The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

Category Archives: Blooms

Why I post so often

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I have this friend (dude knows who he is) who on more than one a hundred occasions has asked me “How can you possibly take any more pictures of your garden? Seriously, you have like hundreds of posts in only four years, haven’t you said/photographed it all?”

First off “friend”, and I use the term loosely, I have actually posted 868 times since February of 2010. And while some of the posts are of questionable mind, most are simply an observation of what is going on in my garden at that time. I introduce new plants to my garden each season/year, plants get more robust with age, take on a completely different look and feel when relocated within the garden, change dramatically through the seasons and often times die. And many times it is a combination of all of these things. That is why I can take hundreds of photographs in one session.

Here are some examples just from today.

This is my first witness to a Fothergilla blooming in my own garden as I just planted it last Fall:

I dig the bottlebrush like flowers and are even cooler up close:

I get all jonesed up seeing my Redtwig Dogwood leafing out, knowing we are transitioning from early to mid spring:

 

Before I know it, it will fill out completely and take its understated turn in the landscape:

The Amsonia are finally emerging from the ground and I frickin love how they look when doing so:

The next step is seeing the first buds forming:

Soon following will be a cacophony of buds:

Then the first bloom:

And finally full bloomage:

All of the foliage on the Astilbes have this cool red/brown/green/rust combo right now and it is fantastic:

Eventually it will settle in all green with hints of red stems:

Then the first buds appear:

And then boom, we’ve got serious blooms:

 

The photos tell the story and that alone, friend, should give you enough evidence as to why I am now easily completing my 869th post.

We’ve got blooms

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Viburnum carlesii ‘Aurora’:

 

 

 

Trollius (Globeflower) ‘Orange Princess’:

 

 

 

Phlox subulata (Creeping Phlox) ‘Emerald Blue’:

 

Ajuga (Bugleweed) ‘Chocolate Chip’:

Not necessarily a bloom, but still a cool shot of a peony:

OK, no blooms again, just sun + green = happiness:

And the daffodils are hanging on:

 

A garden stroll on Easter

Posted on by Posted in Blooms, Bulbs, My garden .

A garden tour from this Easter afternoon:

Viburnum buds continue to progress. And I realize just how many ornamental grasses I have based on their need to constantly photo bomb:

See what I mean?

What is interesting with these Mt Hood daffodils is how the trumpets start off yellow and eventually settle in pure white:

The Summer Snowflake blooms are appearing in bunches now, but I was more intrigued by the early evening sun on these bulbs:

More and more leafing out on the trees:

The lilac shrubs have shown signs of life for the first time:  

The peonies continue to emerge and unfurl:

I planted two Leymus (Blue Lyme Grass) ‘Blue Dune’ in containers last summer and let them overwinter outdoors. They didn’t take long to appear again this spring:

The Dappled Willow (Salix ‘Hakuro-nishiki’) has fully leafed out and looks better than ever:

The tulips I overwintered in the garage actually bloomed (yeah buddy) so I made sure to bring them indoors where they could be gleefully ogled:

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.

Ours was kind of awesome.

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day – October 2013

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Slim pickens here today my friends, so keep your expectations in check, OK? 
Mucho appreciated. 
Sneezeweed ‘Short ‘n’ Sassy’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’
  
My last surviving Dahlia bloom
What is left of the Veronica ‘Royal Candles’ blooms
Physostegia ‘Vivid’
Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’
Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’
Miscanthus ‘Gracillimus’
Miscanthus ‘Variegatus’
Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass)

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

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Some blooms are new:

Physostegia (Obedient Plant) ‘Vivid’

Chelone (Turtle Head) ‘Hot Lips’

Boltonia ‘Pink Beauty’

Some blooms keep on keeping on after consistent deadheading:

Helenium (Sneezeweed) ‘Short ‘n’ Sassy’

Lobelia siphilitica

 

Phlox ‘Pink Flame’

 

Phlox ‘Pink Flame’

 Some blooms are aging well:

Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’

Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’

And ornamental grass blooms look pretty fantastic, even in the evening:

What’s blooming now

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It is kind of a slow time right now in the garden but here are some of the blooms that have emerged of late: 
Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass)

Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass)

Sedum ‘Autumn Fire’

Pennisetum ‘Hameln’

Boltonia ‘Pink Beauty’

Boltonia ‘Pink Beauty’

Pink Physostegia (Obedient plant) 

Dwarf Pink Phlox

Stages of bloom

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Initial bloom on the Turtleheads:
Chelone glabra (White Turtlehead)

 

Chelone lyonii ‘Hot Lips’ (Pink Turtlehead)
Maturing/changing blooms as we head into September:
Hydrangea ‘Little Lime’

Northern Sea Oats

Panicum ‘Northwind’ (Switch Grass)
And the first “bloom” (OK, maybe a stretch) in four years on my Meyer Lemon Tree: 

Good times.

Summer ain’t over yet

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Even at the tender age of 41, I still get that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach as the new school year approaches. I can remember the emotions like it was yesterday. 
No more lazy days of summer. 

No more homework free nights.

Time to purchase the Trapper Keeper and other school supplies. 

Time to up the quality of your “school clothes” (and don’t forget to scuff your new sneakers so it isn’t so obvious that they are brand new).
Anxiety and excitement all at the same time.  
With two kids in school, I relive those same feelings right along with them and I feel bad and jealous that they have to go through this rite of youth. And to this day, one aspect of this return to school still bothers me … 
WE STILL HAVE ONE MONTH OF SUMMER LEFT!
No matter how warm it still may be, summer officially ends the day the kids get on that yellow bus. And that sucks. As much as I love the Fall and all it has to offer, don’t short change my Summer. All of the catalogs are displaying Fall/Winter clothing and I understand why, but c’mawn already. I would even be OK if they pushed football games back by a few weeks so baseball (the summer classic) could finish up their season and not be pushed aside for all things Autumn. 
With all of these heartfelt emotions bubbling to the surface today, I made the mistake of walking outside and visiting my plant friends. And wouldn’t you know it, those SOB’s are acting as if Summer is in the friggin rear view mirror. Not you guys too!
Look at this nonsense:           
Itea ‘Henry’s Garnet

Viburnum ‘Shoshoni’

Hydrangea ‘Endless Summer’

Viburnum ‘Aurora’

For real, you couldn’t have waited a few more weeks? There is plenty of time in late September and all of October to get all Fall foliage-y and stuff. Enough already.

Luckily, we still have some who are acting much more weather and seasonally appropriate:

Variegated Weigela and Petunia

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail

And it wasn’t only foliage changes occurring way ahead of my preferred schedule. Viburnum berries could hold off for at least a few weeks and be just fine:

Viburnum ‘Emerald Lustre’

Viburnum ‘Emerald Lustre’

And Miscanthus blooms before September is simply a travesty:

Miscanthus purpurascens (Flame Grass)

Even the deer seemed out of whack. They didn’t move a bit as I approached them:

It was in the low 90’s and humid today and I loved every minute of it. It is Summer and this is what Summer is. Autumn will be here in due time and we’ll enjoy it when it arrives.

But for now, back the hell off and wait your turn.

Blooms, who needs blooms and a terrifying addition to the garden

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I spent some serious time weeding this weekend and in fact, I can’t feel the tips of my fingers as I type this. My fingernails are permanently dirt filled and my hands are painful to the touch with mini thorns and other sharp plant particles sticking out of them.

But hot damn if it wasn’t worth it.

There are still some frighteningly weedy areas I have hidden from plain view, but overall, we’re lookin mighty weed-free right now. I took a whole bunch of “before” and “after” weeding pics and originally that was the inspiration behind my post for tonight. Except it was really boring, lacking color and not so pleasing to the eye. So instead, I did one of my late afternoon tours of the yard and snapped off some photos of new activity, chock full of eye candy. I also added, with the help of my daughter, a new “focal point” to the garden that puts a smile on the face … and friggin terrifies at the same time. More on that later.

The Lobelia siphilitica (Great blue lobelia) are in full bloom and I’m digging the blue color this late in the summer:

This sneezeweed (cultivar unknown) has been blooming non-stop for 3-4 weeks now and I love the color. And most importantly, all living creatures have ignored them. I need to find me more of these:

My small Hydrangea paniculata ‘Little Lime’ is coming along nicely and that bloom color is to f’n die for:

Speaking of Hydrangea, this Hydrangea ‘Lady in Red’ did not provide a single bloom this year (to be discussed at a later date) but that leaf color is worth it alone. Maybe I’ll cut off the blooms in subsequent years to highlight the foliage:

I can discuss this ornamental grass – Panicum (Switch Grass) ‘Northwind’ – all day and night and now that it is blooming … swoon …

Remember that focal point? Here he/she/it is:

Nice looking fellow, eh? Actually, not really. I find it secretly evil. We have all jumped out of our drawers in terror inside the house when we view this being through the back window. I am banking on a few phone calls from neighbors informing us there is a fully denimed burglar near the house. My only hope is that this creature will scare the hell out of the deer who emerge out of the back woods:

Will be sure to report out more on Project Scarecrow.

A lunch of a lifetime, a surprise bloomer, chillin with the critters and so much more

Posted on by Posted in Blooms, Family .
Some random garden tales for this evening: 
I’ve tried for years to successfully grow tomatoes (yes, you read that right) as I’ve had to battle the deer, the rabbits and god awful, brutally draining soil. I eventually settled on growing them in containers on my deck (only once has a deer made the trip there) but even then, I have failed miserably. Keeping up with the watering has been the biggest challenge, especially with summer vacations “in the way”.
This year I vowed to make it work and so far so friggin awesome! I have a few containers loaded with cherry tomatoes and some others varieties, but the favorite by far has been the ‘Isis Candy’ cherry tomato: 

Now here’s the funny part.

I do not eat tomatoes. Never have and most likely, never will.

Don’t know why, but I am simply not a fan. But there is a huge tomato fan in my house and that is the driving force behind my wanting to pull off this seemingly easy task. My wife could live off of them and the fact that I have forced her to purchase them from local farmer’s markets is a joke.

But have no fear, that will be no longer be necessary …

This weekend, we harvested a bunch of the Isis Candy tomatoes and my wife’s reaction after the first bite was something like “these kick some serious ass”. Holla!

But there’s more … yes, more tomatoes. I’m like a real gardener or something.

Next we grabbed a Carolina Gold tomato off the vine:      

And ba-bam, we have lunch for my lady:

Now I just need to learn how to make my own cheese and we can become completely self-sufficient. Ha, even I found that funny.

One of the coolest things a gardener can discover is a plant that pops up in a completely unexpected place. That happened weeks ago when I discovered this Phlox ‘David’ growing under an ornamental grass and now she has bloomed beautifully:        

Clethra ‘Ruby Spice’ is in full bloom, smells fantastic and is a wonderland for the bees:

It has taken a few years to get to this point, but this deciduous shrub is finally taking a nice shape and good thing, as it sits right below where I grill on the deck:

My newly planted Swamp Milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) has drawn in the butterflies, bees and the fast moving Hummingmoth so I spend most of my day hanging out there:

And finally, there are certain plants that go unnoticed as the season changes from spring to summer and my Cornus (Red Twig Dogwood) ‘Arctic Fire’ is a perfect example. This shrub shines in the fall/winter with its eye catching red stems, but I am digging how it looks now:  

Anything green and healthy works for me but I guess if I am being honest, I am most pumped for the fact that it has reached its full size after three years. I am expecting some serious winter interest this year, even better than it looked last year while much smaller in stature:  

And there you have it.

Back to the grind and the work week, but at least I have tomatoes.

John