Flower Fotos, May 2011--Poppies! Purslane! Pods!

A lot of work went into getting ready for the Green Garden Showcase, and all the flora looked its very best!  Now that the weather is heating up, some of the flowers are getting ready to seed--that means we'll have seeds to share soon.

Shirley poppies and their seed pods

 

 

Shirley poppy seedpod, still green

These Shirley poppies look great along the driveway, and this green seed pod (right) will soon be ready for harvesting.   Shirley poppy seedheads are really neat--they'll turn brown and form tiny holes under the little plate on the top (you can sort of see them forming in this photo.)  When the pods are dry and ready, you can shake the seeds out of the holes just like a tiny pepper shaker.  We collect lots of these seeds to share, but there are always plenty that reseed themselves.

Rock purslane

This is rock purslane, the first bloom from a cutting also generously given to me by Butterfly Lady Loree Bryer.  Isn't that hot pink scrummy??!!!  It's a succulent, so great for adding bright color to a low-water garden.  Grows pretty quickly, too.

Garden Show Archie, eating the leftovers

Where's Archie? In the Butterfly Box, reading a plant marker (sounds like "Clue"...)

We had some milkweed left over from the garden show, and it's been waiting and being watered on the porch until I have time to transplant it all.  Today I found a new monarch caterpillar on one of the plant markers--a pretty big one, so he's been eating a lot of those seedlings this past week!--and he and his marker have been transferred to our new Butterfly Box, a planter full of milkweed with a trellis for climbing/pupating.  We put it by the back window so we can easily watch all our Archies do their thing. 

Rose, "Fourth of July"

There are lots more photos of the latest flowers on our Archie's Garden Facebook page, so drop by and "Like" if you'd like to see updates in your Facebook thread.  Feel free to post your own garden photos and helpful info too, and looking forward to seeing you in the garden!