February 16, 2012

Miscellaneous Photos



Much of the traffic to my blog comes from Google searches for plant names. Personally, I do plenty of googling for plant images when I'm thinking about buying a new plant. I like to see pictures and read reviews from real gardeners instead of just seeing one image from a catalog, which may or may not reflect how the plant will actually look when it's growing in my garden. So from now on, I'm going to take more care about naming my photos with the full and correct plant name to help other gardeners to find them with search engines.

Above is Lilium 'Miss Feya' (a trumpet/oriental hybrid lily), which was new to my garden last year. This is not the best photo, but let it be known that I took this when I was 8.5 months pregnant with my 4th child, and I had to crouch down to get the right angle. Ouch! These lilies didn't get as much water as they would have liked, so the flowers looked less full than the catalog pictures.



Here is a photos of Buxus 'Green Tower' (boxwood) from mid-summer. I have two of these in my front yard. Their color is currently (in mid-February) a tired green, but they aren't bronze like so many other boxwoods in winter.



Here is Campanula 'Birch Hybrid' (bellflower), in its first year and growing in shade. It would have more flowers with more sun, of course.



This is Lilium 'Tiny Ghost' (a dwarf asiatic lily), which was an impulse buy last spring. I have several types of dwarf asiatics, and they have all multiplied very quickly. I expect to see numerous new baby stalks shooting up around the original lilies this year.



Here is a photo of Achillea 'Summerwine' (yarrow), which is very small because I cut the original 1 gallon-sized plant into 6 starts. It's amazing that they all lived! This year they should grow large enough to send up more than a couple of stalks of flowers.

I'm getting down to the dregs of my photo archives. It might be a while before I get many fresh photos (even though spring growth should start up before too long) because I'm having a slow recovery from surgery last month. I'm tempted to complain about how boring it's getting to sit on the couch all day and wait to heal, but instead I'm going to express gratitude that my mom and mother-in-law have both visited to take over the work of the household. A family of six requires a lot of cooking, dishwashing, laundry, and housecleaning, plus diaper changing for the baby, and I haven't been doing any of it for a few weeks. Rereading that last sentence just made me feel as giddy as a truant schoolgirl - I'm definitely not complaining! I'll just enjoy the break and happily forget about the garden for another month or two. But sorry in advance if my posts are few and far between for a while.

12 comments:

  1. Hi VW,

    I hope your recovery goes well and that the operation wasn't anything too serious??!

    Looking forward to more wonderful photos from your garden :)

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  2. I know how hard it is for MOM to be down. The family depends on you for everything. How wonderful that your mother and mother-in-law have been so graciously helping out. I hope you continue to recover and enjoy your rest from the garden chores.

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  3. Just hit a button and lost my comment, oops. Sorry to hear you are laid up for a while. Nice you have help from family.
    Love your lilies, both of them! Wanting to plant more, as long as the deer leave them alone.
    Many of my google searches on my blog are for tree info. :-) hooray!

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  4. I love A. 'Summerwine'; just a pretty color. It sounds like you treat your new plants like I do :) Nothing like getting the most for your money.

    Sorry to hear that you are in need of more recovery! It is really nice that you have had some help though... my family is usually unavailable at those times. I hope you are up and around soon! Spring will be here before we know it.

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  5. Beautiful photos! Hope you feel better.

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  6. I hope you recover well. Nice that you have help. You should also be thankful that you're recovering during the winter! It would be hard to sit on the couch when it was spring or summer! ;)

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  7. I love that Aquillea, such a velvety rich colour! thank's for the tip.

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  8. Dear VW, sorry to hear you've been unwell - I wish you a speedy recovery. It's wonderful to have mom and mom-in-law to help, and if they're like me, it's sheer pleasure hanging out with children (adult) and grandchildren. So enjoy the break while it lasts! The photos are, as usual, divine. The personal stories that go with them are so much more interesting than the catalogue descriptions. cheers, catmint

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  9. VW girl my goodness ! I haven't been here in a while so I have to back track to see what has laid you up to heal so long ?
    I do the same thing about plant research and YES ! it really helps if we land in a gardener's plot and they give a review of what they think of the plant .. I too will be more detailed about plants names just in case this issue comes up from my garden !
    Take care and heal well girl !
    Joy

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  10. Love that Lily...the color is so wonderfully saturated!

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  11. Gorgeous photos VW. You must be looking forward to your garden coming back to life after your long winter. :)

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