Sunday, May 09, 2010

Mothers Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all you ladies out there!

Here is a Delphinium gaurdian blue that I picked up for Meg, the entire bloom head is about a foot tall. Meg loves showy stuff and this fit the bill nicely. The tag from the Durham Garden Center said gaurdian, not sure it was spelled correctly, but that is what it said. Never have much luck growing Delphiniums, anyone with some good pointers please do chime in! Helga down the street that runs a nursery I told her about this plant and she too said she had poor luck with Delphiniums.


Here is a deep red iris that I have had for 12 years or so, it never fails me. This morning it looks almost done already.
My latest Tradescantia it is called Red Grape. The foliage is slightly gray so it does not look like most the others I have and it gets up to 24 inches tall. These are also call Spiderworts.
This Tradescantia I purchased at the Hillsborough Garden Club sale last year. The garden where the sale was have all kinds of tradescantias but this was the only one for sale, think it was 2 or 3 bucks.
Here is the oldest Tradescantia in my garden, it was purchased at the Raleigh Farmers Market 10 years ago or so. It was in the neglected garden for years and barely survived until Meg and I moved it int a better bed where it is thriving nicely now. These blooms are almost 40% larger than normal tradescantias. I would be willing to barter a little of it for other tradescantias like a yellow one or something different than what I have shown here? I do have a plain native type blue one as well here in the garden.
Here is my latest project I did for a customer in Durham. This is the brand new Trex Transcend decking with entirely hidden fasteners. Made from recycled plastics and it will last forever. But it is expensive being almost 3 times more expensive than treated pine. Notice the picture framing I did on this deck and the benches? While building it I watched  a barred owl who dropped in the visit me several times. There is a creek between the house and the deck so it is very wildlife friendly. I also built the 44 ft privacy fence in the background as well. The last day on this job I enjoyed watching and listening to Black-throated Blue warblers in the woods next to me.

16 comments:

Chandramouli S said...

The Delphinium looks gorgeous. I remember seeing its seed packet sold in a local show here (Rainbow mix I think it was) - Larkspur. I wasn't familiar with it and the photo on the packet wasn't impressive, so I ignored it. After seeing your post, I think I should go back to the store for it, but from what I read online seems like it mightn't like too much of heat... Sorry I'm of no help about it.

The Tradescantias are beautiful and the ever-lovely Iris too!

I love the deck! Near the woods!! Wow! I'd love to settle there with a nice book during my weekends.

Tatyana@MySecretGarden said...

Thank you Randy! What a treat, all these gorgeous blues! Love, love, love the delphinium! Happy Mother's day to Meg!

Jan said...

That delphinium is a gorgeous shade of blue! They don't do well for me here, either. I really love the color of your middle spiderwort...another lovely shade of blue! I'm really 'taken' with them now, and would like to add more varieties! I had to go back and look over a bunch of your other posts to see your beautiful photos...as usual, they are amazing. I enjoy seeing so many of the wildflowers and natives, many of which I'm trying to add to my garden this year. I wish you lived closer because I would love to have had you build our fence, deck and screened-in porch! And if we could have afforded the trex, we might have tried that, as well. You do great work!! Thanks for the Mother's Day wishes and Happy Mother's Day to Meg;-)

sweetbay said...

Beautiful delphinium. I've heard that the Magic Fountain delphs developed in New Zealand are supposed to be able to best handle heat -- Graceful Gardens sells them.

I love the iris and 'Red Grape' spiderwort. Wishing Meg a Happy Mother's Day!

wiseacre said...

That's a great reminder I need to replace the spiderwort I lost last year when I extended a rock wall.

Town Mouse said...

Great flowers, and I love the Trex project. I must say that where I live, the cost of having things built is so high that paying more for the materials doesn't much put a dent into the budget. Same with plants, you get a $30 000 garden makeover (this is considered a small project), so what if $1000 is plants. Hey, so what if $2000 is plants.

(One reason I've started doing more myself, labor costs are out of this world, at least if you hire reputable businesses who pay worker's comp, taxes, etc.)

Anyway, I digress. Happy Mother's Day Meg!

Ginger said...

The deck looks great! Wish I had a woodland hideaway like that!

It blows my mind that anyone buys spiderwort! It is sooooooooo invasive here and pretty much the bane of our existence. The flowers are pretty, but it is coming up all over our yard and is quite difficult to dig up. To each his own.

Happy Mother's Day to Meg!

Shady Gardener said...

Thank you for the Mother's Day wishes! Hope you both had a great day!

Are your photos "touched?" They're so vibrant.

You do great work!! :-)

Southern Lady said...

I love the blue of the flowers. The deck is very nice. Carla

tina said...

That is a wonderful deck! A nice place to sit and enjoy the wildlife for sure. Love that delphinium. All of your close ups are exquisite. I think delphiniums don't like the humidity and long period of heat. They do great in my home state of Maine but I gave up on them a long time ago here. The spiderworts-now those guys love it here!

Randy Emmitt said...

Chandramouli,
You should try Larkspur, Meg drops the seeds and get wonderful results!

Tatyana,
I'm into the blues too!

Jan,
If work does slow down here I might have to come and build you something. My current backlog is almost 10 days. The old trex is on sale at Home depot for nearly hald the new Trex.

SweetBay,
I'll have to look into magic Fountains.

Wiseacre,
Good to hear from you again, I read all your post when I see them.

Town Mouse,
I know about labor costs I had to raise mine because It was not enough to cover the expenses and give me a paycheck. I found out the other day a BMW mechanic shop charges the same as my expensive architect $125 an hour.

Ginger,
Our hideaway deck is more secluded than this Trex one, but not finished yet. Spiderwort can be invasive here, but so far because the ground is so hard and dry it barely survives unless you water the spiderwort.

Shady,
No photos touched my canon G11 does a brilliant job and I shoot always in the shade or subdued light. Lighting is EVERYTHING in photos.

Carla,
Blue flowers that keep on blooming got to love them.

Tina,
Still trying to decide of a good place for the delphinium. Meg needs to chime in and she is so busy with other things right now.

F Cameron said...

Sorry that I'm late, but we had Mothers Day stuff yesterday. Lovely blooms!

My bronze fennel was literally covered with BST cats this weekend! Also, there were teeny, tiny praying mantis all over the fennel--I know nothing about the reason the fennel was chosen for the young, so I need to do some research.

Les said...

I could just dive into that blue of the delphinium. We grow these here as spring annuals, they won't make it through our summers.

Carol said...

I have a hard time with the delphinium too Randy. Not sure if it is drainage or what... I have to grow them like annuals ... since they always fall over I mostly do not bother these days, but they are missed in the garden for a good show as you say. Lovely Mother's Day gift for Meg! You have quite a variety of Tradescantia... I only have the wild one here. I love your decking... very tidy ... how nice you had the songs and visits of the local birds and raptors while you worked.

Randy said...

I LOVE the Delphinium! Such a beautiful Blue, even the spiderwort. I've never seen that light blue color. -- Randy

Chloe m said...

Splendid colors here. Meg is lucky!

That is a fabulous deck. I could see myself doing some yoga on that once a year and taking a nap EVERYDAY!