More Hydrangea Photos

Probably no need for comment, just more recent photos of the same hydrangea-- the best-performing one, by far, this year.

There were a few bumblebees buzzing around one sunny day when I took most of these photos.  I think I got a few decent shots, but most of them were like this one-- everything hidden but the bee-hind. ;o)

Ok, that might be enough photos of the same shrub for one year... ;o)  Or at least until it changes substantially...

Tromboncino Squash

Trobmone squash are growing more noticeably, now that the heat is ramping up.  The leaves of this type of squash are pretty, with silvery-white markings along the veins.

There are tiny little tromboncino squashes on the vine, but it may be a while before they're big enough to pick.  Need to research that again... I've forgotten when it's best to eat them, if you're going to harvest them green, which we are.  Technically, I'm sure we could eat them right now, but they're so small it would be a waste to pick them just yet.

Here's another couple of the mini-squashes:

When I took these photos (June 2nd-- oops, got it wrong the first time and had to come back to fix it...), this particular vine-- our largest/tallest at the moment-- had just reached the next-tallest wire.  Now it's over the top.

We've harvested a couple of yellow crookneck squash already, as well as a few handfuls of tomatoes-- some of each kind (cherry, grape, and 'Early Girl')-- and a few radishes, too.

Garden Stroll

Just a random assortment of photos from the past week or so...

As you can see, I'm not always prompt about deadheading the daylilies... I'll do it sometimes, when I think about it and have time when I'm already outside, but if I'm busy or have just done a lot of weeding or other tiring gardening jobs, I leave them to look after themselves.  Some of them are fairly self-cleaning (though it can take a day or two for the spent flowers to dry enough to fall), but others do tend to make a mess that can sometimes (rarely) prevent new flowers from opening cleanly.

I ought to make more of a habit of dead-heading.  If it weren't for mosquitoes, it could be a pleasant early-morning/late-afternoon garden ritual.  But there are mosquitoes, and they always find me.  (I'm one of those people they seem especially drawn to.  Just lucky, I guess...  It probably means something dire for my health-- but then again, I've always gotten a lot of attention from mosquitoes, ever since I can remember...)

Under the covered patio...

Purple coneflower...

This is a volunteer crepe myrtle that came up near our 'Victor' crepe myrtle.  I transplanted it to a spot with more room, because I didn't have any crepes in that pale pink.  (All the others are dark pinks / reds or white.)  I'm happy with it so far-- especially for a volunteer/seedling.  Not a bad amount of bloom, and it's growing quickly.

This is the bed I expanded late last year, along the western side of the house.  Kind of a mish-mash, in this photo-- but that's actually how most of my garden looks. (g)  That's cottage garden style, right?

I've been pleasantly surprised by the number of daylilies blooming in this bed, this year, because I thought I'd put almost only seedlings from last year in here.  I wasn't expecting flowers until next year, at the earliest.  But now I'm not sure if these are just early-bloomers (literally) or if I actually ended up moving some of the previous year's seedlings.  Doesn't matter-- just unexpected.

Ok, maybe it looks messy, but I actually like it like this... Controlled chaos.  Restrained jungle.

More Daylily Photos

You know the drill. ;o)

Daylily seedlings.
I've seen at least one green shoot that rotted (or something).  Not all pots have all three seedlings, either, but so far, it's not bad.  I'll have to recount again, sometime, to see how many there are.

I can never decide whether I prefer the dark or the light daylilies... I mean, of course I like them both, but sometimes I think the dramatic, richly hued ones have a slight edge over the others-- more of a "wow factor"-- until I get a good look at some of the faintly-tinted pastels, which often have a cool, classic elegance... It's impossible to decide.

I moved the 'Kwanso' daylilies back from the shed to the house.  For the time being, they're right on the edge of the back porch patio.  Reading Passalong Plants helped me see the beauty again in these "plain orange" daylilies (though they aren't the plainest of the plain, since they're double/triple).  That and they're growing in my grandmother's garden-- and I remember Mom had orange dayliles in her garden at the old house.  It seems a tradition worth keeping.

(But I probably will keep them off in their own corner, since they're so hearty that they could easily out-perform and choke out the hybrids.  Easier for dividing and knowing what's what, down the road.)

This one had a petal that didn't want to open all the way, but it was the only one open on that plant, the day I was taking photos.  Unusual "bubbly" texture on the petal edges.

The coral-salmon-pink of this daylily is particularly eye-catching-- one of my favorites currently in bloom.  There's another photo of it in different light, third up from this point in the blog entry...

I'm loving all the daylilies!  This summer has been very exciting, so far, with all the first-time bloomers.  When they finish for the year, we can anticipate the daylilies lined up to "debut" next summer-- and the summer after, if this year's new seedlings succeed.

At some point, it might be interesting to try my own hand at hybridizing-- just for fun and use in my own garden, of course.  (I wouldn't expect to ever attempt to register anything.)  The only downside to hybridizing is that you have to wait so long to see the results-- same as with any seed-grown daylily.  Still, it could be worth the wait.