thank you all.
i know i haven't updated this thread recently, but i don't have a lot of flowers on the go right now. my trumpet vine seems to not want to do anything but grow longer (ie. no flowers, not even any buds), i was looking forward to that for late summer but oh well, c'est la vie.
the rose is.... well it's totally my bad, i forgot to water it for a couple days just as it was starting to bloom so it's kinda raggedy-looking right now.... *sheepish*
drambert, i'm counting on you to fill this place up with more wildflowers. i saw the white paintbrush in the rockies last time i passed that way.... could be a regional thing. i'll try to dig up the pics i took of it so you can see.
dannyboy:
orientals are fragrant.
asiatic (as i found this summer, much to my disappointment) by-and-large, aren't. but i find that asiatics have the cooler colour combo's goin' on. there's one that i found on ebay that i want to grow next year; i forget the varietal name, but it's got a black heart with yellow tips. (i looooove "black" flowers. really want some black petunias for next year too.) would love to see what sort of lilies Mr. Gardener's got goin' on, so figure it ooot, please.
duku: it's a "canon powershot S2 IS" (5 mp). it's about a decade old, and a hand-me-down so i don't really know any other specs about it. i was just told on another forum that it (somehow) takes a way better picture than someone's 14.1mp sony, and it's not like i'm a particularly accomplished photographer or anything, so i don't know how that is. i do tend to go a bit apeshit with the macro button, now that i've found it. as to aphids, i use a product called "pink solution" (
http://pinksolution.ca). it's an all natural tallow-based all-purpose cleaner. it's weird stuff, it comes as a "paste" (sort of reminds me of overhardened jello) and you can use it full-strength on set stains or dilute it with water to make either a "heavy" or "light" solution for all-purpose kinda stuff. imagine my surprise to find, in the "suggested uses" section for the "light" solution, it says you can spray it on your roses to fight off aphids!! anyhoo, i tried it last year, and it works great. i seem to get about 5 aphid-free days per spraying, and the plants seem to actually *like* it. and i've hit everything prone to aphids with it with no ill effects: clematis, lilies, mock orange, various herbs (one of the main marketing points is that it's powerful but completely safe; the salesguy at the kiosk
sprayed it into his mouth -- i was sold.
)
a friend of mine is a landscaper and went out and bought some just to keep onhand for work. it's kind of hard to come by at normal retailers (although i did just find it at the local london drugs) but they sometimes have kiosks at trade shows and costcos. definitely worth checking out.
Giant REd PAINTBRUSH
