Great pictures! Thanks!

With the best wishes.Juan.
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Jodi y Juan, Felicitaciones por las fotografias magnificas.

Muchismas gracias!

Here are a few more for Ms. Lizalily.

Front Row: Exotica, Moonlight, Popov, and Santa Fe peeking out

Back Row: Bolero and a glimpse of Orange Souvereign

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Exotica
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Pink "Noid"
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Juan - Very lovely flowers, every one of them! I especially like the way Rembrandt van Rijn is shown... the colors are fabulous! And is that a spider Daylily in the 2nd photo? It's very beautiful! Thank you for adding photos to this post!

Blanca - Moonlight is fantastic, and I really like Exotica! Santa Fe is going on my wish list! They're all lovely... choosing a favorite hippi is way too difficult! Thanks for sharing!

Jodi, your garden blooms can liven any souls... they are absolutely beautiful!
Here's a photo of clivia I have blooming for Lizalily with best wishes for a speedy recovery.

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Xuan

yes jodik, its a Hemerocallis spider, or spider Daylily .Juan.

Xuan - What a gorgeous Clivia! I hope to acquire one in the future... they're so expensive, though!

Juan - Within the last year, we've added quite a few new Daylilies to the gardens, all named varieties... but that color combination is one we don't have... it's very pretty! Is yours a named variety? It reminds me of H. "Wild Horses" or H. "Cleopatra"... although, I'm probably way off! There are so many named varieties, and I'm not familiar with too many of them yet!

Everyone's pictures are just fantastic. Jodi, your camera works better than ever! Thanks Larry!

Hello jodik. Hemerocallis Cleopatra.Juan

Thanks Jodi.

Xuan

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Miracle
05/07/08

What a beautiful deep red... a miracle, indeed! Thank you for sharing that one, Soultan!

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Razzle Dazzle
05/09/08

Wow! Oh! Oh! Wow! Oh Wow! Eye melting colors...I am really enjoying these posts.

Cheers Lizalily - Have a "Vera" nice day.

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I'm looking at all these photos through my new computer for the first time this morning... the pictures are clearer, the colors are brighter and seem more intense! The text style is different, but that's neither here nor there... it's the colors! It's like I was gifted a new set of eyes overnight!

Larry has been working on getting my new computer together for a while now, and it was certainly worth the wait! The video card in this thing must be top of the line!

Razzle Dazzle is so crisp and clear in color... and Vera is a very intense pink! Both are stunning! It's a case of sensory overload!

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Jungle Star
05/12/08

Awesome photo, Soultan! I love it! Jungle Star is one of my favorites!

oooh, that ones just reeks of mystery and warm growing jungles! THank you for showing it to me!

What wonderful photos all! Liza, I've been thinkng of you and of course keeping you in my prayers every day. I finally finished spring semester yesterday and have been swamped with finals and last classes. Haven't had a second to take a photograph or get more than a thought in place to write. Hope you're healing quickly and as painlessly as possible.
I think the ground hog here is gone, haven't seen any damage the past week or so, whats left of the cuttings you sent are budding, the fuschia is doing well, and the willows that I was able to save are potted up! I think they'll make it.
Anyone else I promised cuttings to, they're rooting nicely. It'll be awhile for the Walking Iris to mature enough to separate from the mothers though.
This is not a new photo, its from last year. but I feel I need to include something until my giant minerva blooms!
I collected the seed from a wild patch in Maine off route 95 north.
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Beautiful Lupines, Chaz! I've never had luck growing those before... although, now that we're in Central Illinois and have gained a gardening zone, I should try them again! They never survived over winter in my gardens farther north.

I hope you did well on finals, Chaz... my son is taking his this week! He called on Mother's Day and said he was taking a study break... he'll ace every final, I know... I hope you do, too! You college guys are such hard workers... I'm so proud of my son, and I give you a lot of credit for doing all this a bit later in life. I mean, my son is only a kid, you know! I know I could never go back to school and hope to do well... my study habits weren't that great the first time around!

I think I'll pick up a packet of Lupine seeds... I need to get some acorn squash and pickle seeds... I forgot those when I bough the bulk of the seeds for this spring!

CHAZ, Yes, healing is happening here, I CAn finally see and feel it now that the staples are out of the incision, and I Am working more on PT. MY therapist says I Can start back to gardening any time I want now, but not to overdo....now how the heck to I find that balance, LOL. Maybe a time alottment for each day.

I love the lupines...what a gorgoeus shade of blue! I have only been to Maine in the fall...will have to see the lupines some year! My Holly who lives in MAine is coming to see me in 2 weeks, and help me out with driving and gardening while her dad is off on one of his business trips.

I see new growth on the willows from you..I think all of them. I just buried the ends of the bundle and will divide them up later and replant when I get my strength back. It is going to be so nice to have lots of curly willow to play with!

Liza,
I would have a hard time not overdoing it, I can't wait to get out there this week and get the clean up started. I planted the beginings of a thyme lawn last year, small 17x20 feet, mostly cuttings. Every one rooted and is spreading this year I'll have to photo that too. It's starting to look like a persian carpet, I have the momma curly willow planted in the middle of it.
Heal, quick and well. Glad that Holly is coming out to help!

Jodi, don't buy lupine seed, when these go to seed I'll send ya some. Last year I never got to collect the seed, thought I had time, well the pods exploded and I've got hundreds coming up all over the garden! as far as 30 feet away! They overwinter and sprout in the spring, I'll send ya some for sure. they really are beautiful. I've had some flower first year from seed but usually second. They are various shades of blues and purples, really pretty.

Wow jodik, Great Garden. Super tuplips. 'wish we could grow them here. and Thanks for the pic of the raised beds.

Everyone's pictures are so beautiful. Just can't get enough of looking at pictures of flowers (my obsession). Noticed today that the tree peonies are just starting to open - will have to post some of these. Just love those pretty blue lupines Chaz. Would you pretty please collect some for me when they seed? I did buy a pack of seed this spring, but still not in the ground, but soon. It's getting warm enough to start some seed outside now. NJ has been pretty chilly this spring. I still put a heavy blankie on the bed most nights and mostly I'm running around with a sweatshirt on. Now that the greenhouse is warmer, the amaryllis are producing much, much nicer blooms. Elvas is blooming again, with huge blooms, as is Aphrodite. Another nice surprise is that I have found three more bulbs from the 2000 rot year with scapes. One is Merry Christmas with red showing. Will post them later on, but for now, here's Elvas (it's huge!)
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and Aphrodite with four more huge blooms -- Yes, that is the star jasmine in the picture. I pruned it last year, and it's just beautiful now.
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Promise is blooming
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Another huge one is Mont Blanc with seven blooms that all opened at the same time.
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And this one says it's Rio Negro
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Hope you enjoy them as much as I do. (Hugs to all!!!)

Kitty, I'll be sure to gather some lupine seed for you as well. I've also got some epi cacti for ya now that the weather is warming and school is over for the summer I'll be getting to packing and shipping what I've promised you and others!

Thank you, Chaz! I'd love some Lupine seeds! We grew them at the garden center I worked at years ago... a few would bloom the first year, the majority the second... they were started in a large greenhouse, so I think that might account for the first year flowers... but every time I planted them in my garden, they would flower very sparsely and die out by the second year. They were planted on the south side of a patio fence enclosure, so I thought they were fairly well protected... although I'm sure the northern winters are what killed them.

When I trucked cross country with my ex many years ago, I saw loads of beautiful native Lupines growing along the highways in Colorado! What a sight that was! I've always wanted to include them in my cottage style borders, but they just never did well for me. That was in zone 4b, so maybe they'll have a better chance of survival here in zone 5b.

Thanks, HoustonPat! I love spring blooming bulbs, tulips being one of my favorites! We have plans to add more Parrot Tulips and Species Tulips this fall, so next spring the gardens should be even more gorgeous!

Those raised beds began life as backdrops for archery targets... they were heavily screened on both sides and have rope handles for ease of moving, as you can see in the photo... I've removed the screening from one side to open them up, laid them flat, and they make excellent raised beds! There are about a dozen total of these screened frames, and we've commandeered all of them for use as raised beds, since they weren't in use as target backdrops... several are veggie and herb beds, and the remainder will be used to grow on perennial seedlings for sale purposes... we're starting a small driveway flower business to help offset the cost of gardening and plant purchases! Gardening can be an expensive hobby!

Kitty, those blooms are gorgeous! I especially like the Mont Blanc! I'm really glad the majority of your older bulbs survived and came back to flower for you!

We don't have any Tree Peonies yet, but I do plan to petition for some to be planted next year! The catalog photos are always so beautiful! I wasn't even aware they grew in such northern zones! I never looked into them before because trees and shrubs aren't really my specialty in gardening, but now that I have more space to garden in, I've become a lot more aware of the larger things that make up the "bones" of good landscaping and gardening! I'd love to see photos of yours!

Jodi, my tree peonies are doing great and this year should be lovely with their blooms! I have 3 of them, a purple and 2 pinks. I will try to get photos of them for you. I would plant more if I could think where to put them! The most spectacular "bouquet" is a single flower of one in a cut glass vase!

I drool over the catalog photos of tree peonies every year! I'm not sure where I'd plant them here, either, but they're so gorgeous that I'm sure I could squeeze them in somewhere! I just keep thinking about an issue of a popular garden catalog that had a yellow tree peony on the front cover... simply stunning!

As far as regular peonies go, we only have one included in the gardens so far... it's part of a bed of perennials that keeps changing year to year... there are lots of rudbeckias, salvias and echinaceas that reseed and keep that bed looking different... we planted a very young double pink peony toward the front of that bed, rather generic according to the tag, and by the second year it looked as if it wouldn't make it... but this year, it's doubled in size and has obviously begun to establish itself! I look forward to its blooms!

My Grandma had a long row of gorgeous peonies, in all colors as I remember... but since gardening sort of skipped a generation in our family, my Mom never really did anything with them. They were left behind when my parents moved.

Tree peonies are something I'll put some research into over next winter... and we'll most likely add a couple, or at least one, by the following spring!

Have I posted Promise already?

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Promise
05/19/08

Aptly named, Promise is another beauty! Soultan, you do wonders with camera equipment!