One Word Wednesday - Cloud

GBBD - June 2012

It might be a day or two past the 15th, but considering how busy this last month has been, even participating in June's Bloom Day is pretty amazing! I won't get too descriptive this time, because I can't concentrate that hard right now. I also took many of these photos rather quickly; we've had lots of rain recently and was nearly carried away by the clouds of mosquitoes that rose up from the lawn. But anyway, enjoy the photos!

Salvia 'Caradoona'

Sedum kamtschaticum

Hydrangea arborescans 'White Dome'

Asclepias syriaca - Common Milkweed
Did you know it's fragrant?! Mmm....smells like lilacs... delightful!

Dicentra 'King of Hearts'

Lilium 'Tiny Bee'

Astilbe sp forgotten

Alcea sp - Hollyhock

Echinacea purpurea 'Magnus'

Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'

Achillea millefolium 'Paprika'

Hemerocallis sp unknown
aka Ditch Daylily

Allium azureum

Alchemillea mollis 'Thriller'

Nepeta 'Walker's Low'

The Peonies of Eugene Lins - Part 2

A recent trip to The Lins Peony Garden produced these photos of the mid-season blooming peonies. For more info on The Lins Peony Garden and pics of the early bloomers, click here, or hop to the tab at the top of the page. Enjoy!

Casablanca (1942)

Dolorodell (1942)
named after Eugene's daughter

Ensign Moriarty (1945)

Gold Crest (1963)

Hawaiian Sunset (1958)

Mandaleen (1942)
named after Eugene's daughter

Marcella (1952)
named after Eugene's daughter

Mary L. (1949)
named after Eugene's wife

Ramona Lins (1942)
named after Eugene's daughter

Waikiki (1959)

Weatherball 90 (1962)

Several of the Mid-Season Bloomers were on the down side of their bloom time so they didn't look so great, which is a shame. I'll have to be more diligent next year to get photos of them in their prime. Many of the Early Season Bloomers were still going, but I only included Mary L. because she actually looked better this time around.

I think my favorites of this group are Casablanca, Dolorodell, Hawaiian Sunset, Mandaleen, and Marcella. It seems my peony preference tends towards the paler hues that also have subtle accents of color. Weatherball 90 is just a cool name for a peony, but I don't think I caught it in it's prime. I managed to find a picture of it on this website from Germany and it looks entirely different. Maybe it ages to the pinks? Maybe it ages to the white? Maybe the specimens in the Garden really aren't Weatherball 90? I have no idea. I guess that means another trip!

Christmas Cactus Update #4

The time has arrived. After months and months of waiting and watching, it is finally time to prune the Christmas Cactus! It stopped blooming in mid April and I had to wait another month before pruning it. Here it is before the big process:

If you've been following the progress of this Christmas Cactus, you may remember that I've been wanting to prune this thing since February, and in an attempt to curb my impatience, I wrapped green twist ties on the branches that needed to go. Like this:

Then all I needed to do was to reach in and start cutting.

Now there are three important things to know when pruning Christmas cacti: 1) wait one month after it stops blooming (which we've discussed already), 2) never remove more than one-third the size of the plant at one time, and 3) always leave a whole segment - do not cut the segment you want to keep. If you look at the photo just above, you'll see that I'm making the cut at the top of the segment with the twist tie.

So, how does it look now? Here is the before:

And after:

We can once again work at the sink without being shoved by the cactus. Now the Christmas Cactus will simply be green until November or so when it starts blooming again.