Garden blog Memes, all missed this month. I missed May Dreams Gardens Bloom Day, even though there are plenty of flowers in the garden: roses, mostly.
Roses and the ghosts of Clematis past.
The Dahlias glow on and on.
I missed Tidewater Gardener's Winter Walk-off this past winter--it was a bit on my mind in yesterday's post of neighborhood views. I missed Foliage Followup from Digging, a shame because there is always the beautiful foliage of Agave 'Joe Hoak'. I've been checking 'Joe' daily because he's about to bloom. Any day now. I can feel it.
Still waiting. In the meantime, I'll admire his five increasingly beautiful children--offsets I gathered with difficulty by maneuvering in between Dyckia spines and Euphorbia sap. Totally worth it:
Is there an "Oh No, It's Grown!" meme? Aloe 'Hercules' for that one. It's just about to hit 2 meters.
I missed the Wide View from XericStyle, though I did get a photo for it:
I missed My Favorite Plant This Week from Danger Garden, which brings me back to 'Joe Hoak', good for this week, last week, next week, any week at all.
But since I'm out of 'Joe' pictures, this West Coast Lady, Vanessa annabella, instead. How many creatures have an upper-middle-class girly name as their scientific designation? Vanessa annabella!
Unlike the ever-flittering Monarchs, Vanessa annabella perches for quite a time, making her easier to photograph. On the other hand, she apt to sip nectar with her wings closed, so I only got the backside of them, not the more colorful fronts. She's quite hairy for a Vanessa, no?
Is there a Today's Butterfly meme? And all the other fine garden blog memes, most of which I can't remember, let alone contribute to. There's a Wordless Wednesday--I've never figured out the source for that one. Perhaps it's a general garden blogger's phenom--it's Wednesday and I have nothing to say but I do have a pretty picture... Throwback Thursday, anyone?
Today is Friday, however. There's a garden book review meme--another I'm unsure of as to source, and there's so much on the web now, who has time for books, though the book I use as a laptop table, "Color In Your Garden", (Hobhouse, 1985) has been useful for more than its laptop holding ability. I dip into it while waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for my laptop to wake up.
Garden blogs aside, the meme of October's garden in California is planting: planting all the plants bought back in summer, when it was too hot to plant them. I got an Agave titanota in the ground, finally--an Agave given to me by the proprietor of A Growing Obsession. It took me all of twelve seconds to dig the planting hole (silty loam = heaven), and a full half-hour to get the plant out of the pot. I was beginning to wonder if it was glued in there. A kitchen knife finally did it, producing a solid cylinder of woolly roots, along with a tiny offset. May it look like one of these, when it grows up. It don't, yet.
The 'Azure Rush' geranium was planted next to the 'Snowbird' rose.
Rosa 'Fair Bianca', which I had so carefully moved and nurtured and watered and fertilized and watered and fertilized and nurtured this spring and summer, yesterday I ripped out of the ground and threw out. I finally realized 'Fair Bianca' has all these thirteen years in my garden been insisting she simply wanted to die. Finally, I listened.
Is there a "I Ripped It Out, Threw It In The Trash And Now We're Both Happy." meme? Maybe now there is.
Roses and the ghosts of Clematis past.
The Dahlias glow on and on.
I missed Tidewater Gardener's Winter Walk-off this past winter--it was a bit on my mind in yesterday's post of neighborhood views. I missed Foliage Followup from Digging, a shame because there is always the beautiful foliage of Agave 'Joe Hoak'. I've been checking 'Joe' daily because he's about to bloom. Any day now. I can feel it.
Still waiting. In the meantime, I'll admire his five increasingly beautiful children--offsets I gathered with difficulty by maneuvering in between Dyckia spines and Euphorbia sap. Totally worth it:
Is there an "Oh No, It's Grown!" meme? Aloe 'Hercules' for that one. It's just about to hit 2 meters.
I missed the Wide View from XericStyle, though I did get a photo for it:
I missed My Favorite Plant This Week from Danger Garden, which brings me back to 'Joe Hoak', good for this week, last week, next week, any week at all.
But since I'm out of 'Joe' pictures, this West Coast Lady, Vanessa annabella, instead. How many creatures have an upper-middle-class girly name as their scientific designation? Vanessa annabella!
Unlike the ever-flittering Monarchs, Vanessa annabella perches for quite a time, making her easier to photograph. On the other hand, she apt to sip nectar with her wings closed, so I only got the backside of them, not the more colorful fronts. She's quite hairy for a Vanessa, no?
Is there a Today's Butterfly meme? And all the other fine garden blog memes, most of which I can't remember, let alone contribute to. There's a Wordless Wednesday--I've never figured out the source for that one. Perhaps it's a general garden blogger's phenom--it's Wednesday and I have nothing to say but I do have a pretty picture... Throwback Thursday, anyone?
Today is Friday, however. There's a garden book review meme--another I'm unsure of as to source, and there's so much on the web now, who has time for books, though the book I use as a laptop table, "Color In Your Garden", (Hobhouse, 1985) has been useful for more than its laptop holding ability. I dip into it while waiting (and waiting, and waiting) for my laptop to wake up.
Garden blogs aside, the meme of October's garden in California is planting: planting all the plants bought back in summer, when it was too hot to plant them. I got an Agave titanota in the ground, finally--an Agave given to me by the proprietor of A Growing Obsession. It took me all of twelve seconds to dig the planting hole (silty loam = heaven), and a full half-hour to get the plant out of the pot. I was beginning to wonder if it was glued in there. A kitchen knife finally did it, producing a solid cylinder of woolly roots, along with a tiny offset. May it look like one of these, when it grows up. It don't, yet.
The 'Azure Rush' geranium was planted next to the 'Snowbird' rose.
Rosa 'Fair Bianca', which I had so carefully moved and nurtured and watered and fertilized and watered and fertilized and nurtured this spring and summer, yesterday I ripped out of the ground and threw out. I finally realized 'Fair Bianca' has all these thirteen years in my garden been insisting she simply wanted to die. Finally, I listened.
Is there a "I Ripped It Out, Threw It In The Trash And Now We're Both Happy." meme? Maybe now there is.
I love your suggestions for new memes. I would have plenty of candidates for both "I Ripped It Out" and "Oh, No, It's Grown!" Such great butterfly photos. Nothing here ever perches long enough for me to focus on it with my camera.
ReplyDeleteI could post on those two subjects every day for months. Very embarrassing!
DeleteAh you had me "LOL-ing" along. (hate that phrase, almost as much as the word meme, don't know why). Anyway...I love "I Ripped It Out, Threw It In The Trash And Now We're Both Happy"...lord knows I could play along with that one for awhile.
ReplyDeleteThe photo of the barrel cactus and agaves along the wall, is that your garden? Oh and your 'Joe's' are looking so marvelous!
No, not my garden, I wish I had the discipline and talent and so forth for that. Isn't it gorgeous? I drive by that property as often as I can.
DeleteLove the idea of an "Oh no it's grown" (the aloe hercules is stunning very jealous) I was thinking the other day that if my agaves grown to even a fraction of their possible size I'm not going to be able to get into my garden. Possible post for future.
ReplyDeleteI'll be watching your blog for that post. Just read a James van Sweden quote--something about, "If your garden is smaller, plant monsters, be bold." So maybe you will end up with a fantastic garden, viewable from...your roof?
DeleteI am told 'Hercules' easily grows a meter per year here.
I'm enchanted by the rose in that first picture. What's it called?
ReplyDeleteHi Chad, that is the very enchanting 'Souvenir de la Malmaison'.
DeleteThanks. I am adding that one to my wish list.
DeleteLove the memes! I have candidates for both this month and this year.
ReplyDeleteI'm in lust over that beautifully spare yet perfect planting of A. titanota and friends. She's so different from what I imagine looking at my small representative. Mine lives in a pot for winter safety and can only dream of a size like your that of neighbor's plants.
I want my front-of-the-property to look like that, too. but I have all these other plants... Hazards of plant love, right? The titanotas leaves eventually end up very flat and thick, like oars. Bold.
DeleteWell, I guess that answers Cassio's question, "How is ’t with you, my most fair Bianca?" D.Y.K. (Dead you know Cassio) One would think that a rose named after a famous prostitute would perform better or at least be a little more resilient. To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time for uprooting what has been planted.
ReplyDeletejust stunning photos enjoyed them
ReplyDeleteLoved your Vanessa annabella photos! I could also contribute to a "I Ripped It Out, Threw It In The Trash And Now We're Both Happy" meme, have had quite a few this summer, still happy! Loved all your roses, even 'Fair Bianca' :-)
ReplyDeleteI should probably put my titanota in the ground too. I noticed the other day that it's looking miserable all of a sudden. Those ones you drive by are the ideal, in my opinion. I missed all those memes too!
ReplyDelete