new thread
Thought I'd contribute a completely off-topic post for a change. No worries if nobody wishes to reply to any of the following pics or comments in this thread, as they are all about gardening stuff -- and I have no idea who or if there are any other longhaired gardeners in MLHH-land!
Just a brief introductory comment or 2:
One of my passions is organic rose gardening -- designing, planting, and maintaining a rose garden that is totally chemical-free, safe for wildlife and pets as well as humans. This doesn't mean I don't do something about the gophers that will eat the rose roots right up to the base, or keep the deer out by having the roses all safely inside a protective deer fence; but I'll get more into those details later, as I start adding more pics...
This first pic was taken last year (or was it the year before? - us geezer gardeners can't always remember - LOL). Inspired by the British and European "cottage style" of gardening with many different companion plants, I don't care for the typical American style of rose gardening where various municipal rose gardens have only lawn and coffin-shaped rose beds to look at. To see other shapes of flowers as well as different plant leaf textures -- like ornamental grasses, spiky Lavender or Foxglove, or the starry blooms of Clematis weaving through a climbing rose -- this, to me at least, creates both excitement and better interest (as well as encourages beneficial insects to hang around to eat the aphids!).
The 3 orange roses in this pic are as follows (from left to right): "Pat Austin", "Climbing Royal Sunset", and "Lady Emma Hamilton"... The bluish-magenta flowers are Geranium icanum (one of the hardy Geranium varieties, or true Geranium -- not the Pelargonium commonly-called "Geranium" that you see indoors in pots on a window sill a lot. In front of the roses is foliage from Bearded Iris that bloomed a few weeks earlier.
Hope you enjoy the pics!
- Ken
This sounds like the beginning of a delightful thread... looking forward to it! Thank you for sharing your passion and knowledge of organic gardening, Ken :)
--Val
Thanks, Val!
I worry though that by the time I finish posting all of the garden pics I want to share, everybody will be ready to throw tomatoes at me! (LOL)
I'm in the process of uploading more photos, but having a bit of trouble doing so -- thank goodness for Bill's handy photo resize utility!
Stay tuned...
Maybe all these lovely photos and the talk of plants will
confince old man winter to finally give us a break and let us
have some spring weather.
Yeah i'll hold my breath waiting for it. After all nothing says
spring more than getting a snow storm where the snow is like concrete.
This pic was taken from the vantage point of standing uphill, looking down on the entrance gate -- notice the little bird on the rock at the top of the pic (a Robin I assume?)... and yes, I "staged" that bird to pose for the pic (LOL)!
The soft pink rose is the incredibly fragrant English "Scepter'd Isle", by hybridizer David Austin. Purple bearded Iris and lavender-blue Nepeta (AKA "Catmint") are the main companion plants here.
Pic looking from the other direction soon to follow...
Here is the same rose and companion plants as seen in the "looking South" pic; but from the vantage point of me standing down on the mulched pathway, looking up...
I forgot to also mention that the white flowers are Dutch Iris -- both the bearded and the Dutch variety are amazingly drought-tolerant here in Calif., something that's an important factor in choosing garden plants wisely in the Western US. California has a naturally occurring dry, rainless summer (unlike the Eastern half of the US) -- natural rainfall gradually increasing as you drive north up to Oregon & Washington states; decreasing as you head South to LA, or to the East where the desert takes over.
The trees in the background are native Coast Redwoods (Sequoia sempervirens) -- although in this case, not the super-tall famous giants that you find in State and National Parks further north up the coast.
This is the "Crown Princess Margereta" rose -- a bit of an annoying hoytee-toytee snobby name if you ask me; but a gorgeous rose nonetheless! Growing with it is a sprig of Nepeta in full bloom.
Nepeta (AKA "Catmint) is a great companion plant for roses in more ways than one: artistically, I love how the hazy lavender-blue spikes make a nice contrast to the round shape of rose blooms; but even better yet, Nepeta attracts beneficial insects (as well as the smell confuses aphids looking for roses to suck on) -- and it also helps keep gophers away from the rose roots underground... Now that's what I call a win-win situation!
I have a particularly strong fondness for yellow, apricot, and peach-colored roses; but I knew I had to include plenty of other colors when I started planting this garden 5 years ago, or there would have been a riot on my hands!
This golden stunner is "Charles Darwin", named after the famous scientist & explorer -- and what a fantastic evolution of a rose it is! Healthy foliage, strongly fragrant, and the color of "old gold", what more could you ask for?!
Great shot Ken, just like an "English Country Garden" and the promise of Spring!
Thanks, Ian!
And yes, your gorgeous "English Country Garden" style is definitely my inspiration for this California rose garden -- and for an American to admit to the fact that he loves something British more than American... Well, let's just say I might get in trouble with the powers-that-be if I say anything more! (LOL)
- Ken
This is "Gertrude Jekyll", but the photo here doesn't do the color of this rose justice: in real-life, it's an obnoxious neon-pink. In fact, when I first grew this rose in a large pot on my deck during the late '90s, I gave it away after only one year, because I couldn't stand the color... But OH, what a fragrance!!!!!!!
I have long since forgiven this rose for her too-pink of a color -- I couldn't live without her now, I love smelling Gertrude that much!
Occasionally I have come across bumble bees in the early morning hours of watering or doing other chores in the garden, their noses buried deep in the petal folds, probably having parked there all night long... I did the reverse myself one time: I had picked a particularly fragrant blossom for myself to take indoors one day, making excuses all day and eventually all night long to swing by and smell her again and again -- until finally I just gave in and parked the rose on top of my nose for the night so i could fall asleep!
The next day I told this story to my landscaping boss at the time, with which he responded: "You really are a hortisexual, aren't you??"
LOL, I guess I am!
The soft yellow rose you see here is "Charlotte", one of my all-time favorites out of hybridizer David Austin's creations. But it's also the choosing of attractive companion plants to plant nearby that can add significantly the the whole garden picture -- including this wonderful petite little CA native grass, "Calamagrostis folioso" (AKA "Leafy Reedgrass", for those of us that hate attempting to memorize formal Latin botanical names - LOL).
Besides helping to hide the ugly ankles of roses, ornamental grasses (as well as companion plants like this silvery "Lambs Ears", Stachys byzantina) also add movement and sound to the garden, as well as their beautiful shape and colors -- if I wasn't such a rose-pig, I'd add more grasses like this one!!
Digitalis purpurea (AKA common foxglove) is a fantastic companion plant for any garden -- it has so many uses!
For one, it is poisonous to deer and also to gophers -- so they stay far away, enabling me to plant them both outside the deer fence as well as in. I discovered quite by accident in my first year of growing roses in gopher country, that wherever foxgloves were planted densely and close-by to the rose plants, the gophers left those alone (they ate several of my first rose plants because i didn't realize the importance of putting wire gopher baskets underground to protect the roots from being eaten).
They are also GORGEOUS!
They also make great cut flowers.
And a few varieties are even drought-tolerant!
What's not to like about 'em? (Other than just don't eat them!)
I'll give you guys a break now.... Enough garden pics for today!!
- Ken
Really pretty. Thanks for sharing your day at the garden. If only you had some "lily of the valley." That is my favorite flower. :) It's nice to see you as well, and your hair matches really well with the flowers. ;-)
-cheers,
rowie
Thanks, rowie!
Lily of the Valley is one of my favorite flowers, too; but unfortunately it doesn't do as well in California as it did back in the Midwest where I grew up. My grandmother had a huge patch of it in a shady corner of her garden in Northern Illinois. I totally LOVE it's fragrance!!!
As I recall, Lily of the Valley likes a cold winter climate for a good dormancy period (another favorite plant of mine is the herbaceous Peonies -- they also need a cold winter climate) -- as well as regular spring and summer rainfall, like the eastern half of the US gets; but the West doesn't. Regardless, it's still one of my favorite plants, just requires more trouble to grow out here than it did back East.
Thanks for your reply!!
- Ken
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They are beautiful, Ken. These probably would be a bad choice to grow if you have small children around who like to taste things. Poppies (papaver somniferum) are also very toxic, but popular to grow. You don't want small children trying to taste these either.
Scott
Great poppy pics, Scott! My favorite poppies are of course our native CA poppy, our state flower; but also I love the little winter-blooming Icelandic poppies as well.
I grew up with those large-flowered poppy varieties that you showed in those photos -- they are always so impressive!!! Fortunately, it never occurred to me to try to eat them as a kid (LOL)....
Always nice to hear from you, Scott!
You mean my mom really wasn't growing opium poppies back in the 70's like I thought years later? DARN! I bet my brother tried them anyway, if he knew the method of sap collecting that is. (No internet to show him how and no library books on the shelves to tip him off) Poppies...poppies will make them sleep, sleeeeep....eeehheeeheee! That green meanie, run Dorothy, RUN!
Recommended soundtrack while planting them: Dead Babies by Alice Cooper.
Better sound track:
"It's a beautiful morning" by the Young Rascals.
Beautiful photos, Ken!
I am very partial to foxglove, myself.
Daffodils/narcissus are a effective gopher deterrent, as they contain toxic alkaloids. Great for "guarding" other bulbs like tulips (rodents love 'em!), gladioli, crocus, etc.
- Oren
Yeah, I love daffodils as well -- and they are one of the best spring bulbs to plant here in northern CA. That. along with a lot of the South African bulbs do excellently with our dry summers -- Freesias, Watsonia, Crocosmia, as well as Hyacinth and Muscari; but not tulips, unfortunately. They apparently need a colder winter and longer dormant season than coastal CA can provide -- we still plant them; but they don't come back year after year like they do back East (other than looking very tiny and pitiful - LOL).
I like the idea of daffodils "guarding" other plants -- I think I'll plant some next to some of the roses next fall!
Thanks so much for your reply, Oren!
- Ken
I would add that after a long very cold very snowy winter i'm
looking forward to spring and summer. Expecially where the price
of heating oil has now broken the $4.25 per gallon mark.
And we have a lot more snow and cold yet to come in the never
ending winter.
We are now about to get another storm, they're calling for this
to a "heart attack" snow........meaning the snow will be very
heavy and wet, the kind that breeds heart attacks from those who
have to shovel it.
Hi there LHinA,
I grew up in Northern IL; so remember very well what it's like to have to endure long, cold, snowy winters. I don't miss it one bit!! I do miss the gorgeous colors of autumn, though -- out here in coastal Calif., very few trees change color like that.
I hope your winter ends soon! In any case, the first official day of Spring is only a couple of weeks away; so at least there's some light at the end of the tunnel!
Take Care -- and stay warm & dry!
- Ken
Although sprint doesn't necessarily mean the end of snow.
We've had major snow storms well into April, we've even had
snow in May and August. (Yeah there was day in August in the
70s where we actually got snow.)
Sprint may start March 21st, but we've gotten pounded with snow wlll into April. Many a baseball game has been snowed out in April.
As far as leaf peeping in the Autumn, they all look the same each year.
Ki Ken,
What a delightful thread, and it is wonderful to see these beautiful flowers, especially here out east, where it is gray and cold. Thank you for sharing, and yes, I am jealous of your warm, or at least very mild climate in comparison to Nova Scotia!
Thank you for sharing,
David
Hi David,
Always great to here from you!!
You'll be happy to know that even mild-winter Calif. is still a bit cool & grey (just no snow or ice, unless you drive up to the mountains - LOL). Rose season here is still at least 2 full months away from now; but I thought it would be fun to post some of those pics from last year, since I'm a bit anxious for warmer spring temps to arrive ASAP!
Thanks again fro your reply -- and hope you're staying warm & dry until your Nova Scotia spring comes!
- Ken
Hi Ken,
Wow, your certainly giving us all an education here at mlhh but at least when we all stop to smell the roses we'll know what the heck kind of rose we are smelling!lol.Have to say I envy you guys out west when the weather gets so crummy here back east.Looking forward to the start of spring in a couple weeks which will lead to everything going into bloom.It all depends on when the first real "heat wave' hits to really trigger the buds:)Sometimes the temps warm gradually so the flowering is much slower.Oh well we'll get there but in the meantime I'll just have to look at the pictures!LOL.Hope all is well with you my friend and again I'm sorry we won't be getting together next month unless a miracle happens;)Cheers
Mârk
G'morning, Mark! (I can't believe I'm up at this hour -- it's a little bit after 3AM, West Coast time!)
Good to hear from you my friend! You'll be happy to know that it's rather cool and grey right now here in SF, so you aren't missing much -- only a few things in bloom right now; but spring is definitely on its way, at least!
No worries about having to wait until Sept. to see your smiling face out here, looking forward to your visit then.
Take Care -- and keep that great head of hair growin' & flowin'!
- K
Good Morning Ken,
I am really loving these pictures of the beautiful blooms! It's truly amazing the colors and shapes Mother Nature can create! I really appreciate the information about each and you with your wonderful hair among the flowers is just icing on the cake! Have fun with your flowery friends and a great rest of the week to you! Always look forward to hearing from you my friend!
Ted
Thanks for the nice reply, Ted!
A bit anxious for spring (still a bit too cool even for here in mild-winter Calif.), I thought it might be fun to see some floriferousness (is that even a word? - LOL), as here in Northern CA only a few things have started to bloom in late Feb. - March; but I want to see the roses ASAP! (Sigh... that won't be until May here)
Thanks also for you kind reply to my other post, below...
Long Lox 4ever,
Ken in San Francisco
Great to see your beautiful flowers, Ken. Spring is now breaking out all over, and we should soon be coming down to look at your roses. Our plum tree bloomed for most of February and now all that's left of it are petals on the sidewalk, plus dozens of them on the floor in the house that we keep tracking in. And then there's the echium, pictured above. That's a photo from a few years ago, but the echium is going wild now just like in that picture (taken on Hopkins Street on Twin Peaks).
Flowers rock!
Bill
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The echium also come in red and 7 feet tall. I didn't know this until I saw one and took a photo. I have seen white also. Next to it are large pink poppies.
Scott
Hey Bill,
That's one heck of a spectacular pic of you in front of all that gorgeous purple Echium!!! As you know, I love love LOVE Echium myself -- doesn't matter which variety (the pic that Scott shared is a different type of Echium, commonly called "Tower of Jewels"; whereas the type in your pic is the more familiar Echium fastuosum, AKA "Pride of Madeira")...
It's supposed to gradually warm up this weekend, the forecast for next week being temps in the 70's -- can't wait!!
Lator, 'gator!
- Ken
... is an elusive Californian Hairy Garden Snail !
I do a bit of sculpting... this is one of my latest pieces, and it's tresses even make it on-topic!
(Apologies in advance if my iPad doesn't rotate it properly.)
--Val
.
Hi Val,
This is the cutest little creature I have ever seen! Please feel free to post more photos of your awesome handiwork! Good stuff!
Ted
I don't want to overdo it by posting these kinds of pics here, but have been thinking about putting together a little Facebook page for them.
--Val
That would be majorly cool! Please let us know if you do make a page for them!
Ted