Little but Mighty

 

The miniatures are the first to come out to show. Carnelian rose  above is Crackling Fire; the gold and red to the right is Neon Cowboy; the pink and white to the left is Heartbreaker.

New Rose

 

Elizabeth Taylor. Roses that are fully budded and blooming when you purchase them from the nursery have been fertilized and force-bloomed for commercial reasons. It is best not to fertilize them for at least four weeks after planting.

The Beauty of Chaos

 

I am what is called a cottage gardener, as opposed to a formal gardener.  I have no use or respect for symmetry.  I do not engage in the manipulation of color that produces a synthetic harmony of shade and hue which is simply pleasing to some constrained sense of beauty.  I plant things where my instincts tell me their heart longs to be.  My gardens are chaotic; joyfully running riot toward wilderness.

The little orange flower featured here is a wild poppy.  These can be planted where ever you can’t get anything else to grow, and they will seed and reseed season after season often cross pollinating to produce varied and unexpected shapes and forms in a tangled and magnificent mass of green foliage.

 

 

Firewitch

This is the Firewitch.  She is a dianthus and loves heat and drought.  Also tolerating cold very well makes her perfect for Colorado.  By mid July all of her flowers will be gone, leaving her beautiful green gray foliage.  A lovely border plant she sits well with other draught lovers like the sedum behind her and the Portulaca, known as the Moss Rose, in the container.  A spreader it is best to keep her pruned back, removing shallow roots where every possible, so that she does not overtake other plants.

The Royal Delphinium

King Arthur (purple blue) and Sir Galahad (white) of the Court Series of Delphinium. Even though I have adjusted for the light, certain rich purples appear to be purple blue. This color is actually royal purple.

Sisters

Meet the sisters. Ice blue and frosty white. Standards and falls reversed.