Flower Gardens

» Cottage_Garden - Antique Flower Bed

Yes the flowers in the bed are plastic.

This unique little roadside flower bed number caught my eye and we had to turn around and drive back along the rural highway to snap the photo.

You can see it at Landscape Design 101 where, basically, I talk about using some simple landscape design principles to help make sure your flower bed doesn't stick out like a sore thumb.

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Photo of my Garden

I was invited to write an article about Earth Day for Kitchen Gardeners International. I did so, and along with it sent a couple of photos. One is of my new little garden in Los Angeles. If you'd like to see it, there is a link to it from my Earth Day Blog.

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Exquisite Rose "Ophelia"

This exquisite rose is "Ophelia" and it was given to me by a generous gardener whose name I do not know. I stopped in a neighborhood in downtown Los Angeles to admire his extensive plantings, and while we chatted, he so kindly snapped this off and gave it to me. Luckily, I had a styrofoam coffee cup and a bit of bottled water in my car so it made the trip home in relative comfort. This one bloom perfumed my dining room and lasted for five days. The color changed a bit as it opened and depending on the lighting. Very soft delicate pale pink, a bit of papery ivory/white and lemon yellow center. Wonderful lemony sweet fragrance. Ophelia is an old hybrid tea dating back to the early 20th century. Thank you, kind sir!

You can see Ophelia along with my article Right Plant, Right Place. I used a black background to try to highlight the delicate coloring and I think it turned out quite well.

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Glorious Sunflower

We all love sunflowers, maybe because as children we saw them towering over our heads, taller than even the grown-ups! Or maybe because they just plain look like sunshine and bring along a smile on sight. Or maybe because the seeds are big and easy to plant, and the plants are easy to grow in a sunny spot....

I dunno, but I sure like 'em! This one was sitting in a mixed bouquet of cut flowers displayed in a white plastic drywall-type bucket at an indooor/outdoor flower shop on a busy corner sort of near Universal Studios. So much for elegance!

Did you know that sunflowers turn to follow the sun during the day? That's why a sunflower seemed just right to go along with an article about lighting conditions: Sun or Shade!

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Daylilies!

Daylilies or Hemerocallis are among the easiest of perennials to grow and do well in many different climates. In Los Angeles they seem to bloom nearly year round. I snapped this one blooming merrily in a Glendale CA parking lot! It seemed fitting to use a sunny daylily to go along with Starting With Perennials.

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Shadows on the Lawn!

I love the ever changing patterns of sun and shade beneath trees. In summer especially I love to sit in the shade and watch it, almost like watching the movement of the ocean at the beach.

This photo popped up in front of me strolling through a neighborhood in Burbank. I just had to use it with an article called Part Sun Part Shade -- don't you think!?

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Narcissus Follow the Sun, Too

Did you know Narcissus (Daffodils) turn and follow the sun? They do! If you plant a row of them against a building for example, you will see them all face in one direction toward the strongest sun. I grew thousands of daffodils naturalized in the woods surrounding my house in Pennsylvania. The daffodils in the woods to the north of the house faced south and smiled at me. The daffodils in the woods to the south side of the house all turned their backs to me.

You can see this pretty little multi-flowered thing at Is it Sunny or Shady Here? I snapped this one in a yard here in southern California so I can't tell you which specific variety it is.

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Marigolds and Sweet Alyssum

The pairing of marigolds and sweet alyssum is a natural one, both are easy to grow annuals that like sun and they are widely available as started transplants and as seeds. The sweet alyssum smells good, too!

I snapped these in a planter at a commercial office building last fall in Pasadena. It always helps to see the plants as they will look a month or two after planting when they've had some time to grow and fill in .... See them at Planting Flowers in Spring.

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Monet Green Window Box

This photo shows marigolds and a purple verbena blooming in a lovely flower box painted what I would call a sort of Monet green. That color is a super backdrop for the purple verbena, don't you think?! Add the orange and overall it is a dramatic combination.

Later in the season the verbena will trail and cover most of the box and shade it so the soil stays cooler which is a good thing in hot summer weather. Too bad it will also cover up the paint!

See it at Spring Planting: Annual Plants which, coincidentally, includes a link to a site where you can check your last spring frost date. Are you ready to plant yet?

-- posted by Cottage_Garden

» Cottage_Garden - Aphrodisiac?

I once had a bearded iris just about this amazing shrimp pink color, it was called Aphrodisiac and is described as varying shades of peach. It did not last very long in my rough and tumble country cottage garden but it was pretty while it survived.

Pink is a sought after color in the iris world. Most of them look either insipid or more orange than truly pink to me -- or perhaps more kindly put, "shrimp colored".

I don't know what variety this iris is, I snapped its portrait in a garden near La Crescenta, CA.

I used the photo for this article because iris are often sold bare root, or more correctly, as bare rhizomes. Take a look at it at Spring Planting Perennials Part One which addresses bare root perennial planting.

What color would you call it? LOL

-- posted by Cottage_Garden