Friday, October 26, 2007

The end. Whew! Seeing small things part 5.


The tiny flowers of the Nandina domestica, commonly called heavenly bamboo.




A few remaining flowers on the crape myrtle Lagerstroemia indica, 'Red Rocket'.




Immature fruit of the Nandina domestica




Dianthus




The back of a Hydrangea paniculata, 'Quick Fire'. This was a huge disappointment because the color is not anywhere close to the picture on the label which was a bright red. In fact our H. paniculata 'grandiflora' has better color. The panicles or corymbs on the 'Quick Fire' also droops giving it a "needs water" look, so that's why you see the back of the panicle rather than the face.




An austere photo of next years Rhododendron flower. I thought the delineation of the petal covering essentially the sepals caused by the orange outlining was interesting...in an understated zen-like way.





Pretty gaudy Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Fanfare' but we keep it around because the bees like it so much. The inch worm seems to like it too.

11 Comments:

Blogger Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

Those are awesome photos of your beautiful flowers, Ki.

5:42 AM  
Blogger lisa said...

Hey neat, I had that same inchworm on my flowers this year, too! You've got some nice macro going on there!

5:57 AM  
Blogger Sweet Home and Garden Carolina said...

P.S., Ki. I have you tagged on delicious but I'm having problems with it being displayed on my blog. It should be up soon. Thanks for including me on yours.

6:08 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

All of these Seeing Small Things posts have been fantastic. You should make a gardening calender or something, they're that good.

8:43 AM  
Blogger Priscilla George said...

Nice pictures once again. I love the rhododendron flower, it proves that buds can be beautiful. I've never seen a gaillardia like that before, it's very very different looking but beautiful powerful colors. I like how the crape myrtle looks like crumpled up tissue paper and not a flower at all.
I'm sure you probably know that the color of hydrangeas depends on the soil ph. Maybe the soil ph needs to be more alkaline to make it bright red. I know with endless summer hydrangeas they are blue when the soil is acidic and pink when alkaline. Do some research and maybe next year you can have bright red hydrangea.

3:06 PM  
Blogger Connie said...

Lovely photos!...especially the Dianthus. Gailardia Fanfare is on my wish list....it's a beauty!

4:56 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Carolyn Gail, Thank you for the kind comment and also thanks for linking my blog on your site. Keep those great recipes coming.

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Hi Lisa,
Thank you. I saw the photo of your inch worm in an earlier post so I had to post this one. I wonder why this worm was still active this late in the season? I love the chevrons on the inch worm. I only wish I caught it humped up more to give it more dimension.

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Hi Anthony, Gee what a great compliment! Thank you very much. I think the lower angle of the sun and cloudy days are responsible for the better photos. I am trying to be more aware of light condition and lighting so hopefully the pictures will be even better in the future. Hey want a calendar?

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Hi Vanilla Lotus,
Now that you mention it the crape myrtle really looks like crumpled tissue paper! Sometimes it's good to look at simple shapes without too much clutter. A balm for the eyes when everything else is busy and bright. I knew that the Hydrangea macrophylla was sensitive to soil pH but didn't know that H. paniculata could be too? Maybe I should do some experiments to see if I can affect the color next year. Thanks for your comment.

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Hi Connie,
Thank you. The G. 'Fanfare' was purchased last year because it looked quite unique. It's proven to be quite hardy as well and was even more vigorous this year, almost doubling in size and blooms. It's a bit gaudy but it blooms almost all summer so it's great to have around when all the other spring perennials have petered out and the bees love it.

7:01 PM  
Blogger joey said...

'Gaudy is good' ... Gaillardia has never been high on my list until viewing 'Fanfare'. Perhaps I'll reconsider considering how you captured its lovely face so beautifully.

7:31 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

Hi Joey,
I assumed Gaillardia because it is such a bright and colorful flower was an annual but I was pleasantly surprised when it came up again the following year. Thank you for the kind words. It is a cheerful sort of flower. Great for dreary days.

7:48 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...

I LOVE that rhododendron bud! I "inherited" a rhodie with my house (planted too close to said house, of course) and it blooms in the gaudiest shade of bright pink that you've ever seen in your life. This year, I cut them all off before they could bloom. But those buds are gorgeous when they're tightly wrapped and green.

8:41 PM  
Blogger Ki said...

HI Kim,
We inherited two rhodies and they were planted too close to the house too! I guess you buy this tiny plant and don't realize it may become sizable if it survives. I like the white ones the best but bright pink, yellow or red is good too. I like them all. I was heartbroken when our neighbor in our old townhouse complex cut down and dug out an old rhodie that had beautiful pink flowers with a dark maroon center. It hung over the fence so we enjoyed the blooms too. But he just ripped it out one day and made a planting bed instead which looked terrible. But whatcha gonna do? Thanks for stopping by.

5:55 AM  

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