Roses, False Goat's Beard and Dahlias by Ben Wheeler

Hot pink rose: Copyright © Ben Wheeler, 2016; used with permission

Happy Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" My kind husband offered to take photos for today's post so hearty thanks to him for being our guest photographer this week and generously sharing his flower photo artwork! 

False Goat's Beard: Copyright © Ben Wheeler, 2016; used with permission

The false goat's beard is a plant he selected and is thriving in our deepest shade garden bed. 

Bicolor dahlias: Copyright © Ben Wheeler, 2016; used with permission

We have three of these bicolor dahlia plants. He picked one and I picked two. I also planted two new tubers this week so hopefully we'll have flowers from them in a month or two.

Red rose: Copyright © Ben Wheeler, 2016; used with permission

I think this is our "Mr. Lincoln" rose, a deep red rose that smells divine. A dear friend recommended it a few years ago and I loved it so much I put in another one this spring.

Thank you for visiting! May God bless Ben and may He bless you too!

Related posts:
Zoo animals by Ben Wheeler: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.ru/2015/07/ben-wheelers-zoo-photos-for-wild.html
Macaw parrot by Ben Wheeler: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.ru/2016/03/macaw-parrot-photos-by-ben-wheeler.html
Cute cat by Ben Wheeler: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.ru/2015/07/black-cat-pink-tongue-cuteness-photos.html

Blue Ribbon Flowers for Floral Friday

Little orange zinnia flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Happy Floral Friday! This is a special edition of "this week in my Maryland garden" as all the flowers were grown in my garden but the photos were taken on location at the fair (several days after they'd been cut then judged and displayed). The flowers looked nicer the day I cut them but I wasn't able to get photos at that time.

I am amazed, honored and excited to have been awarded at least 21 blue ribbons in the flower department (I entered in 49 categories)! A large number of my entries were in the zinnia categories, such as the pretty little orange zinnia in the photo above.

Medium white zinnia flower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

Until I'd entered in the fair for the first time I thought you could only enter one type of flower for the fair (for example, one rose, one zinnia, one marigold) but it turns out that my fair has many categories, mostly based on color and diameter/size (and they even get out their rulers when you submit to make sure you're entering in the right size category). I think I was able to enter three different white zinnias, in the "under 1 inch", "1-2 inch" and "2-4 inch" categories, and two, including the one above, won blue ribbons. Pretty neat! Especially since I grew these white zinnias from seed.

Giant red zinnia winner: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler

I was especially excited that my giant red zinnia, also grown from seed, won a blue ribbon. I thought I'd have giant orange, pink and purple to enter too but while they were close, none of the pretty ones were over the 4" in diameter required for the "large" zinnia category. Only the red had large enough blooms. Although, when I bought the seeds, they were all supposed to be red anyway. The giants of other colors were a surprise blessing.

Miniature bicolor dahlia: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

My dahlias have mostly petered out  but I was able to enter two in the miniature category and they both won blue ribbons. The bicolor one, pictured above and a burgundy one.

Red hybrid tea rose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2015

The roses are also producing fewer blooms now that autumn is approaching but this divine smelling red rose won a blue ribbon. My pink one won a lesser ribbon but the person who earned first place definitely deserved it.

Hearty thanks to my kind hearted husband who carried all my vases in for me and waited patiently while I entered everything! And for all the times he watered my flowers for me too! And congratulations to him on his photography ribbon!

Thank you for visiting! May God bless you!

If you'd like a vote in selecting this week's most popular flower photo, please let me know which photo you like best from today's post. Also, if you enter in your own county fair, I'd love to hear about it! And feel free to share any tips on entering fairs too. 

Related posts: 
2013 county fair flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2013/09/county-fair-photos-haikus-and-results.html
2012 county fair flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/09/fair-flower-photos-for-floral-friday.html
County fair flower art: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/08/flower-paintings-for-floral-friday.html

Dew Drops, Bees and Pretty Flowers

Dewdrop covered hot pink rose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

Happy floral Friday and welcome to "this week in my Maryland garden!" Today's post includes flower photos from two different sessions. One in the cool of the morning while the flowers were still drenched in dew and one in the heat of the afternoon with bright sun and buzzing bees.

Dewdrop covered evening primrose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

It amazes me that the evening primroses do so well because my husband's always pulling them out but I'm glad they are tough because I enjoy their delicate pink and white flowers.

Bee on red coreopsis: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

I loved how the bee tipped up the petal of this red coreopsis flower so we can see the pretty underside, which is more of a creamy yellow with red striping.

Bee on purple coneflower: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

 And this bee enjoyed buzzing from coneflower to coneflower.

Artistic rose: Copyright © Phyllis Wheeler, 2014

I thought this was my most artistic flower photo of the week but I'm not sure whether I like this super close up rose photo or the dewdrop rose photo better. Which do you prefer?

Praise the Lord for creating such beautiful flowers and creatures! May He bless and keep you!

Related posts:
Raindrops and roses: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/05/raindrop-drenched-rose-cosmos.html
Raindrops and flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/08/chrysanthemum-obedient-plant-tithonia.html
Shiny wet flowers: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2014/06/zinnia-vinca-coreopsis-geranium-and.html

Fair Flower Photos for Floral Friday

Earlier this week I posted about my county fair frenzy so I thought for floral Friday I'd show you some of the flowers I entered in the fair. These aren't the actual blooms entered but are flowers from the same plants (thought you'd appreciate the prettier ones still on the plants).

I think our yellow knockout rose earned a blue (1st place) ribbon. I love this rose because it smells slightly lemony and the blooms fade to white so it's like you get two kinds of roses on one plant.

I think our white hybrid tea rose also earned a county fair ribbon.

I'm not actually sure what type of rose this is but I guessed it was a floribunda and I think it earned a blue ribbon.

Last year our orange zinnia earned a first place (blue) ribbon but this year I think it earned third place (white). Even though I grew this plant from seeds I gathered from last year's blue ribbon winner, the rabbits kept eating the seedlings down to the ground and this plant is a good two feet shorter than it's parent was. The birds, butterflies and bees still love it though.

I think our red and pink zinnias that I started from seed after our front yard was excavated this spring earned white and red ribbons. You might wonder why I keep writing "I think."  Well, I entered over 30 flowers and floral arrangements and I didn't write down my results so while I'm pretty sure I remember correctly, I'm not 100% sure. On Monday I'll pick up my vases and ribbons and then I can give a true count. I wish I'd taken pictures of the fresh floral arrangements before submitting them, especially because they were my first floral arrangements ever entered in any kind of contest. However, they are already suffering from the heat and humidity and don't look so hot now. Also, as a separate note to remember for next year, I'll have to find out if it's permissible to add a flower preservative to the water (I assumed it wasn't but it can't hurt to ask) because that would help them all to last longer.

So, those are 5 of the 30+ flower entries I clipped from our Maryland garden and entered in our county fair this year. It was a lot of work to make sure all the flowers and vases met the requirements and fill out the paperwork and tags. I'm not sure I'll ever enter so many again but it was certainly fun to do once.

Which flower did you like best? Have you ever entered anything in a county or state fair? I'd love to hear about it!

May God bless you, dear reader!

Zinnias, Roses, Joe Pye Weed, Day Lilies and Fancy Echinacea: This Week in My Maryland Garden

Welcome to my garden! This will likely be my last Tuesday "This Week in My Maryland Garden" post but I'm excited to share that this week will also begin "Floral Fridays" where I'll still post some of my own flower photos but also photos from the gardens I visit during the week. (Hint to my local friends - if you invite me over and have a garden I will likely ask to take pictures). I hope you'll enjoy the new feature of "Floral Fridays" on my blog!

Above is a super close up photo of one of our giant purple / pink zinnia. I'm hoping there will be a good bloom to enter in this year's county fair. I love gardening but am not so into it that I can engineer blooms for certain dates.

Some of our roses. One of the good things that game from the emergency excavation of our yard this spring is that now, instead of having our rose bushes scattered here and there around the yard, we have a concentrated rose garden.

Our "Little Joe Pye Weed" is just starting to bloom. These plants are supposed to grow "only" to four feet tall and tend to be butterfly magnets. This is our first year with this plant.

This bi-color day lily might be one of our last day lilies of the year. I love having a long day lily season so we have a wide variety of the flowers with early, late and mid season bloomers.

When we saw this fancy red and orange echinacea (coneflower) we just had to add it to our collection. We might have to start an echinacea garden (like the rose garden). The butterflies and bees just love echinacea (coneflower) plants and we enjoy their many colors.


Hope you enjoyed my garden photos and God's amazing creation! Also hope to see you this Friday for my first "Floral Friday!" May God bless you!