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Thread: Favorite flower/shrub?

  1. #31
    Senior Member Gardenarian's Avatar
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    Oh, I also love brugmansia. I had a beautiful, perfectly shaped smallish tree in San Fransisco that was covered in hundred of fragrant trumpets most of the year.
    Too cold for brugs in Oregon (though that may change in coming years.)

  2. #32
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    Zone 9 here... This time of the year I love the crepe myrtle trees, the city planted them as street trees about a dozen years ago, and many people have them in their yards as well. The profusion of blooms! Almost all of July and August they are 15 ft tall bouquets, so many colors, ranging from very light pink to dark red. I saw a new cultivar in the nursery- a "peppermint" varigated pink and white, of course.

    I also love gardenias, though I have not been able to keep one alive here.
    I remember my grandma struggling with the peonies, she could never get them to grow in Portland OR, and she wanted them so badly.
    Last edited by mschrisgo2; 7-21-18 at 9:33am. Reason: spelling!

  3. #33
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mschrisgo2 View Post
    Zone 9 here... This time of the year I love the crepe myrtle trees, the city planted them as street trees about a dozen years ago, and many people have them in their yards as well. The profusion of blooms! Almost all of July and August they are 15 ft tall bouquets, so many colors, ranging from very light pink to dark red. I saw a new cultivar in the nursery- a "peppermint" varigated pink and white, of course.

    I also love gardenias, though I have not been able to keep one alive here.
    I remember my grandma struggling with the peonies, she could never get them to grow in Portland OR, and she wanted them so badly.
    Crape myrtle! I love it, too.it is in full bloom here right now. We dont have trees, but we have shrubs, many that get quite tall. In my country place I have enough room to get a group of crape myrtles of several colors. I want one of the black leaved varieties that have pink flowers. I already have a purple one on that property. Here in the city we have a common dark pink and a common fushia. My neighbors have a delicious deep red. Our community garden has a lavender one that isnt doing well, so maybe I will rescue it.

    The peppermint one sounds interesting I will look that up.

    I dont know why your grandmother couldnt grow peonies in Portland, they should thrive there. The national Peony Society conference is in Des Moines next yesr, and I am thinking about going.
    Last edited by iris lilies; 7-21-18 at 11:04am.

  4. #34
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Yppej View Post
    Variety of colors, perennial, expands to fill in empty areas, likes the acidic soil in my area.
    I have been oberving the tall phlox un my garden reproducing. It has produced clumps of slightly different colors.

    While I have purchased the fancy colors a few times over the years, they die out. The standard medium purple colored one thrives, and reproduces itself to get lighter shades.

    Now that I think about it, I used to have a white tall phlox that has disappeared. I should invest in one of those again.

  5. #35
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    This thread is good for general discussion of flowering plants, so I will share my current interest (it changes weekly!)

    In Hermann I have 4 small beds defined with a limestone border. I have decided that these will be beds for annuals. I dont normally goof around with annuals, at least, I havent in the past dozen years. But
    I want to get back into a wider variety of flowering plants, so I thought that each year I would choose one species and get 4 color varieties of that species.

    so, I am in the process of finding 4 colors of Cleome from which to harvest seeds.In Hermann I made contact with a guy who has a pretty flower garden in front of his house, and he said
    I am welcome to seeds from his purple and pink Cleome. Yesterday I drove by St. Louis
    univerity and saw their large plantings of white Cleome, so that will be my source for white. Now, I just have to find a source for Rose colored Cleome. I am not opposed to buying seeds, but Rose is a pretty common Cleome so I should be able to find it for free.

    Many people dont like it because it is stinky, also it can be tall and gangly. But it produces hundreds of seeds and is easy to germinate and grow, and it gives color in a late summer garden.

  6. #36
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Gardenarian View Post
    Oh, I also love brugmansia. I had a beautiful, perfectly shaped smallish tree in San Fransisco that was covered in hundred of fragrant trumpets most of the year.
    Too cold for brugs in Oregon (though that may change in coming years.)
    brugmansia is so exotic! Here, in the neighborhood next to mine, one guy put out one in a pot each summer, on his prominent corner. I loved walking and driving by it. One time
    I met up with him at an event at the
    Missouri Botanical Garden where he, a strnager, mentioned his
    brugmansia and
    I asked him if it was On 8th street. It was!

    The world of people who love flowering plants is a small one here, haha.

  7. #37
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    Brugmansia... had to look it up, the blossoms look a lot like trumpet vine, that we have quite a bit of here in the more coastal areas, except the flowers turn up, and brugmansia, seems to hang down. Interesting.

  8. #38
    Senior Member iris lilies's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mschrisgo2 View Post
    Brugmansia... had to look it up, the blossoms look a lot like trumpet vine, that we have quite a bit of here in the more coastal areas, except the flowers turn up, and brugmansia, seems to hang down. Interesting.
    We call it Moonflower vine, if thats what you mean. But they arent even related, this and
    brugmansia:

    1911E19D-CC39-40B5-94C2-01C4C3F98094.jpg

  9. #39
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    Peonies and Azalea.......both breath taking. Hydrangea not far behind.

  10. #40
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    I live right across the river from Portland, and I have peonies. My only complaint is that they don't last long enough!

    I love me a mock orange. The fragrance, jasmine-like, just sends me.

    For an ornamental shrub, I think Magic Carpet spirea is beautiful because it changes from a gorgeous green-purple-pink to a purplish-golden rust in autumn.
    My therapist told me the way to achieve true inner peace is to finish what I start. So far today, I have finished two bags of M&Ms and a chocolate cake. I feel better already!

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