leder legends

My favorite time of day is around 7:00 am when I go outside and walk around with my phone/camera and my cup of coffee.   I search for the  new blooms.  Sure, there are new blooms on every daylily every day but I'm looking for that very first bloom on each plant.  I still have 3 plants that are slow/shy this year and it's already July 24th. These three are not new to my yard but I cannot remember what they look like so it will be a surprise.  Tangerine! Every morning, I also snap off the soggy, spent blooms from the day before. It doesn't take long and I just drop them on the ground around the flowerbeds. .. they soon disappear lol,  Since not a single new bloom had appeared today,  I decided to grab a small bucket and collect and COUNT the spent blooms. The bucket, surprisingly, was only filled approximately 4 inches.  The count was shocking-- 117 spent blooms!!! and yet it only took me about 10 minutes!  My mush salad - haha The yard s...

 Rudbeckia and echinacea are related. Black-eyed susans and Cone flowers are in many perennial gardens. The first was yellow with a dark black center flower. The second was a taller light purple flower. Today, There are lots of hybrids with many lovely colors. These pictures are echinacea/cone flowers. The Rudbeckia/black-eyed susans are not yet in bloom.   Nice pops of color.

Daylilies generally offer one bloom per stalk each day once they start blooming.  I have a lot of them and about half of them have started. Daylily people are like hosta people- they want more and more and each one must be different.  I don't consider myself among them because even though I may have many and most are one of a kind for my yard,  I'm done! I have approximately 40 daylilies. (I went out and counted them yesterday) 40 is more than enough. Are they all different?  Not quite all but close.  I heard last year that lilies can be heavy feeders so I put some well- seasoned manure at the base of each plant.  I also have heard that day lily people appreciate a high bud count. As I look around the yard, I think the manure paid off since I have been rewarded by many more buds on even the older and plainer daylilies in my yard. Since they started blooming, I have taken a picture of only the first bloom and posted it on Facebook.  There ar...

My many different hostas are blooming.   Yes, hostas are not just big leafy plants - they bloom! They sent up scapes. Most are white, some are violet and a few even have yellow scapes. People love them, hate them, tolerate them for their bees or just don't care. I hate them! In my opinion,  they are messy and not pretty!  I have been tolerant of them so far this year for two reasons.  I'm being persuaded that the bees need as many flowers as possible and they gave the yard some variety as I waited for the daylilies to bloom and there is much talk about a virus called HVX that destroys hostas slowly and can be transmitted from one plant to the next via the utensils used to dig or cut them.       As you can see from the various pictures, the scapes not only come in various colors they are also different heights. The ones that are s...