Vertical Gardening: Gardens at Ball

I had the opportunity to visit the gardens at Ball Horticultural during the Open Days program this past summer.  They had a nice vertical wall garden on their terrace.  Here are the pictures.

More blooming plants

Penstemon 'Husker Red'

Calamagrostis x acutiflora 'Overdam'

Penstemon 'Husker Red'

What's Blooming in Chicago on May 21

Viburnum x rhytidophyllloides

Trollius europaeus 'Superbus'

Trollius europaeus 'Superbus'

I have been posting individual pictures of blooming plants.  I've posted the pictures of the plants because I like the plants (color, shape, etc.) and have posted the pictures on the days that the plants were blooming with the thought that the blog could serve as a reference if you were looking for a plant with a particular bloom time for your garden. Blooming on May 21 are Trollius europaeus 'Superbus' and Viburnum x rhytidophylloides.

Euphorbia and Parrot Tulips

 

My tulips finally have bloomed.  It has been a cold and rainy spring.  I like this combination of Euphorbia polychroma and parrot tulips (Apricot Parrot). 

Anemone coronaria 'Admiral'

Iris reticulata 'Harmony'

Other Plant and Landscape Things I Liked in Florida

Nice title for this update.  I am always interested in finding pretty containers designs.  These were outside of a bed and breakfast in St. Augustine.  Red geraniums and white scaevola.  The urn was painted green, and I think, looked like it was permanently attached to the base (maybe to prevent theft?).  I wonder about the drainage.

Florida and the Cummer Art Museum and Garden

I had the opportunity to visit the Jacksonville area over spring break.  Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate and we had rain all week.  I did get to visit the Cummer Museum and Gardens.  The garden is a small garden at the back of the museum.  The garden was designed for the Cummer family as the family's residence was situated on the now museum site.  It is a quaint, small garden divided into three sections.  I read about the garden in a few guidebooks and my sense of why it is written about as notable is due to more of the fact that it was innovative at the time it was built.  I didn't view it currently as a remarkable garden.  There are some nice features, such as a wonderful live oak, and at the time I was there the delphinium and azaleas in bloom, but having seen it, I wouldn't recommend it as a site to go out of your way to visit.  The most remarkable feature of the garden, from my perspective, was this brick bench.  I loved the brickwork design of the bench and how the base was constructed with stepped-back courses of brick. 

Crocuses Are Up

Crocus varieites are difficult for me to tell apart.  I did plant a number of Crocus tommasinianus, but I'm not sure what type these are.  The yellow crocus are 'Cream Beauty'.  The purple ones I am not so sure about.  Minor bulbs are up earlier this year than last.  Also, I just edged my beds. I looked back on last year's picture with the minor bulbs and the edging does make the bed appear neater.

Snowdrops 2011

Today is March 4th (an appropriate name for a day when the snowdrops are first up). 

Starting Seeds 2011

I usually start my seeds indoors under growlights in January.  I thought this year that I would start my seeds earlier -- November, December timeframe.  Here's the progress shots with two plants:  Echinops ritro (Jelitto) and Valeriana officinalis (Jelitto). 

          Echinops

Valeriana