One of the things I love about my Ruby Meidiland roses is that they bloom profusely right around the Fourth of July. They make a nice foreground to the flag that hangs on my house behind them. You can’t see the flag in this photo, because it was taken on June 29th, but the blooms…
Just look at this Larkspur — doesn’t it seem to have an iridescent shine to you? And it’s so BLUE! It’s tough to find real blues in flowers. I admit this looks just a little more purple in real life, but this photo was not “photoshopped” or adjusted in any way (besides resizing). It does…
My ‘Ville de Lyon’ Clematis has now been in the ground for four years, and it’s true that they are slow to establish. The one on the other side of the arbor finally died all the way this year. Previously, it was only “mostly dead” (wasn’t that a line from The Princess Bride?). But this…
This is Rosa ‘Nearly Wild’ – a very cool small rose that I planted up among my aspen trees. This one is only about 18″ tall, and it’s been in the ground for two years now. These photos were taken on June 22nd, when it was in full bloom. Its blooms have faded now, but…
My Kwanzan (or Kanzan) cherries really came into bloom during the past four days or so. This one is the best of the three I have. Below you can see my row of sand cherries (flowering cherry shrubs) in peak bloom at the same time the Prairiefire crabapples are starting to bloom well. I don’t…
Last week, we had two nights, I think, with low temps around 26°. That’s cold enough to kill some cherry buds, and I’m not sure how mine are doing. By the way, mine are Lapins cherries. This branch is showing a lot of brown cherry blossoms, but I really don’t know if that’s simply what…
This is my Mericrest nectarine, and it really has pretty blossoms. Here are a few shots with slightly different lighting. They were taken on April 29 – a week ago. Everything is late blooming this year, because of our long, cold, “La Nina” winter, and it sure is nice to see things finally blooming. Here’s…
I posted a message in the GardenWeb roses forum about how to prune my Ruby Meidiland roses. I’ve been cutting the canes back to 18″ or so at the end of each winter, but I thought I’d read somewhere that they do well with little or no pruning. Here’s the best answer: Ruby Meidiland belongs…