Continuing on with last week's theme, today it's also about the color. I'll let the pictures (hopefully) speak for themselves.
Lily Fata Morgana. This double form Asiatic lily has a cheerful look to it!
Here's a different color in my Tiger lily mix. I've gotten reddish-orange, pure yellow and this peachy-pink color.
Although most Magnolias are deciduous and bloom in late winter, this Southern Magnolia (M. grandiflora 'Little Gem') is an evergreen species and a summer bloomer. Flowers are always a pure as snow white color.
My Clarkia purpurea Rubicunda has finally produced its first light burgundy flowers. Simple, but they pop against the dark green foliage.
I have plenty of Agastache varieties in my garden. Here's one called Kudos Yellow.
Trichostemma lanatum. The CA native Wooly Blue Curls can be a little hard to establish but mine has proved vigorous, returning each year and blooming over a long period in summer and fall.
Although one of the common names for carnations is 'Pinks' (because there are a million varieties with pink flowers), in truth you can now easily find them with yellow, peach, orange and red colors.
I call the beds leading to my back yard Shady Lane. Each bed is only a foot wide so you can see how densely strips like this can be planted, despite this limitation
I recently weeded my back yard and now that that is done, it is time to 'freshen up' the gravel path that is the main walking area. These kinds of paths are not hard to do. Buy some vinyl edging material and sink that in the ground as the borders of the path to be created. Lay down weedblock fabric. Cover with 1-2" of gravel. Voila!
Japanese Lace fern. This beauty is my latest addition to a growing fern collection. I now have about 25 species, most of them in the Shady Lane or in the bit-of-morning-sun back yard.
Salix 'Hakuro Nishiki.' I bought this variegated leaf willow for that feature but to my dismay all the new growth came out plain green! But patience grasshopper. As the months have progressed, not only are the new leaves speckled with white but the older green leaves are becoming so as well. Plus, it seems happier in more shade.
There's simply no blue to match Nikko Blue in the world of hydrangeas.Just gorgeous.
Begonia 'Gene Daniels.' Love the dark felty leaves and the rich maroon undersides. Happy in a pot too.
Lily 'African Queen.' One of the most gorgeous trumpet lilies.
Lily 'Sweet Surrender.' This variety is supposed to be pale yellow with lots of spots but mine has come out pretty much all white, with very few spots but a lovely green center.
Here's another variety in the Tiger lily mix. One of my favorites!
This is a different Tiger lily mix, which contains this pinkish-orange, heavily spotted variety.
Amaranth 'Burgundy.' This is part of a six-pack that stayed true to its promised color.
This was a mistake in shipping. Not the double yellow Fata Morgana lily but a pale pink single. Of course one doesn't discover this until 4=6 months after buying the bulbs.
Although it hasn't bloomed yet, and hasn't reached its usual 6-10' height, my Lepechinia hastata (Pitcher sage) is filling out rather nicely. The leaves are very fragrant and the flowers spikes super showy so it's a wonder why everybody doesn't have one in their garden.
Gladiolus 'Las Vegas.' One of my favorite species glads.
I recently cut to the ground an invasive flowering quince and - yes this is true - sat the very heavy Quan Yin statue on top of it to discourage further growth. So good so far. Cutting that to the ground really opened up the front of this sunny bed. Editor's Note: Don't be afraid to yank something out of your garden.
This is the new dwarf conifer bed I created at the beginning of the year. It has five dwarf conifers, 3 Hellebores and lately some ground cover color. Raised beds can be a great way to use an area where the soil can't be used for a variety of reasons. Here it's brick-like pavers, a lot of soil, plants and bark mulch.
This later shot of my Fata Morgana lily shows off the red spotting a bit better.
Lily Patricia's Pride. One of the early successes in my lily collection, even though the burgundy markings showed up more as a splatter than as a solid blotch.
Calluna 'Bradford.' As I've mentioned the plant called 'heather' is comprised of two main genera - Erica and Calluna. They share soft needle-like foliage and tiny urn-shaped flowers, in colors that range from white through various pinks and even red. Very hardy.
If this Cuphea's species name is oreo-phila, I wonder if it's an edible? Just kidding. But this is one blooming machine!
My small collection of Justicias are late this year. Late to leaf out and late to flower. Here's my J. brandegeeana. This is sometimes called a 'shrimp plant' as the segmented bracts look a bit like those crustaceans.
Here's something that IS actually edible. Many of you have heard of Yerba buena (Satureja or Clinopodium douglasii). It's actually in the savory family. Here's a cousin, S. mimuloides.
Although my new specimen is small, this is the famous Monkey Puzzle tree.
Some flowering plants are hard to find. Here's one - Asphodeline lutea. Very pretty star-like flowers and a cheerful yellow.
Although nasturtiums can be weeds, overrunning everything, there are some very pretty varieties. They too are edible (flowers and leaves both).
Lilium leitchtlinii. This species of lily is supposed to be orangy-yellow with prominent spotting so not sure what happened.
One more shot of the brown-streaked Tiger lily.
Although the flowers are pretty, it's the dark foliage on this Dahlia Mystic Illusion that is the real attraction.
Mimulus 'Anton.'
Begonia Belleconia. Love the double form of this prolific blooming begonia.
It's often the foliage that's the star attraction with begonias, as it is here with B. Wild Pony.
