Rosehaven Cottage: bloom-a-day

Showing posts with label bloom-a-day. Show all posts

A May day "basket" of flowers for everyone

"Disneyland" rose in forefront with "Blue Ribbon" peeking its pale purple self from behind
Then going clockwise up and around the bird fountain:
"Our Lady of Guadalupe" rose
"Ronald Reagan"
"Honey Bouquet"
"My Fifi"

I've been in the middle of transitioning to a new computer all day so my intention of posting photos of lots of blooms to wish everyone a happy first of May kind of fell by the wayside until late in the evening. Oh well. Better late than never, right?

When I was young, my mom told me about the old tradition of filling a basket of flowers for the first day of May and giving them to someone special. I have so many people who are special to me (all of you) I can't fill up real baskets for everyone and deliver them in person. But I can share these images instead and we can pretend, okay?

"Blue Ribbon" with a backdrop of fennel, "Disneyland" and our living room windows

The past week, I've been posting a bloom a day in order to share the explosion of color happening in the garden right now (the front garden being the most colorful). Today, I'm sharing some wider shots to illustrate that I'm not exaggerating when I say it is "exploding with color".

Same roses as mentioned above except for the "Abraham Darby" top left and "Parade" to its right

I love when the garden puts on this show. Although most of the roses continue to bloom throughout the summer and fall, there isn't ever quite the same abundance of blooms as there are at this time of the year. Every time I look out the living room windows, I smile.

"Janice Kellogg" in forefront
"Our Lady of Guadalupe", "Ronald Reagan", and "Honey Bouquet" in background

Bloom-a-day 7: Jupiter's Beard (aka Valerian)

I'd never seen it before moving here. I first saw it in a neglected planter box growing at the base of a street tree in the middle of the sidewalk in an industrial part of a neighboring town. Delightful and airy, it seemed so out of place in that forlorn and forgotten sea of parched ground, dust, concrete and asphalt that made even the street trees look sickly. It didn't seem to notice.

Sometime the following year, it showed up in our garden. It chose the line of poor clay soil along the base of our picket fence.

"Well, hello!" I said once I spotted the first volunteers, "I recognize you. I'd be happy to have you live here."

And so it did.

I first learned its common name, "Jupiter's Beard". Most of the blooms are a deep dark pink, but there is one patch right under the mailbox that is the purest white.

I've since come to learn that this plant is also known as "Valerian" (the proper name is Centranthus ruber but who likes that name when you can call something "Jupiter's Beard"?).

The hummingbirds and bees don't care what name it has. They love the nectar from the big clusters of tiny blooms. During the day, the fence-line is a veritable buffet for the critters.

In late November when the night air begins to have a chill, the stems will be missing most of their leaves. A few stray blooms will still be reaching for the sun that has slipped low in the autumnal sky. That is when the "Jupiter's Beard" gets a close "shave" as I trim each stem to the ground.

The perennial roots rest comfortably all winter until spring's warmth wakes them. And then they line the base of the picket fence once again.

Bloom-a-day 6: Hot pink alstroemeria

Like an artist's paint palette exploded, the garden is alive with color everywhere I look.

I've decided to feature a bloom a day until this beautiful show comes to a close.

In a pot on the deck, between the barbecue grill and the hot tub, is a large pot with a the pole of a large sun umbrella stuck deep in the soil. The umbrella provides shelter from the rain and the sun when I'm getting my hydrotherapy.

Growing around the umbrella pole is a healthy crop of hot pink alstroemeria that I thought was going to be an annual when I planted it.

That was 3 years ago.

It even grows and blooms in the winter when I think it's too chilly for anything this tropical looking to grow. I think being up against the side of the hot tub helps.

So this bright sassy little flower has become a permanent resident here... much to my surprise.

Bloom-a-day 5: Ronald Reagan rose

Like an artist's paint palette exploded, the garden is alive with color everywhere I look.

I've decided to feature a bloom a day until this beautiful show comes to a close.

When choosing rosebushes to become permanent residents in the garden, I tend to steer away from red roses simply because they're not unusual enough. However, when I came upon the "Ronald Reagan" as a bare-root with a full-color photo on the bag label, I fell in love with the unique coloring of the petals--how they are light (almost white) at the base and then deepen to a bright red on the edges. When I saw that description of the foliage was "dark, leathery and glossy" (translation: more disease resistant) I was sold. I've never regretted buying this beauty. This year it's putting on the best show ever since it came to live here.

Bloom-a-day 4: Bearded Iris

Like an artist's paint palette exploded, the garden is alive with color everywhere I look.

I've decided to feature a bloom a day until this beautiful show comes to a close.

Holding a special place in my heart are the bearded iris.

No matter how much I want to introduce other colors into the garden,

I am always drawn back to the pale blue varieties.

Bloom-a-day 3: Angel Face Rose

Like an artist's paint palette exploded, the garden is alive with color everywhere I look.

I've decided to feature a bloom a day until this beautiful show comes to a close.

I think this is an Angel Face rose... it's either this one or the other one that looks a lot like it. They both lost their tags since I planted them. I remembered one of the names and completely forgot the other... something with "magic" in the title. Even when I do have roses labeled I manage to have this happen. *sigh*

Bloom-a-day 2: Hot pink gerberas

Like an artist's paint palette exploded, the garden is alive with color everywhere I look.

I've decided to feature a bloom a day until this beautiful show comes to a close.

Like the red gerberas that live out in the garden, these "annual" beauties that reside on the deck in a terra cotta pot have miraculously wintered over for two winters now. It never ceases to amaze me when this happens and I hope I never take it for granted that it does.