Last week I posted a photo of my huge Clematis Jackmanii on my gardening blog.
Each year it grows up from the ground and it’s vines spread out along the fence (with my help) for up to 8 to 10 feet in each direction! In the photo I post the vine was entwined around an old wooden birdhouse. Beautiful.
Here’s a close up of one of the Clematis flowers just after it rained. I love the water droplet at the end of the bottom petal.
Isn’t that lovely?
I think I’ve got an “I hate snow” theme going on my blogs today. Yep, I’ve decided that I’ve had enough of the cold fluffy white stuff and I need some color in my life.
What better than a bright pink Cosmo flower then?
Aw … that’s better. Aren’t Cosmo’s pretty?
I grow this flower in my backyard garden and in the front boulevard during the summer. Everyone seems to love them.
Do you grow Cosmos? Oh and are you getting tired of all the snow lately too?
BTW if you want to see some bright summer color take a look at this cheery daylily!
Celosia or Cockscomb is a vibrant annual that you can use in your garden borders or do as I do and plant them in your mixed planters.
They look lovely beside hostas, impatiens, dianthus (Sweet William), geranium and other plants that are traditionally grown in planters, flower baskets and in the garden border.
They come in many colors but I particularly love the orange reds and yellows as they seem to fit well with my planter arrangements.
Cockscomb or feathery amaranth as it’s known, has plume-like flowers ranging in color from dark crimson to orange and golden yellow. Tall varieties grow to 30 inches and dwarf forms grow to about a foot. I tend to grow the dwarf varieties.
Do you grow Celosia in your garden?
You may or may not believe this, but this is a rose. It’s a rose called William Baffin and it’s shape and the style of it’s petals is more that of a wild rose.
It’s a very hardy Canadian Explorer rose. Hardy to zone 2 I believe. I live in a USDA 5b gardening zone, so needless to say this rose does very well here and in fact it is one of my largest roses! Talk about thriving!
Naturally being in Toronto, on the coldest day of the year so far, this rose is dormant and no longer producing blooms or even leaves … but when it was blooming it was lovely! I believe I took this picture last June when William Baffin was in full bloom. I don’t even mind when it’s flowers begin to shed their petals as the grass is covered in pink to dusty rose petals and it looks lovely.
Do you have a rose or a plant in your garden that you admire?
I just realized that I never posted a photo of any of my cannas in bloom on any of the blogs that I do Green Thumb Sunday on.
Perhaps I never posted a photo because I have so few from this past summer.
My canna’s didn’t overwinter inside the house very well last year and as a result they took quite a while to recover once it was warm enough to put them outdoors. They didn’t begin to bloom until late August and the blooms didn’t last all that long.
The canna’s are once again indoors for the winter. I keep them in my basement. I let their stalks dry out and I cut them down and then I only water them about once a month or so. Just enough to keep them alive, but dormant in the cool dark basement.
I have several tropical plants that I place in my garden each summer, but then bring back indoors by October. Passion flower vines, a Trumpet flower vine, a Jasmine bush, a hibiscus and … I’m sure there are a couple more, but I can’t think of what they are right now. I keep the vines, jasmine and hibscus upstairs in a bedroom with a south facing window. They get a fair amount of light through the winter and are well watered. Others like the canna’s go to the basement for a winter rest.
Do you have tropical plants that you place in your garden or yard during the summer and try to keep alive indoors through the winter? I’m getting better at overwintering my plants, but it’s not uncommon to lose at least one each year … although, crossing fingers!, I didn’t lose any last winter so hopefully I’ll have the same luck this winter.