Love, Joy and Peas: gladiola

Showing posts with label gladiola. Show all posts

Friday, June 24, 2016

Bicolor Marigold, Day Lily, Coreopsis, Golden Sundrop and Gladiola Flowers

Happy Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" I took these photos just after a heavy rain and the flowers almost seemed to glow. The marigolds are starting to fill out nicely and I love the color combo of the bicolor red/orange and gold marigold in the top photo.

Our El Dorado day lilies started blooming this week. I love their deep red detailing.

The red coreopsis featured last week has new blooms but the older ones' petals are fading to white. I like how they look both ways. If I stay on top of deadheading the spent flowers we can have blooms through frost on these amazing plants.

The golden sundrops are already providing food and entertainment for our native golden finches. The birds love the seedy centers of these pretty flowers.

Last year's gladiola photo was nicer but I wanted to include this one to mark their first week blooming in our Maryland garden this year. The sweet peas and echinacea are starting to crowd them out so I was pleasantly surprised to see the gladiola flowers.

That's all for this week's mini garden tour. Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

Related posts:
A year ago in my flower garden: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/dahlias-day-lilies-daisies-and-more.html
Golden finches on black eyed Susans: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/yellow-finch-feeding-on-black-eyed.html
Yellow finches feeding: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/yellow-finches-feeding.html

Friday, July 3, 2015

Giant Zinnias, Gladiola, Mr. Optimist Dahlia and Day Lilies

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" I finally have a true red giant zinnia! A few weeks ago I shared the giant orange one that came from the "red" seed packet but I hadn't had a red one bloom until now. It was worth the wait because I love it! The flower is about the size of my palm (about 4" in diameter).

Our gladiolas have started blooming. I think this was the very first one to pop. I wasn't sure if they'd come back after last year's harsh winter so they're a pleasant surprise (we have two of these).

This white zinnia also came from the same "Giant Red Zinnia" seed packet that produced the red and orange ones (and, not yet shared on this blog, but pink, peach, mauve and purple zinnias too). While all the others are producing large flowers the white plant is producing smaller flowers, about 1-2" in diameter. But it's producing more of them, and they're pretty so I don't mind.

Our Mr. Optimist dahlias have started blooming too. They don't look like the photo on the tuber package (it had more of a bright fushia main color) but they are gorgeous. Even nicer in person.

In addition to the El Dorado and double orange day lilies these lovely yellow and cream day lilies have started blooming. Our day lily bed is exploding with color and I love it.

That's all for this week. I hope my flower photos made you smile! Happy 4th of July to all celebrating! May God bless America and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
El Dorado day lily: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/sunflower-day-lilies-vinca-and-mystery.html
Orange giant zinnia: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/coreopsis-zinnia-hydrangea-dahlia-and.html
Day lilies and more: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2015/06/day-lilies-carnations-pansies-primrose.html

Friday, August 8, 2014

Sunflower, Dahlia, Marigold, Gladiola and Bachelor Button Flowers From My Garden

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Sunflowers are one of my favorite flowers to see. They're just so cheerful. I use them as a decor feature inside too.

As much as I love sunflowers, I think dahlias are my favorite flowers to grow. You get so many, they keep blooming strongly through frost, and you get some surprises along the way. This is the only dahlia bloom we've had this year with such a flame like center, white tips and pale yellow base petals. Definitely a nice surprise.

The marigolds are still going strong and the bees appreciate them.

I think this is my first gladiola bloom of all time and now we have two plants in bloom. I'm not sure if the third bulb I planted in spring is going to bloom but I hope it does.

The poor bachelor button plants... I started them from seed last year. About seven made it through the hot summer. Then we had a (diseased) giant tree cut down this spring and parts of it landed on them. I thought they were all dead but three managed to spring back to life... only to be eaten all the way to the ground by a mystery animal just when they were in bud (before they bloomed). Finally, this week two of the plants had flowers! I feel like it's a miracle.

Our obedient plants started blooming after I took the photos for this week's post so hopefully next week I'll have a photo of one for you with a lovely butterfly on it.

I hope you enjoyed this week's mini photo tour of my Maryland garden! May God bless you!

Do you have any miracle plants or flowers? I'd love to hear the story behind them!

Related posts:
Teddy bear sunflower: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/teddy-bear-sunflower-black-eyed-susan.html
Sunflower garden room: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/06/fun-ideas-from-childrens-garden-at-us.html
Dramatic sunflower: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/07/sunflowers-dahlias-marigolds-verbena.html
Bees on flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/busy-bees-on-beautiful-blooms-zinnia.html