~photoblog of a WNY zone 6 gardener

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Summer Garden Trip Adventures

Going to visit special nurseries and gardens is always a great time. In the past week, I went to 3 places, Palmiter Garden Nursery, Jerry Kral's garden, and Cottage Gardens Daylilies.

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I met the owners of Palmiter's in early spring at the Rochester Gardenscape show. They are located in Avon a small town outside of Rochester. They are very well known for their amazing peonies. Their nursery came about from being gardeners who had plants people admired, so they began to sell, and things progressed from there. So there is a large home garden to see besides the plants for sale.
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Though a bit pricey compared to so other nurseries, the plants were excellent quality and the staff was friendly and helpful.

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Rock Garden Society member, Jerry Kral, had a visit to his garden for our chapter. He is very lucky to have an acre garden within the city limits of Rochester. His backyard is mostly shade gardens filled with amazing plant specimens and garden art.
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It was easy to take cool pics at his place.
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He does have a sunny area complete with rock gardens at the back corner of his property.
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It was a fantastic home garden to visit!

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Friends and I were lucky enough to visit Cottage Gardens Daylilies in Medina again this year. The day started off very rainy, but it did calm to a gentler rain as we got there, and we had a great time.
Hilde and Elizabeth checking out the daylilies
Hilde and Elizabeth perusing the daylilies

Besides the daylily fields, there is also a beautiful house garden to enjoy.
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Brent Ross, the owner is a very friendly and funny guy.
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Debbie 4 - Brent Ross Seedling that I bought
Debbie 4, a seedling of Brent's that came home with me

I'm already looking forward to next year's trip!

Friday, June 26, 2009

It Has Been Too Long!

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Leucanthemum superbum 'Sonnenschein'(Shasta Daisy)

The weather has been almost too perfect here. Of course I am becoming paranoid and am waiting for a major catastrophe from Mother Nature or one of her evil doers(rabbits, etc.) So I've been working in the garden in all my spare time trying to enjoy what has been a lovely year so far.. I have been taking photos all along. I just haven't been up to working on posting. But this next flower just made me so happy, I need to show you all.
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Annual Poppies!(Papaver somniferum)
If you haven't grown this annual yet, I strongly recommend it. The blooms are so big and frilly they don't look real. Yes, these are the opium type. No it is not against the law to grow them as some people often believe. Well, maybe huge farm fields of them is, because you need that much to be making any drugs. So we can all safely grow them and enjoy them.

Another plant that I really enjoyed seeing for the first time this year was this iris. The coloration is so pretty. It finished bloom a couple weeks ago.
Roaring Jelly Siberian Iris
Iris siberica 'Roaring Jelly'

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Yucca 'Bright Edge' bloom

Jim, this next one's for you : )
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Rose 'Belle Isis'

I'll leave this evening with Gary sitting under my rambler 'Leontine Gervais.
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Monday, June 8, 2009

Hawkeye Belle Surely Is A Belle

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Already in full bloom June 7th

Dr. Griffith Buck, now deceased, was a professor at Iowa State who loved to breed roses. He worked toward breeding roses that are hardy, disease resistant, and beautiful. His roses are now known as Buck roses. His most famous rose is Carefree Beauty.
Someone once wrote on a forum that Buck roses weren't good looking. I remember thinking you've got to be kidding!

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Don't tell me that is not gorgeous. Now some of Dr. Buck's choices for rose names have something to be desired, but who's perfect?
It is difficult to take a bad pic of Hawkeye Belle.

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She is a vigorous growing shrub to 4 or 5'. In case you've not read in a previous post, I don't spray my roses, and she is very disease resistant for me. She blooms all summer, and her fall bloom will look as good as this early one. Her only fault is that her scent is mild. Is is there, but you've got to stick your nose right in the bloom. With blooms like hers though, I will forgive this fault.

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Especially since I can't remember the last time I fertilized her. She may be a beauty, but she is one tough rose.
Many rose enthusiasts, like myself, will tell you once you grow a Buck rose, you will seek out more of them. They really are wonderful.

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Blooms Everywhere!

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Iris 'Wabash'

I've been working hard on the garden. So much to do and plants are blooming everywhere. I really love this time of year. I'm not sure what to post! It will get worse as all the roses are blooming.

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Rose 'Bow Bells' first bloom

I'll have to highlight Bow Bells later. She doesn't often get the respect she deserves.


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My baby unnamed as of yet

This blue clematis is a chance seedling. I couldn't of asked for a better baby! The blooms start dark and age to a beautiful light blue. Right now they are mid-stage. I hope to put together a pictorial once done. Humm...maybe I'll have a name that Clematis contest once I have all the pics.

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Unknown Peony

This was suppose to be another variety, Solange, I believe. Anyway, it is a good peony. The flowers are very pretty. The blooms stay up on their own. The foliage turns bronze later so it is very attractive. The only minus is the scent is faint. I like my peonies to smell like my Sarah Bernhardt. Her scent is strong and carries on the wind. I love coming home in the evening to her.

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My little Chickadee

I've had the worst time trying to get pics of the chickadees. Hopefully I'm home the day the babies come out. It is easier to get pics on that day.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

My Wisteria and Other blooms from May

I haven't posted about anything blooming in the garden for some time now though I've taken a lot of pics! Life as usual has been way too busy. As my GardenWeb gardening friend, Gottagarden, said recently, "What are people thinking holding family events during prime gardening season?" : )
So the garden has really come alive and lots of plants have been blooming. My wisteria which I've been training in to a standard was covered in blossoms this year. It has been amazing.
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The pics though I don't think do it justice. Of course the barren ground around it somehow detracts from it. I have only myself to blame though, I taught my dog, Sammie, to run around it as a game and now that she has her young companion, Charlie, to play with, they have trashed the yard.

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I've read that wisteria floribunda doesn't have much of a scent, but I have to disagree. The scent on mine is quite noticable. Here's a close up with my hand.
Wisteria

The shrub to the back left of the wisteria is Viburnum Carlcephalum. The scent of that shrub is amazing like some wonderful vanilla laced baked good just absolutely yummy. The large bloom clusters start off as pink buds and open to white flowers.
Vibrunum Carlcephalum

Behind the vegetable garden fence, my tree peony has bloomed. The blooms are huge! In an earlier post, I wrote of how people complain and exaggerate about the briefness of lilac bloom. Well, tree peony bloom time is short! It only lasts a week or so. It is a glorious week of bloom, but yes, it only a week. I'm not exaggerating. Thankfully, the leaves are very attractive so its brief bloom is tolerated. Also I have it placed in the vegetable garden so it blooms while the garden in there is bare.
Tree Peony

Ok, one last photo for the night. The alliums have been blooming and I've grown to love them. I received my first alliums a few years ago in trade. I never planted any previous to that time since the photos really didn't do that much for me. Some plants just look better in person. I'm glad that trader sent me a few bulbs to try. I was missing out on a very neat looking group of plants.
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Saturday, May 23, 2009

An Amazing Crabapple Tree!

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Malus 'Brandywine'

When attending the Lilac Festival, there was an amazing tree in bloom. It was Malus 'Brandywine'. The likes of which I've never seen. It was covered in blooms. The semi-double blooms looked like roses which of course makes sense since they are very distant cousins.

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I like crabapple trees in the spring. They go well with lilacs. This is the first time though that I saw one and had to investigate just what tree it was. It is simply lovely!

Brandywine Crabapple
My friend Hilde posing with 'Brandywine'

I almost forgot to mention the blooms smell good! The scent is like a high quality floral soap if that makes any sense, lol.

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Lilac Festival!

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In Rochester, NY, often referred to as the lilac capitol of the world, they have a Lilac festival every May, of course. There is the normal carnival atmosphere with rides, lots of food, etc. but as you step away from the fair grounds and cross over into Highland Park, an amazing treat awaits you.

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There are hundreds of lilacs in bloom! It is a wonderland of the senses. If heaven isn't like this, I don't want to go.

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My friend Hilde and an old lilac

If you have never smelled a lilac in bloom, I hope one day you do. It is intoxicating. The scent carries on the wind beckoning you find it. A whole park full of lilacs is dizzying! It has a surreal quality, very dream like. Yes, it was like a being awake in a dream.

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Some people complain that lilacs only last a week. That isn't true. A hot spell can cause the flowers an early demise, but a cool May will be long with blooms. And if they only lasted a week, I would still love the lilacs.

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The season can also be lengthened by plantings of various cultivars. Lilacs have been hybridized for a long time so there's a lot of choices out there.

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Sensation
'Sensation'

Lilacs are extremely long lived shrubs. In the countryside in this part of the country, you can often see a huge lilac in bloom seemingly out of place growing wild. The lilacs are markers of where a home once stood years ago. Nothing from the garden remains but the lilac.

Firmament
'Firmament'

Some varieties sucker from the base and some just get cool old gnarly trunks like the one below.
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I, as always, could go on posting pics, but then the page wouldn't load! So I'll stop here : )

Thursday, April 30, 2009

More Daffodils! (and a few friends)

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Early Tulip

I feel bad that I've ignoring some of my other bulbs! The tulips pictured above I received from Scheeper's a few years back. I forgot their name. They were the replacement for the year before's fiasco. I bought a variety that was suppose to be a muted red-yellow combo as above and they bloomed screaming yellow-red. I actually wrote a letter to complain, but I did it nicely, and I got these as a free replacement the following fall.
Ok back to the daffodils, lol.

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'Accent'

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'Misty Glen'

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'Pipit'



The next photo show 2 types of double I received at the first WNY GardenWeb plant swap from a young woman named Jen.
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Names Unknown

Oh this next little cutie I forgot to post before. He is 'Toby the First'. He does start blooming early, and he blooms for a long time. The only drawback to him is his price tag! Photobucket

This last photo for tonight is of one of my favorite bulbs, though the photo isn't. It is the clump blooming Hyacinth 'Festival Blue'. They do make nice clumps increasing over time, and they smell fantastic too!
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Lots more Daffodils to come. I hope you're not getting tired of them!

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Plantaholic, from annuals to perennials, from tomatoes to roses. You name it; I love it! I often get very busy with my business and life and don't post as often as I would like.