13 June 2017

Flower Fanatic


I've had a few surprises in my garden already this year!

Most important, planting onions throughout the garden and fertilizing with my husband's coffee grounds and my own tea bag innards has kept deer and bunnies from feasting. Also, the baby grasshoppers (which seem to be beyond prevalent so far this year) are not big enough yet to do much damage.

I have planted California Bluebells (and Texas Bluebonnets) from seed every year for three years. I've yet to see any in the garden. One single bluebell did bloom one year in one of the pots on the patio, but none managed to be discovered in the garden.

Until this year. Imagine my surprise coming home to this after a stressful day of work!






One night when I got off work after dark, a hummingbird moth was sipping from the California bluebells in the twilight. Make some seeds, Dude! Pollinate away!

Couldn't resist playing with my Lensbaby circular fisheye lens...




I also got a huge surprise the day I noticed my wisteria DID survive the winter! The top portion of the bush may not have lasted, but life remains beneath the soil.




Every year, I cast my allium back into the garden, hoping if there are any viable seeds, some of them might find the soil pleasing and take root. Last year, I had some shoots I suspected might be allium, but I wasn't sure.

This year, doubt is removed. They are smaller than the parents, but they might get bigger each year. The important part is the blue, of course!


One California poppy plant decided to be different. (All my other California poppies are radiant orange.) I'm going to spread the seeds from these buttercup babies all over the front yard garden and the raised bed garden in the backyard!

Marching to the Hue of a Different Petal

Guess what's blooming in the barrels!!!


I started three $2 dahlias inside the house way back in about February or March. I put them out on the porch as soon as it started to get warm, and I had to bring them back inside three times. My efforts paid off. I have dahlias the first week of June! That's a first for me, when growing from bulbs. I'm in dahlia heaven!


None of my dahlias were supposed to be white. I bought a hot pink one and a purple one, plus another blue one (third attempt). Of course, there is no such thing as a blue dahlia, and I knew that, but I like "blue" flowers even when they aren't true blue, such as my windflowers and irises.

Another dahlia is beginning to bloom, and it looks to be pink. I've never been able to get the "blue" ones to produce flowers, so I'm not sure if the third plant, which has no blooms yet, will be purple, or if the white one should be purple. (Some of the petals have a very faint pink cast.)

Oh, and all the dahlias are supposed to be dinnerplate size. But this is Colorado, and I am above 6,000 feet in altitude. My largest dahlia to date has been just over four inches across. Dinnerplate might be asking just a bit much. Or perhaps the dinnerplate size refers to doll scale. Doll ya...

Who cares what color the dahlias are when they are this gorgeous? I can make my white dahlia bluish without the use of Photoshop! Here are before and after blue food coloring photos...




I'll love all my dahlias, whatever color they are. I'm so thrilled to have healthy dahlias in Colorado!!!

And somebody needs a soapy water bath...



3 comments :

  1. You sure must have a picture perfect yard with all of those blooming away at your bay!

    ReplyDelete
  2. you have such beautiful flowers. Where I live in Texas, we see tons of bluebonnets. They are my favorite, along with the Indian Paintbrush.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, the bluebells are astonishing! Such an amazing color. Dahlias are so sculptural and beautiful, aren't they?

    Hope your spiderworts are doing well. It's a good year for spiderworts in Wisconsin this year - they're thicker than I've ever seen them.

    ReplyDelete


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