The rain that we needed finally came. Just enough to give everything a good watering. I can already see a difference in the plants. They are standing up much straighter and everything just seems more green, even the grass which was turning the color brown it usually is in August.
Oriental Poppy 'Princess Victoria Louise' up close, very close.
The seed heads of the Breadseed Poppies add a lot of interest to the garden. The Cosmos and Larkspur around them are just about to bloom.
Clematis 'Jackmanii' is much more purple looking in person. Even my husband commented on how covered in flowers it is. Usually I have to ask him if he noticed the flowers.
Clematis viticella 'Etoile Violette' grows along the fence in the raised bed garden. It blooms June - September and gets to be about 8 - 14 feet. This one stands up to a lot of sun and not much water. It's a pretty view out my daughter's window.
Clematis 'Alionushka' growing up the birdhouse post in our front yard. I have another clematis intertwined with this one but I'm waiting to see what it is. I had 'Miss Bateman' here, but I think I moved her and put 'Piilu' in her place. One day I might write these changes down, but I'll have to do it in pencil since it's constant in my yard.
It seems like the next round of flowers are getting very close to blooming. It's always exciting to see what will be next to open.
Catherine, So thankful you had some rain. Your flowers are so pretty. Nalley just loved your poppy photo. So great that you can enlarge the pics now.
ReplyDeleteYour Clematis are just beautiful!
ReplyDeleteI love all of your Clematis. I think the purple one we were given in Jackmanii - that's what I've always called it and it get loaded with blooms. The rain was good. I wanted to go out early this morning but it's freezing. Maybe later.
ReplyDeleteI love the big pictures and my favorite for sure has to be the poppy heads. I so wish I could grow them just for these seedheads. So cool!
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear of the rain, Catherine. I thought, when I saw your oriental poppy, we were almost on track now. Then i realized that your breadseed poppies were also blooming, and clematis too..and once again, you're weeks ahead of me in that regard. But that's okay. At least we're all into late spring/early summer now.
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine! We needed this rain after almost a month of no-rain weather! Flowers are charming! Your clematises are outstanding. How many varieties do you have?
ReplyDeletewow the Oriental Poppy is fantastic! We got a dry day yesterday, but it's suppose to storm today ^.^
ReplyDeleteHi Catherine~~ The poppy seed heads remind me of Dan Hinkley's Heronswood Nursery. I didn't have the chance to visit but I saw plenty of photos. Apparently they would spray paint the seed heads magenta. Sounds oh so tacky but it was actually pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see your next round of bloomers. This time of year is so awesome for us plant lovers!!
Love your poppies and of course the Clematis.
ReplyDeleteI have terrible luck with clematis!! Yours looks very pretty!! It's been raining like mad here for last couple of days. It really did a number on the vegetable garden!! More the wind than the rain really made a mess of things!!
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
Jen
That poppy pic is Great!
ReplyDeleteI meant to comment on Thursday, again on Friday and am finally catching the server online and the opportunity at the same time on Saturday. Your flowers are beautiful, and your garden.
ReplyDeleteWe are in the same zone, are we? Zone 8? Our winters are similar, our summers very disparate. Breadseed poppies finished blooming here in early May. We're having heat indices from 103-113, with actual temps hovering around 100.
Mildred - The yard looks better after just one day of rain. I'm glad I can take some days off of watering.
ReplyDeleteI like the pictures bigger, but sometimes they surprise me with just how big they look :)
Sweet bay - Thanks, I love clematis and am always trying to find more places to grow them.
Linda - It ended up being perfect gardening weather today. I bet you do have 'Jackmanii' I've never seen another one with so many flowers at once.
Tina - It's nice when a plant has interesting seed heads, especially these poppies that don't last long. The petals fall off after just a couple of days.
Jodi - You're right, at least the weather is warmer and chances of snow are gone. It's fun seeing what's blooming ahead of us. It makes me excited to see them in my own yard.
Tatyana - It's rare around here that we hope for rain. I'm glad to not have to water for awhile.
I think I have around 10 different clematis. Joanne has 49, so 10 doesn't seem like much at all.
Barbie Phobia - Thanks. I guess as long as we have mostly dry days rain once in awhile isn't too bad. Hope the sun comes back soon for you.
Grace - That does sound interesting. I'm going to look for some pictures of that. I'm so happy to have them in my yard now. My next door neighbor told me she wants them all in her side yard next to ours next spring.
Joanne - Thanks! Glad you were able to visit today.
Jen - I hope the weather improves. Too much rain is as bad as too little.
Jesikarena - Thanks :)
Nell Jean - Yes we are zone 8. Our summers are usually pretty mild. Not too often that it's above 90 or dry for this long. I can't imagine it being that hot. I guess we all get used to the weather where we live.
Hi Catherine. You know, I really love Clematis but have yet to find one that will grow here. I'll keep searching... meanwhile, I can always see them at your place. Do you ever cut them back hard? I know somebody from a more "northern" country that does just this. Really seems to work. And I agree on how fabulously the seed pods look on the poppies.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad the rain has returned to the PNW ~ maybe that means the weather will get back to "normal" everywhere else. I am an admirer of all your clematis too. I saw many beautiful ones on my garden tour yesterday. They are one of those vines you think you can never have too many of. The poppies are pretty too. I have a few peony ones that are about to open but my orientals are over. Hope you're having a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteProspero - The clematis go fall in different groups and that has to do with their pruning. I cut most of mine back, but a couple bloom on old wood.
ReplyDeleteKathleen - I hope it does return to normal, but I did like having all that sun.
I can't wait to see your garden tour pictures.
your clematis is brilliant! Its on my list of "plants to plant".
ReplyDeletethose poppy heads are gorgeous...
Prairie Chicken - Thanks! I hope you can find a clematis for your garden, they really add a lot to the yard.
ReplyDeleteAnother beautiful poppy and you have so many buds yet to come. Fantastic. Your Jackmaii looks like my so called Scarlet Star, hummm, wonder if it was mislabeled.
ReplyDeleteGreat pictures. The bloom against the birdhouse is so pretty.