4/12/09

The Easter Sunday garden

Appropriately, the Easter Sunday garden abounds with butterflies and bugs. First the butterflies.

Red Admiral on Nemophila menziesii

Red Admiral on Nemophila menziesii

A different view.

IMG_6116

Another one on Ceanothus 'Frosty Blue'

Red Admiral?

Vanessa annabella is a real West Coast Lady.

West Coast Lady?

Then a couple bugs. Camassia...

Camassia

With lady.

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And I didn't even see that bug when I took this picture of a Senecio bud (that will become an orange flower).

orange-flowering Senecio sp.

An Easter iris for you; the first I. douglasiana of 2009.

Iris douglasiana

Stylomecon heterophylla, Arctotis

My first spring with Arctotis in the garden.

garden path, with orange tomato cages

I just got a pink one too, on sale believe it or not, because it wasn't looking so good in the pot. Well, Arctotis never looks good in the pot (a lot of great plants, esp. natives, look like heck in a pot), but all this plant needed was some very minor cleaning up. Wouldn't you pay full price for this plant?

Arctotis

A little bird netting has ended the threat to my lettuces--for now, anyway. I never saw any sluggy slime trails. Boy, that post sure brought out the commenters! Thank you everyone, for weighing in.

Lettuce tower

Poppies--I sowed a ton of coastal poppy seeds (pale orange with a yellowish throat), but none of those are flowering yet. Last year's cultivars are blooming however.

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No matter what people tell you, California poppy is a perennial in the garden. Just cut it back when it looks tired and give it some water. It will come right back.

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And I just remembered where this tall, purple Columbine came from--a gardener at Strybing gave me some seed two years ago. Ta da! Oddly, the flowers lack the usual long spurs of Columbine.

Aquilegia 'Strybing Something'

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your garden is beautiful, as usual. I got my first poppy flower on April 1st, but it didn't even survive a week before the dogs bit it off and left it lying on the ground. Now I have several poppy buds, but no poppy flowers. Be glad that your cats don't do this!

All This Trouble... said...

My two year old calls them "flutterbyes" and I don't have the heart to correct her.

Catherine@AGardenerinProgress said...

It looks really pretty there. I've just seen a couple of butterflies so far. They sure add to the beauty! I don't know if I've ever seen Arctotis before, I would definitely pay full price for it!

Carol Michel said...

Oh, good, some flowers I recognize! Happy Easter...

Michelle said...

Your garden is looking wonderful. That spurless Columbine is so interesting. Did you get to see the Painted Ladies in migration?

Chloe Marguerite said...

Chuck,

I'm embarassed to admit I did not know CA poppies are perennial.

But yee haw am I happy to learn that - as I cherish them!

Chloe M.

Annie in Austin said...

Missed the lettuce post, Chuck, but sparrows would have had my vote - I've seen them head for the herb troughs to rip up the thymes every once in awhile.

Love the creamy poppy and the Iris douglasiana of course!
In Illinois I grew similar Columbine. They were a passalong plant from an old garden and a nickname was "Granny's Bonnets". I had columbines hybridizing in the borders back then, but can't keep a single plant alive in Austin, Texas. Thanks for the photos of your columbines, Chuck.

Annie at the Transplantable Rose

Frances said...

Hi Chuck, your garden photos are spectacular, the best ever. The color combos are stirring my heart! That is good news about the CA poppies too. I keep trying to get them going here and some have self seeded in the gravel from last year. Or else I dropped some seed there. Love the little iris too. My PC hybrid made it through the winter and looks good, as does the Fuchsia.
Frances

Julie Orr Design said...

Hi Chuck,

Your full garden and beneficial insects look amazing! I am having photography envy. Please share the secret to those pictures...which camera do you use?

thanks,

Julie
http://www.julieorrdesign.com/wordpress/

chuck b. said...

Hi Julie, It's a (discontinued) Canon PowerShot A-650 IS. All the Canon PowerShots are great, imo.

lisa said...

I never would have thought that birds would eat greens like that! Good to know, I'm trying lettuce in pots this year, too.