Fertilizer Friday - May 28th

It's been several days since I've posted, thanks in large part to a virus that attacked my computer. It's still not back to normal but at least working again. During that time though I've been faithfully documenting my garden's grow. Wednesday was exciting because I discovered two dragonflies soaring about the yard, neither of which would stay still long enough for me to photograph. I never saw any last year so this is a good sign. Dragonflies are good bugs for the garden.

The Bird of Paradise Bush is covered with blossoms whose shape always makes me thing of upside down pineapples. Bees, Hummingbirds and butterflies are drawn to this plant. There's no scent but I love the delicate leaves on the plant. Reminds me of Mimosa trees, which I think this plant either is a variety of or is related to. The only problem is it's trunk was turned sideways so its growing horizontally as well as vertically. Another problem is I had no idea how large these things get until weeks after I had planted mine and saw one at another house when driving by. That thing was a tree and taller than the house. Some pruning may be needed in the future to keep this baby in check.

This Asiatic Lily is one that I've had for at least six years. I dug up the bulbs from my old place and planted them at my new home and within four months it bloomed. It's got to be close to 4 feet tall and makes a nice statement in the middle of the bed. It's about 3/4 opened today.

The color is a little off in this image, as it's more of a creamy white color. It was bought at Home Depot last year and its tag stated it came from a nursery in Texas. A nice tall daylily, up to 3 feet tall, which is lightly scented. I had divided the 1 gallon pot when I got it and planted it in different spots in the garden. So far all seem to be doing well. This bloomed for the first time today and was a nice surprise! I think it might also be a rebloomer but so far have not been able to find the tag to confirm this.

The Hollyhocks have started blooming this week and they are one of my favorite plants. They are fun in how high they grow and the fact that their flowers open from the bottom and work their way up. This one is a medium pink, double petaled. Rust spots are a problem with the hollyhocks here but the blossoms [and bees] don't seem to care so I try to ignore the ugly spots.

The color on this one is off too. The bright sunlight made it hard to film this very pumpkin orange Asiatic Lily. Another one I dug up and brought to my new home. The lilies, including the Orientals, have been surprising hardy, withstanding snow, high winds and sweltering sun. Everyone should grow lilies if possible.

The [blue] Pincushion flowers (Scabiosa) are needing some deadheading. This is another plant I highly recommend. I started with three plants two years ago and divided them last fall to have about eight plants. Three of the plants will need dividing again this fall because they've gotten wider and are crowding out nearby plants. The plants bloomed into December until the hard freezes and snow finally knocked them down to dormancy. The butterflies love this plant, which thrills my four legged children who's cat stand resides right in front the window outside of which the side flower bed is located. Today there were three of these butterflies sweeping about in the garden, enjoying the wide variety of flowers and nectar available. There's also this creature that resembles a hummingbird but has an antanne that loves to buzz around these plants at dusk. They're always on the move so it's been impossible to photograph one. Someone said they might be a "bee killer" moth. Anyone ever heard of such a thing?

Finally, this gorgeous minature yellow rose is starting to blossom. It's one of my bargain finds from last year. Lowe's had a bunch of minature roses on clearance after Mother's Day and this one was a sad, sad little plant. At $1.25 it was barely a twig but had a few good leaves and I figured it couldn't hurt to try to nurse it back to good health. A large number of my garden plants are either division gifts from friends or clearance plants. This rose is doing well and the bright dash of yellow adds some spice to all the reds and pinks planted nearby. It also has a nice scent. I have about 25 different roses, minature and full size, and all seem to thrive here. Two of my bargin roses from last year died but they were pretty sad looking to start with.

Visit Tootsie Time to see who else is participating in "Fertilizer Friday" and showing off what's blooming in their gardens.