Daffodils

After a winter of searching on Daffseek and trying to find open source photos of Daffodils, everything is finally starting to bloom and is coming up in full.

I'm very pleased that the job decided to include my daffodil sheets.  It took a while to gather some of that information so I'm just glad that we've made this more of an educational display rather than just an astoundingly large number of  bulbs.

At one point I was trying to get a head start on these by taking some photos at the philly flower show. I remember there being a million daffodils on display in previous years and somehow that wasn't the case this year. I wonder if its actually just a process of perception. I hadn't really been aware of the number of cultivars of daffodils before this fall. They're all yellow and white and they've never interested me enough to be able to distinguish between varieties. I can't say that I'm interested still. I put in more research into these flowers in hopes of finding them interesting, and while the mythology and the story of Narcissus is interesting, the flowers themselves are not varied enough to hold my attention.

In any case here are some Daffodils on display from the flower show. Expect many pictures of Daffodils over the next two months.

Aeonium and Echeveria

Look at these beautiful Aeonium and Echeveria from the flower show. I've never really liked Aeoniums but that Aeonium tabuliforme has been rather tempting. Landcraft Environments has that one for sale this year.. hmm..

Aeonium decorum

Aeonium tabuliforme

 Aeonium 'Velour'

 Echeveria agavoides hybrid

 Echeveria 'Curly Locks'

Echeveria derenbergii

Echeveria setosa

Echeveria unguiculata

 Echeveria 'Sunburst'

That time of year again...

The Philly flower show just seemed so much more manageable this year. Navigation was improved and there were plenty of beautiful plants on display. I can't say I paid as much attention to the staged displays this year. The British theme was very flexible in letting a good variety of plants creep into the gardens but I guess I'm just more interested in the plants these days then the staging.

I was reintroduced to Galium odoratum. I kinda forgot about that one. Cute woodland plant.

Anyway here were some of the awesome Mamillaria on display. I'll admit, cacti and succulents were my main focus this year.

 Mammillaria carmenae 

 Mammillaria elongata

 Mammillaria glassii

 Mammillaria bombycina

 Mammillaria hahniana

 Mammillaria parkinsonii

 Mammillaria prolifera

 Mammillaria rhoda

 Mammillaria rhodantha

Mammillaria sciedeana

Urban Trees

Oh next time you walk under a tree in the city, just think about what's inside it.

 

Chances are...not too much.

And just think, these aren't even the uncared for street trees.

Still want to plant a million trees on a crowded island?

Edema

People in the cactus society always ask about cactus scabbing. Cacti naturally become corky as they age but environmental factors can help accelerate the process.

Edema (oedema, corky scab) is a common, noninfectious disease of many herbaceous and woody plants. Edemaresults when the plant takes up more water through the roots than the leaves can transpire through the stomates. The excess water accumulates in the leaf cells, causing them to enlarge and often burst.

Symptoms vary depending upon the plant species or cultivar affected. Bumps, blisters, or water-soaked swellings may form on the underside of leaves, petioles, or stems. These blisters are at first small, about 1 to 2 mm in diameter. They then turn tan or brown and become corky. Severely affected leaves turn yellow and drop from the plant. On cacti and other plants, pale yellowish green spots form on the shoots. These spots may remain smooth, greenish white, or watersoaked. However, these spots often result in irregular corky or rusty areas that may later become sunken.The edema generally do little damage to plants, but detract considerably from the appearance plants.

Edema is best prevented by increasing the temperature and ventilation around the plant to increase moisture loss through the stomates. A rise in temperature of the air surrounding the plant will increase the rate of transpiration and thus help prevent engorged cells and blisters from forming. Increased ventilation also hastens transpiration by lowering the humidity at the leaf surface. Avoid cold drafts. Plants that are overwatered as well as plants that are properly watered but located in low light or cool areas are highly susceptible to this problem.

I'm back!

Well I've been busy all fall but I'm back hopefully, for the long term again.

So part of the reason I haven't been posting is because I cracked our 18-55 lens for our Nikon camera. I just haven't had the ability to take any pictures and what good is a blog with no eye candy.

Work has been the other reason why I've been busy. Most people seem to think that spring is the most busy time for gardeners. For us fall certainly takes the cake. We put in 52,000 bulbs this year with two gardeners. Most of those were Daffodils and I really hope they come out well.

Besides that we've had the hurricane clean up to deal with. We lost four trees in the park and there was debris everywhere. Also just the regular fall clean up and holiday display. Meh.

Knot Garden Revisited

It's hard to believe that this...

Has grown into this....

The amount of trash I've pulled out of this thing is just embarrassing. Stop being so trashy, you fast food junkies.

Theif!

Maybe you remember those pictures of those cute Euphorbia 'Ascot's Rainbow' I put in the main fall annual display. They looked something like this.

 Well I came in the next day to throw down some mulch and instead I found this...

You would be amazed how much plant material disappears after its put in the ground. There really is nothing more frustrating then correctly estimating the required number of plants, planting them so that they're even and then coming in the next day to find them missing. If you're going to steal plants, please save me the work and steal them before I plant.


This is why we can't have nice things.

New Containers

Here's one of our new containers for the fall. The lighting in this picture is just awesome.

Gaura ‘Crimson Butterflies,’ Heucha ‘Citronelle,’ a variety of Begonias, Lysimachia 'Persian Chocolate,' Synadenium grantii, and Streptocarpella 'Concord Blue.'

Cuties.

Fall annuals part 2

So my last post covered what went in our main bed display. Let's see what went into the smaller beds.

 

A combination of Violets and Pansy's were added around the playground. The four sides were configured to match the four suits of a deck of cards. I'll take another picture when they're all in bloom. I'm not sure the picture is going to be as successful as I would really like.

 

Japanese blood grass, Imperata cylindrica 'Rubra', gives great fall color. It's been in the park for a year and so far no reversions or invasive tendencies. If anything I think the original stock was sort of weak. =/

We played around with some standards this year. Here we have a Coleus and Abutilon pruned up making everything super formal. Its an interesting change. The Euphorbia 'Blackbird' looks great in the bottom picture.

Finally an update

I suppose it should be time for reflection, now that summer is coming to a close. I can't believe fall starts next week. I have no idea what I've been doing all summer. I just don't know where the time went. Maybe some photos will help jog my memory or something.

Unfortunately all that is coming to mind right now is the million shades of coleus I just added to the fall display.

 

 

 yep.. its still going..

 

I've spent the last two weeks putting in the fall annuals at work. In some ways I think the fall displays are always the most interesting and creative out of all the ones we do. For the most part I can thank industry standards for that. Mums, asters, and cabbage have dominated fall displays for as long as I can remember. Maybe sometimes someone throws some grasses or millet in there but for the most part, all fall displays usually look the same. This makes my job easier really because there are hundreds of fall flowering plants that are uncommon in annual plantings. If you throw in some brightly colored foliage plants and consider how large your material will be because of the lateness of the season, you can have a kick ass fall annual display with little effort. I'm far enough south where I don't have to worry too much about early morning frosts before bulbs have to go in but far enough north where fall is still a very distinct season. It's an awesome combination.

This bed has been going all year, but check out this Solanum quitoense.

 

I think we're getting fruit soon.

My job requires that I install four seasonal displays and realistically, the fall one is the least necessary. Fall material always comes at an awkward time between when the summer material is finally fully established and thriving and bulbs are almost ready for installation. Everything needs to look good when it goes in because it really doesn't have any time to grow before it needs to be pulled out. =/ what a waste.

In any case, this is what it looks like this year.

It's certainly bright enough. I can't wait to see the Nemesia and Diasciain bloom. It's going to be so full of color.

Here's some close ups on those Euphorbia 'Ascot's Rainbow.'

The rest will have to wait for now. I can't be including too much eye candy all at once. =)