Frosted Salmon Poppies

The Frosted Salmon poppies began to open this past weekend.

 

 

Two days ago... 

Yesterday...

 

 

 ...and this morning!  They look like peonies, frilly and lush.  Very pretty.  (Click to enlarge pictures)

 

 

 

   Nasturtium.  These trail a lot and are lightly scented - a mild, sweet fragrance.  None of the kinds I've grown before have had such a nice scent.  It's hard to walk past it without stopping to enjoy.  I thought it was Little Firebirds, but I'm not seeing the mix of colours that variety is supposed to have.

Creeping Thyme

 

The sage loves this spot.

  (L-R)  Italian Flat-leaf parsley, oregano (mostly hidden), and marjoram.  There's a Swiss Giant pansy plant in there, too, but no flowers have opened on it yet.  Kale in the back, oregano in the white pot in the upper right-hand corner, and Indian Tea mint in the white pot in the lower right-hand corner.

   

   Tub of Herbs!  Mints in pots along the front.  French Lavender in a small, white pot on the left corner of the bathtub.  Swiss Giant pansies (only 1 small flower has opened thus far) throughout.  Pineapple sage in the large, black container to the right of the bathtub.

 

   The Galeux D'Eysines pumpkins are starting to develop.  I've managed to pollinate four so far.

   It has been a dreadful year for peppers, but this little jalapeno is putting out a few.

 

The Green Arrow peas, about 3.5 feet tall and putting out flowers.

 

 

Early morning gardening assistants.

I Didn't Plant That

   The first poppy of the season opened this morning.  What a surprise to see it was red!  A volunteer, maybe, from poppies of years past.  

Dragon's Egg Hatching

 

   I went out for a stroll around the garden this morning. It looks like it rained overnight, leaving puddles in the driveway.  I appreciated the rain, as I didn't relish the prospect of watering everything by hand today.  It's sunny and mild now, about 19 degrees C at 9:00AM.  The magpies have returned; I can hear them clacking and chattering at each other from the property two doors down.  I think the family of young crows left the spot where they'd settled for several months.  They don't seem to be fans of the cheeky magpies.

   On my stroll, I happened upon the most wondrous thing: a dragon's egg about to hatch!   Maybe it wasn't actually a dragon's egg.  It sure looked like one, though.  It was a Frosted Salmon poppy starting to open.  The only thing that could have made it more magical would be if a damselfly lighted on it while I was taking the picture. 

 

Another one, at the back of the flower bed.

   The Ireland Creek Annie beans (dry/bush) are doing very well.  They are growing taller than expected, partially blocking the tomato plant at the back of the bed.  The bean flowers have started to open.

 

More dry bush beans, more flowers. 

 

   Monomakh's Hat.  Holy smokes.  So far, this variety is living up to the wonderful things I've ready about it. Productive, large tomatoes, not too tall (semi-determinate).  It's supposed to be relatively early for a large tomato, too (~70-75 DTM).  

 

 

   Finally!  Some Andean tomatoes (also called, "Cornue des Andes") are developing.  This variety is supposed to be fairly early (~75 DTM) and productive.  So far, it hasn't wowed.  Hopefully, it surges ahead in the next month and lives up to it's good reputation.  I've been counting on this as my paste tomato.

 

 

Clear Pink Early, coming along.

 

Sweet little volunteer pansies.

 

 

More Baby Tomatoes and Little Firebirds

 

   Japanese Black Trifele tomato (with two smaller ones behind it and to the left). 

 

 

   Indigo Pear Drops tomatoes.  You can already tell these will have purple/black shoulders.  This variety is apparently high in antioxidents (anthocyanins) similar to those found in blueberries.

 

Gold Harvest dry pea blooms

The Green Beauty snow pea blooms are just starting to open.

 

   When I saw the variegated leaves, I thought these were Alaska nasturtiums.  But the plant started to trail...and then orange flowers began to open.  Whoops!  It's not Alaska, but another variety called, "Little Firebirds".  I planted them late in the Spring but nothing emerged for almost two months.  I assumed they hadn't germinated and planted Alaska in their place.  It will be fun to watch this plant mature.  The colours of Little Firebirds flowers have been described on several websites as "deep burgundy, warm pumpkin, and rich coral".

 

   The Bonbon calendula are starting to bloom with gusto.  Most are a sunny orange, and some are yellow.

 

   One plant, though, is producing bicoloured flowers - a light, pinky/apricot on the tips of the petals and light orange near the center.  Very pretty!

 

Scapes, Blooms, and First Tomatoes

   The first tomatoes have appeared!  Clear Pink Early and Petitbec were the first to flower and have the most tomatoes developing so far.  EM-Champion, Japanese Black Trifele, and Reinhard's Chocolate Heart each have one little tomato.  I thought Andean, which is an early-midseason variety, would have more flowers than it does at this point, and that it would have started developing tomatoes.  Early Annie, which I have grown in past years, also seems to be lagging behind.

Clear Pink Early tomato

 

 

Petitbec tomato

 

Garlic scapes (the curlicues in the middle of the plants - click picture to enlarge) have begun to grow.

At last!  The Bonbon calendula has started to bloom...

 

...and the marigolds have, too.

   The Gold Harvest peas (dry peas) are putting out flowers.  They are soft pink and cream coloured, very delicate.

   Indoors, the orchid is in full bloom.  Pretty!  We're starting to think of this as the "Everlasting Orchid".  It was just starting to bloom when I returned to BC last September.  Those blooms lasted months.  In late Spring, they fell off the branch one-by-one, and a new branch formed while the original branch dried up.  Less than a month later, these orchids started blooming.  If these bloom last as long as the first ones did, we will have had almost a solid year with orchids on this plant.