Friday, July 17, 2009

Novelty Flowers and Old Favourites

Aren't these neat Osteospermums? They're fun to look at. The petals are like little spoons. A description of one of the spoon-type Osteospermums on the Proven Winners plant website states that they don't require deadheading for continuous blooms. I like how they put it: "Plants will bury their dead". How considerate.


Finally, I have blooms on my Siberian iris clumps. Not on all of the clumps, mind you. I am an inpatient gardener and it has taken about three years for my Siberian irises to bloom! So if you are having this problem, just wait longer.

Sweet Williams:

Multiple colors on one stem! I should feel that this Sweet William (Dianthus barbatus) is giving me such a great deal for my dollar. Once I got these plants established, they have proven to be reliable biennials for me here in the north. The ones that are unprotected at the edges of the beds don't make it through the winters, but the ones towards the middle do just fine. The colors are bright and really add alot to the mid-July flower slump (post-tulip, pre-lily).

The sloped rock garden: yellow Digitalis grandiflora is in full bloom at the top. The fuzzy grey mound on the right is Artemisia "Silver mound".

6 comments:

Sigrun said...

I didn't know about not deadheading the flowers. The other osteos bloom better if they are deadheaded. i deadhead once a week so I do them too. Beautiful gardens. i have a hard time keeping up with mine.

easygardener said...

I like those twisted petals too. I must admit that deadheading is not one of my strong points. It tends to be forgotten about. The Siberian Iris are very attractive, I like their upright habit.

Chookie said...

I love your rock garden! I must look out for that Artemisia -- suspect that the Digitalis won't grow here at all.

Rowena said...

Those Osteospermums are gorgeous! Never seen anything like them, and would love to have something like that growing in my garden. Wonderful images!

Unknown said...

I always deadhead my annuals, but they're in containers and I want them to keep blooming, so I fertilize and water and deadhead relatively faithfully. I didn't plant the spoons ones this year, though. Now I wish I had, looking at yours!

Muum said...

I love your dianthus, it is incredible. My biggest prob w/ the siberian iris is getting them divided often enough so they will keep blooming.