Dierama.....at the Brookings Library.....magenta, don't know if any of mine will be this color, if so they have not bloomed yet....there were seeds, but not yet ripe....

A new spathe from my Peace Lily, finally making a comeback:

Pretty, pretty...very healthy looking...

You sure do have an interesting collection of plants, Tarev.

I took some pictures this morning. I'll skip the orchids as they will go on the orchids forum.

Leucophyllum 'green cloud', Adenium obesum 'Diamond', and Agastache 'summer love' are new ones


Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender" is also new, and Agastache rupestris 'Acapulco sunset' is only a few weeks old.


Echinacea 'Harvest moon' is finally blooming, this dwarf purple Iris is the only one that blooms every year, and Hesperaloe 'brake light' is blooming in the pot. The ewo in the front bed just sit there.


This purple Pentas has been in that same pot about 4 years and like all the plants around the lily pot, gets no sun all winter, The red Ixora blooms well while the yellow one next to it doesn't get enough sun and the cats keep breaking it off while attacking the birds bathing.

Oh My!!!! This is my lucky day...doing miscellaneous weeding while checking for spts to plant more asclepias and this is what I spy.....




Fortunately, I've weeded and kept clean this area, and it's flowering, or I would undoubtedly have pulled it, not knowing what it was....a Johnny-Jump-Up! I love these and pansies and have never grown either due to gophers, rabbits, etc. I'm sure that if it reseeds, the deer will most likely find them, but we shall see. I think I may fill troughs with them...and with the pansies. I have an idea for standing troughs that I saw many years ago that I think maybe we should make for the farmers' market along with the other things.....

There are so many things unknown to me that keep popping up here, this week it was hypericum, the common St. John's Wort...and I loved it and wanted to propagate more, but sadly, it's too invasive and poisonous to livestock...always good to check the ID forum first....

I'm getting very interested in annuals. I'm really liking the celosia varieties - gotta get some more next year. The one in pic 4 is Cramer's Burgundy.

Supposed to be going down to LA today, but have to cancel the plan..instead making emergency arrangements to fly back to Manila. Life throws a curve ball, hoping for our Lord's mercy.

Sorry to hear that, Tarev.

tarev, indeed sad news...be strong, be safe...

First to open...from seeds from Duane's Agastache 'Globetrotter'...






Coming Soon......

I love the buds of Salvia atrocyanea....

Pretty! My hummers would love that one. I've already seen them on the A. summer love that I just got into the ground last week. I'm looking for something for the winter. Sugar water is not a healthy diet for the little beasties. Aside from citrus, the only thing that flowers is the Gelsinium on the arbor, and that is controversial regarding toxicity...to bees , at least. Oh Yeah, they have already pollinated the Brake light . It has its first seed pod.

I need to get my Brake Lights into larger pots, now that you mention it. They will be pot plants here, I think...at least for now.

Watch for scale! The ants are loving them.

hmmm....Okay.

Finally! I got a good shot of the 'Colchester white' dusty miller. For days it seems I've just blurred everything. This is another one that surprised me with blooms. I had no idea from reading about it that my favorite color would emerge in midsummer. A good surprise - I'm loving it. And... I got another acorn for posting the first pic of blooms - pretty good deal all around.

That's a pretty one, Carol!

Thanks Carol. I just love that color and had no idea I was getting it. Got Celosia 'Cramer's Burgundy' coming along, and the lantana 'New Gold' seems pretty happy. The Siam Tulip (curcuma whatsis) isn't supposed to bloom until late summer/early fall. And I know that patience is one of those stupid virtue things - if I keep saying it I may eventually believe it. I'm thinking next year whole pots may be devoted to various celosia varieties.

I have some concrete blocks on their way home to me...YAY!

Jer's busy working on tower things and doesn't have time to get involved in this, so the blocks will be uncemented.....one course deep of concrete blocks to form a 4'x8' bed on the paved strip on the south side of the house...thinking that it will sufficiently hold the soil and I do have more soil to replace if there is significant loss. Concrete blocks since I think wood just rots out too quickly up here and I can just set them up without getting worked up about hammering the wood together, etc. Chunks of rather dried out sod will go in there, covered then with potting soil...this is what I've done in my riding mower trailer and it's worked without weeds or grass germinating and popping up...I have French Filet green beans producing in there right now and want to get more sown in my new 'raised bed'. I've read that I will only need 4-6" of soil root room to be sufficient, obviously not for root crops. I will see how well this works before adding more beds...

I do have other things on the agenda today, but this will come first, I guess. Already feeling that "How much can I get done before Winter hits again?" thing....

I've planted beans in Earth Boxes twice. Both times they were just blooming when the heat wave fried them. I got a new pack of seeds, but can't decide whether to try again, or wait till fall.