Your task is simple. Pick the picture that you like from the four that are shown below. You can vote at the poll at the top of this post. The more detailed rules for the 16-week contest appear at the post from last week. You can find that by scrolling down to last week, or by clicking on the November archive listing on the right.
But first here are the totals from last. We have the first winner. The winner from week 1 was the purple anemone. Let’s here it for vibrant colors. Here are the voting totals. The first number is the vote on the poll at the blog. The second number is the write in vote (by return email)
Pink Daylily 16+7=23 for 29.5%
White Columbine 12+4=16 for 20.5%
Purple Anemone 31+2=33 for 42.3%
Yellow Iris 4+2=6 for 7.7%
Total 63+15=78
The anemone will advance to the finals, way out in maybe February. Under the rules, the top four runner-ups will also advance to the finals.
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Here are your pictures for this week.
First there is a white crocus, with the picture taken April 2. You can’t have too many crocuses. Well you can say that about a lot of flowers. But crocuses multiply, form clumps, and can be planted almost on top of deeper bulbs like daffodils. The crocuses will be done by the time the daffodils get organized. Gardening can be all about progressions.
As an after thought, I was at the garden store yesterday, and noticed that there were a lot of crocuses still on sale, and now they are really on sale. Sometimes I go in to the store about this time of year and just make them an offer for all of certain kind that they have left. But where would I put 200 crocuses?
Second here is a hearty orchid, that grows in the ground, called cypripedium parviflorum var. pubescens. It blooms in May. This one bloomed on May 29, as this year was almost 2 weeks later than previous years. It’s a shade thing. It clumps up over time. It has cousins of various colors, including pink and white. I just got 2 more this fall.
The third picture could be a mystery picture. Actually it is a close-up of an alium globe, taken on June 10. Alium are onions and certain varieties, spread nicely. I can really scatter them around the yard. One reason I do not separate them more is that they disappear by July and you can forget where they are. That is all the more reason to take lots of pictures. This variety, globemaster, has a purple globe, about 8 inches wide, sitting on a stem about 2-3 feet tall.
The final contestant is Triumphator, an Oriental lily crossed with someone else. I think lilies, not to be confused with daylilies, have become about my favorite type of flower in the garden. It is hard to write that because there are so many wonderful things that I grow. Sometimes my favorite has been hosta, sometimes daylilies, sometimes spring bulbs, sometimes iris, and sometimes epimedium. So it goes.
This particular plant, about 4 years old in the garden, missed the 2007 season entirely due to a bad freeze in early May. It was up about 4-5 inches at the time and just turned to mush. You know mush? Mush is what lettuce becomes if it is in the wrong part of the refrigerator, which is turned down too low. Despite the mush last year, this lily came back this year and bloomed on July 10.
So there you have it for this week.
Garden news:
The reality that the garden is done for the year is sinking in. The temperature got down to close to 10 degrees on Thursday night and there is ice on the little pond in the backyard. The hearty plants, like the hellebores, pulmonaria and epimedium still perk up when the temperature gets above freezing. You can almost tell the temperature depending on which ones perk up. These last few plants really must have some kind of antifreeze in their veins. (Do plants have veins? - I guess not.) It also interesting to watch at what temperatures certain plants call it quits. Some are done at 31.9 degrees. The hellebores I think will stick around despite the temperatures going to zero. Some of the epimediums will last till…well I am not sure.
While it seems cold, the temperatures do bounce back up this time of year and when it does, you can almost think it is March.
But it is also time to think about next year and even time to think about seeds to purchase. I try to start some seeds, like Iceland poppies about January 1. That will be here soon, and then it will be March and here will come the bulbs.
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So here is the bonus picture section. You do not vote for a picture in the bonus section. These pictures are not in the contest, but are just what it says- a little bonus bit of enjoyment. I sometimes think of them as picture footnotes. I think the pictures do not need further introduction.
I hope you all have a great week, and a great Thanksgiving.
Philip
3 comments:
oh, I do love crocus. absolutely can't have too many (whereas lily of the valley, possibly can't have too few. especially of the scent).
for me,it's snapdragons and hollyhock that seem to persist in cold, a while anyway.
Philip... which Orienpet is that in the right lower corner? It's a beauty!
don
Don.
The Orientpet is American Heritage which I got from John Scheepers about 6 years ago. It is one of those that doesn't seem to divide but just gets bigger.
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