a shining and affirmative thing...

"White ... is not a mere absence of color; it is a shining and affirmative thing, as fierce as red, as definite as black.... God paints in many colors; but He never paints so gorgeously, I had almost said so gaudily, as when He paints in white."
(Gilbert Keith Chesterton, “A Piece of Chalk,” Tremendous Trifles, 1909)

A little bit of white goes a long way to brighten up the garden...
Cosmos
Echinacea purpurea, "White Swan Coneflower"
Daucus carota, "Wild Carrot or Queen Anne's Lace"
Tanacetum parthenium, "Feverfew"
This one is more white than the blue it's name elludes to...my favorite!
Eustoma rusellianum, "Lisianthus Magic Blue Picotee"
I love these for fillers in containers, just the touch to brighten the pot up.
Euphorbia, "Diamond Frost"
My very first bloom from this one (a baby planted in May)!
Clematis, "Huldine"
A self seeder from last years planting...
Nierembergia, "Mont Blanc"
As long as I deadhead, she just blooms and blooms.
Osteospermum, "Soprano Vanilla Spoon"
I haven't planted these in 3-4 years and they just keep coming back and bloom in unexpected places with many colors. A wonderful self seeder.
Portulaca grandiflora, "Moss Rose"
The new little landscape tree just keeps blooming and blooming.
Hydrangea paniculata, "Kyushu"
This year, Annabelle's blooms are huge!
Hydrangea arborescens, "Annabelle"
Datura, "Moonflower White"
Calibrachoa, "Million Bells, White"
Of course I can't forget to show you the new little feather growth reflecting white on the 6 day old Mourning Dove...
and the underside of this pesky hawk that has been here for the last 4 days.
I don't know my hawks but I believe it is a red-tail, possibly a juvenille because all it does is scream all day!
After listening to it for 2 days I asked Jeff if hawks always scream while hunting, neither of us think he could ever catch anything announcing his presence so loudly. Sometimes we can hear it sitting in the house and he continues to screech while perched on the tree.
I hope you are enjoying the colors of the garden, they make me happy :-)

alizarin, carmine, crimson, scarlet, vermillion...

or in another word, RED!
Tigridia, "Mexican Shell Flower"According to Wikipedia, red is associated with heat, energy and blood, and emotions that stir the blood, including anger, passion, and love. It commonly represents — aggression, stop, courage, guilt, energy, passion, anger, fire, socialism, sacrifice, sin, violence, negative, and warning and blushing.

To me it means beautiful, bright spots of color in the garden.
Gallardia "Blanket Flower"
Russelia, "Peters Komet"
Begonia semperflorens, "Wax Begonia"
Coleus, "Kingswood Torch"
Coreopsis 'Limerock Ruby' (self seeds as an annual but has been cross pollinating with the wildflower coreposis and I only have a few red ones left.
Rose, "Hope for Humanity"
Lobelia cardinalis, "Queen Victoria" Cardinal Flower
Ratibida columnifera, "Mexican Hat" Prairie Coneflower
Amaranth, "Hopi Red Dye"
Daylily, (unnamed, lost tag)
Hibiscus acetosella, "Haight Ashbury"
Ricinus communis, "Castor Bean" flower
Ricinus communis, "Castor Bean" leaf (makes a great slide for a female orchard oriole)
Ricinus communis, "Castor Bean" stalks (make a great backdrop for mama dove)
4 days old and already has mom's long beak!

a tiny bird

Among the trees
Is a bird's nest,
And in the nest...
Hush, you'll be heard!--
There lies asleep
A tiny bird.
(H.N. Bialik)
Remember the two mourning dove eggs I posted a while back? Last week, I noticed one turned a dark color and two days later it was missing from the nest. I checked on Monday and there still was a single egg and yesterday this young one greeted me.

I had some time to sit and enjoy the garden yesterday and the goldfinches and orioles kept me entertained. This handsome guy struck a pose for me...
and made sure I got his profile shot.
Pardon me, there is something on your beak.
The young orioles have found the feeders and are frequent visitors. I have a hard time keeping the jelly stocked.
I planted several pink/purple as well as yellow/purple combinations in the garden. Now I think purple and orange make a great combo too!

Names...

Words have meaning and names have power.
(Author Unknown)
What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
(William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet)

No roses today, but I did get my garden book all updated yesterday and now know the name of the unnamed clematis yesterday. It was "Clair de lune". Above is the "Tango" lily and I've had these yellow lilies since I started gardening in 1999. I had forgotten they too have a name, "Sunray" asiatic lilies.
Today, I was on a roadtrip and visited "Jerome". Didn't realize he had a name on his tag last Mother's day, I guess I was too shocked at his price :-) I came home with some more names - a second "Clair de lune", "Gypsy Queen", "Earnest Markham" and "Ville De Lyon".

I can't wait to introduce them to "The President".

Clematis

I stand against the wall and gate,
Through early days and nights so late,
My light pink colour, my dark green leaves,
I hear the wind blow through the trees.
As the sun rises each morning,
I feel the warmth on each of my petals,
And the sting from the leaves of the bottle-green nettles,
Each time my stem touches my leaves
I know it is the work of the warm, warm breeze,
I can hear the children playing in the sunlight,
And I know everything is going to be alright,
And one day I will meet a friend
Over the wall at the other end.
(Rosa Barbour, aged 10, for `The Hidden Garden' Project June 2002)
I have developed a new found love for clematis. I've had the old reliable, Jackmanii, above for 15 years or so and each year I add one or two more. Below, is my new purchase this spring...The President! He's still a short baby but burst out a couple blooms this weekend. Isn't he a handsome one? I also have 2 baby Nelly Moser's & 2 baby HF Young's but it looks like I will have to wait until next year to see their blossoms.

Killian Donahue is still putting on quite a show...
and the vigorous Tangutica (old man's beard)has just started to bloom. This guy has self seeded for me even.
There's only one lone blossom left on the Niobe...
and Dr. Ruppel is resting from his mass of blooms last month and only putting out a dozen or so at a time.
This pink one I planted in 1999 on the angel arbor and it's pair on the other side of the arbor died out last winter. I couldn't remember the name so I tried to look it up in my garden journal...
and in this mess, I couldn't find the tag. So for now this variety is without a name and since the garden is pretty wet to walk around and weed, this afternoon's job is to update the journal. The last two springs have been busy with planning a wedding and remodeling so it's time to organize my tags and get the journal in order.
Do you keep a garden book/journal? I find it invaluable. I keep my plant tags, care instructions, and wish lists! I add garden craft ideas, container planting ideas and pages for "gardening for the birds". If they fail I throw away their tag and make a note to not plant it again (because my memory can fail me when I see something pretty in the nursery) and I tuck in photo CD's of each years garden. The spring photos help me each fall on where I should add new bulbs and the fall photos help me each spring in where I should add some late color.
Tomorrow the clematis wish list is coming with me...as I plan to make a stop at a favorite nursery out of town.