A Garden's Bounty

Today it's all about the photos so no meditative ramblings on the blessings and curses yielded by gardening. That said, I did come across an amazing plant at our Grand Lake Ace nursery today. It's Thunbergia mysorensis. It's unlike any Thunbergia you've ever seen and in this case a photo is indeed worth a thousand words. That photo, taken from the web, will lead. Then it's onto photos from my garden. Enjoy!

Here's the flowers on the Thunbergia. Kind of surreal and to my mind looking more like an Aristolochia than a Thunbergia.

Iris ensata Royal Robes. This water loving Japanese iris tends towards purples and wine colors. The flowers are usually larger than with Dutch iris, although my first ones here weren't. 

Duranta repens Gold Mound. Supposedly a dwarf variety, mine took awhile but is now 8' tall. It has yet to flower but that's okay. I bought it for the foliage.

Pelargonium Fireworks Red and White. This guy seems to be in bloom nearly year round. Here the shadows add a hint of mystery.

Holy Smokes Batman! Okay, no caped crusader but this Million Bells is actually called Holy Smokes. Artistic license?

Tweedia. Never get tired of looking at those robin's egg blue flowers. For those not in the know, Tweedia is a milkweed, meaning it has the same fluffy seedpods that Asclepias has.

Anagallis monellii. Though an annual, I grow this guy every year for the gorgeous cyan blue flowers. Plus, it's a good spiller.

Origanum Xera Cascade. Someone once described this ornamental oregano as Kent's Beuaty gone wild. It can cascade up to an amazing four feet. Same lovely pink bracts.

Lilium Fusion. This tiger lily didn't do anything in its first year but has returned with vigor in year two! Very pretty.

Dwarf conifer bowl. Now in year four these 4" starts have slowly filled in. Time to repot!

Cryptomeria Spiraliter. Another dwarf conifer, this Japanese cedar will top out at about 6'. It produces the lovely chartreuse new growth you see here.

Bonus points if you can ID this plant. It's a Sesbanii and it's a prolific bloomer, with vivid reddish-orange pea-shaped flowers. Interesting legume-like seedpods too.

Monardella odoratissima. THE plant of the year in my garden so far this year. It's bloomed prolifically, has vigorous growth and has yet to show any of the fickleness that some Monardellas can be prone to. Plus, a unique fragrance that's intoxicating.

Calibrachoa Lemon Slice. It's been a good year for my Million Bells this year, including 3 returning from last year.

Unusual centipede? Nope. It's the flowering stem on my Aechmea fulgens. Tres, tres cool!

Speaking of eye-catchers, here's my new this year Lilium Corleone. Can't help but wonder whether the variety name wasn't inspired by the Godfather movies (it being a blood red color).

Gladiolus Mante. Love the purple color on this hybrid Glad.

Speaking of glads, most in my garden are species types. Here are the first flowers in a G. nanus mix. They're a dwarf variety.

This is the first of 3 Tiger lily photos, the variety from a Tiger lily mix. First up is this rich red color.

Here's a pale orange color from that same mix.

And perhaps my favorite from this mix, this honey gold with dramatic burnt chocolate markings.

Mimulus Pale Yellow. I can never have enough Mimulus and new colors keep popping up in nurseries and garden centers.

Neoregelia 'Marcon.' On its way to acquiring the burnished gold colors, speckled with red.

Another shot of my Fusion lily. Dramatic speckling is one of its high points.

Helichrysum bracteatum 'Monster Red.' Once you've grown the full sized 'paper flowers' you can't go back. These guys get 30" tall and 18" wide and bloom nonstop!