?

Alicia, the seedling before Ice Carnival is the same one Amy was talking about in the post above. I hope it's a fast increaser, lol. The yellow is the same one. It and Galaxy Explosion are both small flowers but I love that look too. Ice Carnival is an oldie and not expensive at all.

I'm enjoying all these photos! Yes, the rain has been splendid!

This thread is getting slower and slower to load from all these blooms!

Cameron

The white phlox with the pink eye is Sterling Silver. I don't know the name of the dark pink one. I probably got it unmarked from work. The girls in the back usually save me unmarked plants when they are going through and cutting back stuff.

The jar came from a wholesale place in Vass called Imports Exclusives. We get our ceramic pots there. They have a line of mexican pottery. Last year the owner let me tag along with her when she was picking out pottery and let me get stuff wholesale yippee. I picked out two of those jars plus a much larger one, a cute frog pot and two huge palm pots. She doesn't stock much of the mexican pottery though I do think we could move those jars. I think they would retail for about 35-40 dollars if I remember correctly. Adele

oh WOW - have I ever gotten my eyecandy fix this afternoon - it is too hot and muggy to be outside so I have been doing alot of catching up. Every garden is so beautiful - thank you all for sharing. We are in a transition this year with alot of moving around and redoing gardens so pictures of my gardens have been few and far between - I am enjoying all yours tho......

Lynne