Very pretty Al, I really like your Chocolate Orange Rudbeckia's! I'll have new photos for this week soon ;)

Sharon

A1 I love your daylily. I was out in the rain a few days ago and took this photo of the daylilies I rescued from my grandmother's home. Can anyone ID it for me?

Last fall was my first adventure into seed trading and many times generous gardeners would send extra seeds. I accumulated several packets that were identified as just poppies or mixed poppies. I put them all together and called it poppy surprise mix. Here are some nice surprises:

I've never seen a poppy like this one. It is red with white inside with tightly packed petals similar to a rose. It is huge and unfortunately flopping under it's own weight:

Sweet peas also from a trade:

After growing all shapes and sizes of sunflowers over the years, I get volunteers popping up in all sorts of places. Here's a dwarf sunflower duking it out with the pumpkins:

Bee Balm:

Clasping Coneflower:
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Purple coneflower:

More pictures please!

Susan

Ooooooooo I love these threads with all the pics!

Here are a few of my flowers for this week!

Lavender ruffles Dahlia
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Morden Fireglow
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Batchlor button
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Part of one of the perennial beds
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Yellow glad.....bought mixed giants....and most seem to be this yellow....although 3 out of 10 have two flower stems. There are a couple that I still can't tell what colors they will be...but hoping they will be different colors because they are slower to bloom.
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perennial bed....this siberian iris just keeps going!
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Daylily
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Sierra

Once again... GREAT thread!!

dotcom, that red/white poppy is really pretty!

So far I've got 2 cool surprises this week.

My first flower bud in my Belamcanda Chinensis!

And a pretty bloom in my Melampodium Million Gold

Ang

Nice bright pics everyone! Al I loooove phlox Twinkle Mix, it is one of my fave bedding plants but I haven't been able to find it for a couple of years. Sierra your perennial beds look like a bag of candy :) Susan did you grow your purple echinacea from seed? I am thinking of starting some next year.

I was going to post some pics this morning but then I got a nail thru my hand and I'm just not feeling up to it (read: 2 hours crying like a sissy) haha I'll post some tomorrow I guess. One of my long awaited lupines has BUDS on it!!! Yay! That makes my tetanus wound feel better!

northspruce - Ouch! Glad to see that your injury isn't severe enough to restrict your typing abilities. No, I didn't grow the echinacea from seed. I did try to winter sow the white variety but only got one little sprout.

Susan

Oh no, NS I hope it's not too bad! That may put a damper on gardening for you for awhile! Hope it heals up really quick for you.
Awesome pics everyone! Sierra, that dahlia is just gorgeous! Even the leaves look great on it!
Susan, I've never seen that clasping coneflower before. It's very cool looking! Very pretty daylily, but I don't know it's name, and your poppies are so fun looking, lucky you!
Al, I bet those nicotiana smell heavenly!

I've got a few new things blooming this week. Here's the first white datura flower of the year, and does it ever smell great!

This is 'Honeybells' hosta in bloom. It's doing very well planted in full sun, and the flowers are wonderfully fragrant.

The red sweetpeas are doing great, and everytime I walk by the garden, I get a whiff of their perfume.

Mr. Bumblebee apparently preferrs the white sweetpeas.

I really like the purple leaves on this dahlia, I think it's from the Diablo series.

After previewing this post, I guess I must be really influenced by my nose! Gotta love fragrant flowers :0)
Thanks for looking,
Laurie

Hey Gillian if it makes you feel any better....I tripped and fell on my face on Saturday....ended up with a black eye...:O.....and swelling so bad on arm yesterday couldn't do much....off to the doc this morning....he thinks it might be broken.....so am waiting to get X-rays this aft to find out. Other than that ohhhh just a few scrapes and bruises.....Docs advice.."I highly recommend that you don't do that again" LOL! Probably won't find out till tomorrow.....because the docs office closes before my X-ray appointment.

When I actually fell.....I was more concerned about my camera and lens....than I was about me. LOL. All I heard was my camera going crash bang crash bang.......My camera didn't even get a scratch....nor did the lens. I haven't tried using it yet to see if the jarring wrecked anything on the inside of the camera or lens.

Sierra

Hi all
Love all the pictures! Especially the poppies. I think it is about time that I got some. Another thing to go on the list to start next spring.

Northspruce I hope your hand feels better soon. Things like that can be dangerous, especially if the nail was rusty. I get Twinkle phlox seed every spring from Stokes. I find it easy to grow and it sure puts on a show.

Cheers Al

As always, wonderful pics, everyone. Sorry to hear about all of these injuries!

Sierra, I'm just waiting for a nice bloom on my 'Lavender Ruffles', too. The first one is just out but it's funny looking. It's got a lot of green in it, although looking at yours again, there seems to be some green in the base of the center, too. Maybe mine just needs to open a bit more.

Ang, you'll have to post a pic of that Belamcanda chinensis. I had some sprout up last year, but I had planted it too late and it didn't get big enough. The tubers can be dug up like dahlias, can't they? If you get some seed . . . : )

Laurie, I love the fragrant garden, too. I have a thick row (2000 seeds) of evening scented stock planted the entire length of my vegetable garden. It's at the back of it but is providing wonderful fragrance.

Susan, that is a neat poppy. Another flower that I wasn't too partial to, but everyone here may just change my mind. LOL. I really like the sweet peas, too.

Al, How big is your bittersweet vine? It looks really full and healthy. Godetia is so pretty, too. I didn't grow any this year. It's on my list for next year.

Shauna

Thanks for the concern everyone, the nail wasn't rusty and I think it will be ok. It kinda went in at the base of my thumb near the wrist (ewwwwwwww!) but the swelling has gone down and I have stopped crying like a girly. Sierra I hope your arm & camera are ok. There should be a holiday camp for smashed up gardeners... yeah, one with lots of daquiris... haha.

I scrounged up a couple of pics...

This one make me smile - it's a portulaca trying to pass as Rosa Mundi :)
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A little pot of herbs looking cute (and tasty)

Champlain got put in a tomato cage to straighten him out (wouldn't the Father of New France be mortified)

And this is my garage wall with scarlet runners. The little nicotines were SUPPOSED to be tall to hide the beans' naked knees - oh well. And the cannas were planted in June due to my laziness but they are starting to bloom already! I wish I had put them all the way across.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful as Lawrence Welk would say, not that I ever watch the show you know. LOL

How come I canÂt grow BEEBALM, I am sooo jealous Susan! Please save me some of your seed if it seeds for you ;)

NS, LOL your Scarlets are starting to grow onto your roof! WOW

Could of used lots of daquiris this early spring, some of you may remember me doing a balancing act on a 5 gallon pail. Hope you gals are feeling better now.

Sharon
(no photos taken today, rained all day)

Susan
The bittersweet vine is about 7-8ft tall and about 3ft wide. I bought it in May this year and am impressed with it's growth. It is blooming well and is producing some berries. Now the big question !!! Will it make the winter? I am going to mulch it with peat moss and leaves and hopefully it will come through.

Cheers Al

My son's girlfriend just planted a bittersweet vine on their 911 sign. When i looked at it the other day, it was wilding badly, but i know she's watered it. I'll remind her to mulch it.

Haven't taken any pictures yet, but i'm going out this morning to do so.

Northspruce and Sierra, hope you two feel better soon. Owie! Let me add my injury - it happened last year. I was doing stuff in the bed behind the house, and when i moved back, i whapped my head on a piece of treated lumber that was nailed on to the scaffolding dh had up there (for some reason or another - probably to get me!). I literally saw stars, and had a tender spot on my head for weeks afterwards. Waaaaaah!

Northspruce and Sierra, here's to both of you feeling better soon! Ouch!

GORGEOUS bloomers everyone. Honestly these threads are amazing.

Shauna, the Belamcanda chinesis has actually survived the winter with out any extra mulching (in my "Hot Zone" flower bed!). I had tossed some seeds out last February (as in Feb 2004) because I had given up on them starting indoors. As a last ditch effort I decided to pop the seeds directly into the ground instead of in the garbage (GOOD thing! 8^) hey?). I'm watching for the bloom to open now. I keep peeking through the rain drops to see if there is any progress! Definately I'll watch for seeds for ya!

Ang

Here are a few pictures taken today, and a link to the album for this half of the month.

One of two morning glories that bloomed this morning:
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A purple glad:
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Gladiola Jubilee:
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Gladiola Mabel Violet:
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Love everyone's pictures!

Here is a link that might be useful: 2nd half of August Gardens

Just catching up on posts after spending several days painting the kitchen. Beautful photos, as usual!

I'm very sorry to hear about your mishaps, Northspruce and Sierra. Hope you're both on the mend. The injuries sound serious and painful. My hopes for a speedy recovery for both of you.

Three years ago, at the end of August (a dangerous month, it seems), I fell off the top level of our step stool in the garage and landed on my left wrist. (The metal plate and pins are still in there--I was quite disappointed I didn't set off any alarms going through airport security after the accident.) My non-gardening DH had to bury all the plants I had bought in anticipation of fall (no pun intended) planting. They sort of got plunked "wherever", and most of them are still there. Pot and all. (Although I probably shouldn't be confessing that to all you wonderful gardeners.) Great testamony to their survivability, but it doesn't do much for the garden design. And, I can't imagine how tangled the roots will be once I get around to rearranging them all. Once one gets behind in gardening, it's more than twice the work and effort to get things straightened out again, it seems.

I hope both of you are still able to do some gardening this season. Take good care of yourselves. Not that I'm superstitious, but these things tend to happen in threes (knock on wood). Everyone else needs to be extra careful!!

Doris

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the well wishes. Just an update.

I had the x-rays. The tech said she wouldn't let me leave if there was an obvious break. She came out a couple minutes later and told me I could go. She said the doc wouldn't have the x-rays till wed or thurs. I now have an appointment for friday morning. Geeeees. My arm is still very sore and swollen.

Now how am I going to get those new flower beds planted in the next couple of weeks......Hmmmmmm I might have to wait till next year. :-(

Sierra

Hope it's better soon Sierra. How's the camera? Update on my hand too - it's healing but I can't push or grip hard. Or wash dishes mmwwwwahahaha...

I can do light gardening which is about all there is this time of year. Thanks for the well wishes here too.

HereÂs todayÂs photos.
Hope that Northspruce & Sierra will be feeling better and that nobody else gets banged up.
These are clickable thumbnails.
BTW these photo threads are taking some time to load for me on what is supposed to be highspeed.
Hate to think of what itÂs like for those on dialup.
To generate the HTML code for clickable thumbnails in Photobucket, click the boxes under the photos you wish to use. There should be checkmarks in the boxes you clicked on. Next click on the button labeled Generate HTML and IMG code. That will take you to a new page. In that page is a box labeled HTML clickable thumbnails for Ebay  etc. Copy all the text in that box and paste it into your GW posting.
IÂm too lazy today to pretty up the arrangement of the photos.

Left to right top to bottom.
Daylily, LA Lily, Swiss Chard, Lily
Another lily, Daylily "Pardon Me", Apples in tree, Apple tree
Rose "Morden Sunrise", Lewisia cotyledon, Sempervivum

Ian

Hi Ian
Lovely pics!!! Especially the Lewisia. I tried growing it once and it did nothing and then winter killed. Is there anything special that you do to grow it and overwinter it.

Cheers Al

Hello Al,
The Lewisia can't stand moisture around the crown, especially in the winter. They also require a good bit of sun. Some people recommend putting pebbles around the crown.
My soil is sandy but I still lose one every winter.
The low growing plants were getting crowded out in the regular perennial bed so I gave them their own bed by the driveway. I was surprised to see the Lewisia go to flower after being moved, but I wonÂt complain.
Ian

northspruce.......I haven't been able to check my camera out yet.....I hold my camera with that hand and I can't lift if without much pain.....So it will have to wait. My camera is quite heavy with the big lens on it.

I can tell you're heart broken about not being able to wash dishes..LOL!!!!

I wish all I had to do was light gardening.....Oh well...

Sierra

Yipee yahhhhhhhooooooooooo......Nothing is broken or cracked....Apparently just deeply bruised. Doc told me to use that arm......so guess what I am doing this weekend...hee hee hee.....still very sore but.....I have some major planting to do...DH says thats not exactly what the doc meant......but oh well. LOL!

Now give me a shovel and let me play in the dirt...LOL!

Sierra :-)

congrats on the clean bill of health sierra. Here are some comparison pictures. Nothing fancy or exotic... but its nice to see progress and that I haven't killed too many things!

Lovely hanging baskets mcavoy... and it looks like your lobelia ate their trough! I like the idea of progression pics, it's easy to forget how exciting puny little seedlings are in May. :)

Sierra glad to hear you're not broken :D

Ironically, the lobelia in the first few pictures of the flower box were store-bought starts. I threw in some tiny indoor-grown seedlings, thinking that they would struggle. While the store bought ones have died out, the seed-grown ones are exploding in the last picture and in the hanging basket. On one hand I think I should start them earlier, on the other hand, I like the late season fresh color.

Kim

ps- the flower box/trough was an ugly fireplace mantle I removed late last winter. It came in handy!

Hope all those injuries are healing! I'm sure that everyone is the same - there's just too much gardening to be done to be injured...

mcav0y - Great idea to recycle that mantle. I like the comparison shots too. It's nice to see how things progess over time.

Sharon - Sorry to hear that Bee Balm doesn't seem to work for you. I don't have any special tips but I will try to save seeds if I can figure out where they are.

Susan