Monday, April 6, 2009

Cottage Craziness

Here are some of my "cottage" flowers. This first picture is a bloom on my lone stokesia ("Stokes Aster.") This is a nice perrenial that grows well in the South. It's said to be a butterfly attractor. It's also evergreen for me. It only gets about a foot tall and comes in all shades of blue/purple/pink. It's a very nice looking plant that I may plant more of in the future. This lone plant came from the fall plant sale at the LSU Arboretum.

Next up comes my larkspur. I think this is the "Rocket" variety, but I'm not positive about the name. I'm a big fan of larkspurs - they are very easy and put on a spectacular show. The hummingbirds down here like them and visit frequently. They get about 5' tall, so don't put them at the front of the flower bed. You can also see some sweetpea blooms, toadflax, and poppies in this picture.


Here's littly Ali watering away on my larkspurs, California poppies, and dianthus. I think orange and purple flowers look nice together. This is my first year of planting California poppies, but it will certainly not be the last. They are definite winners for cool season planting in the South. I just have oranges and yellows, but might try some different types next year. Mine are about 18" tall and very showy.




5 comments:

Jean Campbell said...

You can parlay that one stokesia plant into many more. They like to be divided. In fact, if you don't divide it after the second year, it will go into a decline. The seeds are viable, too, but not a thuggish problem.

Davy Barr said...

Thanks for the info. Nothing I like better than free plants. I have full intentions of propagating more of these for myself and other people who may want it.

Sweet sweet sad rose said...

You have a beautiful garden. I like the combination of purple and orange flowers, will remember this look to make it in my garden too. cute photos.

Sad rose said...

I forgot to ask you a question, are butterflies harmful to the roses? I ask this because they are related to the caterpillars and I hate them because they eat my roses and other plants :(

Davy Barr said...

I can say for a fact that butterflies are not harmful to roses. No butterfly that I know of uses roses as a host plant for laying eggs. I've never seen caterpillars on my roses.