do you like my flowers?

[dragonrider]

Ooh dragonrider I love zygo type cacti. I have one epi that has never flowered, and a small collection of colorful zygos.
Here's a few standouts from my flower garden!

Nice roses, Stinky! My wife is a big fan of roses, but since we redid the yard we don't have as many as we used to. We've got a couple of "Double Delight," and we have some smaller landscape roses, "Little Sizzler" and "Popcorn."

I grew up in San Diego and my parents always had a lot of different cacti. Most of those that I have came from cuttings from their plants. My epis finally bloomed fairly well this year, and I've decided that maybe they need more sun than I have been giving them. The branches with the blooms were mostly those that have grown long enough to reach out under the eaves and get a tiny bit more sun.

So all this talk has inspired me to get out my camera. These shots are from today. Here are a couple of my roses. The large one is "Double Delight," and the small spray of white flowers is "Popcorn."

Here is a shot of the cactus with the buds about to bloom --- it has a lot of buds this year and the one on the top left is just begining to peek open. Now I have to start the vigil --- it could actually bloom tonight or tomorow and be gone in less than a day.

The plant under the cactus is the eaisst thing in the world in this area, almost a weed. It's a Mexican evening primrose, and I put in a close up of it.

And I added a close up of a lavatera, a tree mallow called "Red Rum." A great plant for this area, very drought tolerant.

[dragonrider]

Now you got me started, it's going to be hell to get me to stop!

Here is a shot of the flower on the violet trumpet vine. Wierd and exotic, with the purple veins, isn't it? This vine looked like it had died this winter, but it came back with more flowers than it has ever had before. It was covered in hundreds of these things. It almost seemed like it had to be fake.

The others are a yellow daylilly, a purple alstromeria, and an orange alstromeria --- these are really simple plants to grow in this area.

Ok, I think I got it out of my system. I'll stop hogging this thread now...

[buttyrekka]

beautiful dragon...theres nothing i like more than sitting in the back garden...suns out,cold bru and a fat joint..at least next time it rains i've got your pics to look at!...nice one dragon may your garden flourish!

[dragonrider]

beautiful dragon...theres nothing i like more than sitting in the back garden...suns out,cold bru and a fat joint..at least next time it rains i've got your pics to look at!...nice one dragon may your garden flourish!

Thanks! It looks like you've done pretty well with your garden too, both of them!

[buttyrekka]

i was out today...i visited my other garden..nearly stood on a baby chick..damn weeds get everywhere(hehe!)
i would of took more pics(damn slugs have been at some of my ladys!!;-()but my stupid battery ran out!.

[buttyrekka]

got some new pics all!..an angry looking hedgehog..the great british countryside..some roses(not mine though!)..and my other garden...its funny how different plants are when grown outdoors...the leaves are much thicker and the stems are like trees!.hope theres not much rain this year!..good luck to all the farmers out there!

[stinkyattic]

Awwwww you have a hedgehog visitor!!! SO CUTE!!!
Yeah Kyle, all different- I've got others too. I love roses, poppies, black flowers of any sort, and lavender. Scarlet poppies and lavender are beautiful together, as are peach and black tulips in the same planting.
That R. 'Double Delight' is a classic, and it looks different in every garden.
The ones in my pic include a couple old-school shrub varieties that show 'quartering' around a central button. They have TONS of petals and a stronger scent than modern Teas, and can put up with my neglect and the local crappy winters.

GREAT pics everyone! Keep em comin!

[Dutch Pimp]

My flowers are taller....

[dragonrider]

Buttyrekka, nice pics! Thanks for throwing in the ones with the hedgehog, the chick, and the earlier one with the bee. I like it when wildlife comes to the garden. I think your hedgehog is probably angry about the fly!

Stinky, I like the older roses that have more scent. It seems like they've bred a lot of the scent out in order to get more specatcular looking flowers, but the scent is very important too. We picked Double Delight for it's strong scent, but is also a nice-looking flower.

Here are some more shots of the cactus flower. I was glad we got going on this conversation because it made me pay closer attention to the cactus. I thought it had a few days to go, but it actually bloomed that same afternoon! Here's a shot of the whole cactus, a close up, and a closer close up. These flowers are so weird that I like zooming up on the insides as close as I can get. It's strange in there.

Like I mentioned before, these cactus flowers do not last long. The next day another one bloomed so the plant had two at the same time. Then the first one faded and another one popped. In total, five bloomed in the space of a couple days. Sorry I didn't get pictures of the whole progression.

[buttyrekka]

that cactus is amazing...thanks for the pics man!!..
hehe yep man i didnt see that fly..i heard him snorting and looked down..i thought he just didnt like me!