No Words...

Seedlings and Protecting My Scapes

This past weekend was a busy one. I had written a blog a while back about dogs in the garden. This however was before the arrival of Oakley. He is the sweetest dog ever but boy does he like to play. Our other two dogs now have a second wind and together they all tear around the back yard. I really love to see them play but cringe and yell every time they run through the daylily beds.

Me and my husband worked on a solution. He fenced in a section of the yard and I made new beds and moved about 30 daylilies into our new garden. It's definately a work in progress. So far, I like it. Searching for some new plants to fill the area will be fun and moving some others from the yard into our garden will definately make it look as if it's always been there.

The next project is a gate and an arbor to finish it off.

I also planted 31 seedlings in their very own bed inside the new garden. They got a topsoil, manure and compost mix topped with some mulch. So far they are looking very pleased.

Here is a picture of one of the seedlings.

Here are just a few new blooms in the gardens.

H. 'Chicago Queen'

Hydrangea 'Annabelle'

H. 'Custard Candy'

H. 'Grape Ice'

Hydrangea 'Nikko Blue'

H. ' Rosy Returns'

H. 'Stella De Oro'

Newer and better blooms

Here is a newer and much better bloom of H. Baby Blue Eyes taken during our heat wave.

H. Lavender Blue Baby is blooming today. It's my very first bloom on Lavender Blue Baby. It is an Early to Mid season bloomer yet I still think it won't be quite this early next year. It had a head start in the south.

Nikko Blue Hydrangea Bloom

I just love Hydrangeas.

Okra blooms

Having a husband who's roots are in the south, I have gotten to experience some foods that we just don't eat here in New York. Okra being one of them. I had my first taste of Okra when I visited Texas several years ago. It was sliced, breaded, deep fried and delicious.

I have tried to grow Okra before with success but not as far as seeing it bloom or reaping the benefits of the delicious okra. Just keeping the plant alive through the summer.

This year, I started the plants inside and had two surviving seedlings. One of the two had a bud and it's starting to bloom today. I had no idea how beautiful an Okra bloom was. I actually thought the bud was the start of an Okra. Turns out it wasn't.

So I googled 'Clemson Spinless Okra' and discovered that it is part of the Mallow family and is closely related to the Hibiscus plant. No wonder this bloom is starting to look so pretty. It is even recommended as a back border plant for this reason. Back Border because it can reach about 6 feet tall.

Here a picture of the Okra bloom beginning to open.

A new slide show

Some new blooms and some questions answered

Pink Snap Dragons

Hardy Geranium

Clematis

Catmint 'walkers low'

Thumbergia - Black eyed susan vine

I received quite a few emails from the daylily email robin and all the responses were mixed about my last post. However, I received an email from a fellow LI daylily grower who seemed to think the daylily in my last post is BABY BLUE EYES. I also received quite a few photo's to prove it from other LI and New York daylily growers. As it turns out this is the first year it has bloomed in my garden and it may take one more bloom seasons to reach it full potential.

In saying that, I checked on this daylily again when it was shaded at the end of the day. The colors looked more true to the BBE that I knew and loved. Here is a picture taken at about 5:30 pm.

First blooming daylily of the season...

The very first bloom this year is BABY BLUE EYES. At least I think it is. I was looking for some input from other daylily growers to see if this is really what the label says. Still its very pretty and I was excited to see a daylily bloom this morning. I woke up early. I was happy that I got to enjoy the bloom for a while before I went off to work.

Please feel free to comment and let me know what you think. Is this BABY BLUE EYES or does it look more like PRAIRIE BLUE EYES?