Monday, June 23, 2008

Raindrops Keep Falling

I think it's been about two weeks with rain everyday.

It makes for a lot of green,which I love. The Cerastium tomentosum (commonly called snow-in-summer) is the white you see around the tree. It's always nice when it blooms after we've had a lot of rain to give that green/white contrast all across the rockwall garden.


I don't know what happened to this big poppy bud just as it was getting ready to open.
It suddenly turned this dark brown color. Reminds me of a vole's body with those stiff hairs all over it.

The Tropicannas are struggling. The 50-degree temperatures are just a bit too cold for all my tropicals.


These canna leaves are way smaller than they should be. My callas are barely breaking through the soil.



The Rembrandt dahlias in the two new containers flanking the back deck steps are doing well. This one has particularly large leaves and I can't wait to see what color the "striped and dotted" blooms will be. I purchased a mix of colors.




I was planning to throw this plastic pedestal container in the garbage. It's old and brittle. The top lip broke right off, but everything else seemed sturdy enough for another season. I decided to keep it and have some fun by painting it bright orange. I dry brushed a little gold over the orange so it would sparkle in the sunlight and tone down the orange a bit. Inside I have the Picasso canna, which is that big orange and yellow splotched one, with a dainty yellow daisy-like dahlia planted beside it. I think I also have some callas in there.

The phlox is already getting powderly mildew in the deck garden. It won't hurt the plant, but it's unsightly.



So with the rains come a few challenges. I would much rather put up with a little mildew than have everything dry up from lack of rain.

7 comments:

  1. I am surprised you cannas haven't taken off like mine have, afterall we are in the same zone 5b?

    Here are my pics in the link below, I am the user "bullseye"

    http://gardentenders.com/topics/309

    Mick in Ontario Canada

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think some of the flowers are slow and suffer from too much rain even though they may be 'tropical'. Dahlias seem to like it. My sweet peas are really thriving. The Canna I have is in the waterfall part of the pond and it was already a good size when I bought it. They had it in the water plant section at Lowes.
    Your 'Snow-in-the-summer' is pretty. Another plant I had that went away.
    Seeds aren't doing well for me at all. I love to plant seeds as I feel I have more of a part in their growing process. I will say the Nasturtiums are doing ok and some have flowers already.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi Zoey,
    Hey, send some rain our way! My garden is literally baking in all this hot sun! I'll have to post a picture of some crispy items..
    I love how everything is so nice and green where you are!
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mick, Your cannas are doing great. Did you start them inside?

    Dianne, I never have much luck with seeds either. I seem to do better if I plant them in containers.

    Susie, I hope you get some rain soon. I know it's not fun to watch everything turn crispy!

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  5. Yes I did luv! I started them around the end of March in the basement under growlights that I have setup under one of those stainless shelving units on wheels that you can get from Lowes or costco.

    Here are some of my other plants

    http://www.ubcbotanicalgarden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=40574

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  6. The problem with all this rain, though, is that the weeds just love it too! I was out weeding a little today but it seems that every time i get out there it is the cue for the rain to start...

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  7. Now I don't feel quite as bad, Mick! :) I didn't put mine out until the first week of June. I really need to get one of those grow units if I want to have canna blooms before mid August.

    Kate, I have noticed that. I just can't keep up the weeds this year. Although I have to confess that i don't try as hard as i used to.

    ReplyDelete

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