New Bloomers

Ox-eye Daisy (Leucanthenum vulgare)

As my ability to post goes downhill due to too many time constraints, the number of plants blooming in my yard escalates. But I managed to capture a few blooms yesterday and thought I would share them with you. Above is the common Ox-eye Daisy, now blooming its heart out. I like the fact that, if kept deadheaded, it'll keep on blooming for a long while.

Bouganvillea

Now how do you get a bouganvillea to bloom so profusely this early in the year you might ask? By cutting it WAY back in late winter. That's all there is to it. No magic fertilizer, nothing.

Red Cascades miniature climbing rose

This miniature climbing rose was planted last year and has done very well. It's never had any pests or diseases so I highly recommend it.

The Fairy rose

Here's another pretty hardy rose, The Fairy. This one also has small blooms although it's not classified as a miniature. Last year it grew extremely long canes but flowered little. Some queries to a rose expert affiliated with the American Rose Center helped me understand it just needed to be continually cut back. So I whacked it back pretty good in mid February and will continue to do so after every bloom cycle. Right now the entire bush is covered with buds and some blooms.

'Whirling Butterflies' Gaura

Verbena bonariensis

Two bee and butterfly magnets - gaura and "stick" verbena.

Pennisetum setaceum rubrum 'Fireworks'

I like the combo of this variegated grass in front of the magenta color of 'Amazon Neon' dianthus. Can you see the tiny grasshopper near my copyright signature? The next day (today) that plant was covered in baby grasshoppers. These are what the folks around here call "graveyard" grasshoppers. They eventually get huge but when they're this size, they're pretty easy to kill with the old shoe. However, there are more than the usual number this year so I ordered some grasshopper bait containing Nosema locustae, a naturally occuring disease of grasshoppers. It'll take a week or two to work but hopefully that'll take care of them for the rest of the year. (Fingers crossed; that many huge grasshoppers would decimate a number of plants!)

Some reds and oranges courtesy of geraniums (actually pelargoniums) and nasturtiums

Coreopsis

A reliable spring bloomer, this coreopsis (unknown variety) blooms a long time in mid to late spring. Notice the dusty gray on the leaves? That's powdery mildew, although why it has it, I don't know. We hardly got any rain in April, unlike last year when it got it then too. So I'm thinking it's not in the right place and needs to be moved. Patience though. I'm going to let it finish blooming first.

Hope you enjoyed my new bloomers!

This post was written by Jean McWeeney for my blog Dig, Grow, Compost, Blog. Copyright 2009. Please contact me for permission to copy, reproduce, scrape, etc.