Announcing the First Daylily Bloom!

I dug out my "big girl" camera last night.  I have been using a Canon Elph, but I think it is worn out and has lost it's edge.  After all, that little camera has taken thousands of photos over the past seven years. My "big girl" camera has been around for a while, but hasn't been used a lot.  It's a Minolta Diamage A2 ... I hope you notice an improvement in my blog photos as time goes by.  I took a few photos with it this evening when I got home from work.  I will be off work on vacation next week, so I'll have plenty of time to practice with the camera, garden like crazy and blog!  It's time to recharge. :-)

Stella d'Oro Bud

Announcing the first daylily of the season ... Stella d'Oro!

Dianthus - Chili

Dianthus

Coreopsis

Honeysuckle

This is the current garden perfume right now ... it smells heavenly!

Even my blog space is blooming now!  It was time to replace the area rug so here's the new one.  The photo doesn't do it justice ... it's a deep chocolate brown with deeply hued flowers.  It brings the garden indoors. :-)

Pretty in Pink - Dianthus & Loropetulum

Earlier this week, I went out looking for new blooms as soon as I got home from work.
Here's what I found:

Dianthus 

These don't officially count because they were still in their pot from the garden center.  Just had to snap them anyway...



Loropetalum



This one is so pretty ... love its fringe y flowers.

Loropetulum

We had rain and thundershowers last night.  Today, everything in the garden looks at least an inch taller.  It is amazing!  Irises and daylilies are right around the corner.  :-)

O is for Orchid!

Well, well, well, I managed to make it to the Lowes Garden Center once again.  Yesterday, my husband was looking for paint, so that gave me plenty of time to browse in the world of plants ...

 

 I'm partial to white orchids.  Thought this one was a beauty ...

 and this one ...

Very exotic!  I had to take a close look to make sure it was a real flower.

Pretty in Pink

If a tropical drink were a flower, I think this one would be it. 

Symphony

My shopping cart ... notice I'm being strong.  There's not an orchid in it (this time ;-).  I did get an onion chive and a beautiful dianthus.  I have found that dianthus weathers our scorching summers quite well.  Our summers seem to be getting hotter with long periods of drought, so I've started appreciating drought tolerant plants over the last two or three years.  I baby the daylilies and the irises, but everything else has to be pretty tough.  It was 87 here today!

And a little something for the hummingbirds ...