Summer was late this year. This is sounding redundant, so I will not mention last winter again. Nor will I mention last spring or early summer. Now that summer is about a third over, it seems as if it is merely beginning. Lily of the Nile, which never fails to bloom for Independence Day, began to bloom only a few days ago. Bloom is catching up though, or at least trying to. These summer flowers are doing well, and were actually doing well last week, when I was unable to post these pictures because of bad reception. Easter lily was done right after I got these pictures. The preponderance of red here is mere coincidence, but summery.

1. Lilium longiflorum, Easter lily was likely left behind after a wedding in the old Chapel. It lives in a garden across the road now. It is the only of these six that finished blooming.

2. Hydrangea macrophylla, hydrangea is pleasantly pink even without the fertilizer that maintains its pink color. Blue hydrangea faded to lavender without their pH adjustment.

3. Pelargonium hortorum, zonal geranium is quite a bit more prolific in bloom than the old fashioned sorts that I am accustomed to growing. The floral color is impressive also.

4. Gerbera jamesonii, Transvaal daisy is as bright and bold as 1984. However, I still fail to be impressed. It is certainly pretty, but looks like a squirting daisy that a clown wears.

5. Papaver rhoeas, poppy grew from seed that got sown prior to the last torrential storm of last winter. I thought that all the seed got washed away. This was a delightful surprise.

6. Hemerocallis fulva, daylily grows like a weed. We move it from one garden to another as it outgrows its space. This double orange cultivar may be ‘Kwanso’, but I do not know.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

25 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: Late for Summer”

  2. We planted three Geberas this year, first time I’ve grown them; and the last. Don’t think I’ll grow Zinnias again either; these things look more like artificial flowers than artificial flowers do.

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    1. Yes! Zinnias are nice in other people’s gardens, but to me, they look like the flowers that Mickey Mouse picks at Minnie Mouse’s porch to give to her when she answers the door. They and Transvaal daisy are cartoonish.

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  3. I have no idea what a lily of the Nile is but I love your Lilium longiflorum. This is quite an easy one from seed. I too, will never be able to look at a gerbera the same way after your description. I believe you can get hardy ones now, though I haven’t tried them. I heard a lady in the garden centre recently say: ‘Just look at those beautiful gerbils!’ I had to do a double take to see what she was looking at. No rodents in sight, just squirty daisies.

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    1. Lily of the Nile is Agapanthus, and is very common here. I seem to have ruined the image of Transvaal daisies for some last Saturday. I thought that everyone thought that they looked rather clownish. I have not noticed gerbils in any nurseries here, but I have seen osteoporosis daisies.

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  4. That’s exactly what gerbera are like–what a perfect description! I knew that I didn’t grow them for a reason and it wasn’t because of my too short summer. I could just never quite elaborate on it as well as you have.

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    1. Deer do not seem to have read the list of vegetation that deer do not eat, which happens to include Agapanthus. I do not know where the Transvaal daisy came from. It has been there for years. I would not have selected it, but am glad that someone else did.

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    1. Are yours naturally pink? In the Santa Clara Valley, they were all pink without acidifying fertilizer. If I planted blue hydrangeas, but did not maintain their color, they changed to pink quite readily. However, they go both ways here. They are generally pink in many regions, but are blue where redwoods acidify the soil. We grow several blue hydrangeas, but fertilize them to keep them blue.

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    1. Whatever that daylily is, it is prolific. We pulled quite a bit of it from where it migrated under some benches, and relocated it to a few other landscapes, where it is again growing like a weed. I am glad that Transvaal daisy is not so prolific. I probably should have been nicer about that though, since I seem to have ruined their image for a few of us.

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    1. Thank you. I would not have grown it either, not because of a lily beetle, but because I do not expect them to perform well here. We just buried it after it was left behind from a wedding, and this is what it does.

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