Mears Garden news- Spring week 10- May 31, 2009

A good garden week was capped by a glorious weekend. We had rain on Tuesday. It warmed up during the day and cooled off at night. The lupines are staying around with the cooler weather. The caladium are slow to emerge, wanting that 80 degree weather. All the plants in the trees are happy, with the orchids putting out new growth and the orchid cactus blooming, mostly yellow.

Highlights of the week include

I went in to see a judge at the courthouse (I am a lawyer in my other life) and she had a big bearded iris in a vase on her desk. We discussed that it is best to treat all tall bearded iris as cut flowers.

There were several glorious early mornings. If you go out before 6 you really can feel like you still have lots of time to get stuff done.

Weeding- After a good 1.5 inches of rain on Tuesday pulling weeds was real easy. I am starting to pull up the woodland anemones that will grow anywhere you let them. They are nice but they do crowd out the competition. The poppies are wonderful emerging from this canopy of anemones. The poppies are not as full this year since there has been all this foliage around the. Gardening can certainly be a matter of choices.


This might be the week with the best pictures of the year. The poppies have started. The Siberian iris are peaking. And the orchid cactus have started. I think you will see the pictures this week in the contest this fall.

There are four different colors.
First there is blue- of an iris called Wall Street Blues. I guess that is an appropriate iris for this year.










Red orange- This Oriental poppy stands out from across the yard.










Yellow- The orchid cactus is blooming around the yard. There are so many pictures possible, particularly when the sun is behind it.











Pink- Here are more Oriental poppies, emerging from the background of the woodland anemones.










There you have it. Picking this week is a chore, but a wonderful chore.
Last week the fan favorite was the pink lupine.


For your bonus pictures I start with the amazing poppy called Beauty of Livermore. We tried to find this deep red for years. Once we found it I tried to capture the color on film or whatever. I think I have come as close this year as ever.






























More red is featured with the red orchid cactus, a red peony, with speckles, a reddish clematis, and the red achillia called Paprika.



































There is then some more blue, a pink picture, and this interesting allium called bulgaricum.



























And to think that the lilies are just about to start. What a time.

Philip Mears