27 December 2007

Reds flowers for the holidays! Part 2

What does a person do when she's knocked flat--and I do mean FLAT--by another bout of diverticular disease? She eats the antibiotics the doctor prescribed, sleeps, and catches up on reading...and blogging. As we head into the weekend and the new year, I'll be doing my top ten plants (in annuals, perennials, shrubs and trees!) but first, another dance with red flowers.

Seems that others feel the same thing I do about red flowers; they're lovely, but don't need to be in vast quantities to make a point. And they can be hard to mix in with other colours unless you're doing something like a sunset garden, with oranges, golds, yellows as well as reds. But they are wonderful. This rose is one of the hardy roses, probably an Explorer, or possibly 'Linda Campbell' or 'Hunter'. It comes from a friend's garden, so maybe she can confirm what it is.


This is one of only two truly red rose I have in our garden (we have plenty of magenta flowered cultivars, which are often labeled as red.) It's Robusta, and an easy to care for shrub rose that just quietly flowers all summer long. It's never shown any sign of blackspot possibly because its leaves are the tough, shiny type that spores would slide right off of. (the other red rose in our garden is Parkdirektor Riggers).


Do you ever see plants that you like, but that somehow you just canNOT remember the name for? This is one of mine. Its botanical name is Anthyllis vulneraria coccinea (maybe that's why I can't remember its name!) also known as kidney vetch or Lady's Fingers. When I was doing a search to confirm its name (I did have it written down as Anthyllis in one of my photos), I learned that it's a member of the Fabaceae, formerly the Leguminosae, also known as the Pea family. Other horticulturally valuable members of this family include lupines, blue false indigo (Baptisia), yellow false lupine (Thermopsis), Mimosa, Acacia, sweet peas (Lathyrus), and of course clover, vetch, alfafa, peas and beans.


I've sung the praises of this African daisy, Venidium/venidio, in previous posts; it flowered until mid-November when one of those snow dumps put an end to its career. The other plant is a million bells, or Callibrachoa. I don't care for petunias, but I LOVE callies!


And here's a reprise look at the red flowered Venidium. It fascinates me that this flowering annual, similar to Osteospermums and Mesembryanthemum, keep going until well into autumn, long after other annuals have packed it on for the year. One of these days, I hope to go to Namaqualand in Africa and photograph the wildflowers in bloom. Meanwhile, I'll enjoy growing them at home.


I had a couple of unsuccessful sessions with red-flowered lobelias until a couple of years back, when I planted a new one in the part of the garden that has the best drainage. Since then, it has done very well, and of course its colour is a real draw to hummingbirds.


An old-fashioned peony, probably Rubra Plena, with wonderful fragrance and great flowering ability. Our peonies range in colour from white to soft pink through to the deep magenta/red forms.


Yes, I know I've mentioned and shown photos of poppies time and again. But really, how could anyone resist these freerange flowers when they simply selfseed and flower wherever they feel like it?

8 comments:

  1. Anthyllis? Well, I will be looking for this one. Did you plant it from seed? Perennial or annual? Zone? Don't tease like that! Love your red posts! Hope you are feeling better!

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  2. Red, such a lively color. One of my favorites. I really like the one you had trouble remembering what it is. I am not even going to try to remember how to type the name. Just suffice it to say I want it. Those poppies are my favs. I am hopeful that I will have more than one this year. We will see.

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  3. Are you better by now?
    I understand that poppies will be on your list of favs?
    Greetings,

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  4. Get better soon! Your Lobelia reminded me that I do want to put 1 red-flowering plant in the garden - Lobelia 'Ruby Slippers.' Which reminds me that I do have a sort of red plant, Black Beauty Lily. So, I take back my categorical statement from the previous post about about red in my garden. (Never say never.)

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  5. I'm a big fan of poppies so you can post as many photos of them as you like. I won't mind. ;)

    Cindy at Rosehaven Cottage

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  6. I love poppies..pink, blue or red they are welcome in my garden.
    Thank you for your visit..
    Happy New Year..
    "May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions."
    Gisela

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  7. Anthyllis is very pretty--I love that it looks a little like my rhodies in my favorite state, when the flowers are showing little bits of color but you still mostly see the "cone" (bud.)

    And it hardly seems fair that 'Rubra Plena' is fragrant, too. Some flowers just have it all, don't they?!!

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  8. Still catching up!
    Layanee, Anthyllis is something I got from a nursery; it's perennial, but sometimes a bit iffy here. Probably because the drainage wasn't ideal where it was.
    Lisa, I'm going to try to get some poppy seeds to you!
    Ewa, I'm still dealing with my health problems; it looks like surgery is on tap for 2008! But poppies are always a favourite for me.
    Nancy, one can never have too many poppies, of all colours.
    MMD, thanks for the get well wishes! You're right about never say never...I thought I'd never get into astilbes.
    Cindy, I just might do a post on poppies exclusively one of these days.
    Gisela, Happy new year to you, too and more poppies for all of us.
    Kim, that's a perfect description of anthyllis--maybe that's why I like it so much, because I'm very fond of rhododendrons and azaleas too. And yes, I could keep my face in 'Rubra Plena' indefinitely!

    ReplyDelete

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