Knox Gardens

2010-07-05T05:13:00.001-07:00

I've been having a blast watching some new seedlings bloom. With some added sun, a good amount of rain and plenty of heat, my backyard garden has really taken off this year.

I justed wanted to share some pictures of this years seedling blooms.

JK14

JK12

JK6

JK5

JK19

JK8

Flower Show

2010-03-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

In the pouring rain I found the perfect place to go, an indoor flower show. It's held every year and every year it surprises me. Here are a few pictures of the indoor dream gardens Hicks nursery creates.

Pictures from the LIDS Daylily Show 2009

2009-07-17T15:59:00.000-07:00

I just thought I would share some pictures of the LIDS daylily show that was held on June 12th 2009. Despite the pouring rain from the night before the daylilies looked amazing.

CREATURE OF THE NIGHT

An entry from Paul Limmer's garden - MAGIC OF OZ

A sea of daylily entries. Beautiful!

Mass arrangements - Garden of Giverny . The entry on the left by Pat Sayers won the Tricolor Rosette. Stunning!

Modern Design - Japanese Bridge

Some new seeds...

2009-07-06T06:27:00.000-07:00

Or Seedlings...
To enlarge the pictures, just click on them.

Here is a good comparison of Tall and Mini. JK3 is on the left and JK7 is on the right. They have different parents.
JK7 looking better than it's first bloom. The color got darker which I was hoping for but it just doesn't want to open all the way.

JK15 recurves a lot and seems to have a triangle shape. Overall I think this one is my favorite. It bloomed just a few days later than one of its parents, FAIRYTALE PINK.

JK3 has such small fans and scapes but the flower is not as tiny. It kind of got a inbetween color of it's parents LITTLE BEE and JANICE BROWN.

I've been having a blast watching and waiting for my other seedlings to open. You know the saying, "A watched pot never boils". So I stopped watching until last night. To my surprise three of my seedlings were about to burst. One I had already seen but the other two are a first.

I woke up a 5:30 AM and couldn't fall back to sleep because I knew I had seedlings blooming. So the girls (chickens) got out a little early and I took the dogs outside with me to take a look.

I would love to hear feedback. Send me a comment and tell me what you think.

Now I know why they say it's like Christmas morning...

2009-06-30T04:52:00.000-07:00

This morning I saw my very first seedling bloom. It actually started opening last night and I could only see the purple on the end. I had to control myself not to peel the petals back to take a peek. I fought the urge and waited to look at it in the morning.

This is seedling JK7 (NIGHT BEACON X LAVENDER STARDUST). Not so bad for my first try.
It sent up scapes and bloomed earlier than both parents. It's hard to tell in the picture but it has a diamond dusting which makes it sparkle in the sun. It also has a pale blue/purple toned eye above the yellow/green throat. The picture does not do it justice. I hope I get to see it open all the way before I leave for work.

Oh my, how they have grown...

2009-06-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have blogged but baby chickens can really keep you busy.

I figured I would post some pictures of how much everything has grown. The plants above are my daylily seedlings. Below is a mix of things that came out of my spring house. The very tall plants in the back are my pear tomatoes that I started from seed and the front left are baby bear sunflowers grown from seed.

Here are the same chicks I posted pictures of in May. Oh my have they grown! Here are a few of them exploring their new run. They will be outside for good in just a week.

Spring Chicks!

2009-05-04T12:27:00.001-07:00

So we decided to get some chicks. We don't do things small around here. So, we went ahead and ended up raising sixteen, yes sixteen, baby chicks. So far its a blast and they may have replaced the TV. The first night, there were 4 adults sitting in chairs and 3 dogs watching these adorable babies for hours. Now before you think I am too nuts. Half will be moving to my sisters house when they are full grown.

Just a few days after we got them, a few got brave and tried to perch. Look below.

A great perk to chickens, besides them being so cute. They are all egg layers and their manure will be a great organic fertilizer for my garden. I may not need to travel to horse farms to shovel manure into my husbands truck anymore. Yay!

Greenhouse fun

2009-04-10T17:43:00.000-07:00

Now this was my kind of fun.

About three weeks ago me and my husband loaded up the back of his truck with horse manure and added it to my compost. We also turned the compost which was way overdue and fertilized my flower beds. My husband has been a real trooper and seems to somewhat enjoy some of my gardening adventures. I guess he figures if you can't beat them, join them.

Then last weekend we focused on spring cleanup and the removal of many large branches from our backyard. Followed by a day of nursery visits and fertilizing the the front and back lawn. We also threw down some lime pellets in hopes that our lawn will perk up and quit being brown.

This holiday weekend was my favorite! Time to put up a portable greenhouse. I have added some pictures of this. Although I wish I could have gotten some snapshots of my husband and the three guys from the nursery tackling it. It was the last one at the nursery and was set up. Thank goodness it was much easier to asemble once it was home.

Today we did a few home depot trips and came up with a cheap way to make shelving in the greenhouse. Cinder blocks and 2x8's seemed to do the trick.

Big plans... I plan to start quite a few veggies in here. This should give me a little bit of a head start on my garden. My daylily seedlings will make their way out here as well. This will get them out of my dining room.

For now I have some potted up primrose, irises and some mint that may enjoy the warmer and more humid air. Also a temperature station to see how warm this thing stays overnight. I've been watching it like a hawk and the greenhouse temperature high was 69 degrees today.

A good day for greenhouses...

2009-03-29T21:00:00.000-07:00

Today was dreary so I set off to the planting fields. I just thought I would share some of my favorite pictures from today.

Spring has officially sprung

2009-03-27T23:20:00.000-07:00

This is the part of spring I look forward to most!!!

Some of my daffodils began blooming this week ,despite

the cold weather. Such troopers.

My helleborus is also in bloom.

Best of 2008

2009-03-14T18:09:00.000-07:00

Best of 2008 Garden Pictures Slideshow

Here are some of my favorite pictures from my garden in 2008.

Enjoy!

Daylily seedling update...

I now have 13 out of 15 minis!

Oh what changes a week brings...

2009-03-08T10:03:00.000-07:00

Outside all the daylilies that were showing signs of growth are now mush. They sat under a foot of snow that was dumped here last weekend. But the 60 degree weather this weekend has melted all the snow and although the daylily growth is mush look what I found.

I have been busy indoors with starting some daylily seeds. Below, is a "mini" cross I made over the summer. I harvested the seeds in Aug. and Sept. and put them in the fridge for several weeks. I use small bead containers for storing the seeds in the fridge.

I took the seeds out on February 16th, soaked them in water for an hour and then planted them in the presoaked seed starting soil.

Look how much they have grown since my last post!

Last year when I started daylilies, I used seed starting trays. This year I used small plastic storage containers with lids and miracle grow seed starting soil. I bought all the supplies at Home Depot and spend less than 10$. So far 12 out of 15 seeds have started to grow in the mini cross. A much higher success rate from last years crosses. The seedlings have a heat source below, natural light from the window and artificial light above and on the sides of the containers. The only thing I will change is that I used card stock to divide the storage container into sections. This was not a good idea. Card stock grows mold easily and gets really mushy. I will need to find better dividers for next year.

Below is a picture of my growing setup. The other two bins have dill, chives, tomatoes and peppers. I just started those today.

The Bright Side of Winter

2009-02-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

Snow is pretty on evergreens and makes my gargoyle look like a smurf. .

Purple Gem Rhododendron

This evergreen turns a beautiful color in the fall and stays just as beautiful through the winter months. In the spring this plant has wonderful purple blooms.

Just one of many clumps of Daffodils popping up.

Crocuses are starting to come up also.

I noticed in the winter I can get quite a bit done indoors...Even if it's just indoor gardening. :)

Helleborus (indoors)

Passiflora Incarnata "May Pop"

This pasaflora is winter hardy in my NY planting zone but I decided to give it one more winter indoors to play it safe. It also came in from the garden with some Irish clovers. Perfect for St. Patty's Day.

Hibiscus bud (indoors)

Key Lime Tree (indoors)

Even though this tree is tiny, it already gave me a lime this winter. It will go outdoors as soon as there is no sign of frost. Which here is probably the end of April beginning of May.

There is always seed starting to do in February and March. Below are seven daylily seedings that I planted about two weeks ago already popping up. How exciting! This was my first mini cross.

Winter blues

2009-02-09T17:58:00.000-08:00

A sleepy Oakley trying to keep warm.

We've had a rough winter and the whole family has been spending a lot of time indoors under blankets to keep warm.

I snuck out a few times to get some pictures but unfortunately the best thing around was ice. So here goes...

My Japanese Maple tree coated in ice.

Icy Dogwood branches glistening in the sunset.

So since it's February, it's time to start thinking about what seeds I'm planting in the spring and which daylily seeds I will start this week. I will be shopping for some plastic containers, soil and will need to make some room under my plant light for starting the seeds. Can you tell I am looking forward to spring? I even ventured outside this weekend to clean up my front porch and to look for new growth expecting nothing. Only I did find something! One of my bulbs (a Daffodil) trying to come up. The warmer weather this weekend has melted the snow and has gotten the gardener in me all excited.

Rainy Day Garden Stroll

2008-09-27T07:45:00.001-07:00

My Garden stroll started early this morning when there was a break from the rain. I let my dogs outside and turned to look at my garden but instead was attracted to the glittering spider web below . The web was covered in little water droplets. I just had to run inside for my camera to capture this moment.

The spider web sparked my interest this morning to walk through my gardens futher and see what other beautiful things the rain created.
Above are two late blooming Hemerocallis (Daylilies). The first is Autumn Blaze and the second is Autumn Prince. Both are putting on a great September show now that the rest of my daylilies have died down.
Here is a great looking plant called Guara. This plant is so pretty because it resembles a fountain even after a heavy rain. It has been blooming all summer and never took a break. It looked so beautiful this morning.

Here are some beautiful coneflowers putting on a late show this rainy fall morning.

This lavender is a newer plant so it has only a few blooms but what beautiful blooms they are.

This rudbeckia is still holding on with a few blooms.

This is a late blooming plant with the common name turtle head. This part shade loving plant adds some much needed color to my hosta garden in the fall.

Mums, an all time great plant to add a splash of color to those colorless daylily beds in the fall. This hardy mum was planted last year and came back much larger this year.

I can't take credit for this sedum. My grandfather planted it in this pot many years ago. It adds some beauty and style to the end of my driveway this time of year.

Fruits of my labor

2008-08-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I attempted to grow more than just cherry tomatoes. I have quite a good crop for just a small vegetable garden. Above is what I picked today. Pickling cucumbers, beef steak tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, hot banana peppers, cayenne pepper, thumbelina carrots and okra.

Beef Steak Tomatoes

Key lime

Spineless Okra

Cayenne pepper

Some frequent guests in my garden.

2008-07-31T14:26:00.000-07:00

Now that all my Buddleia are in full bloom I have some very frequent guests.

My dwarf pink being their top choice. Although they sample a bit of everything else as they visit.

Monarch Butterfly on a Buddleia.

Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly on a Buddleia.

I think this may be a honey bee, if it is, then they are alive and well in my garden this year. This picture is a bit blurry because this little bee wouldn't stop moving.

A little Skipper butterfly loving my hydrangea. I don't know how I got this shot. They are such quick little butterflies.

I'm not sure what type of bee this is but he was happy going from flower to flower on my Rudbeckia.

A little lady bug hanging out on my hibiscus plant and hopefully keeping away intruders.

A Black Swallowtail Caterpillar having a snack on some parsley. I'm hoping it stays and makes a chrysalis in my herb garden.

A cool dragon fly has been visiting a lot. This was my first chance to get a snapshot.

To see their closeups just click on the picture. I learned this from Nichole's blog. :)

Something New...

2008-07-30T14:27:00.001-07:00

I never thought I could put together an arrangement but I tried this sunday for my local flower clubs daylily show.

The theme was 'Through the Looking Glass'.

Flowers I used: Two different Hemerocallis (Unregistered Seedling ' Bob's Summer Blaze' R. Kann and a small unknown red), Campanula rotundifolia, Hosta and Hydrangea.

Here is a close up of the most predominant flower in the arrangement. Garden name, 'Bob's Summer Blaze'.

What I learned:

1. Keep it simple.

2. Make sure you have all the stems in the floral foam. ( I had a couple wilters)

All in all, I had fun and will probably take what I learned and enter again next year.

These are a few of my favorite things.

2008-07-23T15:57:00.000-07:00

Echinacea 'Green Envy'

Pink Buddleia and a Monarch Butterfly

Hemerocallis 'Spider Miracle' and a Bee.

What a Beautiful Garden.

2008-07-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

The Ramsden Garden

I am a big fan of frogs and daylilies, what a great combination.

Blueberry Breakfast

Nivia Guest
This garden seemed to just go on and on.
Just a cool gun slinger by some topguns daylilies. How clever.

Here are a few of their neighbors.

It was a very hot day but there were plenty of refreshments and a few cool shady spots in the yard. It was well worth the trip. This has to be my all time favorite garden. I almost forgot we were still on LI.

Day two of the LIDS Daylily tours.

2008-07-17T08:36:00.000-07:00

On Sunday July 13th we visited gardens in Nassau County.

The first stop was in Bethpage. Here were two of my favorites.

Fancy Face

Raspberries in Cream

The second stop was in Roslyn and there were so many beautiful varieties.

Here were just a few of my favorites.

Christmas In Oz

Dances with Giraffes

Princess Diana

Sandra's Smile (Limmer)

The last stop was in Syosset and just like the others there were so many beautiful daylilies. I took a photo of one of the many flower beds.

Very giant Hosta.

Another shot of one of the flower beds with some beautiful hosta, ornamental grass, a hydrangea, a daylily and a pot filled with annuals. It just looked so pretty.

By sunday night I was exhausted but looking at so many gardens was just so much fun.

Day one of the 2008 LIDS Garden tours

2008-07-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

On Saturday July 12. Nichole and I went out East for the first half of the LIDS daylily garden tours. We got an early start, about 7am and made a stop on the way at a nursery called Eastland. I ended up with Spider Miracle. A very cool yellow daylily.

Meeting up with my Mom, Bob and some friends, we then all started our very first LIDS Daylily tour.

Our first stop - The Bucklin Garden

Gary's Big Blue

Paris OverturesTrahlyta
A stop at a nearby pond.

Second on the tour - The Schwarz Garden

Very cool art.

Long Tall Sally

Very pretty Schwarz Seedling

Another beautiful Schwarz Seedling

Last Stop - The Neumann Garden

What a beautiful view, if this was my back yard I would never leave home.

This one had quite a few of us drooling.

Rosy Outlook

Mynelle's Starfish

Jeanne Fitton (Rasmussen)

King George ( Rasmussen)

Group Shot

One last picture.

A final bloom of Pat Neumann

The kind of duck that won't scare Nichole, but almost caused me to drive off the road. She was very excited to see the giant duck in person.

The day was exhausting but well worth it.

Most awesome bloom of the day.

2008-07-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

H. "Awesome Artist" (Lambertson '02)

This has to be my favorite daylily bloom of the season. This daylily is stunning, especially today.

Here is a photo of Fiona taking the time to smell the roses. Well, their not roses but she sure likes them anyway. Shh don't tell her they aren't blooming.

If she could only get her little nose on these flowers I'm sure she would like them much better...

H. "Paper Butterfly"

H. "Cat Dancer"

H. "Jan's Twister"

H. "Spacecoast Dixie Chick"

This is one of my sisters seedlings. It is not registered but what a beautiful daylily. I took this picture in my mom's garden. This daylily gets very tall scapes with large blooms in a deep burgundy color and it has a bright yellow throat. She made this cross when she was only eight years old.

Here is a R. Kann Seedling with the garden name "Bob's Melanie Frost" ( Becky Lynn X Joan Senior). This is the second year it bloomed in my garden and it has such a beautiful melon color bloom with slight ruffle and a stunning green throat.

Praying Mantis and Sunshine All Day

2008-07-09T13:17:00.000-07:00

FFO H. "Sunshine All Day" (Frank Smith ’07) and a Praying Mantis

On my way home from work today, I noticed a praying mantis hanging on for dear life to my windshield. I decided to pull over and try to save him. I didn't want to leave him on the side of the road to be squished and I didn't want him to fly off my car on the expressway. So I grabbed my lunch container and coaxed him inside. I figured he'd be safer there for the trip home. He made it safe and sound and was hanging out in my daylilies. He even found a snack.

Nature at its best...

2008-07-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of a mysterious cone flower that appeared in my garden last summer. I didn't plant it and figured it was from a seed the birds missed. This year it bloomed and it's neither purple or white (which are the the colors of the surrounding coneflowers) but a very pale pink. So the birds and the bees played a large part in creating a new coneflower right here in my garden. The picture doesn't seem to show the pink very well but in person it's such a sweet pretty pink.

Nature at its best!

No Words...

2008-06-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

Seedlings and Protecting My Scapes

2008-06-25T11:00:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-18T04:14:00.001-07:00

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

2008-06-10T09:42:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

Some new blooms and some questions answered

2008-06-07T09:47:00.000-07:00

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...

2008-06-06T04:04:00.000-07:00

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?

'Money Plant'

2008-05-27T12:21:00.000-07:00

This little lady bug must have found something good on the money plant. She waited patiently for me to run inside and grab my camera and stuck around long enough for me to snap quite a few pictures.

The money plant ended up in my compost by accident. I think I may have dug it up and tossed it in this spring when I took out a bush in the front yard. It didn't seem to mind it's new home.

'MONEY PLANT' Lunaria annua

This plant is a biennial plant and a member of the mustard family. It is attractive to long tongued bees and butterflies, and has a very nice fragrance. The seed pods form in a coin shape and when dried resemble papery coins.

Some other common names for this plant are 'Honesty' and the 'Silver Dollar Plant.'

Mulch

2008-05-26T16:23:00.000-07:00

This is the very first flower bed I started the year we moved in. Way back in 2001. It's grown in so well. There are some new plants up front that were added last year. Balloon flowers, veronica, and some daylilies. What has been there for years? Nikko blue hydrangeas, a lilac bush, two butterfly bushes (pink and purple), montauk daisies, coreopsis, geraniums, black eyed susans, and daylilies. The only thing blooming in this bed right now is the amazing dark purple irises.

Everything always looks better with a fresh coat of mulch.

Here is a close up of one. This picture does not do the color justice.

Here are some more garden shots freshly mulched.

Scapes on my Lavender Blue Baby Daylily. Yay!

and scapes on my Baby Blue Eyes Daylily.

A wild rose bud, this rose is native to long island and I got a peice from my mothers yard. I have no idea what the name of this rose is but it's always so beautiful all summer long and is very pest resistant.

Here it is in bloom.

These are my plans for memorial day weekend...

2008-05-25T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am lucky enough to have a great friend who gives me her leftover stone. Here is just a rough idea of a patio. Which will soon be surrounded by gardens.

Two days into mulch spreading. At least one more day to go. This is just half of what I started with. Nichole and I split about 15 yards. Half was dumped in my driveway the other half in hers. Who really needs to park in their driveway anyway?

Here are some irises that are blooming today.

Dwarf bleeding heart blooms, a strawberry and scapes on etched eyes!

2008-05-18T10:35:00.001-07:00

I bought three dwarf bleeding hearts from spring hill this year and they were so tiny I thought they wouldn't bloom this year. They did!

Here is a picture of my first strawberry this season.

Here is my most exciting news, signs of daylily season! Nichole gave me a piece of etched eyes yesterday. Today she showed me a scape in her yard on wisest of wizards. It was quite large already and had many branches off it. I searched every daylily in my garden except for this one because I saw it yesterday and there was nothing. Well just a little while ago I checked on it and there are two scapes!

Here are few more pictures

What I have been looking for in the dayliles I've purchased...

2008-05-16T08:53:00.001-07:00

Most of the daylilies in my garden have been gifts either by my mother, friends or the local daylily group I belong to. I love all of them and really look forward to the new blooms I see this year in my garden. Every day I am out looking for scapes even though I don't have many early bloomers in my yard. I just can't wait for it to be daylily season in my garden this year!

Now when I shop for a daylily I look for pretty blooming plants but also for daylilies who are considered good parents. My resent purchase from the daylily auction, Lavender Blue Baby is a good example. I want a plant that is fertile and that has created some wonderful looking offspring. I haven't always purchased daylilies this way but I have enough now that I think I have started to become picky about which ones I will buy. The more I read about hybridizing the more I have learned that everything is trial and error. It's just so much fun to do and maybe a few years down the line I will create at least one beautiful daylily but hopefully more than that.

Some snapshots

2008-05-15T17:12:00.000-07:00

Strawberry blooms

Parsley and Chocolate Mint

This is the first time these white Iris's bloomed for me and boy did they bloom!

Spider Wort or Tradescantia virginiana

Variegated Vinca

Some pretty dwarf iris blooms

Yellow Archangel or Lamium galeobdolon

The three photos below were taken with my phone. Not so bad for cell phone pictures.

Purple Gem Rhododendron

Lilac Blooms

Plant Mail

2008-05-15T10:58:00.000-07:00

I attended a daylily auction this past tuesday and left with only one daylily out of many I attempted to bid on. I am happy with my win, Lavender Blue Baby! I was going to win that one no matter what. Luckily towards the end there were just two of us bidding and another pot appeared. I have also just purchased Baby Blue Eyes and Primal Scream. So I'll be getting some more plants in the mail very soon. I am also still waiting on my herbs ordered from an organic herb farm in Cali. I just loving getting plant mail!

I think this will be my extent of ordering flowers and plants for the spring and summer. Although you never know what I'll pick up in the numerous nursery visits this season. The next big garden purchase will be the yearly mulch order that Nichole and I split. Thank goodness for her large driveway with no trees or I would never be able to get so much mulch at one time. Way to many trees in my driveway.

Mothers Day at the Peconic River Herb Farm

2008-05-11T18:23:00.000-07:00

A good portion of today was spent at the Peconic Herb Farm with my Mom, sister and friends. This was Nichole and her Mom's idea and it just may become a tradition. The grounds were beautiful. Next time I'm bringing the dogs and some lunch.

I just couldn't help but take a few snap shots of the plants and garden decor. This is giving me some good inspiration for a new garden.

I managed to make it out of there without spending a fortune, even though my mind kept telling me buy one of everything. I did however pick up some chocolate mint, chamomile, parsley, and lavender. I added it to my collection of herbs and almost all of it will go in the wine barrel herb garden. I also couldn't resist buying just one more wand flower to add to my collection.

Dogs in the garden...

2008-04-24T14:35:00.000-07:00

Fiona

You would automatically think this is a blog about dogs tearing apart my garden when in fact it is not. My two garden dogs just enjoy the time they have outside with me while I dig, plant, water and look at my garden. When I listed them as garden helpers I meant it. Noel "the white one" always lets me know when there are bee's around and has made me aware of some not so wonderful yellow jacket nests. She goes after them and never seems to be affected by their sting. Don't worry she is smart enough to back down to a nest of them. She always lets me know where the sunny spots are. She will lay down in the sunniest spot in our yard.

Fiona aka princess dog "the brindle one" loves to walk through the daylily beds and smell the flowers. Believe it or not, she is so gentle when she does this and I haven't lost a bud or scape yet.

Noel

What's blooming now...

Busy Week for a Vacation...

2008-04-24T09:07:00.000-07:00

I took these two photos last Saturday at my monthly daylily meeting at the planting fields in Oyster Bay. My Mom, Bob, Nichole and I all sat under this gorgeous weeping cherry tree and had lunch after we helped weed the LIDS Daylily display garden.

The daylily meeting was wonderful as usual. We saw a power point presentation of the 2007 AHS Convention. It was presented by Chris Petersen and she did a great job. The photos were outstanding. No door prize for me this time but the last meeting I was lucky enough to win Rasmussen's 'Jeane Fitton'.

This is the progress of some of my daylily seedlings. They are getting much bigger! It's been so warm this week so they are outside getting some rays during the day and back inside at night. This cross is Night Beacon with Lavender Stardust.

Right now I only have 5 seedlings from this cross.

Here are some shots I took of new blooms in my garden today.

I've been on vacation this week and have kept pretty busy at home.

However, yesterday Nichole and I went to NYC to see a taping of Paula's Party!

It was so much fun. Paula Deen is just as nice and down to earth in person as she is on TV. During her breaks she had her producer and another man fixing her spanks, right there in front of us. If you don't know who Paula Deen is, the best way I can explain her is the "Butter and Frying Queen". The name of the show we saw was called "Grease is the word". That says it all.

Today I plan on digging and prepairing a vegetable garden in my back yard. I will put pictures up of my progress very soon. I think this is also where my new daylily seedlings will go.

Daylily division time

2008-04-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

Hibiscus 'Montego Wind'

As soon as I came home from work I was outside

digging and dividing. It was so nice out yesterday.

Although, as soon as the sun went down it was freezing.
I still have quite a few clumps of daylilies to divide.

I also planted a few pansies in the front of this daylily bed.

I filled in the spaces with some bulbs last fall.

Everything is starting to bloom!

If you look real close you can see the daylilies coming up.

Helleborus

2008-04-07T16:10:00.000-07:00

Helleborus 'Green Corsican'

This plant is pretty new to me. It was a present from my husband.

He bought it because the woman at the garden center told him it will

bloom on or around my birthday every year. That works for me.

It likes part shade and I was told that it likes little to no

direct light so I hope it is happy in it's new home under my

Andromeda and Japanese Dogwood.

A few new blooms.

2008-04-06T16:42:00.000-07:00

Pink Pulmonaria "Lung Wort"

I love this plant! It has been in my shade garden

for three years now and always gives me a

great early spring show. Then the rest of the summer it just

shows off it's spotted leaves. I loved it so much I bought it

in another color last summer.

Mini Daffodil "tete a tete"

Tulip "Varinas"

Daffodil - I saved this from my next door neighbor's

garden before they ripped everything out.
This one looks a lot like "Flower Record" to me.

Tulip Beauty Queen

Newly aquired spring bulb from a friend.

Spring Blooms and Spring Visitors

2008-03-31T18:32:00.001-07:00

Early Birthday Presents

2008-03-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

I couldn't resist buying this Rhododendron 'PJM'.

Since my birthday is only a week away, I declare this a birthday week present.

It's such a pretty

color and it's foilage is beautiful.

The tag says the leaves will turn mahogany color in the winter.

This is from Nichole. A beautiful Azalea.

It will stay indoors for a little while because it's blooming too early.

My Garden Pictures from 2006 and 2007

2008-03-28T16:20:00.001-07:00

Busy Week

2008-03-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know where to start....

On Thursday, my Daylily partner in crime, Nichole and I went to NYC to the Martha Stewart Show. It was wonderful and exciting. We then went on to the Macy’s Flower Show. I am a Long Island girl but I had never been to the Macy’s in Manhattan. So going there was exciting. You then add beautiful plants and flowers… Amazing!!!

Martha Show

Macy's Flower Show

On Friday I started to clean up the leaves I missed in my front gardens. This turned out to be a bigger project then I thought. By the time I was done, a large bush was removed and all the pachysandra.

I planted my new trees and shrubs from the Arbor Day Foundation in my newly found space. Right now they are just sticks but some day they will be beautiful. A hydrangea tree will be replacing the bush I removed. In the mean time, I will be planting more daylilies and new seedlings in this bed because it is in a great sunny location.

I have also spent a lot of time just standing in my yard staring at my spring flowers.

The Crocuses are done blooming and the Daffodils have just begun.

One last piece of exciting news, my very first daylily seedlings have emerged!!! I am so excited!!!

I have three seedlings from my Fairytale Pink – Janice Brown cross and one seedling from my Little Bee – Janice Brown cross. I hope more pop up soon.