Make Up Monday

Last week on Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and Foliage Follow Up day I was working hard to get plants in the ground before the rains came.  I managed and the rain arrived on schedule so everything got well watered in.  So today I'm going to post a few more pictures to add to the photographic celebrations of all things garden.  See if you can guess which pictures go with which day.

Tulip humilis Odalisque, actually a bit more of a purple-red than it appears on my monitor

This one is a Darwin Type Tulip (either Hollandia or Cum Laude) that I included for a specific reason.  Look closely at the bud(s).   Do you see how the two stems are conjoined?  I have a Siamese Twin Tulip!

Tanacetum coccineum James Kelway.  This is why I label my plants.  How else should I identify this one from just the freshly uncurling foliage.  Pretty cool looking, though, huh?

Tradescantia Sweet Kate.  What's that?  I'm cheating?  I've already posted this plant this spring?  No I haven't.  No, you're mistaken.  Wait, don't check!  Oh, all right I'm busted.  But I really like the spring foliage of this one and I couldn't resist.  Do I get credit for posting a NEW photo of a plant I've already posted?

If I'm going to get busted for reposting I'm going to repost some more.  Here is my Brunnera Jack Frost.  I think I might have even posted images last week but it has really burst into bloom over the weekend.

Last year I dug some wild violets from a neighbors yard.  Amazingly I didn't have ANY (I had a nice chemical stew toxic lawn instead.  This one looks like it can't make up its mind which color flowers to produce.

A mated pair of Red Lily Beetles on (guess what) a lily.  Uh-oh.  These beetles are supposed to be voracious destroyers of lily plants.  I guess I won't be growing lilies.  Too bad.  I planted several varieties last fall.  But I won't grow a plant if I HAVE to use pesticides.  I was using them as a fill in anyway, in a spot that will be filled in by a pair of shrubs in a few years.

Still.  Darn it.  I like lilies.

This is one of my Physocarpus opulifolius (ninebark) Coppertina shrubs.  Below is the other.

See a difference?  There is a HUGE difference between these two.  The lower one kept some leaves all winter (dried up but still attached) and is more open in habit and has some yellowish greenish color in the inner portion of the leaves.  The upper one is much darker leafed, lost all its leaves in the winter and has stems and leaves closer together.  I bought them at different times so there is a chance they are different varieties.  Or what I'm seeing could be individual differences (they are planted next to each other so the conditions are similar).  It'll be interesting to watch over the next few years and see what happens.

Lastly one of my favorite new discoveries.  This is Cornus hesyii Garden Glow.  The foliage will stay nearly this color all summer and the stems were red all winter.  It does have some buds so I'll get to see the blooms (and hopefully fruit) this year.  Honestly I don't care about the blooms on this plant.  This bright chartreuse foliage looks like this in a shady spot next to the back of the house.  What a wonderful punch of color. 

Now it's time for a quiz.  Which pictures are for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day and which are for Foliage Follow Up?  One of them is a trick question.

(I bet my students would like a quiz like that!  Instead it's Cellular Respiration week.  They thought photosynthesis was bad, I know a lot more about this topic.)