There is no botanical garden where I now live. If I want to photograph interesting and unusual plants, I’ll have to grow them myself — which I am doing. It takes time to get them established, though. Until them, I must content myself with pictures of more familiar plants, such as these.
This year’s California poppies are the “Mission Bells” strain, which according to the seed packet is a mix of “double and semi-double” poppies in “pink, scarlet, gold and cherry.” So far nearly all the flowers have had just four petals in colors ranging from yellow-orange to orange-yellow. The above is one of the few exceptions.
The peonies are huge plants at least ten years old, if not twenty or more. They looked splendid last year until a thunderstorm flattened them. While peony supports are available, they are overpriced, so I am trying this system to keep the plants upright in wind and rain.
My recent predecessors here apparently completely ignored yard maintenance, and much of my work outside has been a salvage operation. While pruning a hackberry in the back yard, I discovered a couple of branches had grafted themselves together, below.
Update: a few more pictures, taken this morning.
Very nice.
My peonies haven’t popped yet but I’d bet they’ll do so this week. Mayhaps I’ll try that staking trick next year.