A rainy day- July 17, 2016

It was raining this morning. I will not have to get out the hose for a while. I also have the time to find some pictures and share some thoughts.

July is over half over. Sometimes people think that means that winter is just around the corner.
If the garden season is from mid April to mid October we have just begun the second half. There is a lot of time left.
To celebrate all that time I have been trying to plant something every day.
Yesterday I splashed a few of those slow caladium pots around. They are slow no longer.
Here are some caladium pictures. These plants will be strong into October. There will be a lot of pictures. Early in the morning, when the sunlight comes from behind, they are wonderful.

This is the white cladium. It is called Candidum. It came up much earlier than the red one.

Red Flash is the red one I also ordered this year. At this point those slow pots from a month ago pots have enormous leaves. One pot can immediately create interest in empty spots. (I know-where could I possibly have empty spots.)
I planted 4 pots in the front parkway yesterday. I think I have 11 more pots to plant.




I also planted a flat of zinnia seeds yesterday. Am I crazy? Why did I not do this in May? Well, I hope I am a little crazy. As to why this wasn't done in May,  I just didn't get to it. The seeds should germinate in a week with the rain today, and I bet they will be blooming by September 1. We will see.
I also found that some garden center sales have started. I was able to get a nice yellow coneflower yesterday. I will figure out where to put it later.
When you plant things, whether it is April or July, it is always exciting when the new shoots come up. I discovered that the yellow clivia seed from Florida have finally sprouted. Maybe I should try some Amaryllis seed.

The daylilies are still putting on a show, even though they are ending. Whenever one completely ends that marks some point in time. The last few blooms from Ruby Spider may be tomorrow.
Here is Ruby Spider over the last 3 weeks. I think there were a total of about 150 flowers during that time. There should be no question why I put it at a focal point in the garden.

June 20

June 20

June 25

June 26

June 29

June 30

July 16

July 16

The other daylilies have been good too.

This is Bright Eyed Doll.

This black daylily is pretty good. It is so like velvet early in the morning.

This is Brookside Vandide.
One of my all time favorite pictures was taken of this flower in 2003. The plant is tucked away by the front porch where it does not get the attention it deserves. I will try to remedy that for next year.
That should go on the to do list for late August.

This is probably Volcanic Explosion. I moved it 2 years ago. It had been near the dogwood which had gotten bigger and was starting to block the sun. It took 2 years to recover.
One thing that happens with a garden is that the amount of sun expands in places and contracts elsewhere.

I am not sure who this is but it has ruffles.













Gems in the garden continue to appear. A gem is a plant which requires that  I grab someone walking down the street and tell them they have to come look at this. With hanging plants like orchids I can take the plant right out to them. Of course Saturday our neighbor did the same thing with a 30 pound catfish that he had just caught. It is that kind of neighborhood.

This orchid is called rhynchostylis coelestis.
It started to bloom before we left for Colorado two weeks ago. It has bloomed for me before, during the summer. I just have to manage not to kill it over the winter. The I put it out in late May and here come the flower spikes. This time there were two of them.
These pictures were from Wednesday of this week.




It is also prime time for lilium. It seems they have been taller this year. They are tall enough that you can take a picture with the sky as the background.

This is Anastasia. She is now about 5 feet tall. She reliably comes back every year.
This is another Orientpet, the cross between an Oriental lily and a Trumpet lily.

This is Oriental lily Pizzazz. It is another Orientpet.

This is Stargazer, a variety that has been around for years.

This is Conca D'oro

This is probably Casa Blanca.













Soon all of these will be gone. It will be August and where will there be pictures? Well, the caladium will be there. The night blooming cereus is setting buds. I see more cactus flowers in the future. There will be toad lilies. Maybe I should get more fall crocuses.
And then there will be zinnas. Maybe tomorrow I will plant some nasturtiums. Snapdragons are good I am told.
Keep planting things. The garden season has a long way to go.
Philip