Giants in the Garden

There are two show-stopping giant plants in the front yard right now. 

The first, these lilies, are well over 6 feet tall! When I look at them eye to eye, I'm looking at the bottom to middle row of flowers! And each flower is quite substantial.

This is about the fourth year for these plants, which have grown stronger and bigger each year. The red lily beetle has decimated most of my lily collection but this variety has withstood the attack--I think they were so big the beetles were afraid of them! 

I wish I had taken a photo of the emerging growth in the spring--they didn't so much sprout as launch. 

The scent on these is strongest at night, but even during the day that distinctive lily smell is evident from most of the front yard. As these plants are somewhat hidden from the street by a magnolia tree, passers by likely  wonder where the smell is coming from. 

And what kind of lilies are these you ask? I'm very proud of myself for actually having saved the package:

so that I can tell you they're an Oriental x Trumpet Lily (i.e. hybrid) by the name of Conca D'Or. I don't remember the price but it was probably about average ($8). It certainly delivers above average impact!

And if you're wondering, the yellow daisy-like flowers in front of them in the picture are Helianthus 'Lorraine Sunshine'.

The other front yard giant draws bees by the hive, and has caused more than one pedestrian to stop and ask "What's THAT?!"  

It's a bit of a challenge to photograph (because it's big you need to be far away, but because it's so slender, it gets lost in the picture), but look above the purple daylilies and follow the stems up, way up, to the yellow pom-poms flowers. That's Cephalaria gigantea (aka Giant Scabiosa, aka Scabiosa gigantea). It's a conversation piece for pedestirans and certainly THE most popular plant in the entire garden with all the neighbourhood bees right now. I've mentioned it on the blog before, but it's such a cool plant I thought I'd feature it again.

There are 3 or 4 bees on that one flower.

A close up from a day the bees weren't so busy.

Garden snapshots - July 2011

Helianthus "Lorraine Sunshine"

The thing about a garden blog is that in spring, when there's lots of activity to blog about, you're too busy gardening to sit down at your computer! Here we are in July and I haven't posted anything since May. Oops!

So, without further ado, here's a little tour of what the garden looks like now.

Front yard, July 9, 2011

View from the driveway

Rosa "The Fairy" is blooming it's heart out...

The tall scabiosa-like yellow flowers that I can never remember the name of are towering over everything... I'm sure passers-by wonder why on earth I planted them at the front of the garden and not the back. I kind of like how you can look through them into the garden.

Cephalaria gigantea

And Echinacea "Hot Papaya" is proving to be worth every cent I paid for it. I first saw it during Garden Walk Buffalo last year and had to have it (I can resist a lot of beautiful plants, but every once in a while I see one that sends me directly to PlantWorld with credit card in hand.)

Echinace "Hot Papaya"

I love shasta daisies, too bad their bloom time is so short.

Some of the clematis have started to put on a show.

I've done quite a few containers in the front yard this year.

Coleus sets off this container pair.

Trailing begonia. I planted the corms a little late but they're taking off now.

Wait until the cannas bloom!

A hanging basket of fuschias on the front porch frame my view as I look out on the garden.

English Rose "Constance Spry"

At the side of the house I have a pretty  way of capturing the water that comes out of our air conditioning unit:

Self-watering planter

There's LOTS more going on in the back yard but I think this blog site will shut down if I put any more pictures in one post (it's been complaining over the last 3) so I'll just show you the most exciting thing happening in the back yard right now...

"Pineapple" tomato

The slowest thing ever to ripen is the first tomato of summer. I have some toasted bread and mayo waiting for this one...