From Weeds to Riches ... Inherited Plants ..

[mrdreamjeans]

I've never been one to know much about flowers and plants. The only flowers I can readily identify (I'm exaggerating a bit:) are roses, hydrangeas and tulips. For the record, my favorites are white roses, blue hydrangeas and yellow tulips:) Otherwise, I'm at a loss. No Mr Green Jeans, just MrDreamJeans. Hah!

I've inherited a lot of plantings around my bungalow. Thanks to my Lj friends and my sister-in-law who's a horticulturist, I've been able to identify the Mock Orange and Flowering Pomegranate bushes and poison ivy. I've got several plants growing along my driveway and I have no idea what they are. They are open only in the early morning and at dusk and have a variegated coloring ... pinks, yellow and oranges. I've also got Lillies nearby.

In taking a photo of a field of black-eyed susan-looking plants, I captured the most unusual image. The yellow orange flowers were a blur, but a thistle came out in extraordinary detail. It may be one of the top photos I've taken; alas, it was mostly an accident:) Here are the photos. If you know the name of the driveway planting, please let me know.


Inheritance along the driveway ...
Some of them are all fuchsia colored


Yellow! My favorite color!


A Beautiful Weed ...

Comments

[thikstache.livejournal.com]

The driveway planting looks like what we call Four O'Clocks mainly because they bloom late afternoon.

When I was a kid, we had a huge planter full of different colored ones.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

They are all different colors ... some of them are a solid color which eventualy becomes more than one color. They were fully open at dusk and are in the morning too. They close up for the heat of the day. Thanks, I now have a starting point! HUGS!

ps ... So good to hear you so upbeat and happy the past couple of weeks ....

[bradferd23.livejournal.com]

Yeppers thems ar3 Four O'clocks. I can't get them to grow for me. DOH! But they do look pretty. The other one is a Day Lilly, funny you have the same color I do!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I'm delighted to comfirm that they are four o'clocks! *scirbbling down so I won't forget* .....

[rafdfw.livejournal.com]

Have no idea about #1, but the second appears to be some sort of Asian lily (as opposed to a daylily). The last one looks like a milk thistle.

[abearius.livejournal.com]

And its juice is good for your liver.

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

People take it for their livers; recent studies over the last couple of years indicate that it has no effect whatsoever.

[faghatesgods.livejournal.com]

you mean an herbal remedy that does absolutely nothing but separate desperate people from their cash!

No! It can't be! :)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Gee ... and I thought it was pretty:)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

This is a slightly "off-topic comment ... I have to tell you ... Ernie and you have done a lovely job with your landscaping. I do understand, even if my knowledge is limited comcerning plants, how you've worked your asses off. Your yard is a wonderful retreat.

This is my first house (though my first house had over an acre of land) where the landscaping is lush. I'm learning how hard it is to keep up with everything. We're getting to that hot, humid part of the year and due to sun damage to my skin, I can't be out much.

Just wanted you to know that I'm reading along with all that you and Ernie do and appreciating it....

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

I am realizing that the we have to put in some kind of automatic watering system else we're going to be spending much of each and every day in the back yard with a hose.

But I love it. And it raises the value of the house.

Appreciate the nice feedback.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

You're quite welcome! I look forward to meeting Ernie and you at some point ...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

It appears the Lillies are Ditch Lillies ... you are correct that they aren't day Lillies ... at least, that's what I was told in several comments. I'm actually going to print out pictures of these flowers and label them, so I can pass the information on to others ... Thanks!

[quietkub.livejournal.com]

I think # 2 is a tiger lily

[mikeybill.livejournal.com]

Pretty - I thought no 2 was a day lily... but I could be quite wrong there.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I had no idea there were so many different kinds of lillies!

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

There are huge number of types of lilies naturally occurring as well as bred/cross-bred over the centuries.

Ernie insisted we have a lily prison this year but I hope to convince him to let me move them to different parts of the yard.

Daylilies are not really lilies, they're Hemerocallis. There's a huge range of color, size, and bloom time and length. They're very hardy and multiply quickly.

[mondragon.livejournal.com]

#2 is a daylily or ditch lily (as they call them in the south.)

[bearhedded.livejournal.com]

...and you should dead-head them, every day....support the base of the stem where the wilted flower attaches with your finger, and depress the base of the blossom over your finger, with your thumb. It keeps the seeds from developing, sending the energy back down, to the roots, and encourages more blooming! Looks less straggly, too...

I get obsessive about it!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Dead-heading a ditch lily ... It's beginning to sound like a CSI episode. :) I like that!

[bearhedded.livejournal.com]

.....any iris, too!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I kinda like that ...ditch lily ... sort trashy sounding:)

[popebuck1.livejournal.com]

Didn't Marlene Dietrich play a character called Ditch Lily once? Or maybe it was Mae West.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Not sure ... but it sounds more West than Dietrich.

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

Paramount Pictures, 1932 ..."Shanghai Express"...in the movie Marlene played 'Shanghai Lily.' Her famous line was: "It took more than one man to change my name to Shanghai Lily."
Travis Banton, the brilliant designer that created many of her film wardrobes gave her a tight cloche with alluring face net plus boa of iridescent black cock feathers.
...OK, I confess I'm a bit of a Dietrich nut -but at least I didn't get all that info from memory -I had to look it up in a book that happens to be right next to my computer =0)

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks! That's terrific information! I'll just to save Ditch Lily for a drag name that I'll never use ... along with Traila Parks:) LOL!

[cimarrondfw.livejournal.com]

The purple is definitely a thistle. They spread like dandelions but still have a pretty phase. Charlie and I drove down US 377 toward Granbury on Tuesday afternoon to have a look at the wildflowers. Pastures and roadsides were flush with Indian blankets (Oklahoma's state flower) as well as all other kinds, including a few late bluebonnets. In one place the pastures in the distance were so thick with assorted yellow flowers that it took on the sort of beauty often credited to our artificial ponds of masses of bluebonnets. The heavy rains have been good for the wildflowers.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

The yellow wildflowers provided a background wash of color, almost abstract for the thistle photo ... (my sister told me the name of the yellow flowers, but I can't remember:) ... I liked the photo so much that I had it enlarged and framed. It may be a weed, but in close up the details are absolutely beautiful!

I will flying in and out of DFW on May 31 and June 3. Sunday, June 3, I get back around 11am from Minneapolis. I could do lunch or something before driving back to Brenham. What are your Sundays like? Aren't you in Dallas for church? HUGS!

[cimarrondfw.livejournal.com]

Darn it. Wouldn't you know it? We're going to be in Mississippi/Georgia on a road trip June 1-4. We've been going to church in Fort Worth at a UCC church since June 2005. It's only five minutes from our house.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Next time! Sorry to miss you!

[wiltedorange.livejournal.com]

First ones look like Mirabilis jalapa. From Peru I think normally perennial, but annual in parts of North America.

Second one - looks like day lily to me, nice yellow, but there are some really nice yellow ones with pinky splotches, which I've seen!

And the last one - lovely, lovely picture! Weeds can be beautiful too after all whether you call a weed a weed or a flower depends how much you like them. I was fortunate enough to find a species of clover that had a black center - grown in a small pot so it cascaded down the sides, it was booteeful and (most important to a competitive gardener (although I try to hide it) fairly unique.

Anyway, great photo whether you consider it a weed or not. I very much like the juxtaposition of the colours (brilliant yellow against the diffuse yellow) and also the sharp detail of the spikes against the unfocussed yellow flowers.

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much! .... You see what I see in the photo. I had the thistle photo blown up to a 10x10 and framed it. I was lucky with the detail and the abstract wash of color in the background. I appreciate the information. I had another type of lily growing in the backyard which was also very unusual .... white with strips of pale pink and light yellow.

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

Thanks to all the guys who remembered "Four O'Clock"... my parents frequently had them in the garden, but I couldn't recall the name. You seem to have a variegated type, though they often come in bright solid colors.
Day lilies do come in a a huge range of colors (though they are not 'tiger lilies' which I believe are true lilies). True lilies are like easter lilies or 'stargazer lilies' (they're the elaborate rosey ones at the florist's). They usually have stiff straight stalks with individual pointed leaves attached in series going down the stalk. You can have true lilies as cut flowers in a vase, but 'day lilies' are almost impossible to bring indoors because they wilt too quickly.
About your flower preferences, all are wonderful, but I'm curious: why white roses (as opposed to other colors... I thought Texans might prefer, well you know...)? Hydrangeas are iconically blue, though few people might think of them at all ... you get points for originality. I also like yellow tulips, though cannot say why (I did include them in my design for Act II of Nutcracker).
And finally, yellow is such a wonderful, brilliant, happy color ... is that why it's your favorite ?

I always look forward to Sundays ...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I always look forward to Sundays because I hear from you here:) The elderly lady who lived here before me must have loved the 4 o'clocks. They are profuse and yes, some of them are a bright solid pink. They are all along the side of the driveway, along with statis (?). The tiny white filler in bouquets. Mom says they are impossible to grow, but yet here they are:) I'm not a big fan of lillies. I guess because I associate them with funerals, so I'm not sure I'll keep the plantings.

As to flower preferences ... I love all kinds of roses. White is a sentimental choice. They are pristine and elegant ... there's a purity to them in a cluster ... for my 27th birthday, I received 27 white roses at the theater from a boyfriend at the time ... I was doing Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. I was stunned by his generosity. And yes ... He's still a friend. I don't ever give up on people unless they give up on me.

I get my love for blue hydrangeas (and lilacs and rhododendrons) from my childhood in Pennsylvania and my time in Seattle. Before this decade I would have told you that blue was my favorite color, but more and more I say yellow and orange for exactly the reasons you've listed.

HUGS!

Re: I always look forward to Sundays ...

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

Statis (and I'm open to correction on this) is an odd but showy flower you see in floral arrangements. It's odd because the small flower clusters look, and feel, as if made of paper. The stems are odd too in that they have 'fins' going down their length. But the flower colors are showy, usually bright white or purple.
I've a hunch the 'tiny white filler' you're referring to might be 'baby's breath'... the stalks are extremely thin, so that the tiny white flowers seem to 'float' like aerial fairy twinkles, which gives them a magical ethereal effect.
When you explained the sentimental reason for white roses being a special favorite I just went "Awwwwww..." That is so beautiful! I'm warmed by the thought they you have that as a cherished memory - the Lord knows you deserve it.

Pardon that I'm being dim ... I didn't remember that you grew up in Pennsylvania - where? (I grew up in Lancaster). It's not surprising we share a love of rhododendrons, lilacs and hydrangeas.

My color preferences keep shifting - there are so many that I like, though it's often based on color relationships. I consider that your shift to yellow seems totally appropriate - you're such a warm and loving person.

HUGS!!

Re: I always look forward to Sundays ...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

That's it!!! Of course, silly me! Baby's Breath ... I have a lot of that growing wild.

I was born in Erie, Pennsyvania in a Catholic Hospital, though we're not Catholic. My Dad and Mom lived in a tiny community named Lake City, less than a mile from Lake Erie. I love it there, but as in so many rust belt cities, opportunities to make a living are few and far between. Before we loved to Texas, we lived in a Pennsylvania town of 500 near the New York state line. It was called Duke Center ... 9 miles over a mountain to Bradford, PA, 13 miles over another mountain to Olean, NY.

Maybe the switch to brighter favorite colors is the feeling that my life is drab without theater in it ... and I want technicolor!!!! HUGS!

Re: I always look forward to Sundays ...

[designerotter.livejournal.com]

I hadn't realized that I've fallen into a habit... I guess it's because during the week I'm often too busy to tune in on LJ.
Hopefully over the summer you might be hearing from me on other days as well - that's 'cuz chatting with you is always a treat :0)

Re: I always look forward to Sundays ...

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

I look forward to it!

[mrdreamjeans.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Brett! Hope you got through your busy week with humor intact. Seems like many of my LJ friends are headed your way or are in town for the square-dancing convention. Be on the lookout for bearfuz, placeintheheart, excessor, drscott and so many others by the weekend! HUGS!