Oooooh...that's one good hubby you've got there.

Those Hibiscus are gorgeous.

Those plants and blooms will just keep on giving all season.

It still amazes me that people start lilies from seed and have the patience to wait for blooms. You're right about having lots of buds for extended bloom...can see all the buds in photos.

Beautiful...thanks for sharing.

Very pretty Fran! I just love salpiglossis! Did you grow those from your own saved seed, or did you start them from commercial seed? I have some red ones, and some Chocolate Royalle this year that I just love, but I'm not sure how to save seed from them. I keep checking the stem after the flower falls off, and it doesn't look like there is much of a seedpod there.

The hibiscus are lovely too!

Those blackberry lilies are fabulous! I think mine are going to put on a bit less of a show than those, but your pic is giving me hope for next year (mine were wsed 2008)

I;ve given up on painted tongue - germinates fine for me but never quite makes it to bloom.

Thanks!
Nancy

Newbie, Yes he is one good hubby most of the time, but, there are those days when his 'engineer brain" takes over and that can try even the patience of a Saint. BUT after 34 years, as of Monday, one just rolls with it.

The candylily is actually more of an iris and not a true lily. They start to bloom in the second year and multiply in fans very quickly.

OK DAWIFF, that's it, there is something in the air out there in Seattle. We WS some salpiglossis Chocolate royale a couple of years ago and your words where "I don't really like it, don't want them next year."
Now she says "chocolate royale this year that I just love." And guess what? I got some old seeds of them saved from the year we sowed them.

Seed pods for them are right where the flower was, but it takes quite a while for them to form and then ripen. give them time and they will get there for you.

My seeds where from Kmart, martha stuart brand. She seems to be the only one that puts them out on the shelves in packages to buy and K-mart sells the commercial seeds for 40% off the package price.

I only have a couple of plants though. Germinated beautifully and planted out but that's as far as they made it. Watched the groundhog gourge on them, and what was left went down the throat of the chipmunk except for a couple of them.
Will save some seeds for you of these and whatever else blooms and will send you the chocolate royale too.

Nancy,
Mine are candylily and some of the blackberry lily look almost the same, but there are some blackberry lily that TM seeds sells that are supposed to be pastel colors of pink, lavender and yellow. I sowed them this year and expect them to bloom next year.

The first year my candy lily bloomed it was a bit of display of bloom, about 10 flowers and the one fan had become 3 fans. From the next year on, they just bloomed and bloomed and multiplied in fans to now I have 14 fans and plan to separate them in the fall.

Fran

Going great, Fran.
Very pretty.
Great job.

Thanks for sharing.
:-)

I have three blackberry lilies growing from my wsown seed this year and am so excited every time I see your pics.

Pitimpinai, glad to share, and thanks. If mother nature would cooperate more, though she's doing it now with sun and heat and humidity. Things would really start to grow.

Floodthelast, be patient, they will bloom for you next year and from then on the show just gets better and better.

As promised better pics of the yellow hibiscus hubby gave me. Still not quite as bright a yellow but a much better pic the above. The flower is 7 inches across.

Fran

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A hubby who indulges "the obsession"? You lucky gal! Does hubby happen to have any single brothers, by chance? LOL!

The candy lily is gorgeous, and I hope my Diablo looks just as beautiful when it blooms!

Susan in Kansas

Susan, sorry only brother is hitched and been for a long time now.

I laugh at his garden help. He swore 29 years ago when we bought our house that "no human being needs an acre of land to take care of. I'm not doing any of it, it's your problem not mine."

Yup, I couldn't wait to move in, get a saw and start hacking down the disaster of overgrown shrubs everywhere, start digging out lawn and get plants growing. Nothing on this property but 20 foot tall rhodies everywhere and trees leaning on the front of the house covering every window in sight.

Over the years he's learned to do things and even got him taught on weeding last summer. I couldn't do it because of spine surgery and he was complaining that he couldn't see the plants.

Was a sight to see, let me tell you. Me with a chair to sit in, and a 15 foot long stick. I hit the weed, he pulled. Slow, tedious but he did it.

He's even been known to help me WS seeds, and collect seeds from plants around him at work. Course he has no idea what they are and getting a description is like pulling teeth, but I get enough to go searching at pics and eventually find the right one.

Yup, he's a keeper all right. Just have to watch where he mows, he has been known to mow in he wrong areas on occasssion.

Cosmos diablo is a reliable bloomer and will look the same, been doing for me since I was a little kid. The original seeds came from my granmother's plants 40 years ago and my mother and I have kept growing and growing them from seed every year.

I collect as many seeds as I can get every year for trades and SASBE.

Fran

Fran, it's not the air in Seattle, it's the companion plants. Back in Massachusetts, it just didn't look right in my garden with lots of other brightly colored plants around it. The flowers looked muddy, and didn't stand out. This year I have it planted en masse with lots of red and white flowers, and dark foliage. It looks great!

That, it explains it Dawiff. the seeds I have left, if I can find them are all yours.

How are you tolerating the heat? heard it was 109 degrees in seattle yesterday.

Fran

Wow Fran,
Nice flowers. I love the painted tongue.
The Hibiscus is really nice for a buck too! Good find!

Mary