Portraits From My Garden

[Rebecca]

This is 'Blaze', a rose I moved from my Grandmother's old home when I first moved in here approximately 8 years ago. It isn't much of a climber these days but it always produces several waves of color for me.

[Rebecca]

One of several Dutch Iris blooming this spring. I thought this one was quite unusual!

[Rebecca]

Close-up of same bloom showing petal detail.

[Rebecca]

This one is a close-up of one of my favorite miniature roses'Minnie Pearl'. A truly beautiful little rose!

Hope you have enjoyed my little 'Flower Show'.

Rebecca

[Rebecca]

'Johnson's Blue' Hardy or 'true' Geranium, also known as 'Cranesbill:

[Rebecca]

Miniature Rose 'Sunny Day', at least I think that's it's name!

[Rebecca]

This is a red Peony rescued two years ago. Don't know what it's name is.

[jimtx]

ok .. I admit it .. u are a good/great photographer .... u also have nice plants to work with ..... know u enjoy them.

Look forward to seeing more of ur photos.

Jim

[Rebecca]

Jim,

Thank you for the accolades, but it's really the camera! I just point and shoot! Good photography is part setting up the shot, part lighting and a big part is in the editing, or what used to be the dark room!

Any plant can look special if photographed the right way, getting as close as you can and still have the subject in focus is one trick. And if you just can't get close enough, then set your quality to super-fine, and crop out all the unwanted areas and enlarge what is left to show the details. This photo shows the details of the beard and inner parts of Iris 'Violet Rings'. I can't get that close and still be in focus. The next photo is the shot I cut this part out of and enlarged.

[Rebecca]

This is what the previous image came from and even this image has been cropped and resized. I do all of my preliminary editing before I save any to my hard drive.

[Rebecca]

Just to show you how a really ordinary bloom can look extraordinary, this is an extreme close-up of a Coreopsis!

I enjoy looking at flowers in ways other people don't even think about! When I was using a SLR I could do some really strange shots of common objects and flowers. Digital cameras do have their limitations!

Glad you enjoy my 'art'. Now if I could just find the right on-line hosting service I could post to more of the forums and groups I belong to!

Rebecca

[Rebecca]

One more for tonight! This is a 'portrait' of my favorite Columbine, a very delicate pink with white. And, yes, those are water droplets on it; it had rained just a few minutes before I took this photo.

Enjoy!

Rebecca

[jimtx]

Ah ha .... now u have touched a nerve! I am a 35mm Micro nut .. or was ... haven't used it as much since the digitals have come out. I also had a twin lens Rolliflex with close up attachmetns .. that is a 2 1/4" square piece of film and slides that big ... look really good. Even had access to an 8" X 10" camera and used the slides as lighted wall pictures .. amazing to look at.

I am having a lot of trouble being able to "see" what I am shooting with the digital. I have a big rubber eye piece on the 35mm. that blocks all of the light and gives u a clear view of what u are shooting. The digital allows a lot of light to slip into the viewing area.

Work keeps messing with the photography as well ... like the shots in early morning or after rain ........ and not able to catch the right light as easily as I once did do to work.

Will try the "fine" feature as soon as I figure out how to change it :p

Jim

[Rebecca]

Finally got around to up-loading some of my photos to an on-line photo album host! Here's the link:<a href="http://hyperphoto.photoloft.com/view/Album.asp?s=cano&u=1766954&a=1351260&i=10693784">My New Photo Album</a> (http://) You will need my password to view it! For Garden Plants, that would be: pippin. Hope you visit and enjoy!

Rebecca

[Rebecca]

All the rain and cooler temps we've had the past several days has finally come to some good! My 'Wild Iris' are in bloom! They really like the 'wet' season! I also can not get over how much better their color is this season! Very rich and velvety!

This first photo shows the bloom looking straight down on it:

[Rebecca]

I have to admit, that first view is a bit too 'blue', I have a problem getting purples to photograph right!

This is an different bloom, as seen from the side.

[Rebecca]

Today I would like to show y'all a couple of photos on one of my favorite flowering onions, Allium schubertii. This one is growing inthe back yard in a small corner bed I planted on the north end of the neighboring patio. There were two of these plantd, but something has happened to the other bulb. It could have rotted or a squirrel might have gotten it. This one never fails to be impressive, even though it doesn't get as tall as it should.

Enjoy!

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Those are blooms on what was sent to me as 'Lavender Ice' miniature rose, growing off to the side of the Allium.

Here is a close-up of the Allium blooms:

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If you look closely, you can almost see a bloom on one of the many Pink flowering Cransbills that have managed to plant themselves everywhere!

Another odd flower I have is called a 'Plume' Hyacinth; this is the first year I have had any bloom on the several bulbs that were planted as many years ago. They have blasted before or just not come up!

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Thank you for letting me share my Garden Plants with you!

Rebecca

[Ann B.]

Rebecca!

I am surely enjoying coming inside from a long day in this heat and seeing pictures of your lovely gardens!

We finally received a little more rain, a LOT of lightning and quite a bit of wind. I still haven't manage to pick up all the pecan branches that fell last night.

It looks like more rain is on the way. I know that my landscape will enjoy that!

Thanks, and I know that I speak for everyone when I say that your pictures and your gardens are absolutely gorgeous!

[Rebecca]

Thought I would let y'all know I am working on a new web page (or two) at my daylily site that will have photos of my better garden plant photos. A lot you've seen here, some were here but have been moved to the site or back to the photo hosting site.

I created a good part of the page this morning byt now muct return to my photo files to chose the remaining photos needed for page one and do a little editing on them before they are ready to be posted on the site.

I believe the url for my daylily site is posted on my profile, if it is not and anyone is interested in seing it, PM me and I'll edit my profile so it is listed.

I have a couple of daylily seedling that will be blooming very soon and I am just hoping they don't bite me when I go into the seedling bed to take their photos!

All for now,


Rebecca

[Ann B.]

Rebecca,

Your web site if wonderful!

That creamed colored one with purple ring in the throat looks an awful lot like the one that I have. It hasn't formed any seed, but I used the pollen to pollinate others that seem to be forming pods. We will see....

And wouldn't you know it! There are 5 blooms open today, and it is raining, so the pollen is wet.

What do you do when the pollen is wet? Is there a way to save it and let it dry out?

[Rebecca]

Ann,

I was wondering what had happened to the rain we were supposed to get last night and today - you still have it! Well, send it on up here will ya, my gardens need it! Lol!

Wet Pollen

Under normal circumstances I don't do anything but wait for the next flower to upen!

Now then, if it is the last bloom and I know rain is in the forecast and it is one I want to use, I will go out the night before and remove the pollen anthers and stamin both, bring them inside and lay them on paper toweling for several hours to dry. I then remove the anthers and place them in an envelope, write the doner name on the outside and then put the envelope into a zip-lock bag and pop it into the freezer until I can use it. You do have to let it thaw out for a bit before you use it, but it works just fine!

If you can catch the flower before it has fully opened and the anthers have gotten wet you can sometimes get it to ripen and dry out enough to use it, just follow the same storage procedures.

The DL you saw on my site is 'Siloam Ury Winniford'. It was introduced by the late Pauline Henry, from Siloam, Arkansas in 1980. The scapes get 23 inches tall, but the bloom is small, only 3.25 inches. It's foliage habit is Dormant and it is a Diploid. I have used it myself with several different cvs, 'Surprisingly Pink', 'White Temptation' and 'Siloam June Bug'. Only got a few seeds from the last pod parent listed and they all failed to germinate. I have 6 or so seedlings from the surprisingly Pink cross and my records indicat I'm supposed to have three from the White Temptation cross, but for the life of me I don't know where they are planted! I think they are in the little annex I had to add this spring to the main seedling bed.

Anyway, as long as you are using the pollen on other diploids you have a good chance of getting something decent. Eyezones are somewhat recessive so you might not see any in the first generation seedlings. If you cross those seedling sibling to sibling it will show up in the next generation.

Bet you didn't expect to get a hybridizing lesson did ya! Hope you were able to make sense of it!


Rebecca

[Rebecca]

<CENTER><a href="http://hyperphoto.photoloft.com/view/Image.asp?s=cano&u=1766954&a=1352094&i=10763573"><img src=http://hyperphoto.photoloft.com/view/exportImage.asp?s=cano&i=10763573&w=349&h=466></a>

'CONNECTICUT YANKEE'</CENTER>



Enjoy!



Rebecca

[sue salley]

Rebecca your site is beautiful. Where do get the time? Looking forward to seeing more results of your crosses. Solar Flare is WONDERFUL!
I have a small bloomer called Strawberry Baby. It is very pretty. Have you seen it?

[Rebecca]

Sue,

I've probably seen 'Strawberry Baby', but I can't put a face to the name right now. It's an age thing, you know!

Thank you for the compliment on my site, have you seen the new page yet? Probably not as it has just been published and then re-published cause I didn't like the colors!

How do I manage it, easy, I have no life! Work, home, work, home, etcetera! That and my house is a total wreck! If the inside looked half as good as the outside I've had it 'maid'! Lol!

Rebecca

[Rebecca]

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I've been up-loading pictures to the photo hosting site and just had to share this one with you. It's one of the last of the Asiatics to come into bloom, and so worth the wait! (I moved all the lilies to their own album.)

The regular Orange Tiger Lilies are at least a month away from blooming, in fact, the Orientals will be in flower before they are! At least with the Orientals I will finally have some fragrance in the garden - and about time too!

Daylilies are starting to pop, a third new seedling should be open tomorrow and perhaps one will (actually) open on the shy one and I'll be able to get a decent photo of it. A couple of the new ones have also bloomed; 'Hollywood Daily' and 'Hawaiian Swirls'. HS doesn't look anything like the photo in the catalog, except when it first opens. Later in the day it is just about georgeous, even if the color isn't the same as depicted. (Sorry, those photos aren't up yet!)

All for now.

Ciao!


Rebecca

[Rebecca]

Although not hardy in my zone, I like the Lantanas well enough to grow them in containers and carry them over the winter in the basement light garden. This is a new one, just got it at Wally World.

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"Texas Red" Lantana</center>

Also new this spring is this very lovely white lantana:

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I also have one that is a lovely shade of Pink, a bright yellow and a burgund red one, of course, none of them are in flower yet!

Enjoy!


Rebecca

[Ann B.]

Oh, Rebecca!

I have so many of these.... The red, the native one which I have to rid of when it pops up everywhere, the lavender trailing, the white trailing, yellow trailing, and even a variegated leaved one with yellow flowers that has very pretty foliage.

I now have a salmon colored one, but I haven't tried cuttings of it yet. I recently bought it as a hanging basket for 5 dollars. I don't know how hardy it is yet.

The red ones were given to me from a friend that started the cuttings in water. She is REALLY, REALLY good at starting cuttings in water!

Can I trade several for a special lily? I would have to have time to root them first because I am swamped as of late....

[Ann B.]

P.S.

Most are hardy here, and the trailing ones can take over. I dig some of them up and give them to 'admirers', especially the lavender one. Everyone seems to really like the way it has 'taken over' my front bed. It is pretty!

[Rebecca]

Ann,

I've not seen the variegated foliage type but it sounds lovely! Which lily did you have in mind? Daylily or true lily?

Rebecca

[Ann B.]

Your choice!!!! I adore them all!

The variegated ones are not easy to find, even here, so I have not chanced leaving them outside during the winter yet.

I took some cuttings of those last week. I'll have to check to see how they are doing.

Now, if only I could figure out how to get a red, lavender or salmon colored one to have variegated foliage. Now, THAT would be neat!

Send me an email with your mailing address, and as soon as they are rooted well enough to survive shipment, I will send you some!

[Rebecca]

Ann,

Oh come now, you could at least narrow the field for me! There's bound to be a couple that have really struck your fancy so fess up! Which one or ones?


Rebecca

[Ann B.]

I'm a collector! Can't you tell?

I like them ALL!

Preferences, I suppose are pinks, lavenders and purples...

And anything UNUSUAL and hard to find!

Actually, anything you like, I would! I can tell by the photos!!!

[Rebecca]

Ann,

Okay already, I'll come up with something! Lord knows I've got lots to choose from in both catagories! It will be late summer though since it's already nearly in the 90"s here and I know it's been that hot and more where you are! At least you don't have winters like we do up here and you've got a greenhouse! (I'm so jealous!)

Lily family, hum . . . . wonder, wonder, wonder . . . .


Rebecca

[Rebecca]

Gang,

I've been waiting for what seems forever for the Oriental to start to bloom and I can finally share one with you!


<center><a href="http://hyperphoto.photoloft.com/view/Image.asp?s=cano&u=1766954&a=1356036&i=10823389"><img src=http://hyperphoto.photoloft.com/view/exportImage.asp?s=cano&i=10823389&w=375&h=342></a>

Oriental Lily "MONA LISA"</center>


There are a few more yet to bloom, but seems I have several of these. They were dumpster rescues just last year.

Enjoy!


Rebecca