Saturday, August 08, 2009

Some New Plants and Other Stuff

I've got a few new plants blooming this year, which keeps things interesting and adds to the list of "plants that can grow here".

This odd blue-grey brush-like perennial flower is Eryngium alpinum, which was planted in 2007 and bloomed for the first time this year. It is almost 3 feet (90 cm) tall and fits in well in the middle of a raised bed.

While not a perennial, this little poppy in the alpine garden self-seeds and the two plants I started with last year left some lovely offspring that are blooming now in early August. This Papaver miyabeanum "Pacino" has a sulphur-colored flower and is known as the Japanese poppy.

Once again, I conclude that the Papaver rhoeas (corn poppies, Shirley poppies) give me a boost of garden-happiness. To keep some in a vase, I sealed the stems to prevent the latex from dripping out, a tip which I had read on the internet. I burned the bottom of the stem with the flame from a BBQ lighter for about 10 seconds. It worked better than I had imagined and the flowers looked great for about 3 days.
Papaver rhoeas as a cut flower:

Here is the view of the center raised bed from our house:

Center raised bed, with some lilies yet to bloom and Papaver rhoeas blooming on the right:

4 comments:

Philosophical Karen said...

Does burning the stems work for all poppies, or just Papaver rhoeas?

Unknown said...

A boost of garden-happiness indeed! Poppies are a cure for many things. I hope you'll keep having the E. alpinum come back; mine has disappeared but I have many E. planum, and they're gloriously in bloom.

Helen said...

A vicarious boost of garden happiness for all of us who enjoy your photographs.

To Karen, yes, burning the stems is good for all poppies. Here's a page Google popped up for me with conditioning tips for all sorts of flowers:

http://www.belmontgardenclub.info/Categories/FlowerArranging.html

Chookie said...

I love the look of sea-holly but don't think I've ever seen it in Sydney; it might not like our climate. Love the beautiful shades on the poppies too!