Thanx @Sojerd It’s really the weather here in the PNW . The variety of plants that can be grown in this zone is what really makes the difference. It’s an easy garden to maintain especially after so many years the garden has trained me well. Like your beautiful veggie garden you too have a great zone for your plot. Every year it’s always pure joy for me to watch all your garden harvest. Life begins the day you start a garden. Chinese proverb. Fate gives all of us three teachers, three friends, three enemies, and three great loves in our lives. But these twelve are always disguised, and we never know which one is which until we've loved them, left them, or fought them. ~ Gregory David Roberts
Got the giant lilies out of their pot and into the rocky ground. After a week they are still blooming and looking ok. Potted up these pink blooming shamrock bulbs when I dug out the yucca they were hiding under. They are prospering now that the have real soil. I believed they bloomed all summer last year.
Pac— your Abutilon pictum looks very good to me. First of all, I like that sunsetty-salmony colour especially. I also like its habitus. Yes, very nice indeed. We call them “Chinese lanterns”, translated. Cheers for the compliments. Also, I liked your philosophising. You are as interesting as your plants. Haha. Jewell— don’t your Shamrocks look smashing! And that Lilium plant puts the sun in your plots.
Loggie, that rose is so unbelievably beautiful. Pardon me for being way late in commenting on it. It sort of melts the heart, doesn’t it.
Thanx for your kind compliments and perception of the many choices of my plants posted that has influenced your processes of evaluation . This seems to be the universal principle for most gardeners . We also call abuliton ‘flowering maple’. Nothing to do with maples other than the leaf form is similar. I have had that thompsonii for many years. I bring it in the house every year and it looses a lot of leaves until spring then comes back to life. Today’s pic from the small pond see slides. Water hyacinth bloom and fish Nymphaea-Hardy water lily. Water lily leaves , flower buds.
Pac—It was nice to see those aqua-plants. We do not see them often. We do not have them in the canals here because the water must flow. Still I like them . In fact waterlily leaves are featured in the flag of Friesland.. The fish was a nice touch, meid.
Oh flag of Freida. I had to look that one up. Is that a providence near you? Interesting to see water lily leaves on a flag. never knew this. Thankx. What a cool flag. Friesland flag info: It consists of four blue and three white diagonal stripes; in the white stripes are a total of seven red pompeblêden, leaves of the yellow water-lily, that may resemble hearts, but according to the official instructions "should not be heart-shaped". The jerseys of the football club SC Heerenveen and the Blauhúster Dakkapel [fy] are modeled after this flag.
Hello Pac. The area in which I live is called West-Friesland. It is a remnant of the old Friesian kingdom. Friesland Province is north of us. I have an ancestral tie to Friesland. Great posting. I wear the colours at times.
I planted this Lonicera so long ago, I no longer recall its name. What I liked about it was the variegated foliage and its unusual fragrance.
@Sjoerd i have never seen a variegated Lonicera it could be ‘Harlequin’ ? I have Lonicera periclymenum ‘Sentsation’. It grows extremely fast and like the wisteria , I have been considering eliminating them. But every year when they bloom I just don’t have the heart to do it. They are both outta control. I think I bit off more than I can chew. This tidbit of information has definitely caused concern for the outrageous fall clean up . Today’s pics are a couple of great small plants that pack a wallop when they are in bloom. Caryopteris x clandonensis Or common name Bluebeard . A nice woody shrub that required little attention once established. Lavandula stoechas , Bract Lavender, Butterfly Lavender, French Lavender, Spanish Lavender, Topped Lavender Here in the Pacific Northwest Spanish Lavender grows as well as on the French Mediterranean Coast where it is a native plant. Give it a sunny spot with well drained soil and cut back in winter.
@Sjoerd thank you for the homeland information about the Friesland Providence. Always reminds me of the Friesian horse I had as a child. He was a huge horse for a 10 year old but extremely gentle always willing to plz. (Fries paard in Dutch; Frysk hynder in West Frisian) is a horse breed originating in Friesland in north Netherlands. They are known as the ‘Gentle Giant’. easy gate and calming personality. Today they are seen thruout the horse world as trained dancing horses in horse shows. Champaign races and carriage. They are amazing beauty in motion . Many of the Queen’s guardsmen steed and thru parades in England. They are dear to my heart.
Sjoerd such a lovely honeysuckle, never seen a variegated one. I've got one growing through a shrub, i didn't put it there and I'm wandering to get it out. Pacnorwest such lovely lavenders.
@Logan it can be a hassle to get honeysuckle out of shrubs once they have mingled thru . I have the same issue with them and wild blackberry. The only thing I do during the growing season is continually cut the vines back as far as possible. I use a telescopic prunner not as much bending down. Then during winter when the plants are dormant if not evergreen, it’s easier to dig the invaders out. In many cases the birds drop seeds thruout the garden in many areas where I cannot get the roots. I have to admit I have put up with all of the vines from wild blackberry and honeysuckle sneaking up and thru many plants. It’s a constant battle, one I have been trying to conquer for a few years. If you find a solution I would be very grateful. Special thanx for your comment on my lavender plants .
