Picture contest- week 11- January 20

Burr. We are having one of those very cold spells that makes it difficult to think about anything warm. The row of numbers on the seven day forecast shows lots of single digits and those awful minus signs. Last week I mentioned that 20 degrees seemed cold. That is not the case any longer. This morning I told Julia that it was only minus 8.
So what do you do? Here are 5 things to do. (1) Find a good garden catalogue. You may well have a stack of those catalogues someplace. Pick out the 1 plant that you must have. Many companies now have webcites with many more pictures than are actually in the catalogue. (2) Try to figure out where in the garden it could possibly fit. (3)Think about that part of your garden. Actually, think about that part of the garden in June or May or April. Is it working yet? (4) Look at some pictures of that part of the garden or of that particular type of plant. Use the Google Image function. (5) At this point you have some choices. You can order the plant. You can decide if you make it through this coming Thursday’s schedule, as a reward you will get that plant. Or you can just go get another catalogue and start at step 1 again.

If you are interested, when I go through the steps above, at least the first four, I get to the following plant from Pine Know Farms, a nursery in Virginia specializing in hellebores.
winter dream elegance white
http://www.pineknotfarms.com/Elegance%20White-.jpg
I then have to survive though a week from Tuesday.

On to the contest.

This last week the winner was the Blue Iris. You guys sure like Blue. Blue is good. Could we have an all Blue final this year?
Time will tell.

So here was the voting:


1- Silk Road 21+2=23 or 25.6%
2- Blue Japanese Iris 31+13=44 or 51.2 %
3- Pink Asclepias 3+6=9 or 10.5 %
4- White Anemones 9+2=11 or 12.8%
The first number in the addition is the electronic vote, the second the email vote.

I should say something about the finals which will start in two weeks. I will give the pictures you have chosen seedings. (as oppose to seedlings- plant joke) Seedings are based on highest winning percentages for the particular week.
Each week in the finals you will pick from 4 contestants, all of which were winners in the first 12 rounds plus 4 wildcard winners. In the first week seedings 1,8,9 and 16 will compete. It will be like a tournament draw. If the top 4 pictures win their contests they would meet in the one week super finals in March.
Right now here is how the winners stack up:

Blue Siberian Iris(4) 69.3%
Pink Waterlily (3) 55.4
Frog (5) 54.1
Blue Fall Crocus (6) 48

Pink Peony(2) 38.2
Forget me nots (7) 38.1
Yellow Orchid Cactus (8) 37.5
Emerging Poppy (1) 35.5
Coneflower (9) 34.8

There is a lot of blue in there. I think that some of those other colors may win if the blue vote is split. We shall see.

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Here are this week’s pictures. The week’s theme is close-ups.

1- Yellow- Here is a closeup of a waterlily. Diving into the center of the flower always reminds me of some old Star Trek from the 60’s. The ship is being drawn slowly into the center of some unknown. Be sure to see the bonus section for more pictures of this waterlily.











2. Polka dot- This is a toad lily, a wonderful addition to the garden in 2007. Actually I had put some in 2 years ago. 2007 was the first year they bloomed. This picture was taken on September 22. Go fall flowers. Toad lilies’ more dignified name is Tricyrtis. Needless to say there are many varieties. More are coming in 2008.












3. Red- A red tulip. There is nothing, and I repeat, nothing like the splash of bright tulips in the spring. I always want to plant more. On the other hand one of my children got me 100 tulips for my birthday, which is in September, 2 years ago. I did have to figure out just where in the world I was going to put them. We tend to plant perennials everywhere, which leaves little room for annuals or bulbs like tulips that sometimes do not last more than a season or two. I am now trying to set aside some areas of the yard for that wonderful combination.












4. Pink- A daylily called Delmar. I do not have many repeats in my daylily collection. Sure I will have a few clumps that I have divided in the past. Delmar was so nice that after it bloomed I bought a second clump. Once again I think about a tiny spaceship flying up the infinite center of the flower.











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Bonus section
First there are these pictures that are of the same plants in the contest this week. With the waterlily there is a picture closer and then farther away. With Delmar you can see the entire flower.



































Then there are some more toad lilies. Did I mention that they grow well in the shade.















































I started picking out tulip pictures and just about couldn’t stop. Somehow just looking at a tulip today made me feel better.




























































Finally while I do not have pumpkins today for you, I have frozen art of a different kind. These were some of the windows on the east side of our house Saturday morning as the temperatures were about minus 7.


Have a great week.
Philip