Thursday 10 June 2021

Infomaniac Garden Photos Event 2021 Announcement


The House of
I N F O M A N I A C
Garden Photos Event 2021

is being held here again rather than at The Very Mistress's - or anyone else's (because no one volunteered) - remember?

~O~

 I hope you've all made a start with the preparations to your extensive grounds/modest plots/back yards/window boxes/house plants/trays of cress, and have been taking photos - and will continue to do so - ready for the event of the year in November?
 I certainly have, along with Jon and The Madam Arcati.  Even Ms Scarlet has got her derrière into gear with a showing of her Big Pink Bush™.

 Anyway, here are a few little snippets from Hexenhäusli Device's gardens this afternoon.

 On the right is the lovely, dandelion-like flower of hawkweed (last seen at Castle Device, here), and below, my Gin Time corner (well, if Madam A can have a Wine Time corner, surely I can have an equivalent?), complete with G&T, of course.  I sat here earlier listening to the birds and the ever present hum of the bees and flies in the trees above (of which there is also a photo - taken from my vantage point).





 I love these darling little violas!  The ones above are in my Gin Time garden, while the vibrant purple & yellow ones below are on the paysho.  And below them are my prized Eucomis "Sparkling Burgandy" (with some Agapanthus that I divided far too late, so they probably won't flower this year - they didn't last year, either).  And below them are a couple of Gossypium nigra - cotton plants (from the Delargo Seeds Collection) - sheltering from the blazing sun under the table (they're already a bit scorched).



 And finally, just like with last year's Terrifying Triffidery, this year I'd like you to winkle out your most toxic specimens for a Parade of Poisonous Plants before the main event.  Here are a couple of mine: Ricinus communis (castor oil plant) and the young shoots of Gloriosa Superba flame lily).


  Now, go off and getting snapping!

33 comments:

  1. Our Ricinus are pitiful, sick little specimens in comparison - as are so many of our seedlings. We have no greenhouse, so they all had to cluster at the kitchen window, and it has just been too cold and miserable (till very recently) for any of the ones we put outside to actually get a move on - apart from the practically indestructible Cobaea and, surprisingly given their tender reputation, the Thunbergia. I think this weekend I/we will just basically replant all of the remaining trays into larger pots and bung them out there to fend for themselves...

    You can tell how cold it has been in the fact that the violas are still looking fab (as they are here, too). By now, they've usually wilted under a grey blanket of mildew - of which ours are only just showing signs.

    Your garden, and your "G&T corner" are looking fab, by the way! Jx

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Thank you, Jon. My G&T corner is where I escape to when it gets too hot/busy/people.

      The Ricinus and Gossypiums surprised me with their reasonably vigorous growth (both Gossypiums and one Ricinus had been in my bathroom until the end of May, the other was in the red greenhouse), as did the Cobea (I've just noticed that one in a pot going up the trellis behind the Gossyiums - must have forgot it was there...). However, my Thunbergia and Ipomoeas are both pathetic, and I have a good mind to throw them on the compost heap. They've got one more week to get going and then that's it!

      Delete
  2. Okay, dear... I can't compete with any of... THIS. Between you and Maddie, I forfeit. Do you really want pics of my crappy marigolds surrounded by weeds? Just trying to get The Boyfriend to water everything each night is a daily nag fest I am tired of conducting. So... I might share some pics in November, just so you all have something to point and laugh at. Kizzes. Yours? To die for, dear. You have a green thumb. (you should 'warsh' it once in awhile!).

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    1. Ah, you have reminded me: The Garden Photos Event is NOT a contest! It's just somewhere that you can show what your green fingers/thumbs have brought forth - whether that be something akin to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, or a slightly more modest sprouting avocado pit.
      There'll be no judging or comparing, so show us your marigolds. And your weeds!

      P.S. My green thumb is permanently stained - no amount of washing will get rid of it now!

      Delete
  3. We had frost at the END OF MAY. Following that, there was construction in the neighbourhood that prevented planting. I've only just sowed my seeds yesterday!

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    1. Glad to learn that you finally inseminated. Better late than never.

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    2. Too true, Mago!

      I hope your seeds sprout quickly, Very Mistress. I trust there'll be some sunflowers?

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  4. What prolific growth. Have you been selling your soul to somebody?
    I have some onions and bananas that would have to do for my garden, and I don't want to be made fun of so won't submit them. Also I am the most poisonous thing hereabouts (which is genuinely surprising with the number of poisonous queens round here) but have no intention of being judged.
    I know I would win if I entered.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Onions and bananas are not outside the realm of possibility. Previous years have seen a potato (unsprouted) and a can of cranberry jelly...

      And remember, as I mentioned to uptonking earlier, the Garden Photos Event is NOT a contest. There'll be no judging here.

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    2. P.S. I should have known that Houndwort was poisonous...

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  5. You know I'm up for the task! I've been taking many pictures so I can parse them down to the best, of five? I'm looking forward to everyone's pictures!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only five? Don't limit yourself - I had 21 photos last year (and one of those was four stuck together). Anyone who submits more than three or four photos is likely to get their own GPE post, so snap away!

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  6. Can I just send you a picture of my BIRD of Paradise?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "A picture"? I didn't think it'd all fit in one shot?

      Delete
  7. I took another picture of a flowered plant type thing this morning! I'm at least getting the hang of taking pictures before the flowers die.
    I like the idea of a gin corner.
    Sx

    ReplyDelete
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    1. Scarlet, I love you and I's knowledge of the plants names. Plant type thing, a plant thingy, some viney looking plant, I know most flowers, but have no idea when it comes to shrubs bushes etc. Well except your Pink Bush.

      Delete
    2. At this rate, Ms Scarlet, you may have anough photos for a post of your own (instead of having to share with Savvy and CyberPoof again)!
      I'm expecting them all to be labelled with their proper Lati- um, I mean Devonesque names, too.

      Delete
  8. The birds have taken advantage of my Lofos, pecked them all to bits, I have two sorry looking specimens left. I could weep.

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    1. Oh, no! I didn't know birds liked them? They never seem to touch mine (which I've always thought of as Asarinas, but having googled "Lofos", now discover that they're actually Lophospermums).
      Hopefully yours will pull through and put on a spectacular show a little later in the summer?

      Delete
  9. Greenery. Again.

    Why not keep it conservative ?
    Ach, my last plant died, I'll go with the crate of cresse. Or maybe some nice "breeze blocks" / "Formsteine".

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    1. "Pave Paradise"?? This isn't Mogs Mill (with it's 42 acres of black paving) you know!

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  10. Pictures? I have pictures. Whaddya want? Single blossoms? Artful arrangements? Poignant vistas? Color color color? I have it ALL. I hereby challenge all you IDV followers, fans, lovers and friends to lay it DOWN. I will be loud and proud so whip it out there and let's make this years INFOMANIAC/IDV Garden Photo Event something that blows everybody elses' sad shit out of the water!
    ...why yes, I have been drinking. Why do you ask?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I want it ALL, Ms Nations. ALL!!! You have some making up to do now that you have a camera phone.

      P.S. Drinking you say? Let's retire to the G&T corner for more!

      Delete
  11. Oh! I am going to be SOOOOO at the tail end this year! But yesterday I noticed a flower bud on my big Phaius!
    And today's first task will be to cut back Monty Don's darling (Tithonia) which is drooping over the driveway.And then I'll have to clear the muddy mess off the back deck. God! I wish I had a G & T corner!

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I misread Dinah's "big Phaius" as "big Phallus."

      Delete
    2. A nice, big phallus for the GPE - Dinah's really getting into the swing of things!

      P.S. Dinah, instead of a corner, why not declare the whole garden a G&T zone?

      Delete
  12. Gosh you put ours to shame.
    Ricinus is so poisonous I think ours has poisoned itself !

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    1. Oh dear... Choking on its own fumes, so to say?

      I need to get mine in the ground, but I've nowhere to put them in the garden, and I'm hesitant to plant them up the allotment (where half of the Cobaea have ended up) in case I go up there one day and find it littered with rabbit and deer corpses.

      Delete

Tickle my fancy, why don't you?