There were certainly more things that were new to me than what I'm sharing, but these are ones that really caught my eye.
I guess I knew that hydrangeas could have sort of a bi-color pattern, but I'd never seen one like this. The color of the blossoms is actually determined by the pH of the soil chemisty, not some genetic pigment coding in the plant. And it's not even that simple, they've also determined that the key factor is that acidic soil allows the plant to take up Aluminum ions and that makes the flowers blue. This is regular Hydrangea macrophylla, but look at the blue and white coloring. Very interesting! Also, the showy parts of a hydrangea are not petals but the sepals. All that to say... this one is beautiful. It took a blue ribbon.
Fairly recently, the panicled Hydrangea, Hydrangea paniculata (duh) has become popular. These have a cone-shaped tower of blossoms rather than the snowball shape. They are interesting. For some reason, all the white hydrangeas were judged together, both the snowballs and the cones. This doesn't seem to be a particular variety, and maybe what I like about it only means it's not fully opened, but it did take the blue ribbon, so there is something about it... Anyway, what I like is that the outer flowers are open, but the inner ones are just buds. It makes the whole thing look somewhat lacy. It was hard to get a good picture with the window behind it. If I faced the other direction, it was all more white hydrangeas behind it making it really difficult to see.
This one completely stumped me. Can you believe it's an ornamental oregano? Oreganum 'Kent Beauty.' I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. Most of the pictures I found on line are more pink, so this one may be quite unique.
And here's an unusual Rudbeckia. This is a variety called 'Green Eyes.' It's a variety of the "ordinary" R. hirta, Black-eyed Susan. I love the two-tone petals, and the green center too.
This was another one that had me scratching my head. If you'd asked me what it was, I would have said one of the all-white varieties of Feverfew. Nope. It's a yarrow. Achillea ptarmica 'The Pearl.' And I seredipitously got a leaf in the picture. The long, narrow serrated leaf identifies the yarrow. Feverfew has a more fern-y leaf.
Did you guess I would end with a succulent again? Only part of this is new to me. This is a really popular plant at the Philadelphia Flower Show, Euphorbia lactea 'White Ghost.' Most of the ones at that flower show are crested ones (which actually have something wrong that makes them form the "crest"). But there was both a crested and a straight tree-like Euphorbia lactea in this post.
Here's the whole plant at this show. It wasn't really that yellow, but I couldn't seem to fix the color. It's really an off-white.
But the thing that is new to me is that the tips of the upper branches are turning red. I think that means it's getting ready to bloom. This plant has obviously been well cared-for for quite a few years. It's awesome!
In other news: I didn't have as much time to work on my projects today because it took all afternoon to spring Josh from the hospital and get his medications. Of all the crazy things, his usual drugstore was out. They had to transfer the prescription to another store, which took forever, and then they only had enough to get him started for the next couple of weeks. Crazy! But he's now got a phone number to call if he has trouble getting this medication in the future. That's what caused this whole episode. He was unable to get a refill, and when he stopped taking it, bad things happened. One of the clots went to a lung. Could have been quite serious. Thanks for the many prayers.
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3 comments:
That hydrangea is beautiful. My bush has zero buds on it this year. That ornamental oregano is fascinating. I've never seen anything like it.
Lulu: "Ornamental oregano? We had no idea that was even a thing!"
Charlee: "We're glad to hear Josh has been sprung and has a new way to get his medication! That's an important thing!"
Chaplin: "Yes, when they were supposed to let our Dada out of the hospital some years ago, our Mama called around first to find the medicine he was going to need, and literally no one had it, so he had to stay in the hospital for an extra day while they got hold of some of it!"
Ann- huh- I've never owned a hydrangea, so don't know much about keeping them happy
Lulu, Charlee, Chaplin- I am sure glad your Dada got his medicine. And that's how I felt about that oregano too!
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