Looks who's blooming!

I have to start with this.

I was sitting inside, working, peering longingly through my blinds at the gorgeous afternoon, and decided I had had enough.  I needed to be in my garden!!
I went out and took some pictures, which of course inspired me to put up another update.  Well, that and the fact that I have not put up anything new in a week!!
But, alas, that meant going back inside to the computer *sigh*
Wait!! I have an idea.  Why on earth should I go inside to write about my garden.  Would it not be a better idea to sit among my gorgeous flowers as I write about them? *Lightbulb*
And so, I gathered up the essentials and headed outside, to sit among my pride and joy and draw inspiration from them as I type out the updates I am sure you are on the edge of your seat waiting for :)

So whats going on? I'll tell ya!! There are so so so many wonderful, exciting things happening.

Fist, my first lily has made an appearance!! I am so excited!! I love lilies, and have been holding my breath waiting for them to bloom!
here is the first peek she made the other day:

coyly poking her beautiful face out, deciding its the right time to show.  Today they are both in their full glory, proudly opened up to the sun soaking in its warmth while sharing their gorgeous colors with us

That is just one of many.  I dont know how many lilies I have, but there are many, and this is just the beginning of the beauty they will bestow upon us.

Sunflowers!!

They are starting to show!! These are two of the tallest variety.  You can see, the one on the left will be yellow, and the one on the right will be reddish/rusty colored.

I have 4 varieties of sunflower, I think, but these two are the only ones suggesting they might open up soon. These were a couple of days ago,

And here the red one is today

Its a little hard to get the coloring quite right, the sun was behind them.  Tomorrow morning will be better.  You can see though that it is going to be a fiery flower!!

The other day I had a bunch of "buds with ambition" that were my up-and-comers.  Well, now many of them have opened up to show us what they've got :)

We have here my be-au-ti-ful red rose, with many buds fully opened.  It is such a happy rose bush.  It makes my heart smile when I see it, so beautiful, happily blooming away.  

 There is a gorgeous collection of poppies springing out of the white alyssum.  They are so pretty.  After the first couple bloomed a month ago, I was not sure if any more would show.  There were not any more visible buds. But I think they were hiding in the alyssum, because each day a new bud will pop up out of the white, and within a few days its another gorgeous flower.  I love these poppies, so bright and colorful, with tissue-paper petals.

My mom's begonia is in full bloom, merrily opening up beside my own begonia (hers is on the L, mine on R)

And here is the Dahlia that was covered in buds before.  Those little buds have begun to pop out all over, producing pretty pink petals :)

I thought this was fun, I took a series of pictures of the buds in different stages, and thought it would be neat to have them strung along, to show the progression of the flower's opening.  These are all taken in one day, from the above plant.

The beginning.  The two buds on the left were very accommodating, huddling together so I could get the bud stage and the beginning of the blossoming in one shot :)
I love the pink sticking out of the end, almost looks to me like it has its lips puckered for a kiss XXXX

On the right, above, slowly peeling back the green leaves to allow the pink petals to breathe.

I love in the picture on the right, below, how the petals look like little tubes.  Or maybe trumpets, announcing their arrival :)

On the left, nearly there, demurely covering the center with a few last petals. and on the right, proudly opened up, displaying itself in full splendor.

This is on my coral rose.  I couldn't help myself, I love how there is just the tiniest peek of color.  A subtle tease of whats to come. 

And now, for some general glamor shots!!

All along the S side of the house, W---->E

Every time I see these I cant get over the gorgeous saturation of color!! They are in the pic above, on the R, under the bushes.

A little closer on the snapdragons.  

My passion flowers are really climbing away!!

Another angle down sunflower row, and a shot of me behind the sunflowers, so show how tall they are!!

I think this is called a flamingo orchid.  Doesnt really matter, its very graceful.

More of the red rose :)

and moss roses

My "sunset" dahlia

 

a little row of color.  Pink snapdragon, fuscia sweet pea, purple foxglove (or something like it) and the sunflower towers above.

 Snapdragons in front of the poppies and alyssum.

Ok ok. I could go on and on.  I think I may go a little overboard with the pictures I take, but I just cant help myself. I feel like each day there are so many changes, and I want to capture them all :)

Quick updates

Remember these little guys from yesterday? Nice and cozy...

I went out today and they had decided it was time to open :)

Same flowers here too, different angle.

I love how they have a darker/more orange-ish center, and then bright yellow around the edges.

I was sitting in my yard today, throwing the frisbee for Dahli, and looking around at all the color, when I realized that most of my picture taking happens in the evening, when the flowers are all getting ready for bed and sleepily closing themselves up.  So what do I do? Take more pictures!! Haha.  Always the answer.  I just wanted to get them up.

We have Snap Dragons and Petunias

Begonias

Oooo...this one is mom's, I am taking care of it while she is gone, and it is slowly opening up!! :) (its another Begonia)

This is another petunia. I love the colors

My corner bed, petunia, alyssum, poppies, and Dahlia

Roses!! Oh, they are so beautiful

Moss Roses

Sunflower Row!! They are getting so tall!!

And the S side of the house

Buds with Ambition

This is such an exciting time in the garden! So many things blooming all at once.  Of course, thats probably due to my timing in getting things planted.  Next year, I would like to get some more early and late spring bloomers in, so we can have spots of color throughout the spring, summer and fall.  

This year, the spring was more focused on getting the beds ready, I missed the tulips and daffodils :)

Of the flowers I do have, there are many exciting little buds just sitting and gathering their energy. The sunflowers are all waiting, slowly growing.  I think they are about at their max height by now, each in their own way.  I saw in one of them today little petal bits forming under the leaves!! Yay.

These little guys are very cute, no more than 12" tall, which as high as they will go, they are my three little pigs of the sunflower lot.  All snuggled in together, getting fatter and fatter.

 I have a few of this variety.  They each have several buds on them, which I am excited about. Several buds = several sunflowers!

This is the third variety of sunflower that I have.  If I remember correctly, they only produce one flower. Its interesting, the different types.  The one above has more of a prickly appearance, whereas this one below looks very soft

There are so many other plants with sleeping buds right now

My Coral Rose, for instance, has several more buds it got out.  It sent out two flowers to test the area and apparently decided its safe to go into full blossom now :)

This Dahlia had a flew flowers a month ago, and now it looks like it has several more laying in wait 

This has been an interesting plant to watch as it flowered.  I have never seen an echinacea plant before, and the flowers on them are so interesting!! This is another one that sent out a couple scouts ahead and decided its a great spot to grow :)

Oh and my gorgeous red rose has more beauty to bestow upon us!!

I have a little Dahlia on the SW Corner of the house that I have never seen in bloom.  I got it on sale from a gardener down in Waldport as she was closing up for the season (cant resist 50% off!) and have yet to see its colors!! So exciting! I love surprises

My lilies have had buds out for a while now, over a month, but they are just now changing color from green.  I hope that means they will open soon!! :)

The left is from early July, the right is yesterday

There are three new yellow Poppies ready to pop (har har)

And my sweetpeas are finally getting ready to open!! I cant wait.  They smell soooo good!! I have a couple of them by the door, so hopefully when one is walking into the house, there will be a lovely whiff of sweet pea.  As it is now, I have Alyssum blooming near the front door, and I often catch their scent as I let myself in.

There are couple of little sunflowers by the Sweetpeas, I love how they are being used as scaffolding :)

There are two Passion Flower buds as well!! Oh man I am so excited about these, I cant wait to see what they will look like!

Here is a closeup of the one on the Left, I think it is so pretty how tightly folded the petals are.  Part of why I enjoy taking so many pictures is you can easily see over time how they unfold.

The passion flowers have really been making progress up the arbor!

Hmmmm....lets see.....who is is getting ready to grace us with more beauty?

This little guy has another bud out.  Funny story about this one.  Its obviously in a pot, and in this pot used to be another plant.  For the longest time, I let the pot sit, and let the other plant grow, since I had no idea what it was.  I let it grow for months, watering it, feeding it, lovingly tending to its needs.  Then one day mom comes over and I am proudly showing her my garden, and we get to this pot.  I tell her about my efforts to help it grow and thrive, and being my garden guru, I ask her what she thinks it is.  She bends down, inspects it.  And then stands back up with her answer.

Its a weed.

A WEED?! I have been nurturing and encouraging the one thing in my garden I persistently pull out?? Ugh.

Well, I got that weed out of there, and when I did, this little guy was in there. Its one of my favorite flowers, the Osteopermum Hybrid, also known as the African Daisy.  There was one yucky looking stem, no leaves, and one little blossom on the end of that stem. The poor little thing was barely getting by in there, nearly overgrown by a weed that I was supporting!! :'(

Well, obviously it is doing much better now.  That initial flower died (of course), but not before it put out a couple more stems. I planted another of the same kind (different color) in the same pot to keep it company (you can see it in the background). 

Now this little guy finally feel safe enough to bloom again!! I am so happy its doing well!!

Here is another opening I am eagerly awaiting.  I am pretty sure my mom said it is a Poppy of some kind (though obviously not the same as the others I have)

It is coming up in an area where there is a collection of plants growing that I didnt intentionally put there.  I had a container that had old bulbs in it, and once I picked out the obvious Lily, Daffodil and Tulip bulbs, there were still some things left. So, I dumped that dirt in a special cleared place and have been happily awaiting whats been growing. 

 There are some violas

And these.  I cannot remember what they are called, they are so pretty though.  The petals are so delicate looking, like tissue paper!

So many beautiful flowers on the way! And a few surprises I am happily looking forward to :)