GPE 2024 : The Finale

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GPE #11 : Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue...

 

I D V

 

 No, I'm not getting married.

 

Fatsia japonica flowers from two weeks ago

 When I was trying to decide which of my plants to include in this year's Infomaniac Garden Photos Event, I knew I wanted to show some existing specimens that didn't make it into last year's event ("Something Old") along with my latest acquisitions ("Something New"), and the plants I'd rescued or been given by friends & family ("Something Borrowed").  I've tried not to feature anything that appeared in the previous two years - so no pineapple lilies (Eucomis comosa "Sparkling Burgundy"), no Fuchsia "Blacky", and no Green Gate (the latter two didn't do as well this year, anyway) - but you may spot them in the background of a few photos (and they've already been featured in the GPE reminders leading up to this year's Event).

 As for the "Something Blue" - I'm somewhat colourblind and they look pretty blue to me...

 

Something Old...

 

My potted Magnolia did very well this year, putting on loads of blooms.  Here's a particularly nice one from early April.

The Chocolate vine (Akebia quinata) did pretty well too, but I didn't take very many good photos of it - this one of the (relatively) large female and tiny male flowers (also from early April) was the best of the bunch.

GPE #10 : Savvy is the Idea Person/Supervisor

I will have lots of photos for IDV's Garden Competition* Exposition. It will always be a competition for me. (RIP LX) said dear

 

S A V V Y

 

The MITM is a very enthusiastic by default the gardener (because I'M the idea person/supervisor) and has been doing a splendid job! We'll have more pictures as our container garden grows! (OK, when  HE plants some more.)

 

IDV, I will be submitting all of these and more photos for this year's Gardening Contest**!! Be prepared!

 

However...

Due to emotional fallout from a most unfortunate event involving a lumpen, orange, loud-mouthed oaf, dear Savvy has not been in the right frame of mind to fully participate in this year's Infomaniac Garden Photos Event.  But, she did give me permission to use the photos she'd already posted on her own blog to construct this GPE post on her behalf.  Which was just as well, as I'd already bookmarked the relevant posts should Savvy have reverted to type and forgotten/ignored/got-lost-in-time/fallen-into-an-alternate-universe etc. and not been able to take part.

So, back to Savvy and the results of her ideas and supervision:

From the ROSE GARDEN here!!!

 

GPE #9 : Ms Nations' Bought Her Spider Plant A Mansion

This stop on the Infomaniac Garden Photos Event tour is a reblog of An Occult Apperatus (from Steve. Because 'Steve' is almost as nice a name as 'Paul' was.), as instructed by the blog author herself,

M S  N A T I O N S

 

I live in an apartment, and I don't have a yard. What we do have is a tiny little back patio, and what I've been doing is growing a few nasturtiums in pots out there every Summer. 

 

This is where we hang out and talk shit.

 

 

I never get tired of nasturtiums. You just cannot beat this intricate flower form - and the hummingbirds adore them!

GPE #8 : Maddie, the Mistress Borghese's successful gardening year

M A D D I E

The Mistress was very pleased as to another fairly successful gardening year.  Considering I still don't have much nous when it comes to gardening and when and where to plant things. 

 

GPE #7 : Mitzi can't live anywhere with 'bog' in its name

Dear Mr Device.  

Please forgive my tardiness in sending you my garden photographs, I've been driving down to the south coast every touch and turn looking at properties, hence my blogging absence.  The last house I viewed was in Bognor Regis...  BOGNOR!  It was a nice house but I can't live anywhere with 'bog' in it's name.  I'm away for 3 weeks so I might not be able to thank people for their gracious comments.

Hope all is well,

 

M I T Z I

 

Birds eye view from the car camera.  Look how clean my drive is compared with theirs next door.

[Can Mitzi's car fly?? - IDV]

 

 

The other side of the fence lives a Chinese lady.  She likes to peer through the knots in the wood at us, reminiscent of that horror film The Ring.

GPE #6 : UptonKing Keeps It Up

Had quite a bit of help with these.  The house faces my mother's house, so...  Yes.  Ugh.  Have to keep it up (hee hee). 

 

U P T O N K I N G   2

- The ReTURN -

 

 Roses in the backyard...

GPE #5 : Dividing Uptonking

U P T O N K I N G

 

I've been dividing my time between the north house and south.  The north house, I have a good deal of help keeping it up and the soil is good.  The south house is just a frightful mess; poor soil, and I'm on my own.

 

South house first... 

Bush...  Is in the front.  I took that pic in April.  It blooms for 2 days and then nothing.  The leaves turn from black to green to red to black.  Oddest thing.  I feel sorry for it, as it is under a giant pine tree and another smaller tree and crunched up against the deck now.

[This looks like a slightly less glam version of Ms Scarlet's Big Pink Bush™ - IDV]

 

The front is a bunch of garbage lilies which keep sliding down the hill in the front.  This year, milkweed sprung up and as I'm all for helping butterflies and the like, I decided to keep them.  The backyard too...

GPE #4 : Ms Scarlet's Opportunity to Show It Off

M S   S C A R L E T

I don't have much to offer up this year - this year being one of the most miserable ever, BUT, my big pink bush was glorious and I don't want to miss any opportunity to show it off. 

[Ms Scarlet's infamous Big Pink Bush™ in situ - IDV]

GPE #3 : Melanie's Native Beauties

I'm afraid I've been tearing up the pavement between my home in Woodinville, WA and my parents' homes in the Spokane, WA area. If I win any award it should be for my knack for avoiding the worst of all the road construction this year! I suppose the hours of saved time was reward enough. I can't remember the last time they did such an extensive year of road construction, not since the 1980's at least!

 

So, since my garden this year was rather sad, and indeed, some of the beauties that graced the Garden D'Lite in the past are sadly no more, lets just give you a gander of what the other end of this big ass state has to offer. If you were to drive from the ocean to the very edge of the Washington State line bordering Idaho it would take you 6hr 19min with no traffic delays at the freeway speed limit of 70mph (112.65Kmh). Like most Washingtonians I go 5-10mph above that.

 

 Without further ado..... 

 

the visited greenery of

P R O X I M A B L U E

 

Dad's house overlooks a small valley surrounded by wheat and sunflower fields. Unfortunately, the sunflower fields were past their prime.

 

The view of the hill behind me, a well-maintained Ponderosa Pine forest. Forest fires are the biggest threat to living here.

 

 

Three Native Beauties - 

GPE #2 : Jon's & Madam Arcati's Glorious Spells

Despite the fact that it has been a pretty mild (and on occasions glorious) spell of weather lately, the Spring and summer of 2024 in London were mainly pretty grotty. As I recall, we had a couple of days of sun in June, and in late July/early August we had a proper blast of heat, but then it once again went to shit until October.

 

Regardless, the extensive gardens here at 

 

D O L O R E S

D E L A R G O

 T O W E R S

 

                                                                               still managed to provide us with some stunners – the ferns [every one of which has self-seeded, so we have dozens of new plants], lilies, clematis, begonias, hemerocallis. thalictrums, daffs, tulips, brodiaea, taro, aquilegia, lobelias, pelargoniums, hesperis, verbena, agastache, tradescantia, brunnera, veronica, geraniums and roses all did us proud (and of course the salvias, impatiens and fuchsias, which continue to do so); but the phloxes (all varieties), hydrangea, campanula, dianthus and dahlias all struggled compared to previous years. It was probably just too gloomy for them – what with the preponderance of grey days, and the encroaching canopy of bastard weed trees that blocks more and more light off our garden every year.

 

So, on with the show… In a melodrama akin to “Sophie’s Choice”, I have slimmed down the myriad photos we’ve accumulated since the beginning of the year to one “Star of the Month” each month to date. And here they are:

 

Jan 2024 – Ipheion uniflorum

 

 

Feb 2024 – Primula

GPE #1 : Dinah's Sex in the Front Yard

How many can you handle? asked

 

D I N A H M O W

 

I'll start with some of the Quisqualis which is an absolute cracker this year!

 

 

Will look for more!

The Infomaniac Garden Photos Event 2024

 

Yes, the Infomaniac Garden Photos event is finally upon us - Welcome to the show everyone!

 As I type this, there are photos from nine Bloggerati (including mine) waiting in the wings to be published throughout November.  However, I am fully expecting at least one tardy entry - even if I have to scrape their blog for the photos myselves!

 Oh, and due to an unavoidable scheduling clash, there won't be a showing from the Infomaniac duck this year - The Very Mistress sends her apologies.  Instead, may I present the Hexenhäusli Device dove and jackdaw:

 Beaky is livid that he didn't get a starring role, but it's his own fault for being such a demanding little diva!

☙❧

 Now, on to the winners (i.e. the triffids that managed to devour whole persons or limbs) and losers (those that only inflicted minor lacerations or stings) of Terrifying Triffidery.  Just in case anyone hasn't yet seen the previous Terrifying Triffidery post and wants to guess who sent in what, I've redacted the names in the captions below but they can be revealed by selecting/highlighting the blank part.