A Daylily Show

Saucy Sue
Just a few days ago my daylilies put on a good show. I got to see Saucy Sue for the first time and Ruffled Valentine. Not only did I get to see those but Saucy Sue had two buds and Raindrop had 3 blooms at the same time. Normally only one bloom per plant at a time.


Saucy Sue about to bloom


Ruffled Valentine


Raindrop


Scarlet Gleam Nasturtium
The Scarlet Gleam Nasturtium had it's first bloom. I didn't take good care of my nasturtiums so they aren't as big as they should be. At least I got to see a bloom!

Wordless Wednesday:: Jewels of Opar

Jewels of Opar. Just obtained from the plant exchange at Festival of Flowers.

Daylily Season

It's daylily season here at New Sprout. I'm so glad that this year I did go on vacation at this time. Last year I missed most of my daylily and did not get a great show out of them. This year it is different and it seems every daylily I have has a scape on it! So here is the show of daylilies. I think I finally got them figured out as to who is who. Now if only I marked the fan before the blooms are all gone.


Raindrop
A tiny daylily 2 inches in diameter that is beautiful yellow. So small but still so pretty.

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Abstract Art
This year I know for sure this is Abstract Art. The changing colors from the front 3 petals and the back 3 petals are more apparent.


Common Daylily
What many call the common ditch daylily. I still like it and I can't complain as I got it and others in a daylily grab bag for $1.


Windsor Castle
Love this color!


Sacred Way
I don't think I saw this one last year. I'm not too sure that his is scared way as I can't find photos online of what Sacred Way looks like. From the description this is yet. It said light gold with pink midribs and small yellow throat. This is the only one that looks like it has a light gold with pink midribs. To me it's Sacred Way.


Eruption
Lastly the one red daylily that has been blooming. I bought several other red daylilies but I don't think those have bloomed. They only have slight differences like a tad bit more purple and one more ruffly, etc. Out of all the red daylilies I bought eruption is the one that closely matches my bloom.

The Creation of a Garden Bed

Finally I have a garden bed that is almost done. It only took a few months to get one done. Taking out the grass was the longest most boring and painful process. After taking out the grass it was easy.

I purchased some herb mix soil from Fertile Garden Supply. I got to say I love that place as it has every mix of soil I could want and mulch too. The herb mix is made of compost, decayed bark, orange sand, and cedar flakes. It makes a nice airy mix with a touch of nutrients. I liked it out of all the other ones. Just straight compost was my initial want but they husband did not want poo in his then new truck.

Planttone was added and plants were planted. Then off we went to get some mulch. This was a harder choice as I have never mulched anything in my life. I got double shredded cedar as others say it repels pests. If only it repelled dogs from going into the bed.

The white plastic picket fence is not to my liking. It was bought because the dogs know no boundaries. They see new dirt and that mommy is digging so they think it is okay to go in there. It's easier for now to keep them out of it because they have small areas to sneak in from. I'll be getting some stone pavers to put in the place of the fence so it looks more...natural I guess. Hopefully they will still see the pavers sticking out of the ground as a boundary.


I potted up this container just a few days. This container is plastic or something like that and it was about $16 or something, so it was a real bargain. It makes a great focal point in that bed. In the container I planted a Tiffany rose, a balloon flower, and a lemon thyme. The Tiffany Rose was what I bought the container for, plus I like blue. The rose blooms pink and the other two plants I just added in because they needed to be potted up. Hopefully it grows and looks awesome.

I'm very nervous about my bed because it's hard to plant things and think of how they will look in the future. I took into account leaf texture color and blue color. The leaf color was hard since everything was about the same shade of green. There are annuals in the bed so I will be able to put new thins in after they die. The grass that I am putting in the back is Panicum Cloud Nine. It's nice and airy so It should provide a nice background for the other plants and make them stand out more.

Here is the progress of the bed.

Late Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

It's been a while since I have participated in Garden Bloggers Bloom Day. Thanks to Carol from May Dreams Gardens for creating this wonderful event. Every 15th of the month garden bloggers are encouraged to take photos of their blooms. I actually did take these pictures on the 15th but haven't had any time to post them up. After doing this post I have homework to do. It's been long since I last posted but I just haven't had the time or even the want to continue with my blog. There are times I get so run down and tired of things I just have to take a break. I think I'm ready to come back again now that I have a yard that I'm trying to get going. No more balcony garden and I'm glad but frustrated too. All my plants are still in pots while I'm trying to rid of the massive amounts of fire ants and make beds.

Here is what is blooming!

Earth Star

Weeping Dwarf Crape Myrtle Sacramento

Cocktail Vodka Begonia

Red Spider Zinnia

Red Pineapple Sage

Vinca

Stock

Sweet William Pinocchio

Petunias

Laura Bush Petunia

Statice

Statice

Mexican Heather

Soapwort

Stock

Stock

Basil

Salvia daghestanica/Dwarf Silver Leaf Sage

Salvia daghestanica/Dwarf Silver Leaf Sage

Graptopetalum/Ghost Plant

Tomato Blooms

Tomato Blooms

Bunny Tails Grass

Wordless Wednesday: Puppy Posing

Tova the Shiba Inu Puppy Posing with his rings

Spontaneous Garden Center Purchases

Unknown Begonia

A few days ago I had the urge to go my local garden centers to see if there were any begonias. I'm a begonia lover, specifically rex and angel wing begonias so far. I have plans in the future to become a collector or even start my own little business selling them and other things. Anyways, off I went to go see what the garden center was up. Lucky me found not 1 but 2 Begonias and few other things I couldn't resist.


Unknown Begonia

Sadly the begonias have no tags or names on them. I posted up on the Gardenweb Begonia forum to see if someone can ID them. I've looked online quickly but not found anything except maybe 'Fairy' that looks like the one above. Nothing for the one below has looked even similar.


Unknown Begonia #2

I looked around and found a few other things I just couldn't pass up.


Echeveria?

Here is an Echeveria I think that is fairly large, about 5inches in diameter. I loved the nice pink tone in the middle. I'm a sucker for echeverias or succulents that look like rosettes and have a pink blush to them.


Cryptanthus Red Star

Lastly I bought this Cryptanthus Red Star. Yet again no label. It took me a while to find it on the internet because all I knew was that it was related to the Bromeliad and I had seen them before. I just love it! It looks so mean and evil but it's so pretty with such a bright red coloring to it. I don't know why but I just love Bromeliads and little guys like this.

Those were my purchases. Maybe someone out there knows the names of the Begonias and even the Echeveria perhaps.

Surprise Blooms

Bunny Tails Grass

Another few things that happened while I was gone on my vacation to Portugal for 3 weeks were surprise blooms. Surprise blooms are blooms from plants that haven't bloomed and you never expected them to bloom because it's been FOREVER. Bunny Tails Grass and Stock I both grew from seeds...I forget when. Bunny Tails Grass was last year. Stock Tudor Tapestry was one of the first plants I planted so about the end of 2007.


Stock Tudor Tapestry

Now here they are fully starting to bloom. I'm beyond thrilled with the Bunny Tails Grass. This plant just pulls at my heart. Now the stock I have learned to hate. One because it took forever, it wilts real easily in the heat and is so not as drought tolerant as my other container plants. And the plant it's self just looks crappy. I'm sure they is 100% my fault because I have 4 plants in one 8inch pot and 2 plants in I think an 8inch pot also. It's crowded in there and all the leaves are gone from the bottom.

It's nice to have some blooms finally. Things were looking dead and dull here but they are finally perking back up.

Wordless Wednesday: Shibas Share

Kasha and Tova