The heavy wind last week took down a huge branch of one of my roses. Dammit. I intend to cut it back this autumn, but I didn’t want to lose a good meter of growth in July. It was so lovely, too.
I’d try sticking it in water to see what happens (I have crazy luck with that sort of thing), but it is so infested with black spot that it isn’t worth it. Bummer.
“Black” ones…
…yellow ones…
…orange and red ones…
…yellow and red ones…
…and one teeny tiny white and pink one.
All the multi-coloured ones are Aldi “pixels mix,” so I had no idea what would come up.
Now for scale!
Very different in heights! The tall one is the yellow and red spotted.
Most of this massively overgrown mess is black lilies, but there are red ones with black spots in there also – and the one wee white and pink one I only found today, hidden in the back. Including the pot, the tallest one is just about 5ft or 1.5m tall.
Okay, so only two pictures. But its’s early days yet, so not many out!
I call this my black lily – of course it isn’t black at all. I have oodles of these, all in pots. They are so tall!
Second year for these guys. Also very tall, but foliage-wise they are skinnier and less leafy than the ‘black’ ones.
And a bit raggedy-looking this year. Something’s been at them.
More to come, I see lots of lilies with closed blooms are changing from green to red or pink or yellow or just darker over all – I have a lot of lilies and forget what colours they all are until they open. Surprises for me, every year!
Remember this thing I posted (mixed in with loads of flowers, I know, it got ignored).
Well! It turns out this a called a garlic scape. They are only found on hard-neck garlic.
I never buy garlic to plant: I shove whatever I bought in the shop into the ground when it gets all growy-green, dried up and inedible, therefor I have never had a clue what type of garlic I was growing. Turns out that over the years I’ve been doing this (except for this beastie), we have only purchased the soft-neck variety for cooking.
It turns out you can eat the scape, too! Google ‘eating garlic scapes.’ How cool is that?
I won’t eat this one as it would be a paltry meal. I’ll take the other path that says when the scape is less like a snake and more like a stake and standing upright, it is time to harvest. I might split the bulb and make more for next year as I love garlic and some of the recipes out there sound delicious.
Thank you to Quickcrop.ie for the education in garlic scapes.
Not a bad haul for one day! I’ll be getting at least this many a day for a good while, too.
Recipes welcome!
I finally have strawberries coming ripe in my new planters!
Slugs or something still had a nibble, dammit. Ate them anyway.
And the raspberries are ripening, too! I have a LOT of these this year, and while the wind is doing damage, the sheer weight of the fruit is bending/breaking them more. Our soil is mostly rocks, and I didn’t put in anything to tie them to, like an eejit. They are also really dense, so I’m going to have a lot of trouble finding the ripe ones every morning. I didn’t think this one was quite ‘done’ yet – but a bird did. It was gone the next morning, entirely! Argh. Need to make a scarecrow!
These glowing orange, shop bought lilies are always the first to bloom, every year. Even better, they are the first ones I ever grew or owned – iDJ bought them for me, oh geez, about 9 years ago? We didn’t have many plants then. He was just learning that I preferred growing flowers to cut ones. I can’t recall now, but seeing what time of year they bloom, they could have been a ‘moving to Ireland anniversary’ gift.
What the hell, tomatoes? Come on now, we don’t have a lot of time left!
The big hosta is in bloom. Flower stalks aren’t as tall this year, I’ve noticed. And the purple one hasn’t even tried yet. Hrumph.
Another mutant. It is SO much larger than the other violas. No idea why.
Rose…
Wild daisies. Dog Daisy? These are everywhere on the roadside right now – love them. So when they moved in, I let them stay!
This one is on purpose: one I grew for himself. My first shasta daisy from seed, started last year, and it did naught until now. Do you like shasta daisies? Yes? No?
Going to end as usual on my very favourite of the week, and in this case it is my favourite rose. It’s very hard to get a pic of this where the colour is accurate!
One of Aldi’s finest bare-root roses, and I don’t know what this is called anymore but it is lavender, not pink. I’ve been struggling for years with this one, and right now there are a record four blooms/buds! One of my treasures.
For Ark. Yes, they overwintered!
They only open when the sun comes out – which hasn’t happened much in the last week. And my new seeds failed, too – so I hope these stick around for another year.
New Gerbera Daisy. Hubby bought me…six. They were on sale, and my batch of seeds did nothing this year. I won’t complain! This one, however, is very sickly. Not sure what to do to cure it. Gave it a good overnight soak indoors, then outside now that it is cooler and raining again (sigh for me, good for plants). I think it even looks rather cranky!
That’s a lotta gerberas. I have no idea if they will overwinter here – but I think not. So now I need to find some room inside for them when it gets cold again.
More foxglove (digitalis). Still going strong, but losing blooms all over the driveway. Sad.
More pink roses.
First white rose of the year! Such big blooms (it is more a tree than a bush, this rose) and smell amazing. I might only get a few this year as I’m battling black spot and rust on this beast.
I’ve forgotten what this is. But it’s blooming.
First rudbeckia – I think – it overwintered and now I’m not sure what it is! Might be the other thing I grew from seed…ah well.
Clematis! These are growing up the grey willow. A good 16ft or 5m up the grey willow! Shame it is so thick you can’t see the well.
Oh, and we finally finished the trellises! Now to get those new clematis growing up them to cover that ugly wall. That’s Neko’s ball, by the way. And sometimes I play with Neighbour Cat with it – she likes to chase it, too.
California poppy! Love this thing. It’s in several places now, and I don’t mind a bit, unlike the Duggar Flowers.
We got the yellow one on heavy discount as it was nearly dead (waterlogged). Glad to see it is coming back.
Some not-flowers:
Any idea what this is? I didn’t plant it. Found it in with something I had grown, knew it wasn’t a weed, and moved it. Arborvitae?
This is garlic that I apparently missed when I dug them all up last autumn. It seems to want to bloom. I’m a bit baffled by the curling stem – it didn’t start out that way! Should I be letting this happen? I have enough garlic now that I don’t need more, so I thought I’d let it go and see what happens.
Best for last!
I have pinto beans! I took these pics on Sunday (they are much bigger now), when I went outside for the daily perusal of plants, and was just thrilled to bits.
These are genuine Colorado ‘Bill Zee’ pintos, sent to me by the lovely, loving, and wonderful Linda over at Life on a Colorado Farm in the bottom of a classic bean-bag (no, not the kind we threw at each other as kids). If you don’t know her blog already, GO. Farming, rainbows, dogs, cats, cows, and the occasional happy grandchild or family get together. I’m proud to call her friend.
I am so pleased to be able to have a connection via the soil to someone so far away. I just hope I do these accident-beans proud!
Points for the reference.
Our high on Sunday last – 32.5C, or about 90.5F. And only 10% humidity so…yay!
We had a bank holiday this Monday, so I spent all three days outside. I am super proud that I didn’t put on a pair of shoes for three whole days! Yes, my feet were filthy. Yes, I loved it.
Got lots of garden-work done. I think I’ve finally finished ripping all the grass and weeds out of the annoying and awkward strip to the left of our driveway.
I goofed – thought these were nicotania. Foxgloves! Gifted to me by iDJ’s uncle who is also mad for gardening. Behind them, wild ivy and my not-sweet pea from seed I gathered in the US many years ago. It always comes back, and doesn’t spread. Once again I’m trying to get it to flop over the wall instead of smothering plants on this side. The ivy helps by giving it something to hold on to. But the wind usually comes straight at the front of the house, so every year it is a losing battle.
But I’m optimistic; so right below the pea, I planted broad beans. Silly me!
At the other end of Awkward Strip, I dug out my purple callas finally – after 10 years – as they hated it there (now potted, and in a sunnier place). Put these yokes in: Aubretia ‘kittie blue’ (look purple to me) as they are meant to spread and bloom for ages. Still some unhappy dianthus there under the roses, but it is so full of clover, moss, and grass that I might dig it out next year, too. Depends on if the dianthus makes an effort this year or not. I used to like it, but it’s just not been happy the last few years (it got mowed two years ago and never forgave me).
In between, not pictured – a peace rose, and my first ever peony. Also these:
These are osteospermum ‘cool purple’ and ‘margarita pink flare’. I’m super proud of hubby for picking these out, and after I showed him how, he planted the pink flare all by himself. I think of it as his plant now! I really hope they both get well established and come back next year as they are meant to (I don’t really do annuals).
Some foxglove close-ups, as you do!
It’s a bee-butt! This welcome visitor showed up while I was taking snaps. She sampled just about every flower!
My first rose of the season! Yes, the bush has a terrible case of black spot, and possibly orange rust. May have to hack the hell out of them this winter. I’m too timid with the pruning.
Damn Duggar flowers are everywhere.
The Sweet William has lost its sweetness for me as it also gets everywhere. But the top one isn’t a variety I planted. It’s evolving. Triffids, I tell you!
The blue Primrose, after looking a bit raggedy, has come back for another show. It also is looking more purple than blue, but part of that is the camera. It just can’t get a good pic of this beauty.
The mini irises out front are going strong. They are so tiny! And in another annoying spot in the background, my massive hostas.
But the real show-stopper this year is…
Now, I can’t seem to find the post where I planted these to find out what the heck they are! Four different bearded iris, but only one came up into bloom this year. I love it! The one stalk had eight flowers. Wow! They are massive blooms, big as nearly both my hands.
I have more, of course – but think I best end with the best.
I haven’t been posting as much as I want to – too many other things keep getting in the way. I like to use the blog to remind me of plant-progress from year to year, and so I’m not only failing the people who might be interested; I’m letting down myself, too.
So let’s get back to the garden. It rained off and on all day here, with one memorable hail-shower. It seems to have finally cleared, at nearly 9pm, and I got this as a reward.
Yes, I maxed out the colour saturation. I don’t care.
Caught a bumblebee choosing between raspberry flowers. Had at least four bees in the patch at any one time (between showers) today. Yay!
My azalea has a ‘sport’. It is all white, except for that one branch. Odd. Anyone know why the leaves look so…yucky? I’ve only known azalea in Florida, and they were massive and healthy there. I do have proper feed for it, and I see no obvious pests.
Columbine aka agualegia is blooming, and the hail took out a lot of the blooms before I took these today. These came from seed of the purple and white plant, so it is curious that one is different than the other. No neighbors nearby are growing them.
Poor lilac. They are in bloom all over right now – not my baby. Might have to repot or put it in my dirt-strip out front.
Native primrose is doing well! Spotted it in bloom all over the coast of Mayo this week.
A present from my mother-in-law, isn’t it colourful?
New clematis…Mrs N. Thompson
More new clematis…Pink Fantasy
Pink Fantasy looks funky when not entirely unfurled! There is a third new one but it isn’t blooming yet. These are all waiting on our lazy arses to finish the trellises along the back wall so they can feel real soil, not just pot-dirt.
Nicotiana from last year is HUGE now. This one is at least 4 ft tall, and so many buds. Can’t wait.
Rosemary is blooming again. Don’t see how, when it is strangled in dog fur like that!
Whoooo bought some fun garden ornaments this year? Not me – hubby!
He also picked out these flowers, osteospermum, and dug the grass and rocks out to plant them here. Solar kitty is from last year – he glows green!
Isn’t that beautiful?
My favourite is the dragonfly. Hubby has good taste!
heretherebespiders 