Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

I'm not sure how other people do it, but I won't be photographing every bloom I have.  My two goals for these posts are to share some photos of our flowers, and as a record of our yard.  Right now, these posts are a little long - imagine if I photographed every flower?  I have been taking pictures of the first time a plant blooms for the year - that way I have a photo and know when it first bloomed.  There is an over abundance right now, but I suspect that in the future, I will be hard pressed to find flowers to take pictures of.  Or maybe not - we'll have to see.

 Let's start with the flashiest one - and also the one I previewed last month.  Finally, here is the flower from out night-blooming cactus.  It bloomed after I went to bed one night and Robin took pictures of it.  It was good she did, because we got an inch of rain that night and it was a dripping, sad, little flower then next morning.

This is a spider lily, possibly Hymenocallis caroliniana, but I'm not positive.  There are a lot of similar flowers and I got this from someone off of craigslist.  It blooms every spring with a succession of about four flowers on a single stem.

These are our American bog lilies - Crinum americanum - they like wet areas and bloom in the spring, but they have bloomed later in the year, maybe in the fall.  It could depend upon how wet they get or their stress level.  We started out with two bulbs, but they have multiplied many times.

We got our Root Beer plant several years ago.  Supposedly when you crush the leaves they smell like root beer, but I'm not so sure.  This thing spreads fairly easily.  I usually pull some up twice a year and take them to the plant swap.

I can't forget the vegetable flowers.  These are from our pepper plants.  They were really hard to get a photo of.

And here is a tomato blossom.  These have been blooming for a while now, but it was the first chance I had to take a photo of them.  No tomatoes without these flowers!

While not exactly food, I thought I would continue with this bloom from an apple gourd vine.  It has been hard getting a photo of these.  It didn't seem like they were blooming very much.  As it turns out, they are probably nocturnal, blooming at night.  No wonder I had trouble getting a picture!

These little black-eyed Susans are starting to bloom.  I didn't remember them being this small, but as the summer continues, maybe they'll get bigger.  I've got some others that are about to bloom as well.  Stay tuned.

I planted society garlic in the yard a couple of months ago and it's taken this long for them to bloom.  These, along with tomato blossoms and other small flowers, can be hard to photograph at times.

Our garden phlox started blooming.  We got these at a plant swap years ago, and they just keep multiplying.  Now we take some every year to the plant swaps.

 I got these from the plant swap last fall, I think.  I thought they were going to be black-eyed Susans, but it looks like they are purple coneflowers.  This photo doesn't do them justice - they weren't very purple when I took the photo, but they are now.

Earlier this year, someone was throwing out last year's asparagus fern.  After I got it home, I repotted and fertilized it.  It started flowering the other day and I knew something was wrong - fern don't flower.  They produce spores.  This is not a true fern.  Learn something new every day.

And now, more daylilies.  There may be a duplicate bloom from last month.  I can't always keep track.  I could just look at last month.  Anyway, enjoy!

First Gardening Podcast

I just recorded the first gardening episode for "Chat Talk", a local podcast with MD and Devin.  While I was a little nervous, I think it went well.  We covered a couple of topics very broadly and I thought I would go back and give some more specific information about a few things.

First, I want to give out the Clemson Cooperative Extension and Master Gardener's Office information again:

Clemson Cooperative Extension
259 Meeting Street (2nd Floor)
Charleston, SC 29401

Master Gardener’s Office
M-F 9am-noon, 1pm-4pm
(843) 722-5940 ext. 117

To drop off soil samples, you will need at least two cups of soil.  The best way is to take a representative sample from the area you want tested, mix it up, and take at least two cups from that.  Basic soil testing costs $6, which will tell you pH, nutrient content, and instructions on amending your soil, depending upon what you are growing there.  There are "Ask a Master Gardener" booths located around the area on some Saturdays.  They can answer questions and take soil samples as well.

I have a little more information on starting a vegetable garden.

Three factors - Sun, Soil, Water
Sunlight is essential - at least 6 hours
Soil - fertile, well-draining
Water - adequate moisture

Sunlight is the most important one - the other two can be improved.  If you have poor soil, or poor-draining soil, there is always the option of raised beds.  You can control the type of soil that goes in it, and because it is raised, it will be drain better.  You probably will want to give your vegetables an inch or more water per week, depending on rainfall and time of the year.

There is one more thing I wanted to address.  We talked about kudzu bugs (Bean Plataspid).  I said I read an article that stated that pyrethriods were effective against these bugs.  I'm a little new at this and don't always know what I'm talking about - this was one of those times.  All of the pyrethr...words run together for me a little, so I'm going to clarify - as explained by the Clemson Cooperative Extension:

"Pyrethrum is made from the finely powdered flowers of a species of daisy. The word pyrethrum is the name for the crude flower dust itself, and the term pyrethrins refers to the insecticidal compounds that are extracted from pyrethrum. Pyrethroids are not botanical insecticides, but synthetic pesticides that are very similar in structure to the pyrethrins."

from: HGIC 2770 Less Toxic Insecticides

Here's a link to the podcast website, or go to the podcast page.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Welcome to Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.  On the fifteenth of every month, garden bloggers post photos of  what's blooming in their garden.  Let's start with potatoes.  I planted these potatoes almost a month late, and in bags as an experiment.  They were blooming the same time I was harvesting the ones in the ground.  Some of them look like they're doing really well.  We'll see in a few weeks.

As you can see, the sunflowers are starting to bloom the same time as our Echinacea.  This a smaller variation called something like "Bee's Knees".

Our Rose of Sharon, or Hybiscus syriacus, puts out a few blooms every spring, but it's never covered with them.  It's not my favorite, and I consider moving it every year - this time, back to where it was originally...

Just a smaller sunflower we have growing near the back yard.  It's only about waist-high, where the others are head-high.

I like this Canna.  I like the colors a lot.  And I hope to have more of it some day.  It's been invading our
yard from our neighbor's for the past couple of years.  It's in a shady spot, so it doesn't grow out of control, but we still get some blooms every year.

The Hostas under our oak tree are starting to bloom.  These are the first few flowers that have opened.  Ever since I started doing Bloom Day, I've been paying close attention to every possible flower bud in the yard, so I don''t miss it.  I'm talking to you, day lilies!

A few years ago, someone had dug these from their yard and put them in the trash.  I brought them home and eventually planted them.  It took them time to recover and I have about thirty of them now.  The spot I picked is less than ideal, so I've potted them and plant to transplant them somewhere that gets more sun.  Ironically, the edge of the shade is not very shady at all, and needs something there.  So, that's where they're going eventually.

Another bloom that I can't remember the plant name.  These were growing in our yard when we moved in six years ago.  They come back every year.  I like them.

We have some cucumber flowers - which means we'll be getting cucumbers soon.  I picked a trellising
variety and they're working out well.

I had some old zucchini seeds that I thought I would try - I got a few plants and this is one of the blooms.  You may be able to see some fruit at the bottom.

Some of our other Echinacea started blooming the other day.  It's a lot taller than the first one - a little paler too, I think.  You can see there's going to be a lot more blooms where that one came from.

I know it's not quite a bloom, but I noticed that our night-blooming cactus was trying to make a flower.  Maybe next month it will be ready for some good pictures to post here.

And, finally, some daylilies...