WOW, beautiful. Is everything from your garden ? k.

k, Yes everything's from my garden. Glad you liked the pictures. I have several hundred more pictures so I may post some more soon. Dan

I love your pix! Great color on the Iris!

Can you tell me what the lime green-leaved plant is in the 5th pic? Is it the same as the one in the 7th pic? And is the orange-y one in the next to last the same type of plant as well (or what is that one)?

I think the view of the garden with the rocks is wonderful! I don't think I've ever seen so many blooms on an Opuntia!

Thanks for sharing!
~Rosemarie

Hi Dan,
Fantastic pic's. Enjoyed the pic of the Jap. Full-Moon Maple leaves. Yours looks very healthy. I have a 10' Full-Moon in my oriental garden that looked fantastic, especially in the spring, but now is dying-back branch by branch. Haven't solved the problem yet. Any suggestions?
Thanks for sharing your pictures.

Rosemarie, The japanese maple in the fifth and seventh pictures is Acer shirasawanum 'Aureum'. Its leaves open chartreuse and then turn a lime green color until fall when they look like this:

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The "orangey one" is Acer shirasawanum 'Autumn Moon'. The photo was of its spring foliage. It turns a more drab lime green in the summer wih some red or orange highlights at the leaf tips and in the fall looks like this:

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OooEee, they are beautiful, no matter WHAT they're called! Thanks for the names. I looked up 'Full Moon' after reading MrMiagi's response & one site lists it as a synonym of 'Aureum'. Another site has it as 'Golden Full Moon'.

I have the same grass as at the bottom of your last pic (I think). Is it Acorus gramineus 'Golden Edge'?

~R

Mr. Miagi, Unfortunately I don't have any words of wisdom about the A.s. 'Aureum'. I've had it for 5 years and it has grown extremely slowly but has been healthy. My guess is that we're both pushing zones on this one. Dan

Hi Dan. Thank you for the reply. How do you maintain such good quality in your prints? All my pic's are about 400k and when i re-size/reduce them for posting to a least about 100k, i completely lose the quality of the original pic. Will try to attach a pic of my Full-moon Maple to show you the problem with die-back. The die-back only started about a year ago. During the previous years i never had a problem even with colder winters and dryer summers so i don't think pushing the hardiness zone is the problem.

Dan,
Your pictures are just beautiful, as if your garden. I for one would love to see more of your photos.

Thanks Karen

MrMiagi48386 - I had die-back start this past Spring on my Golden Full Moon Maple, and I soon discovered it was covered in scale. My tree is still relatively small, so I went out every day and mashed those scales to death. It took me several weeks of checking back each day, but I saved the tree. I'm told I should spray with dormant oil before the tree leafs out to avoid the same problem this Spring.

Hope that helps. By the way, I have another little Japanese Maple (Aconitifolium) that just started to die - rapidly - in the late Summer and Fall. So who knows...

Good luck!

I had never seen a picture of a conifer/maple garden that I liked, until I saw your photos today. Always thought they looked too artificial outside of Japan, but you have really put together a garden that just looks 'right'. If you aren't doing it professionally, you should think about it. Outstanding.

Wow, you have a great garden, very colorful. Thank you for sharing with us :)

Nice pictures, Dan! I do the same thing -- take lots of pictures in spring, summer and fall, just to get through the winter. Plus, I put the dates on the spring pictures, and put them up on my Web site so I can hang out there in, oh, say, February, and count down the days to when the buds will reappear. As of today, only 40 more days until the flowers will likely pop out on my red maple trees! Woo hoo!
Thanks for the beatiful pictures!
--Joolz

WOW! Yes please post more pics. I so want your maples.-well if only they would live. I live in Louisiana & beginning to wonder if all Jap. maples are happy here. This past year I potted and babied and I know one is a goner , waiting on 2 others.I notice stone at the foot of yours-maybe that will help- God knows everthing else seems to thrive in gravel paths. Looking forward to more, Ginger

Here is a link that might be useful: Ginger's Flower Garden

You are the reason I keep logging into this web site. Your pictures are spectacular. Absolute perfection. I take pictures of my gargen too and love the clarity that you have achieved and I hope to see more from you. Thank you for all the work you have put in to make such a wonderful garden and the knowledge you have achieved learning to take such wonderful pictures. I have most of the same plants you have set the bar very high for all of us.

Dan,
All I can say, is keep on posting! What lovely pictures.
I have enjoyed every one of them. Thank you so much for posting.

Karen

Pure bliss, Dan! Thank you for sharing beauty with us. It's the gift that keeps on giving!
Could the lime-green grass be Hakonechloa?

BEEEutiful! What kind of camera do you use?

Dan,

Thank you so much for posting those pics! May I ask what kind of camera you use?

Susanne

Thanks everybody for the compliments ,sorry I haven't answered questions in a while. I've been kind of burnt out on talking about gardening, can't wait to start actually doing it. The pictures were taken with a Canon S50 camera,which I'm convinced is the bulkiest,heaviest 5 mp "compact" digital camera previously on the market, but it takes nice macro photos. I now also have a Canon SD550 (7.1mp)which I bought for other photos, though I think I may continue to use the S50 for macro shots. I'm glad you all have enjoyed my pictures, because I'm quite convinced my neighbors think I'm crazy for taking pictures of my yard all the time. Thanks again! Dan

Dan, do you what variety of prickly pear that is? I have been thinking about adding that to a grouping with some lavender and other plants that can take very dry conditions. Maybe I'll call Ted's greenhouse and see if they carry any hardy varieties there, or Geimers. Can't wiat for the plants to catch up to our warm weather of late. Still need some rain though.

Mckenna, the prickley pear is Opuntia humifusa. Its zone 4 hardy. I actually ended up removing it at the end of last year because I was worried about my daughters getting into it. I still have a couple of "pads" of it in the garden though and if you e-mail me privately with your address I'd be happy to send them to you. Dan.

Dan, I almost completely forgot about the glochids and my daughter. I will skip the prickly pear for now, but thank you very much for your offer. I am assuming these have plenty of glochids and/or spines on them to make them child unfriendly. I will have enough to worry about with my cacti collection and my soon to be 18 month old. They do have great flowers. Did you get any fruit out of them or is our season too short here? I stoppped growing them since they started getting big and hard to deal with in pots, but my wife wanted me to get a safe one to carve a face into, so that is all I have at the moment, but it is just 2 pads and I don't think it is hardy. I still have to try Sids Greenhouse out to see what they carry. Maybe this weekend. Thanks again and my daughter thanks you for saving her from that painful lesson.

How exactly would you get glochids out of a screaming baby? I used hot wax on myself, but that would be hard/wrong to do to a baby.

Mckenna, sounds like a wise decision. My triplet daughters were your daughters age when I removed this plant from my garden. They're 2 1/2 now and they love to touch everything in 'Dad's' garden. This was my soft, (visually spiney) substitute. Pinus Densiflora 'Burke's Red Variegated'

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Happy gardening, Dan.

P.S. I had a long lunch today and went to 4 nurseries including Sid's. If you're looking for something particular let me know and I'll tell you if I've seen it.