Flowers and Plants

Dipsacus (Teasel)

I know I’ve already posted a picture for today, the spider that some of my visitors won’t like, but I have this picture to share, as well. This is the spent flower head of a teasel (Dipsacus species). I love the lines and the apparent softness of it. In actual fact, it’s a bit prickly, but I think they are quite pretty. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.

Cathy’s Patio

In addition to the profusion of black-eyed Susans around our patio, Cathy has potted plants along much of the edge. Some of these are perennials that she doesn’t have to do much with, but others are changed each year, planted with annuals. This year, Cathy took a lot of sedum out of a large pot, because that pot could be better utilized by something a little more striking. She planted these purple flowers (a variety of Angelonia), a sweet potato vine (Ipomoea batatas), and some orange zinnias. The purple flowers and the dark leaves of the Ipomoea, in particular, are really set off by the bright orange/yellow of the black-eyed Susans.

Black-eyed Susan

The black-eyed Susan is by far the most prominent flower in our back garden throughout most of the summer. There is a large patch of them in the central garden, where there used to be two large maple trees. There are more around the patio and outside the dining room window. They are scattered in other places, as well. While there is still a lot more green than any other color, the orange-yellow of the black-eyed Susan is clearly in second place.

Lotus Plants, Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

As I mentioned in my previous post, Cathy and I went to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens today. We especially enjoyed the Lotus, which were blooming quite profusely. We also enjoyed the greens. Lotus, growing in shallow ponds, have such beautiful, green leaves and I wanted to capture the various shades produced by the shadows. I think this picture does a pretty good job of it, although you’ll have to imagine the swaying of the leaves.

Nelumbo nucifera (Indian Lotus)

We took Dorothy to the airport today and she flew up to Boston. From the airport, we decided to pay a visit to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens on the Anacostia River in northeast Washington. The lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) was past peak, according to the ranger on duty, but they were still blooming pretty freely. The water lilies were a little more past, but there were quite a few even of them. We also got a good view of a great blue heron (Ardea herodias) wading in one of the ponds. It was a beautiful day, not too hot and with a wonderful breeze.

Queen Anne’s Lace Seeds

I had a close-up of Queen Anne’s Lace (Daucus carota) flowers a few weeks ago (Wednesday, July 08, 2015). The flowers are mostly finished now, with a few late blooms still doing well. The earlier flowers have started to go to seed. The flat flower-heads curl up on themselves and, where each tiny, individual flower was in the compound flower there is now a seed.

Lilium lancifolium (Tiger Lily)

The tiger lilies are in full bloom. They bloom much later than the Asiatic lilies, which are also on much shorter stems. Actually, Lilium lancifolium is an Asiatic species, but are different to the plants usually called Asiatic, which have upward facing flowers. The tiger lily, as you can see here, has downward facing flowers. There are quite a few flowers on each plant, which stands a good seven or eight feet in height.

The similar species, Lilium superbum, is a native to the eastern United States and its common names include Turk’s cap lily and American tiger lily. It generally has fewer flowers per plant and isn’t quite so tall, but the petals of the flowers are similar in being orange with black spots and which recurve forming a very festive, Turk’s cap shape. L. lancifolium also has little bulbils in the leaf axils that can be planted and which are the easiest way to spread the plant around the yard.

Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica)

We don’t have any crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) in our yard but every year about this time I think about getting one or two. I particularly like the really red varieties. The purple and white are fine but it’s the red that really get my attention.

Today, on the way down to Bethesda I took a picture of one even redder than this one, but the picture didn’t turn out well enough to use. This one is on Gude Drive and I stopped on the way home to take a few pictures. It isn’t as pure a red, but it’s still nice and I think one like this or the other red one are really great. I should do some shopping and put one in this fall. We have two places that will need small trees and this would be good for one of those two spots.

Cathy’s Front Garden

The garden that Cathy planted in the front, where there had been a tree, had started to fill in nicely. This picture is mostly marigolds but there are also zinnias, lantana, and verbena, sedum, and alyssum. This is really our only “annual” garden, the rest of the yard is pretty much either perennials or self-seeding annuals. I like the blue of the bucket along with the yellows and oranges of the flowers. Cathy may have done that on purpose.

Coreopsis

I was out back taking pictures this evening at about 7:30 and noticed these little flowers. They are Coreopsis (tickseed) of some kind and I didn’t remember seeing them before. Apparently they are something new (to us, anyway) that Cathy planted earlier this year (or maybe it was late last year). Anyway, they are quite cheery and with the amount of orange in the yard right now, they really stand out. Hopefully they will thrive and cover a little more ground in the years ahead.

Day Lily

This dark but rather simple day lily is growing in the front of our house. I don’t remember where we got it but I like it a lot. This is the time of year when orange and orange-yellow predominates in our yard but frankly, I don’t mind. The color works in the heat and it really lights up in the morning and evening. This shot was taken at about 6:30 in the evening. There are so many nice day lilies available that I tend to look past them for something unique. That’s probably a mistake. They’re lovely.