In the Garden - First Poppy Edition

Oriental Poppy
This plant may have been from a seed planting as it was suppose to be a 'Princess Louise' which is a pinkish color. Obviously, this is not pink but it sure is pretty. Poppies might well be the only flower I would take in any hue :o)

I am enthralled by these flowers.
They only last for a couple weeks each year, so temporary,
but they make my heart sing whenever I see them.

Note: new shutter color highlights the lush green of the plants. It also makes the yellow of the house read more of a cream color.

Another seed planting. What color will this poppy be?

So many buds. Bear with me.
I will surely take many photos and at least a couple of the entire flower bed when in full bloom.

Now this poppy from seed(above) may well end up having the 'Princess Louise' coloring. Note the hairs on the bud are a different color on this particular poppy.

Lest we not forget the other flowers in my garden that are budding.
Heuchera(Coral Bells) (above)

Armeria

Digitalis (Foxglove)

Salvia

Unknown Lily (no bud yet, will we ever know what this is?)

Dianthus(Fire Witch)

In the Garden

My little one picked out Ranunculus for Mother's Day for my mom and myself.
I got the red (my favorite color) and grandma got the orange.

Boy, I can't wait to see what type of lily this is.

The little one's Japanese Maple tree is leafing out.
So cute!

This peony is growing like gangbusters and
at least three buds are set.

The poppy has a couple huge buds.

My 'Firewitch' Dianthus took last year off but will be in full bloom this year!

I've been applying Liquid Fence to my garden (Boy! Does it stink when it's wet but it seems to be doing its job so I think I can handle it.) I bought it directly from the company but it is also sold at Home Depot if you need something to keep the deer and rabbits out of your flower beds. The other nice thing about it is it is all natural(rotten eggs and such) so you can actually use it on food crops just not close to harvest. :o)

In the Garden

The primrose are really popping this week as are the hyacinth.
Just in time for Easter!

This photo really shows how well the poppy is doing!

Aesthetically speaking, the above photo isn't the prettiest but you can at least see the different shades of pink. They actually look much different in person, not all are actually pink, they just photograph that way. (In the big space was another smaller primrose but a rabbit came along and ate it before I took this photo.)

This primrose is a pretty pale pink

This primrose is a red violet color. Much more purple than it looks.

And this primrose is more of a fuchsia. It is much brighter than it photographs.

Yellow. The only color that photographs correctly.

These are so pretty. A lovely shade of blue violet, looks great with the primrose!

I was surprised to see my Labrador violets blooming. They are easy to overlook since they are so small but they are so sweet. I just love violets. I am also planting some sweet violets this year from seed.

My peony is not only coming back for its second year but it is thriving. It is planted in a large pot so I always get anxious that it will freeze out and fail to come back but it has sent up 3 shoots so far so I guess it's pretty happy. It should have stunning blossoms this year. It is called Buddha's Lotus Seat and it is suppose to have pink outer petals with pale golden center petals. So excited to see it in all it's glory!

In this messy clump of green, I have lilies sneaking up through a foxglove. I believe it is a black beauty lily but I'm not sure. Last year, the deer ate my lily before it was able to bloom(right after it set its buds). I'm hoping since it is now nestled in the foxglove it may have a better chance. I also ordered some Liquid Fence on the advice of an artist friend. I look forward to seeing how well it works. It would be a Godsend if I don't have to build a fence around my little garden bed. It is also suppose to keep rabbits out (yay!) I will keep you posted on results, it should be here this week so I should be able to see how effective it is pretty quickly.

This post is a little later than I planned it to be but I was having some issues with the laptop I upload all of my photos to. It refused to boot up. I found out that it was having issues because it was attached to the printer but since I had that scare, the thought that I wouldn't have my database of photos (art, family and other), made my husband back it up before we shut it down. Hopefully, it will continue to serve it's purpose until I can get a new one. Until then, at least I know I'll have all my photos saved to a safe place.

In the Garden

Violas are blooming in the garden. A pesky squirrel dug up the ones that were in the planter with the peony. Speaking of, the peony is coming back to life. I was a bit nervous because it lives in a planter and this winter was so cold that there was that outside chance it may freeze. As you can see below by the little pink nub, it did not.

Daylilies are popping up in every garden bed. I haven't located some of the newer ones but I also haven't had a chance to weed and remove dead leaves. I'm sure as soon as I clear the beds, they will reappear. I love daylilies because they are so resilient.

I have iris scattered here and there. They aren't doing as well would have liked or expected. We will see when spring really kicks in how they are going to do. In the one flower bed, the squirrels appear to have had some fun digging them up.

Besides dead matter and sprouts, if you look closely you can find quite a bit of bunny and deer droppings. Free fertilizer I guess.

Labrador violets are popping up all over my main garden bed. Since I'm a huge violet fan, I don't mind. I consider it a pretty ground cover.

These are the two strongest poppy plants but there are more interspersed throughout the beds. These are closer to the house and therefore warmer. That's my guess for why they are looking so great :o)

My mom buys me primrose every year so I keep them alive until spring and plant them by the front door. I'm not sure how many I have now but they love their little home. They also bloom throughout most of the winter!

I have four hyacinth coming up. Can't wait to see these guys in all their splendor.

Both my lavender and pink phlox are coming up. Phlox isn't my favorite flower but for some reason, I get really excited when these guys come back. I've had the pink since I lived in Columbus (about 5 years) and the lavender since we lived in Cleveland (3 years). Every time we move, I dig them up and bring them with us.

Garden Mums.

Another mum below in the jungle of weeds that exists in my small, front garden bed. I had my bird feeder over there so I could watch my birds while doing the dishes. Needless to say, the weeds are very hardy.

Finally, some plants that need to be planted ASAP. They just arrived this week but with a cold snap they have to wait a bit before they can be introduced to their new home. Temps are due to go up next week so I'll try to get them in then. In the meantime, I will keep them in the cool mudroom and water them occasionally.