Sunday, July 1, 2012

Belated Friday Posting

 

I cannot believe that June is about over already. Where did the month go?
The word on everyone’s lips this week was ,Hot, Hot, Hot!
We are not only getting tired of the heat but tired of hearing about it and really are in dire need of rain here in the hills of Ohio.
So if any of you have an excess of rain please blow it our way.

UPDATE: Well this was suppose to have been Friday’s posting but just as I was uploading the page we got hit with high winds and the electric went out so the posting did not make it online.
The winds were terrible and the state was pretty well devastated.
Our electricity was off from 5 pm Friday until 10:30 this morning.
I have yet to catch up on what all went on since we could not hear any news reposts. So instead of starting from scratch I am posting this belated Friday posting until I can get things back to normal around here. But this is what the gardens looked like and what was blooming right before the storm hit us. I spent house yesterday raking and cleaning up limbs from the yard. Luckily nothing hit the house but I have to admit this was the first time I have really been scared during a storm here in the hills. We did get an half inch of rain which I was thankful for but we all could have dine without the winds.
SO you all stay safe and I will be around to catch up on everyone.


Tomato_BetterBoy
I have ‘Better Boy’ tomatoes  coming on now in my containers. I can hardly wait until they ripen. Nothing tastes any better than home grown vegetables.

Tomatoes_Peppers
The sweet peppers are blooming now too.There are the green ones and I am trying a golden one also this year. I gave up on trying to grow cucumbers in containers because they just do not do well for me.
It has been a challenge here lately keeping the containers watered in this 99 degree weather and there seems to be more of them every year. Or maybe after all this watering it just feels like there are more. LOL!
Tomatoes The water cans and water hoses has been every gardeners backache here lately. We love to garden but when we have to water every day dragging the hoses around can get old fast and tends to take the happy out of Happy Gardening.

Dahlia_Rembrandt There are four containers with dahlias in them and one is starting to bloom. The others seem slower to bud. This one is “Rembrandt”. It is a dwarf dahlia so maybe that is why it is first to bloom.

Alpen_Glow_Hydrangea The “Alpen Glow” hydrangea bush is changing to all different colors of pinks and purples now. For some reason this year it is not staying the brilliant pink it usually does. Maybe the acid levels in my soil where it is planted is changing it now.

Container_Bed The containers in this bed are filling in nicely now and the Lantana plants are starting to bloom. Right in the middle is a little Buddleia bush (the sun in this pictures was glaring) that I planted last Fall. The poor little thing is only about 12 inches tall but has two blooms. It looks a little silly because the blooms are so large on such a tiny bush.

Buddelia_Nanho_Purple This is the first Buddleia that has ever survived here. My friend Joy at  “Canadian Garden Joy” recommended  this “Nanho Purple” Butterfly bush. She told me hers stood up to here Canadian winters so I am glad to finally have this addition to the garden. Thanks Joy Girl!  I did see some butterflies checking it out already while I was watering.

Lantana_Dallas_Red

“Dallas Red” Lantana

Commelina_SleepingBeauty 
Commelina “Sleeping Beauty” was grown from seeds this year. I am not crazy about the plant but I love the blue flowers.

Vining_Snapdragons 
Last year was the first year that I had grown vining Snapdragons from seed. When I took them into the basement last fall I noticed that they had made tubers in the pot. I replanted the tubers this spring and they are starting to vine now so it will not be long until they bloom.

Verbena_Purple_Mosaic 
So far the verbena plants have not developed mildew. I love the verbena for my containers but some years they do get mildew. This  verbena is called
“Purple Mosaic”. I love its white with purple speckles blooms.

Red2 Every year it seems I get a one track mind when it comes to what colors I will have blooming in my containers. This year it seems every plant  was purple or red when I bought seeds and plants.
Last year it was pink and yellows. Anyone else ever get stuck on a color or is it just silly ole me? LOL!

Lily_FriscoOrienpet_6Tall    
This is the two year old, six foot orienpet “Frisco” lily that I mentioned in one of my postings.

Lily_Frisco_June26 
All of its blooms on top are blooming now. The stem is large and sturdy to hold all of these blooms up but I staked it just in case. I wonder how tall this beauty will be next year?

Lily_Ageless_Beauty “Ageless Beauty” daylily is two years old now and looking large and lovely.

Lily_Count_Radish 
This bright red lily was planted last fall and has the silly name of  “Count Radish” but color is a true red.

 Daylily_Frans_Hals
This daylily is called “Frans Hals” and I like its yellow and rust petals. I am trying to add more orange and yellow flowers in the garden. The flash backs to the 70’s are getting fewer and farther apart now and I may even decide I like orange again but never, never sage or drab olive green.   
Other lilies in bloom are:

Lily_Stargazer_Golden 
Golden Stargazer Asiatic lilies.

 Lily_Elodie_NoDoublePetals

The “Elodie” Asiatic lilies all  have double blooms, but this one bloom had single petals.
(Like yours Kathleen so you may get double blooms yet!)

Lily_WindsorCastle_June24 
Windsor Castle Daylily

Lily_PardonMe_Sunlight
“Pardon Me” Daylily with the sun filtering in. Now that is a hot looking lily for a hot day.

 Phlox_White
White tall Phlox paniculata

Phlox_Nicky 
“Nicky” Tall Phlox paniculata

Mesa_Yellow_Gaillardia
Gaillardia “Mesa Yellow”

Gaillardia_Burgundy “Burgundy Gaillardia”

 Rudbeckia_CherryBrandy_June24Rudbeckia “Cherry Brandy”  

Veronica_Lilac_Fantasy_Catherine
“Lilac Fantasy” Veronica from Catherine at “A Gardener in Progress”. I am loving this veronica Catherine!

Echinacea_DoubleScoopRaspberry2_June26
“Double Scoop Raspberry” Echinacea is filling out nicely and the color is deepening.

Echinacea_RTruffle_Foxgloves 
“Raspberry Truffle” Echinacea and Foxglove blooms.

Monarda_RaspberryWine
Monarda “Raspberry Wine” Bee balm.

Wallflower_JennyBrooke
Erysimum “Jenny Brooke” Wallflower

Pansy_Burgundy_June28
A few poor little Pansies are still trying to hold on during this heat.

Daisy_WirralPride_June26
“Wirral Pride” Chrysanthemum Daisies

Geranium_Caliente_Fire_June26
Pelargonium “Caliente Fire” Geranium

Geranium_Rosebud   
Pelargonium “ Red Rosebud” Geranium

Pink_Lemonade_Rose
And after stomping on many Japanese Beetles I have a couple of rose blooms that made it from their jaws.
” Pink Lemonade” Eyeconic shrub rose.

Knockout_RADtko_Double
And the always blooming double “RADtko Knockout roses.

Rose_Of_Sharon_Pink
Pink Rose of Sharon

Rose_Of_Sharon_White White Rose of Sharon.

Woodland_Blackeyed_SusansBlack Eyed Susan’s
So there is a lot in bloom and still a lot of color in the garden but with this heat and the watering the plants will not do as well as they would if it came pouring from the skies. The plants KNOW!

Washtubs_Peppers

I want to join in with our gal Glenda over at “Tootsie Time” for Fertilizer Friday. So everyone join in with us and Flaunt Your Flowers!

Fertilizer_Friday
Everyone have a wonderful and safe weekend and say some prayers, donate and send kind thoughts to all those in Colorado where they are fighting the fire and for those in Florida who are having floods. We all need each other.

Happy Gardening,
Lona

18 comments:

Nadezda said...

Lona, I wish your weather is normal. Here in Saint Petersburg I know about all disasters that are in your states: fires, floods, storm. And wish they pass quickly away. I love your photo of tall phlox!

gardeningnaturallywithclaudia.blogspot.com said...

Simply beautiful. What a great collection. Kudos to you, Lona. c

Tammy said...

beautiful flowers Lona. I always love looking at your photo's. We live in WV and were hit hard by the storm as well. Lots of downed branches in the yard. luckily not much damage. The hardest part so far is being out of electric. we have an all electric home, and have been out since Friday. No air conditioning, no water, nothing. The phones did come back on yesterday. Lines everywhere for gas, stations running out, people filling containers for generators. Thank nGod we have a small one from the camper to help save the food.

Earlene said...

I thought we would have rain...got really dark...and just a few sprinkles..that was it! We need rain too.
Enjoy your blooms!
Earlene

elaine said...

Wow - what a lot of flowers you have in your garden at the moment - I hope they survived your storms - if I could send some of our rain over I would believe me.

Andrea said...

Your plants and flowers don't look like they've been to so much trouble, they look contented and happy. Even if you don't get much water, at least there are water inside the pipes. Here, when we are at the height of our dry season the pipes get dry too, and the annuals really die fully. Sometimes, even trees die too like our 4 fruit trees 2 yrs ago. Tomatoes are always tomatoes, but that first photo elevated it to not the conventional tomato!

Unknown said...

Hi, nice post. Love the blooms. I think I might be able to grow some day lily and iris by the coast - the one or 2 I have are doing fairly well. Still testing, but they are wonderful.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

I had wondered if you were affected by the storms. They sound awful! Glad you are safe. Your garden is looking soooo pretty! It sure looks like summer with all the flowers and sun. Hope your weather cools a bit and you get a little rain. Here I'm hoping for the opposite! :)

Patrick's Garden said...

Lona,
You are blessed to be the caretaker of such a beautiful garden. You must work your tail off to be so prolific. I love Count Radish and Cherry Brandy the best of the bunch. Is that what wee call a shasta daisy down here?

Sunray Gardens said...

You have an awful lot of fantastic blooming right now Lona. You were out of power much longer than me. I was only out 13 1/2 hours. Rain here is sad too, it always misses us here. My yard is looking awful.

Cher Sunray Gardens

Gatsbys Gardens said...

Hi Lona,

Boy, you have really been through the worst weather. We are also very hot with a few bad storms but so far no power outages.

Your flowers look wonderful, such a great collection of Echinaceas. I think I have that Frisco lily and it is over seven feet tall and leaning heavily even with support. It is beautiful, but I think I will have to move it!

Eileen

CanadianGardenJoy said...

Lona girl !!!
First .. I am glad you didn't have serious damage from that terrible storm! .. I saw that Ontario is sending a load of "power" workers to help you all get on the grid again .. I just didn't see the news where all the damage was done .. I understand you being scared .. it can be a very frightening event especially when you feel cut off from everyone.
Second .. I am always in awe of your plants and garden , girl !!
You have the most amazing flowers and all those veggies ? Holy Cow !! I don't know how you do it .. I keep making promises to cut back next year ! LOL
Third .. thank you so much for the mention on Nanho Blue and yours looks lovely .. mine? some horrible bugs have riddled my beauty with holes .. but it is still trying very hard to look dignified ;-)
This is a huge post with so much to read and admire, I think I have to go back to bed and rest up again ? LOL .. glad you are still a live and kicking girl!
Joy

sweetbay said...

You have so much blooming and it's all beautiful! I hope you didn't have too much damage from the storms.

Victoria Williams said...

My gosh! You have so many blooms! I can't wait until our garden phlox start blooming. Love your daylilies. Of course I get stuck on one color all the time. Love that hydrangea. I just bought another to fill in an empty spot.
Kim is from Ohio. One year when we were visiting his parents there was a tornado warning - at night! I've never seen such storms! But here in Idaho we cart our hoses around all the time. That's just how it is - dry. Always surprised me, not seeing sprinklers in Ohio. Glad you're safe, hope all is well.

Patrikswim said...

The storms were bad here in SW Ohio too! Thankfully my garden was largely spared!

I love this time of year--so many great, great, great plants in bloom, something exciting each morning.

Great pictures! I just added 'Alpengluhen' to my hydrangea collection: yours is beautiful :)

Anonymous said...

Oh Lona ~ how scary. I hope everything gets back to "normal" (whatever that is anymore) soon. Glad no serious damage happened to you, your home or garden too.
Also glad to see 'Elodie' produced a single for you ~ at least that way I know I didn't get the wrong bulbs! I hope next year all mine are double ~ greedy of me, huh?! It's one gorgeous lily ~ thanks for turning me onto it.
Your garden is awesome heat or not. So much in bloom. Hauling those hoses around is working for you!
ps I can't wait for a home grown tomato either!!!!

Unknown said...

I am happy to hear you are safe from the storms, plants can be replaced.

You've got so many beautiful flowers and you are so generous sharing them with us.

Janet, The Queen of Seaford said...

Hope you have fared well from the storms and the heat. My tomatoes in containers don't look very good.....they need SOOOOOO much water.
Love the speckled verbena, very pretty. Your entire posting is full of lovelies!!