I didn't plant any evening primrose here. I just failed to do any weeding for two years.
Oenothera biennis at its best. These must be seven feet tall. Perhaps with some selective weeding I could turn this into a perpetual primrose bed, with a few shorter plants in front to hide those scrawny legs.
I really didn't know how amazing these flowers are until a morning last week when I woke up at the crack of dawn, and couldn't get back to sleep. I was too cranky to do yard work, so I stumbled outside with my cup of placebo decaf to water my potted plants with liquid sulk.
First I noticed the smell. Evening primrose on a cool morning smell spectacular! I don't normally notice smells. There were all sorts of pollinators rolling around in the primrose blossoms, and now that I have experienced that beautiful smell, I think I can safely say that those bugs are downright drunk with the aroma.
A pair of goldfinches paid a visit, too. I thought they only ate the seeds, so I'm not sure what they were doing on an evening primrose this early in the season. Scouting, perhaps?
And then I saw something zip by.
Hot damn! Hummers!
I grabbed the camera and got cozy on the bench. Sure enough, they went about their business as I snapped away.
Stay tuned for Battle Hummingbird. . .
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3 comments:
Your accidental oenethera knew they belonged in your garden, and they made a place for themselves. They knew you'd love their scent and the hummer visitors. Great shot of the hummingbird in flight!
Thanks Laurrie-with-two-r's! :)
(Sorry about the long comment; I couldn't find an email address to use. Delete at will!)
First, thanks for the GardenRant link, and I see 2 links to PamelaJ - my very best friend! Now I'll get to business:
Hi from a fellow gardenblogger (at GardenRant and elsewhere). I’m writing on behalf of Mahoney’s Gardens to introduce our new communications to garden bloggers in the region. We have a blog! And it’s part of our brand-new website, too. Also, Facebook and Twitter! So I’ll take it one thing at a time.
Our goal with the new website and blog is to both entertain and educate our readers, and promote the fabulous community of gardening and greening that’s going on all around us (especially in Eastern Mass.). On the blog we’ll run stories about:
What to do in the garden NOW. Like this article about overseeing lawns: http://www.mahoneysgarden.com/blog/almost-time-overseed-or-patch-your-lawn And this one about why Mike Mahoney loves one particular grass seed so much: http://www.mahoneysgarden.com/blog/why-we-carry-jonathan-green-grass-seed
Tips and staff favorites from our in-house experts, plus “Meet the Staff” profiles of the Mahoney’s team
Great gardening and greening programs and events in the region
Favorite public gardens to visit (like Tower Hill)
Reviews of gardening books, magazines, websites, podcasts, TV shows and even movies
New research findings that’ll help readers
The latest ideas for gardening sustainably
Here’s what you won’t find on our blog: Advertising copy. Hard sell.
Meet our Blogging Team
Susan Harris - that’s me - as editor and national blogger. I co-founded the popular national team blog GardenRant and work as a gardening coach. I post twice a week.
Our local blogger Layanee DeMerchant posts at least weekly. She’s well known to New England gardeners as one of the Garden Guys on Boston radio.
Our team of Mahoney’s in-house contributors includes Mike Mahoney and Sara diPalermo (so far), and coming soon – our head grower and our garden supplies expert.
Monthly, we’ll feature Special Guest Bloggers - well known, respected writers and other authorities in gardening, horticulture, or design, most of them New England-based. Coming up soon? Karen Davis Cutler on Narcissi; Colleen Plimpton on her book Mentors in the Garden of Life (with book giveaway!); Jennifer Benner on plants for fall interest and giveaway of her book; Dominique Browning (recently the editor-in-chief of House and Garden Mag) on putting the garden to bed; Carol Stocker of the Globe on creating a tropical conservatory; and Tovah Martin on begonias (they’re HOT!, she tells us.)
How can we help? Tell us what topics you’d like us to cover. Are there any links you’d like to see added to our “blogroll” in the right sidebar? Any other New England gardening experts you’d like to hear from, and about what? Do you have a guest-post up your sleeve yourself? Tell us your idea!
How to follow us: To follow JUST the blog, you can subscribe by email or by RSS. (But you’re a blogger; you already know that.) And please, please leave comments with the URL to your blog so our readers can follow you, and conversations will get started. (Yep, you already we’d love comments – what blogger doesn’t?)
And DO join our Facebook page or Twitter, whichever you prefer. On both you’ll find links to new articles on our blog, new resources on the website, notice of new specials, and announcements of events of interest to our customers - at Mahoney’s and around the region.
That’s all for now. Hope to see you soon online! Susan
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