Okay Saucy, a few more macros from the left coast...

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this is fun !

Black & Blue
And morbid too !

Here's a clematis seedhead from today.
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This is good practice for editing and uploading, too! Great pictures....hmmm....Jerri and Brenda's work is noticeably absent :)

Here's shots from this morning, just as the sun is peeking through the woods onto the deck (auto sets, no flash):

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You know it's going to be a hot one when the bee slated to collect water is out on duty early in the morning:
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That's all for this morning....

Saucy

I'm liking this thread a whole bunch Saucy! Your eye gets sharper and sharper the more you take pictures...but with age the clarity gets dimmer & dimmer. NOT FAIR!

I'm obviously not getting out of bed early enough in the morning, lol! Awesome pictures! I keep telling myself I'll play with the camera when I get just a little more weeding done.
That VFT pic is gruesomely awesome :)
Babs, something just didn't feel right as I was reading your post, then you mentioned the laptop. I thought you'd been hitting the sauce ;)
Okay, I'll get off my fanny and get outside, and I'll be back with pictures!
Brenda

I just realized I forgot to post. lol I've looked at these photos a couple of times already and I'm enjoying them tremendously. Taking really nice close ups ladies! You all know how much I like close ups. [g]

What are some of these plants, is what I want to know? The water drops on the last one, is that a grass? The pretty yellow that looks like maybe a canna or a gladioli. Very different and something I don't grow. And Gardenbug, why do your seedheads looks so much better than mine on your clematis? Mine are still holding dead flower petals. Kathy I love succulents. I wish I had more sun to grow more. The wavy ones with the large leaves are especially attractive. Your black and blue has flowers and mine is doing nothing but having the foliage eaten by something. Not sure what yet. Your deck looks so inviting Saucy. The bird on the top of the shelf, the gorgeous blue pot with the blooming brug, the potted head, and the lush sweet potato vine. I hope you are enjoying your deck and not working every minute in the garden.

Okay, so where are the rest of the photos? I'm ready for more!!

pm2

The creature that lives at 13,000 feet:

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What incredible detail you guys are getting with the new cameras. I'm still blindly using the borrowed Canon Powershot which came home yesterday with the mountaineers. I was moving the monopots around on the "summer staging" area to take advantage of Dahlia Bishop of Canterbury starting to bloom:

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And a longer view of the staging area, most of which has been seen by idyllers before, but it's starting to get that high summer "jungly" feel.
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A longer view, out of focus, but "glowy" with all the golden-leaved plants. Most of these plants are in the ground surrounding the staging area, which is actually a little brick sitting patio which gets stacked with pots in summer. Golden hops on the left, large shrub of golden duranta in the back to the right behind the Lime Zinger. The large mass of green to the left of the dahlia is Salvia 'Raspberry Truffle,' which Martie was trying to help me find. This one came from Rick Dufresne (sp). Even with pinching back, it's a massive beast that won't probably bloom until Sept. The orange flowers at base of golden hops is from dicliptera, which I think Saucy has too:

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the Marmot King of the Mountain, "If you have no more granola, there is nothing more to say."

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Awesome pics ladies! I just love everything. Saucy's jungle and macro shots and Denise's marvelous gardens. Denise that Bishop of C is looking great. Mine isn't even budded up yet. All my dahlias are so late this year.

Kathy, love those macros too. So many interesting plants.

Deanne

Denise - I love the marmot pictures - especially the last one! If I had the patience to plant something that required digging up for storage, I might go for that Dahlia....(but I don't have the patience to dig things up in the fall... - removing Elephant Ears from pots is the limit of what I'm willing to do and even that stretches the limits... :- )
Speaking of EE in pots, here's the patio pot of them:
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The EE pot in the front yard is a bit fuller-looking I think but both of them are nice. I love the velvety/leathery feel of the leaves.

The backyard is extremely lush this year because of all the rain we've had this month. It is in its usual largely green and white state:
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And here's a closer look at the mono pot of petunias. You can see the Blue Wave ones a bit better in this picture than the more distant one from last week:
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I have a Hot Cocoa rose in the herb bed that is there because it's part of the 'chocolate' garden for Randy. The color of the flowers is very odd though and I keep debating with myself about removing it. It's mostly finished its first flush of flowers. The last of them actually looked good with the hollyhocks not too far away so I've given it a reprieve for now. I also planted some rusty-red/orange daylilies near it to see if they would harmonize a bit better. It may work although I'm afraid that, if they bloom too early, they will clash with the nearby pink angel roses. The angel roses are just starting to set the red hips now so hopefully that will go with the daylilies and the Hot Cocoa rose as it starts its late summer flush of blooms. The jury is still out on whether the Hot Cocoa will stay or go.
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I planted a couple of Luna Red hibiscus in the front bed this morning to replace some of the daisies I removed earlier. It is interesting how different the foliage of the Luna ones is in comparison to the oldest hibiscus I have. I've read that you should pinch the hibiscus tips to make for a bushier plant. That is certainly not necessary on my older ones which look more like dense shrubs than perennials and I never do a thing to them. They have lots of buds now so will start blooming in a week or two.
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The New Dawn rose is putting out lots of thick new canes - it's obviously enjoying the extra moisture this year. In a week or so the new canes should be long enough to tie into the swag chains. At the moment, the New Dawn is going through its summer lull in blooms but should produce more next month. The Jackmani Superba clematis on the south gate arbour is holding the stage at the moment and, if you look closely in this picture, you can see the wall of Paul Farges clematis on the fence on the left side of the alley as you look through the gate. It's putting on a huge show and makes a nice view through the office window because the neighbour's Jackmani cleamatis also weaves through it.
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In the front garden, the garage wall is smothered by a mixed collection of hydrangeas:
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Other than that, the front garden is currently dominated by things like coneflowers, Russian Sage and Veronicastrum:
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Misty is requesting supper and walkies now....

I just love summer at the Idylls. The photos are lovely!
Woody if you toss Hot Cocoa sent it my way. I love mine and the one at Fuller Rose garden was to die for. :)

Jerri -> Ashamed to post photos after these LOL

jerri - what do you have your Hot Cocoa growing with? It's a very awkward color. I've seen it described on rose forums as 'liver on a stick'! Actually this year, perhaps because of the cool and damp, it's been a different color than usual - more red and less orange-brown. If I keep it, I'll have to be sure to deadhead the sage flowers as soon as the rose starts showing a fair bit of color. It most definitely doesn't go with the sage flowers and it's growing in the midst of the sage. The sage flowers perfectly match the Vyvyan Pennell clematis though - but fortunately the rose doesn't really start blooming until the clematis is past its peak. With a little luck, I can probably manage the color arrangements....

OH Woody! Absolutely magnificent! What a fantastic show in your gardens. I can never seem to get any clematis except Polish Spirit to put on the kind of display all of yours do but the voles love clematis roots so I'm assuming that's the problem here. That last veronicastrum/Russian Sage/Echinacea combination is to die for. I've never had any luck with Veronicastrum but then I've probably never planted it in a full sun location.

How long have you had your EE? That's quite a beauteous specimen.

Deanne

Woody, i have a small group of 3 close to cannas and Stella/Happy returns daylilies. It looks good with yellows - mine usually has a orange tinge to it. I also have some sedums around there. I'd take a photo if I could hack away the Bermuda grass. :(

I've seen it with whites and it's very nice.

Jerri

Deanne - I'm not sure why the clematis do quite well here. I generally neglect them a lot other than to give them a dose of fertilizer in the spring. I think they like a fairly neutral soil pH and I suspect ours is in that range so maybe that helps. I'm not sure why you'd have any problem with Veronicastrum. The ones in the picture are in full sun but I have some in the backyard under the oak. In the shade, they lean towards the light and the flowers get snaky-looking, almost like an odd form of gooseneck loosestrife. But they seem to grow just fine. Benign neglect is my basic approach to most plants. No pampering with all the great compost you make... (Maybe try a 'tough love' bed for a few things and see if they prefer that...?) The EEs were originally bought 5-6 years ago now. They multiply like crazy! I wrestle them out of the pots in the fall, wash the dirt off and put them in the basement on racks to dry. In mid-late January I pot them up in 12" pots and get them started growing. I harden them off in mid-late April and then pot them up in the big pots in early May. I put 3-4 of groups of the plants from the 12" pots into one of the big outdoor pots. Each 12" pot has a mix of larger roots (or whatever the proper name for them are...) and lots of smaller ones that are there to grow on during the summer. I mix a good dose of slow release fertilizer into the potting soil. I try to remember to flood the EE pots with water every day or two - both the front and back EE pots are located very close to a hose to make watering convenient! The pots fill in quickly because the plants are already a good size when they are put into the big outdoor pots.

Thanks jerri (we were posting at the same time...) In previous years, mine was more orange-red-brown too but this year it seems to be a clearer red. I'm assuming that it's the cooler summer this year that is affecting the color. (Mind you, I prefer the color this year...) I think we can ignore the grass if you post pictures of yours...:-) I'd like to see your combination.

I'm imagining all the Idylls shrieking at the yellow and orange combo. LOL
Our brick has a slight orange tent so I'm sort of limited. Mom loved orange so maybe it's genetic?

Jerri

Bear with me...DD sent me these today...

Reed adores fruit these days!
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And also imitating Daddy...
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Great photos Idylls!

I like black & white photos too..

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He's such a handsome little prarie dog :) I love it Denise!

Here's my dicleptra....first blooms. I pinched it back for a while. It got moved out into a sunnier area a couple of days ago, the whole pot was only in intense morning sun.

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And here's the Arcotis
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Zeus was disgusted with me as he was trying to take a nap:
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Sarah's bead box:
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I found it was hard to take pictures outdoors yesterday afternoon....it was very overcast and everything seemed too blue/green. I wonder what the best light is?

Reed is a ham. He just loves to entertain, I believe :) Woody, your garden is very lush! Denise, I really want to sit in your garden and have a chance to take it all in :)

Kathy, I haven't even tried B&W yet! Hmmm....create your own art! I have a set of paints used for painting photographs. You have to get them developed on Low E paper, whatever that means, then you can sort of watercolor them in....

Jerri, please don't be shy, I've shown my weeds before :)

Saucy

Good morning.... :-)

Denise...what a cute little visitor you had there. Was this on a recent trip that I missed hearing about? Enjoying your garden...that Dahlia with that dark foliage is so pretty with the grass and EEars and I can see just a peek of another dark 'frosting' succulent. Yum. Very welcoming sitting area too! 'Salvia Raspberry Truffle'...no wonder I always think of food when I see your garden....lol. I love that pot, is that your Bay?

Woody, your garden is definitely lush this year. Look at the buds forming on those hostas and your oakleaf hydrangea has gorgeous foliage, mine is already edged in reds and showing some stress and I have no idea why. It can't be not enough rain. :-) I do enjoy your mono pots and the petunias with dark/light...very pretty. My Hardy Hibiscus has about 5 tall straggly stems to it. I guess I should try to pinch it next year. What a bush ball yours is! Loving the clematis and the hydrangea and that photo with the coneflowers, perovskia and clematis, very controlled wildness, which I love. What are those metal supports down the middle? I like them a lot. Nice structure. The colors there are pretty.

Gardenbug...what a laugh I had looking at Reed and DSIL in the hot tub. Amazing what mimics kids can be. :-)

Kathy...black and white always reminds me of my first attempt at decorating. When I was eleven, I asked my parents if I could paint my bedroom and I wanted all black and white. [g] My bedroom set was white enamel and I had sliding doors on the closet. I can't remember much beyond the fact that I wallpapered the closet doors these huge black and white stripes and that I hated the whole thing when I was done...lol.
I do love your photo number three. I wonder if I would have noticed the tips of each leaf if it were in color? Very nice.

Saucy...Zeus is so kind to you...and that is my favorite shot! :-) Although the beads peaked my curiosity too. Your DD makes jewelry with them?

Wow...the photos are wonderful! I have few to share but I do finally have the Casa Blanca Lily open. I also wanted to show some real damage from the Red Lily Leaf Beetle. Pretty ugly. I have let them go unchecked this year thinking the birds were eating them, and that was obviously a mistake. I have some decisions to make.

These photos were taken about 7:30am in natural light with a clear blue sky. The first one looks strange and the second one seems a little lighter. Everything was dripping after another 3" of rain.

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Not sure where to post these days!! Though with the same old camera, some shots from today:

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If anyone can ID this Hydrangea, please do! It was a gift that I was sure would not overwinter but it did. Thinking H. macrophylla but also am not an H. buff by any stretch:

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Sometimes it's good to be two and have the views we often miss:

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Given the heat and wetness, I'll take this bloom of 'Aloha' LOL

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Martie

PM2 - I had to go back and look at my photos. Because none of them included my oakleaf hydrangea so I wasn't sure what you were seeing... If you were referring to the leaves in the second picture, they are not of oakleaf hydrangea but the leaves of the red oak tree that the south woodland garden is built around! The tree was probably about 10-15 years old when we moved in here. It was sort of scrawny but in the last two years it has suddenly put on a growth spurt. When the leaves changed color last fall we were suddenly aware that it is now a good bit taller than the house! And this year we've become aware of how wide-spreading and low-hanging the lower limbs have become! We have to duck under them when we go down the south side of the lawn and garden. This coming winter some limbing up will happen! I did some checking and there is a wilt disease spread by sucking insects that can kill red oaks rapidly - so pruning is best done in winter when there are no sucking insects around.

The metal supports in the front bed are there to allow me to walk around in the bed to weed or deadhead. I have a serious balance problem and use a walker for mobility. Since the walker can't get into the deep part of the beds, a few years ago I had the iron craftsman who made the iron arbour make me those supports. I call them my stationary walkers. They are spaced so I can reach from one to the other to get support to move through the bed. They look a bit odd, especially in the spring before the plants grow up around them, but they are functional. One of the reasons my garden has a lot of paths and relatively narrow beds in places is to make access easier for me. Even though the front bed has three paths through it, there are places I can't get to if I didn't have those supports. Because they are sort of arrayed around the sundial, during the garden tour in 2006 a lot of the 'guests' asked if they had some meaning re time or had some mystical significance! The human mind always looks for creative explanations :- )

(Barely) organized chaos might be as good a description as controlled wildness... :-)

Lol @ Reed, Zeus' nose and the Marmot King!
I love black and white photography..hadn't even considered the possibilities in that yet.
Martie, what is that wonderfully textured leaf??
Okay, a few attempts from the Hoosier state. This was around 7:00 this morning, mostly overcast sky.
The JB that is no more
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The last, sad lily of the season
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Malva F. among the Russian Sage
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Hemerocallis 'Indian Giver' and Caryopteris 'Sunshine Blue'
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More practice and playing are in order :)
Brenda

This has been a fun thread.. Marmots were not expected !
Denise I love the jester hat pot that your citrus is in (at least it looks like a citrus from here). I have a Dicliptera too, mine is in a pot, 2nd year.

Well PM, that lily beetle is just downright nasty ! I would be just beside myself if we had those guys out here ! LOL your black and white decor ...

Saucy, these are color photos that I used Picassa to turn B&W. I took them with that intent so had had to find things that had the correct contrast.

Brenda, the daylily in the last pic? Do you know the name ?

Classic hot tub shot 'bug !

Kathy in Napa

Woody...we don't have oak trees around here, so I didn't recognize your tree leaves. Well they are pretty leaves, nice and big and healthy looking. I am glad they are not Hydrangea leaves so mine look the way they are supposed to look maybe. [g] I've seen how fast that sudden oak disease and kill a tree. At the pond we sometimes walk at, there were some gorgeous huge old Oaks and one year it was healthy, the next it was completely dead. I will take a photo of the stump next time I am there. I didn't realize it was from insects. Wow, honestly, I thought the metal supports in the garden were decorative only. They look great! I love your garden and keeping up with it with balance problems...amazing!

Brenda....I had not seen C. 'Sunshine Blue' in a garden before. I really enjoy it and with that daylily...what a great combo! I imagine it needs full sun and probably wouldn't be as bright in less sun?

Installment for the day.....subject: The Hive late afternoon.

Isn't it cool how they line up in a row to cool the hive and remove excess moisture (there's a lot of moisture in a hive - all the water has to be removed from the nectar that they've gathered to make sticky honey!):

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They're hard to photo because the camera wants to focus on one bee, instead of getting a clear picture of all of them. Back to the book.....

Saucy

(Great pictures everyone!!!)

Now those are the bee shots I've been waiting for!

If you look hard (I'll try to get better photos) you'll see the little lined up bees are lined up right behind other bee bums....and so on....

Hence the thick smell of the hive when you're in the area....they're really moving some air.

I'm due for a hive entry soon!

Saucy

Saucy, I really enjoy the greens you choose. Nice color on the hive. Fascinating bee behavior. I never did hear, what happened about the Swarm and did they choose a new Queen and did you end up with enough bees left in the hive?

I forgot to mention Martie...love your Begonia and to ask, do you have to add something to the soil to get the pink hydrangeas, or is your soil naturally that PH?

Kathy, the daylily is 'Indian Giver'. It's currently my favorite :)

PM- I don't have much shade, so I can't say for sure about the Caryopteris, but my guess would be that it would green up a bit. The lower branches that don't get as much sun are greener than the top. Since it was overcast when I took the picture, it's not as bright as it is when the sun is blazing. It's almost too much of a good thing when you see it in context with the whole bed. I plan to split the daylilies and make a bigger mass of them to tone it down just a fuzz.

Saucy, I can never get enough of the bee project! They're amazing little creatures, aren't they?

Brenda

Brenda...I have been looking for something bright with yellow tones...I am wondering what happens when it blooms, blue flowers I assume? Your daylilies are finished by then? I was contemplating how it would look with Double Pink Knock Out Roses. I also like the texture of the foliage. Really nice combo you have there and more of that daylily sounds great.

Really going now...lol.

:-)

Great foliage plant is Begonia 'Art Hodes'. I think Eden has one, too, and its simply beautiful.

Hydrangea is planted right next to needled evergreen shrubs. No amendment other than mulch. I've no idea if the plant could/would be any other color with different PH since I have no idea what it is and am STUNNED that it overwintered. LOL

Martie

PM2 - oak wilt is caused by a different fungus than sudden oak death, but death can be quick anyway. The link below describes what it is.

Saucy - more bee pictures please... Those were great and resulted in this running through my head:

"So help me if you can. I've got to get
Back to the house at Pooh Corner by one.
You'd be surprised there's so much to be done:
Count all the bees in the hive...."
:-)

Here is a link that might be useful: oak wilt

Woody, now I have that song in my head, instead of the streaming Jimmy Buffett :)

PM, The caryopteris has blue blooms. The daylilies will be on the downhill side when it starts blooming. I never seem to get them deadheaded, or they'd probably last longer. I'll be sure and post pictures when it starts blooming. I imagine it would be lovely with pink roses.

Brenda

Bees! And Woody, your gardens are gawgeous, so lush. The photos have been so enjoyable.

Kathy, the court jester pot was one of the $4 pots. There's a smaller version of the same pot with an Agave bracteosa, the octopus agave, in it but the photo was crappy.

Here's a self-sown Glaucium flavum:

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And a work in progress, more UFO's, but I wanted to show one of the most valuable objects in the garden, this concrete cylinder, which I gather is a "test" plug crete workmen make before the final batch. I found several of these yrs ago in a vacant field. They're mostly hidden by plants. One of these days one will be covered in mosaic...The agave is 'Jaws,' strangely enough purchased the week Roy Scheider died.

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detail of the beautiful succulent, not a sedum, starts with O but lost the tag!:

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I think PM asked about the mountain photos, which were taken on Mt. Whitney, tallest mt. in the contiguous U.S., approx 14,000 feet. Closing with Duncan on the mountain, smiling for the marmots:

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Really Denise, you didn't have to tell me that the jester was one of your 4$ pots.Crikey. Agave 'Jaws' ..need it, must have it.
Wonderful bee-bum shots !

Wonder what tommorow will bring on this thread !

Kathy in Napa

Something for Kathy tomorrow...

Nap time. I guess DSIL has sunny dreams, LOL.
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Looks like Daddy and Reed were playing hard!

Yesterday we went to the zoo....and there was a "Muttville Show"....the basset was a real ham sitting with her bum to the audience everytime she got on the stage :)

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Sarah volunteered:
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and had no idea what was going on over her head and wondered why we were all laughing as the little dog was stretched back and forth over her like a bad hat :)
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And then she was offered a liver treat for her participation:
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The "trainer" really could use a little tightening up of his bit, but the dogs were totally a blast! You could tell that they liked their jobs. Some walked tight ropes, some hid in box, some jumped rope!

Some of the pictures came out really good...some did not. I would've liked for these to be clearer/sharper. Practice.....

Saucy

Wow, this thread is so interesting! I'm so glad that Saucy, Kathy and Brenda have new cameras. The hot tub picture is hilarious and what fun for Sarah to be part of the show. I'm loving all the closeups and black and whites.
Denise sure has a good looking bunch of containers and a good looking son.
Woody, I like your balancing supports, functional but attractive.

Saucy, is that 'Illustris'? If so its a gorgeous specimen. Mine are no where that size.

Thanks for all the fun pictures.

Michelle

The Muttville show is a hoot! The bend in Sarah's body resisting the treat says "kid" in spades - staying where she was told to stand but no way going for the liverwurst. You should put her in mime classes, Saucy!

Since this seems to be an anything-goes thread, this photo was in my mailbox this morning. Mitch asked for my opinion before he sends it to the sitter. "let me know if this portrait is attractive before I send it to the poor girl."

It's not my fave for some reason. Can't decide if the expression is insipid or Mona-Lisa profound. Not sure about that angle either, like the photographer was on a chair...

Here is a link that might be useful: opinion on this portrait

I don't see the portrait...but it may be at my end.

We aren't able to have High Speed Access in our area, so things are really slow for me. I'm hoping people won't mind cutting off the photo threads at 50 postings...or even at 25 would work for me! Anyway, I'd love to continue having this thread, even keeping the same Dueling Banjo's name, and numbering them, as with Idylls. What do you think?

Hi...

I have high speed access and can view this thread but I have to scroll to see it all because one of the doggie photos wasn't resized and is too large. I have been enjoying them too. :-) Time to start a new thread?

Very cool photos -
Denise, is that orostachys you're mentioning in your pic ? the wonderful gray succulent - I saw it at Wave Hill and actually took a pic of it & its tag (for once one of their things had a good tag) there becuase I of course loved it.

I've been wondering what lily beetle damage really looked like -- thankful to say not in this area (yet) - im sure it's just a matter of time.... ooolala...

Sorry guys. I think I removed the oversized pooches :)

I don't care what we do with the thread...I only hoped to practice posting since pictures seem to look different here and so many of us got new cameras....

Back to work....we're cleaning the fish tank today...

Saucy

Cindy, thanks so much for the ID on the orostachys aka Dunce Cap! What a good note-taker you are. I was thinking of you this morning, reading about $169 flights outta Long Beach to Wash D.C....so tempting. I wonder if the idylls have ever visited Chanticleer for an IU...

a quick search brought up gorgeous photos of Chanticleer from IU4.

Here is a link that might be useful: IU4 Chanticleer

Denise - Im curious about the portrait - but the link just took me to a 'Welcome to G-mail' page... can you try again to link the portrait...?

Woody, just saw your note and didn't mean to leave you hanging. Possibly only gmail patrons can see photos this way.

Anyhoo, here's that portrait:

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Thanks Denise - I like the portrait - looks old-fashioned somehow in a very attractive way... Did he send it to her? What did she think of it?