Some Late Bloomers

We got a little rain today which was most welcome.  Elegant Finale has been rather pale this year, but I kinda like it that way.  



Elegant Finale (Stamile, 1987)

height 28", bloom 6", season VLa, Dormant, Tetraploid,  Pastel orchid with deep orchid eyezone and green throat. ((sdlg × Astolat) × (sdlg × Frandean)) 

 

I'm glad Elegant Finale survived some of my downsizing.  

 

Also looking pale, but lovely is Suzy Cream Cheese, which just gets better every year.

 

  

Suzy Cream Cheese (Bachman, 2001)

height 35", bloom 7", season La, Dormant, Diploid, 30 buds, 5 branches, Spider Ratio 4.00:1,  Peach self above gold yellow throat.  

I have a fondness for sunflowers and this year I even planted a few seeds, albeit quite late.  

 

 

This one is new to me this year and I've been favorably impressed.  It's blooming on a rebloom scape now.  I'm liking it better than Betty Ford, which Fabulous Frieda descends from. 

Fabulous Frieda...

Fabulous Frieda (Kirchhoff-D., 2007)

height 30", bloom 5.75", season EE, Rebloom, Evergreen, Tetraploid, 27 buds, 4 branches,  Clear intense cardinal red with bright rose watermark above dollop green throat. (((Betty Ford × sdlg) × ((Leonard Bernstein × Maria Callas) × (Leonard Bernstein × Maria Callas)))

 

Piglet came home with me last year from Baton Rouge, LA, site of the 2011 AHS National Convention. I was happy to receive it as a bus plant.  I suspect it probably won't bloom quite this late when it is more established.

 

Piglet...

 

  

 

 Piglet (Goudeau, 2008)

height 36", bloom 4.75", season MLa, Rebloom, Semi-Evergreen, Tetraploid, 15 buds, 4 branches,  Baby ribbon pink with lipstick rose eye. (sdlg × sdlg) 

 

This picture doesn't accurately reflect the color of this daylily.  It is a dark burgundy or black red as the official description says.  Cabernet Cabaret is blooming on a rebloom scape.

 

 

 

Cabernet Cabaret (Reed, 2007)

height 48", bloom 7", season M, Dormant, Diploid,  Black red self above yellow to green throat. (Chief Black Hand × Planet Max)  

 

I'm really looking forward to this one, Ocean Spirit, settling in.  Having seen it blooming at clump strength, it really puts on a show.  This is its first year here with me.

 

 

 

Ocean Spirit (Murphy-J.P., 2006)

height 40", bloom 7", season MLa, Dormant, Diploid, Fragrant, 26 buds, 4 branches,  Lavender with purple eye and cream edge above chartreuse throat. ((Grey Witch × Magic of Oz) × Loch Ness Monster)

 

This last one has taken forever (it seems) to settle in.  It's putting on the display this year that I expected from it.  Who knows why it sulked for so long (six years, no kidding...if it weren't a late, it would be long gone).  This daylily is unregistered, but is well known for blooming late...and that it does.

 

Ollalie Keith...

 

 

 

I'll end with some dragonflies.  I've been seeing these black and black/white ones for a couple years now.

 

 

 

However, recently I've seen a few with color...

 

 

 

The picture below is a bit disappointing, but you can still tell how colorful the dragonfly is/was...

 

 

 

(and why I've signed up for a photo course)

 

 

  

Garlic...and Wildlife

Before the rains came (and are still pouring as I write), I harvested some more garlic.  All nicely cleaned up for your viewing pleasure, of course.

 

Yes, they're swinging, haha.  You know I'll let you have a closer look.

 

 

 

 

I planted more than four or five cloves (resulting in four or five heads above).  Nowadays, I am more picky and am only setting aside the better ones to dry.  All the little ones were cleaned up and are sitting in a bowl on my kitchen counter...for immediate consumption.  


It's just undeniably true, small cloves will result in small heads...so, why bother with them.


Here's another one that didn't get to swing with the others...






While we are enjoying my garlic tales, here's something weird for you...

 

Do you see it/them?  Closer...

 

How strange is that?  As it turns out, pretty strange.  I've seen a lot of things that garlic can do, including producing small heads on the scape in various places, but this,...well, this I had not seen before.

This growth was causing the garlic to fall over and so I went ahead and harvested it all.  Usually, falling over garlic runs the risk of being over-ready.  Not this time.

I emailed the helpful folks at Filaree Farms and learned this garlic is bolting.  They, too, had not seen it quite like this before.  (Leave it to me to have strange garlic.) I was advised to not replant the odd bolting garlic (for next year).  And, as I feared, the rest was probably harvested a bit too early.  Oh well.  So many years, I harvest too late, so I guess this is fate evening up things for me. 


It's thought that maybe this garlic experienced too much water and/or nitrogen.  Who knows.  It was planted along with all the others, all growing together, one after another. 


I do kinda like weird things  (grin).  


*****
In other happenings...and this happened today, so we are right on top of things.


First, some pictorial proof of Rudy-ness in the daylilies...

This, my flower friends, is Rudy doing his thing through some of the daylily seedlings.  Please note...there is no path there...

 

Yes, those were daylily scapes...sigh.

I guess there's a path there now...

 

So, I hear Rudy barking and race down the deck stairs to see what emergency is at hand (not).   Actually, I race down the stairs to try to calm Rudy before Cranky Neighbor (hereafter known as CN) can complain and earn his name.  It is during normal working hours, so one can hope he is not home...but, you never know...


There is Rudy making a fuss right outside of one of my fenced areas (that I learn in a few minutes doesn't mean that Rudy can't get in...he simply chooses to not enter at times...this not being one of them, apparently)...He is carrying on, so I'm looking in there, thinking what varmint is trapped in there...and I see an old friend...









Do you see it (not knowing if it is a he/she)?  I have...ahem...cleverly (if I do say so myself) labeled it for you.

Yes, here we go...




Awww.  But, here, you guys, here's what's especially cool...this is the same one who visited in 2010...June 6, 2010, to be exact....take a look at the markings in a picture from that day...

 

(Different camera...how I miss the old Rebel...sigh...DH has told me I can check into a new camera and/or lens, so yea...maybe these odd pictures with odd color will soon be a thing of the past)...but, anyway...

Isn't that wild??!  (Literally) I like that the turtle has returned.  I may just start calling him/her 'our' turtle.

Mrs. Cardinal

A cardinal pair hangs out in my front yard.   I enjoy them.  However, that joy is tempered by the obvious fact that two cats live here also.  Two hunting cats.  One extraordinary hunting cat....need I say more?

Still...one has to live in the moment...

 

Food! And a bit of Wildlife...

(Is anyone besides me having trouble with this new Blogger stuff?? Yikes.)

First, if you don't grow lettuce in spring, I must nag you (again).  Just do it, okay?  Trust me on this.  Until you eat freshly picked lettuce, you just don't know.  Sigh.  I hear corn is like this, but I'm not growing corn (for lots of reasons).  Anyway...

The lettuce pictured below is some from the third time I have gathered lettuce.  What's left there is after I filled two gallon bags to give to two people.  And, today, I could pick some more.  This will go on until the heat sets in...and then, well, lettuce bolts (goes to seed) as heat is not its thing.  

Garlic, how do I love thee?  Oh my.  Today I harvested two more very early varieties, Blossom and Xian. These very early ones have certainly performed for me this year.  Don't know if or how much this mild winter contributed to this.  

Happy is me. See garlic, see me smile...

 

 

Blossom in its unwashed, freshly dug state and then cleaned up a bit.

 

And, Xian, still dirty and then less dirty.  See, one thing I am especially enjoying is that I have managed with these very earlies (and Chinese Pink) to get them out of the ground before they have shed most of their layers.  Cleaning has never been easier, as I just take a wrapper off and shake a little.  That explains, by the way, the color difference.  That brighter colored layer was removed.  

Did I say I was happy about the garlic??  :)

****

We pause briefly here to check in with Rudy.  He had surgery last Thursday and has been recovering.  He thinks he is ready for much more activity, but we're (me) following the doctor's orders and he's resting...

****

Before I got on with it....I'm so excited!  Yesterday (early evening) I was making a tiny bit of progress with some weeding on the south side of my house (hint:  south=warmer) when I discovered a daylily blooming!  Yes!  It was too late (low light) to take a picture, besides I have too much pride to show that many weeds.  But, it was!  And, it looks like it has three scapes!  It's Firestarter.....

(From the AHS database)

Firestarter (Murphy-J.P., 2005)

height 48", bloom 6.75", season EE, Rebloom, Dormant, Diploid, 24 buds, 3 branches,  Red with darker watermark above gold green heart throat. (sdlg × sdlg)

 

 Which, as you'll note is an EE (extra early)...but, never, never never (nevah!) have I had a daylily, a regular daylily bloom in April!  A first.  Now, here's the thing.  I have this particular daylily in another area and guess what...yup, (or is that yep?) no scapes that I saw.   Curious, no?  

Whatever...we'll take it (it even beats a Florida daylily that's scaping on FL time...).

****

Okay, because I am feeling particularly blog-gy, I have a little bit more for you.  Not for the squeamish.  You've been warned.

A few days ago, I spied these enormous birds just down the street from me...in the street.  I'm guessing they are buzzards (someone will probably tell me otherwise, if so, which is great).  They let me get within one house of them and then they took off...but not too far (into a tree) so they could go back to their find after I left....

  

That's my attempt at trying to get them into the same picture.  The one on the left was acting as a guard, sort of, and was the first to fly away.

There's (above) two views of the feasting on....squirrel, if you wanted to know.  Which is fine with me.  The less squirrels around to dig in my garden, the better.

This would be (above) the partner.  Not hungry, I suppose.

And, now my brave brave companions...who only ventured down to check things out when the birds flew away.  Which was probably wise.  They were rather large birds, after all.

Leo, being camera shy (get me from my best side....which he must think is behind...haha)...

And, Sam...who I imagine is saying "I prefer to get my own.  The chase is half the fun."  

Sam story (and then I will go)....Yesterday, DH hears Sam at the front door.  He opens the front door...and there, along with Sam, is a rabbit placed directly in the center of the mat.  Sam comes inside, but only for a brief time, as he wants back out...to...ahem...take care of his prize.  He only wanted DH to know what he done!  Haha.  Such a great hunter.  And, yea, for one less plant-eating varmint in my yard.  

Only people who don't seriously garden (in my opinion) can tolerate all those critters whose only purpose is to eat and destroy your garden.  Because that is their mission...so, you have to decide...which team you'll be on.  Garden or No Garden.  It's that whole cycle of life thing. 

Now THAT'S a Spider...

'Tis spider season....and while I often see these garden spiders, this is a particularly large one...maybe the largest I've seen. I happened upon her (if you follow the link, you'll know why) while digging daylilies; fortunately, I spied her before I ran into the quite awesome web.



I got a kick out of noticing all the weed seeds caught in the web (one of the reasons I saw it)...it's been quite the year for weeds...oh my.


It's been a bit rainy today, so I haven't been out to check to see if she is still there....

I was glad to learn these spiders are considered harmless, since she is quite scary looking...and also because, well, there are more than a few of them around...

Seeing Red...

Mr. Cardinal came in for a pretty close look...



...he's sitting in the pot ghetto....

Later, he moved to the bench...more comfortable, I suppose (joke...haha)...



....it was pretty neat to have him around. I hope he and the missus will stay....they just need to be extra cautious...Sam and Leo, you know...

Early March Blooms

The ever faithful Pink Dawn Viburnum...


Winter Daphne...


One of the camellias...


A couple more views...




Taken on an overcast day, the crocus are all closed up....waiting for the sun...


A few more of the Iris Reticulata from the other day...


Anticipating blooms soon on the Virginia Bluebells which are just emerging...


We had a very rainy day yesterday. Last night, I happened upon this frog...not something I often see/find with two cats...

I'm just guessing as I don't know frogs...after a search for frogs in Virginia...I'm thinking this one is a Southern Leopard Frog as there isn't any water nearby and I saw him on the driveway under the garage light...