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as familiar with after it bloomed as one of the zahara zinnias i set about to protect the other seedlings transplanting them and thinning them out this is now an annual occurance and every year my zinnias reseed and come back the following spring true to their original form and color i make a point of deadheading and throwing the spent blossoms in the container for next year they may take a while to bloom but they are stars in the containers in summer posted by swimray at 8 35 am 0 comments 21 july 2025 a phantastic phlox this cultivar of phlox paniculata jeana was in a goodie bag i received at a gardeners event many years ago my first experience with phlox was a garden phlox miss lingard she died from a severe powdery mildew attack which almost wiped out my woodland phlox too i was not looking forward to another powdery mildew magnet but here it is many years later and a transplant last year and jeana is loving life no powdery mildew in sight while looking up the correct spelling of jeana i read that it is very resistant to powdery mildew i also read that its very small flowers are irresistable to butterflies and i can attest to that i had forgotten that i moved jeana last year after my sewer line replacement bed was replanted i did not label the plants or locations that were moved there thinking i could remember this past spring i noticed a few weed leaves comming up and though they were odd since they formed quite a nice neat clump and there were no other weeds in the heavily mulched bed not recognizing the leaves i let them grow a bit to later realize they were my phlox it was jeana that i moved during the previous year from an increasingly shady spot where it did not do well to this full sun area i am happy to report that jeana never looked so good advice label your plants or at leat photo catalog your beds which i do to show approximate locations posted by swimray at 9 40 pm 0 comments labels phlox 12 july 2025 glads they bloomed two years ago my master gardener friend gave me some of his gladiolus corms they were monsters as big as fists and all produced tremendous orange red flowers i dug some up to overwinter planted a few in a different garden with some shade last year and had poor results this spring while visiting his garden i mentioned the lack of gladiolus last year he immediately went to a corner of his bed and dug up a few dozen of small sprouts that had just begun to grow these were not the extra large corms from the past but were nickel sized at best i had no hope they would bloom this year but planted them with a good dose fertilzer and hope they began growing very slowly i thought of planting a few other plants to fill in the area around them since i did not expect them to amount to anything this year then they began to surprise me gladiolus leaves were looking as strong and sized as the adjacent bearded irs leaves next to them after a bit no after a big bit of rain i noticed several flower buds beginning to form on the swollen stems some were going to bloom this year after all no all of them were going to bloom since i had no expectations of blooming they were not staked until it was too late a good storm knocked them over as they reach the end of their summer fling i am labeling the colors so i can separate them for next year there are carmine red and the orange ish colors mixed together they are labeled and will be saved for next year posted by swimray at 10 16 pm 0 comments labels gladiolus 29 june 2025 a good year for radishes every year i plant radishes in my spring garden they do poorly schoolchildren plant them in school gardens where they grow well i keep trying this year i planted early and in a container on the front porch to take advantage of the cool spring weather and to use the better soil conditions in a container at that time two seeds germinated i then planted them in my vegetable garden as the strawberries were being harvested the fear was that it was too late in the spring with warm weather coming however they did surprisingly well the weather this sping was cooler than usual which is why i believe they were successful as the spring season warmed up and became rainy the radishes began to go to seed i tore them out to make way for green beans it appears they tried to form but for naught posted by swimray at 8 37 pm 0 comments labels radish 18 june 2025 a tale of two monardas first there is the hybrid monarda violet queen it was one of the plants ordered using a holiday gift certificate it did well for a while but then one spring it caught the dreaded powdery mildew along with two phlox one of the phlox and this monarda got it bad and died this is contrary to most advice that says powdery mildew will rarely kill the plants infected then there is the native monarda monarda fistulosa this is a lavender pink color and does not grow as compactly and neatly as the hybrid i picked this up at a master gardener plant swap it was to become an invasive thug in my garden spreading profusely through every winter and choking out everything in its path now each spring i devote several days ripping it out trying to limit it to a small patch i need to state that both are blooming now and the bees appear to appreciate each equally well during my annual clean out i transplanted several of the invasive monarda runners fron garden bed to a very steep slope encouraging it to spread there and help hold the bank of soil in place and what about the violet queen monarda a good gardening friend who also received the gift certificate ordered the same monarda her plant continued to survive so i received a few sprigs two years ago i am happy to report that it is again doing very well here even surviving the four lined plant bug this spring and what about the phlox that survived that was a shade loving native woodland phlox it took a big hit but with two years of tlc it s back on its feet lesson of this post don t ignore powdery mildew even though it may not kill the plant it along with other possible problems will oh and it s pollinators week they don t call this bee balm for nothing posted by swimray at 8 02 pm 0 comments labels monarda 09 june 2025 living on and on this nicotiana was planted in the clay of a sewer line replacement bed last spring this is one of my plants that self seed every year there are hundreds that come up annually in the front garden i moved some of these seedlings last year to the sewer line bed and topped with a lot of organic mulch to start multi year process of amending the soil with a new wood fence that reflects sunlight and heat and help protect the bed over winter some of these nicotiana decided to stay over winter and bounce to life in early spring a sunny warm spot along with a layer of leaf mulch helped to protect it from winter this one plant came out of hibernation and started blooming a month ago when other nicotiana seeds were germinating now many new nicotiana seedlings are sprouting around the base of this plant and some of those are blooming now the mother plant can use the company and yes i end up ripping the seedlings out all over the front yard like weeds year after year these blooms coming from the self seeding are turning more and more cream colored losing their lime color no problem they bloom at evenings so color is not that visible come another month these plants will be reseeding and all bloomed out cutting them back will produce more blooms but they will not be as prolific as they are now posted by swimray at 8 30 pm 0 comments labels nicotiana 28 may 2025 i won this prize i attended the garden bloggers fling years ago when it was held here in the washington dc area in 2017 the two things i remember fondly are winning this peony in the grand raffle and how incredibly hot and steamy the wewather was this itoh peoony is named garden treasure and it is that it was dropped into the side yard garden along with lots of other plants that i had no idea what to do with at the time this peony has been remarkably hardy and resilient it survived the polar vortex the hot humid summers has not grown much over the years but has slowly increased in size and number of blooms every spring never having been moved from its location it seems to like the clay and the mostly sunny area that gets about 4 hours of shade during the day the fragrance to me is nothing like a peony this has a spicy sassy smell which is pleasant when brought in the house as a cut flower now if i can only get a regluar fragrant peony i will be set posted by swimray at 11 26 am 0 comments labels peony 15 may 2025 garden bloggers bloom day garden bloggers bloom day what s blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month unknown black iris looks purple in the camera s eye mountain laurel sarah itoh peony garden treasure bearded iris wabash nicotiana blooming already it overwinterd and came roaring back quickly bearded iris quaker lady as best as i can tell it was in the yard when i bought the house 30 years ago bearded iris frank adams very prolific head on over to carol s may dream gardens to ogle over other bloom photos from other bloggers posted by swimray at 9 05 pm 1 comments labels bloom day 13 may 2025 maybe more geraniums this is the cranesbill geranium i picked it up at a neighborhood plant swap many years ago with its owner not knowing what it was where else plants are free she though it was a moss phlox which is understandable both have similar color flowers and both creep along the ground i know better i had a rozanne variety once but it was in a spot too shady and left this world i don t know the variety of this one but it sure is a reliable ground coer and spring bloomer the buds are so small that when you look at it one day you do not notice anything ready to bloom then the next day pop flowers after it is finished for the spring it remains quietly there laid out and protecting the sloping ground from erosion but hold on i recently read that if the leaves are sheared off aft its spring flush more leaves and flowers come back for more blooms i must try this but fear it would not work for me and leave my sloping ground bare posted by swimray at 7 16 am 0 comments labels geranium 08 may 2025 multitude of iris this iris was picked up at a neighborhood plant swap many years ago if my memory serves me sometimes it doesn t it s been in my garden for more than a decade since i did not purchse it and it wasn t here when i bought the house it must have come from one of those early plant swaps i believe the name is frank adams after searching through countless online iris sources for identification my iris seems to be a pretty good match with what i found it s form is not frilly like most of the newer varieties and the colors are not usual that narrows it down frank adams was developed in the 1930s and seems to fit the bill i mention it here because of its tendancy to easily multiply i have given away countless sections yet this clump seems to grow exponentially every year to make up for the portions gifted away i wish my black iris would do that i do have another itis that easily multiplies but that one is a subject for the next post posted by swimray at 8 59 am 0 comments labels iris 02 may 2025 late to the party i planted the five amaryllis bulbs in the garden last summer to allow them to regenerate they all seemd to enjoy the warm weather and remained healthy looking into fall no new growth appeaered on any following their intiial flush of leaves after blooming in winter i lifted them before the frost came and left them in the cool dark baseemnt so they could go to sleep but they were insomniacs for months on end the leaves remained green and lush in their new soil less home no water no sunlight but they looked to be happy and in good condition i noticed a little yellowing and wilting of some leaves in january so i cut them off and with fingers crossed potted the bulbs this was really later than i expected to get them into bloom mode but four of the five put up flower stalks and two of them put up two this one mandela is the newest and the last of the bunch to bloom its dark maroon red flower and somewhat shorter stalks are things i will look forawrd to next year it would be nice to have them blooming at christmas so i think the lesson is to get them out of the garden in september and pot them up in november posted by swimray at 1 02 pm 0 comments labels amaryllis 22 april 2025 truest bluest this is ajuga reptans a few sprigs were given to me many years ago from a friend who had it growing in the yard without knowing what it was my ajuga grew well waned almost disappeared grew again and somehow walked across the lawn to another part of my property i now have two separate smaller patches neither one worth bragging about last fall i reassembled one clump transplanting as many of the sprouts scattered around the hostas and new magnolia tree as i could now spring the grouping became a little denser than the scattered individual sprigs that survived neglect as i look out to the yard from my deack i can actually see a small patch of blue where in recent years i saw nothing from that distance it is a sight to see with white and rad azaleas blooming in the background nearby very patriotic posted by swimray at 8 18 pm 0 comments labels ajuga older posts home subscribe to comments atom click a picture to see a bigger picture instagram about me view my complete profile disclosure i do not blog to make money or receive compensation merchandise or gifts nor do i pay to belong to organizations that bestow awards and honoraria opinions expressed are my own and are not requested or paid for photos and content are original unless noted otherwise blog archives 2025 19 august 1 a type of zinnia july 2 june 3 may 5 april 3 march 4 february 1 2024 1 january 1 2023 5 june 2 april 1 march 1 february 1 2022 2 july 1 june 1 2021 8 august 1 july 1 june 1 may 2 april 2 march 1 2020 12 july 1 june 3 may 2 april 3 march 2 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