Week 22, Year 2: Early Bloomers

This year, I’m trying my hand at timing. Not all plants bloom continuously all summer. Unlike most annuals, many varieties of perennials will only produce flowers for a short time until they bloom again in the next year (e.g., tulips, daffodils, and irises). Last year, I mostly had annuals and continuous bloomers because without a yard it can be hard to truly enjoy such short producers. However, this year, I wanted to try my hand with at least a couple of timed bloomers with the hopes of having new things to look at each month. My first crop of early bloomers peaked in late May and most of them did incredibly well.

Bearded Iris These had already started blooming when I bought them. While most irises are just now blooming, my guys were eager to get started and brought me two weeks of incredible joy. They produced the most flagrant flowers (think grape popsicles) and outshone all of their other deckmates. The only downside was that their dead-heads are not the best looking, shriveling up into prunes, so it was important to remove them right away so as not to distract from the beauty of the newer bloomers.
Poppy

I was little nervous about the poppies. However, my worries were misplaced and they truly thrived. These little pod like creatures grew, and opened into beautiful, dainty orange flowers with yellow centers. The plant produced about 10 blooms, with a few new ones each day. The blooms only lasted 1-2 days each, but were perfectly timed so that we had continuous blooms for about two weeks.

Pansies

Despite being annuals, pansies usually wilt once the temperatures start climbing. So far, mine are hanging in there, but I suspect they will be ready to move on once we hit mid-June. For now, they are happy cooling the clematis’ feet.
Now, the only question is what to do with the perennial’s remains. The iris’ foliage is interesting enough that it is worth keeping for the summer. However, the poppy’s is not much to look at. I’m considering transplanting the rootball to a fancy cardboard/texturized container for the winter. I’ll have to do some research and decide if it’s worth starting this experiment – plus, that also means I will have an empty pot to fill with another new and interesting specimen.

Next up for the timed flowers: June Bloomers

Week 8 - Year 1: The Clematis Files

Unlike Harry Potter, I do not have a Resurrection Stone, but there must be some magic in the air because the Clematis are back and in business. Back in May, it seemed like I had taken a wrong turn with the clematis and I had trimmed them back down to start over. 5 Weeks later and it seems to be working. I moved both plants to the eastern exposure of the porch and replanted their soil. They both have new growth and the purple one is even blooming, while the red one has 5 buds about to bloom.

The purple one is really taking off.

It has grown vines all over the porch spindles and is even attempting to attack the petunias' box (which should make for an interesting fight given the petunia's battle history).

The red one was a bit slower to respond, but seems to be on its way. It has a healthy amount of vine growth and tons of new buds ready to bloom. The only lingering problem is that it hasn't really stuck itself anywhere yet, so it just sort of hangs there hoping to get comfortable. I keep wrapping it around spindles to inspire it, but it just doesn't take.

If these guys make it, the next worry will be winter. These are perennials and I would like to try to save them is possible over the winter. I've started devising an experiment upon the suggestion of a great co-worker, who has been the best gardening advisor. She has generously offered to plant them in her yard to see if they make it through the winter. So, as an experiment, I'm thinking we plant one and then I winter the other in the damp storage unit in the basement parking garage to our apartment building. It will be interesting to see if they make it. However, this is only July, so I've got a lot of time to plan this experiment. For now, I will just continue to baby these guys and enjoy their progress.

***7/24/10 - Update, the red one finally bloomed and it's spectacular! It's actually more of a magenta than a red, but either way it's gorgeous!