Thursday, June 24, 2010

Poppy Time



First thing this morning I spotted a male indigo bunting perched on the garden wall. Usually all we get to see is a fleeting glimpse of his beautiful irridescent blue somewhere in the trees. This time we got a good look. When he did fly he came even closer to the window. What a great way to start the day! It turned out to be a day with bands of heavy rain . Ed got to spend a fair amount of time in the garden, but anything that requires dry weather like drying catnip, thinning the beans, or mowing the grass will have to wait.

My pink poppies are beginning to bloom. I finally saw them in a catalog under the name P. laciniatum. I love these poppies enough to put up with their prolific self seeding. Here they are almost a cover crop.




These single poppies, and the slightly darker color than usual doubles, will have to be pulled. The double pink "Carnation poppies" that I love sometimes revert back to singles or throw a darker color. I try to get them pulled a soon as I see them to maintain the pink doubles. I had to get Ed to pull this big one. The entire clump came out at once and appeared to be one plant. I really dislike pulling something that looks as pretty this , but it has to be done.

1 comment:

Kyna said...

I love indigo buntings. We get them sometimes...even more rarely do I get a painted bunting. I plant sunflowers, because the only time buntings seem to show up is when the sunflowers have died. The buntings LOVE eating the seeds off of them, and perching on the dead stems. :)