I did not set out to create trite pairings of yellow an mauve, it just happened that way. (It's either Christopher Lloyd or Gertrude Jekyll who bemoans that color combination. I can't remember which of them, but I've been reading both recently.) At any rate, it looks better in real life.
I think I prefer these yellows and mauves separately. Yellow asters:
Mauve scabious:
(I confess that I took most of these pictures yesterday before the morning fog burnt off. Until I got to the computer, I thought today was the 15th, not tomorrow. Anyhow, nothing has changed since two days ago, I assure you.)
More yellow. This Oenothera came in a seed packet without any specific information, so I don't know what it is.
It's nice and quite fragrant in that Oenothera way.
More yellow, also fragrant (but in a very different way). Menzelia lindleyi, more like a lemon or something.
Yellow dahlia w/ a glimpse of RED in the background.
I grew this Asclepias curassavica from seed a couple years ago. It's much more vigorous in 2009 than it was in 2008. At any rate, it's easy from seed. I have never seen any butterflies or caterpillars on this plant; it probably needs more exposure for that. Bugs apparently prefer Echium pininana...
Pale blue and a bit of dew...
I'm kind of falling in love with the genus Arctotis recently. You can get them in a 1-g pot for $6-7; or, half of that like I do if you're willing to buy a run-down plants that need some simple renovation. I have four different cv's now. This one, I've convinced myself, is quite sophisticated (never mind all the bug chewings).
How about this for some unseasonal surprise...
Two years in a row, the scarlet runner bean 'Sunset' has not been terribly florific or productive in my hands. Two vines make a handful of beans every day or two. Next year I'm trying the pink-flowering form, and if that one doesn't produce, I'm going back to 'Scarlet Emperor' in 2011. You've got to think about the future.
If florific is what you want, I recommend going with this guy, Cobaea scandens:
At least in San Francisco--it's very florific, pretty much all year long. Frances grows this plant now too. She reported finding flower buds recently, and I'm eager to see if the flowers appear in her Bloom Day post this month. In the meantime, it's time for a little rest.
For more Bloom Day posts, you know where to go.
16 comments:
Everything is looking beautiful and healthy there! I don't have much left blooming here because of the heat.
You have a heavenly rest spot. Frances is growing that flowering vine too?! It looks so exotic.
Hi Chuck, thanks for the link love! My cobaea is indeed in bloom and from the looks of the numbers of buds, we will be giving you a run for your money soon! It isn't in the post, but they could have been considered team groupies. I didn't discover open buds until too late, they are on the neighbors side of the arbor, where the sun rises, and so high up I can barely see them. The ones that have been watched daily are not quite open yet but will yield a better close up. I doubt my feet will be in the shot though. And surely it was not Lloyd who bemoaned that color combo, it was he who said to mix all the colors together and inspired me to do so with his writings. Your butterfly shots on VB are out of this world! :-)
Frances
Pam, Cobaea is an annual for me, sadly. It was started in the greenhouse quite early this year. I will grow it again though, the blooms are fabulous and it is gigantic!
Frances
The Menzelia reminds both in color and flower-form of Hypericum. I wonder if they may be related. Have a great Bloom Day!
Mark me down as a fan of yellow with mauve -- even better if it's dark purple and yellow!
Butterflies seem to like that combo, too. Their opinion is more important to me than Gertrude's or any other notable.
I said it! ;^) Okay, that yellow isn't too bad with that mauve, it isn't hurl-inducing, which is my litmus test for garden color combinations. I do like the way the yellow blooms glow in your morning misty light.
Funny that so many of us across the country have verbena bonariensis blooming this month! And I absolutely ADORE that cobaea... am kicking myself for letting the seeds get passed by this spring until there were none left for me to pick up. :(
It is beginning to dawn on me that I am likely to have very little control over color combinations that show up around here. So be it. There you are on the west coast finished with bloom day and resting and I haven't even taken the pictures yet.
Never visited your garden before chuck b...thanks. I love the wildness of the photos you posted. P.S. I stack river bottom skippers in my garden too. Use them as plant labels (written w/a sharpie) on occasion also.
Chuck, I need to come up and visit your garden someday, you haven such interesting things going! Love the surprise Amaryllis, how'd you do that?
I like the pale yellow of that oenothera. And as for color combinations, I don't find it trite at all. I have very little control of the colors in my front yard as many plants were scavenged from the back or leftovers from a friend. Nothing too bad except in early may when I had paprika (red) yarrow, snow-in-summer and black-and-blue sage blooming all at once. It was too early for the 4th of July parade in front of my house.
Did you see Mari's garden on HGTV today?
All beautiful and I do love, love that vine.
Divine !
You're the king...
I like the runner beans and the milkweed. I've tried to grow that type of milkweed a few years now, but it dies every time -- even though it's native here!
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