Open Wide

[razorjak]

Open Wide
Originally uploaded by RazorJAK.

A few more pics of my yard this summer. I think this one is the best of the bunch.

I am so clueless as to flowers. I've no idea what this is or half of what is blooming now. Any help when viewing the set would be great.

Comments

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

that's a tulip. it grows from a bulb (well, technically i think it's a corm, but just call it a bulb) a few inches under the ground. some varieties will keep going for years and years, others get smaller and smaller flowers with age.

backyard at property line: yes, it's a bearded iris. they grow from rhizomes just under the soil, and like sunny well drained conditions. they occasionally (every few years) need to be dug up while dormant and divided to get the best flowers from them. i wouldn't bother though, doing nothing won't kill em.

front yard flowr that bloomed Sunday: yep another bearded iris.

side of the house. The bloom is so full that the stem can't support it: peony. dislike being dug up and moved. putting supports around it early in the year before the growth comes up will help to support the blooms and keep them off the ground.

wildflower in the backyard: not sure. maybe sweet rocket?

i can't tell what your flowering shrub/tree is either. :)

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

I thought they were tulips. But I'd never seen them open up so wide before.

I've a few colour varieties of those around the house. They all bloomed at different times. Reds like the one you saw, whites and yellows.

The peonies are all over in different sections of the yard. Again, different colours from white pink and red.

Thanks for the help. I'm relatively clueless as to flowers if they're not edible. :-)

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

tulips: yeah, a lot of gardeners cut them down as soon as they start to open wide. and some varieties never do, and some varieties open wide straight away. i like 'em when they're just about to finish and they're like bowls. :) those are lovely ones. i've found that the ones with the black centre like that are the longest lived.

fwiw, a lot of the good garden catalogues have websites. you can often put in your details and get them to send you their paper catalogues. those can prove very instructive in terms of identifying plants, because they come out a few seasons ahead, and show a lot of plants that are likely to come out at the same time. and you might find you enjoy gardening...

[razorjak.livejournal.com]

As to the long-life of these plants, the youngest are at least ten years old. This was my great aunt's house and had been vacant for about five years before I took it over.

From what you see, are the peonies the only ones who don't like being moved?

[siani-hedgehog.livejournal.com]

the tulips may or may not... if you want to move them, wait until the leaves turn yellow and die down to lift them, then let the bulbs dry out and store them until autumn, and replant them in an area where they will not be surrounded by grass and weeds. when you dig them up you will likely find a big bulb with a lot of bulblets around it. you can replant the bulblets seperately and they will grow in time into bigger bulbs. most people just grow tulips as a sort of throwaway bulb, and bin them after a year. i can't bring myself to, so i end up with clumps with lots of little flowers...

the irises should also be moved while dormant - probably in autumn or late summer, after they die down: http://www.backyardgardener.com/article/juneiris.html

don't fuss too much about it if you do *need* to move any of them - almost anything will survive being dug up in a huge lump of soil and immediately replanted and watered. if the roots aren't damaged, and they don't get dry, they never know they've moved.

[kest]

the little purple ones look like wild radish to me.