Friday, July 9, 2010

Garden Goods: Double-Decker Coneflowers and Green Envy Coneflowers

Hello friends in blogland...it's good to be back. I have been 'out of the loop' most of this week because the Ethernet PCI adapter card on my computer decided to go bad; which in non-computer speak means that I was not able to connect to the internet until we replaced the card. We have a wireless system here at Le Beau Paon (yes, very ironically modern, when you think about it!), and my husband and I both have separate computers, including a laptop we usually keep downstairs, but all my photos and bloggy stuff is on my computer and it was really more hassle than it was worth to try and transfer things over.

I'm due for a new computer, but we haven't budgeted that in yet....so we replaced the card and now I'm good to go!!!

I had taken some updated photos of my flowers the other day. My double-decker purple coneflowers are getting their "top deck" now. I've heard that they will not grow a 'top deck' the first year, so if you have newly planted double-deckers, they will not grow a second deck until their second bloom year!

I also have tons of blooms on my 'Green Envy' coneflower plants.
When the petals on these first start to unfurl, they are mostly green and then (like the one in the foreground) the petals eventually have a pinkish/burgundy coloring towards the center of th petal, with green tips. The Green Envy coneflower was a new cultivar that came out last year, I believe. I had to order some right away!

I was hoping some new coneflowers I planted this spring would get blooms this year, but they are so young yet, I may not have any blooms until end of August. The new ones are called  Big Sky"Twilight" ( and no, they are not named for the Twilight book series); they are part of a new group of coneflower cultivars called the Big Sky Series; the names of which are Sunrise, Sundown, Twilight, Harvest Moon, After Midnight, and Summer Sky.

Here is an image of the Big Sky Twilight coneflowers that I found online, so you can get an idea of what they look like:
I have an obsession for coneflowers; they are one of my favorite garden flowers.

I have two kinds of white coneflowers; these are called 'Polar White'; they have a green cone in the center. My other white ones are called "Swan" and they have a yellow center cone.
In this picture you can see one of the white "Swan" coneflowers at the the left. I also really like Gaillardia; also pictured here are my Gaillardia "Burgundy".


I love the combination of the "Burgundy" Gaillardia, with the "Oranges and Lemons" Gaillardia and the blue/purple Campanula in front.
This is Campanula "Blue Clips", which is also commonly known as bellflower.

Thanks for stopping by!

6 comments:

  1. Katie,
    I just love your cone flowers!! What a pretty garden!!

    Debbie

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  2. Hi Katie, All your flowers are sooo pretty! You have a great collection of unusual coneflowers love that white swan, and green envy... the double decker is so cool!!
    Bella

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  3. Katie-

    What a beautiful collection of unique coneflowers you have! I didn't know such a wide variety existed! The thing I like about coneflowers is that I can let them stand there all winter so the finches can sit on them and eat the seeds!

    -Pam

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  4. Those Green Envy coneflowers are gorgeous. I normally buy from my local nursery, but they never have anything other than the normal coneflower varieties. I'll have to start ordering online to get the good ones.

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  5. Great cornflowers! Thanks for joining the Garden Blog Hop - should be fun!

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  6. Hello,
    I found your blog via Dusty Bay's blog hop party.
    I LOVE all your coneflowers... they're beautiful!! Your garden is lovely!
    Have a wonderful day!
    ~ Jo :)

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Thanks for visiting and I always appreciate comments, even if I'm not always able to respond to every one of them! You can also email me with questions or comments at: twoevilcats@yahoo.com