I'm down for the count... at the mercy of a hellacious case of the flu. Part avian flu, part swine flu, with a little bit of black plague thrown in for good measure.
Well-deserved, I suppose, given my catty behavior with Wednesday's blog post.
Apparently, no bad deed goes unpunished.
In spite of the repercussions, 'twas an awfully fun week of blog commenting to and fro. And, as a simple thank you for joining in on the fun, I'd like to give you something!
Pictured here are 5 fabulous perennials who simply adore heat, drought, long winters and criminal neglect. Not to mention low nutrient alkaline clay soil... (Though I imagine they'd grow most anywhere, given half a chance.)
They are not huge mysteries, by any means...
However! If you can identify all 5 of these purple posies, I'd love to send you
free seeds so you can grow these bright beauties in your own garden. (The Swallowtail Butterflies are happy hangers on. They'll surely show up as soon as they spot the blossoms.)
This is simply a thank you for a super fun week of blog comments, back and forth.
And, the beginning of something I'd dearly love to do all year long. Let's call it Friday's Freebee.
So, have at it! Please leave me a comment, identify these flowers and I'll ship a packet of goodies to you in plenty of time for planting.
25 comments:
Well, I am not going to win any prizes with my comment- I confess to being fully flower foolish.
I love to look, love to sniff, and adore people who know them by their Latin names... but alas, I am not one of those.
So sorry to hear you are under the weather! That is totally wrong and evil. The flu should be punished by having to babysit eleven pre-schoolers-with-chicken-pox.
The purple flowers are just beautiful, and the butterfly, oh my!
Hi Kate, You are a sweetie! I'm not even going to try to identify them, as I don't have that much sunshine! But that's okay. Beautiful flowers and beautiful photos! :-)
Well, I think the top one is lavender. I will just say that the rest are violet lovelies! I wouldn't have a use for the seeds anyway. Hardy though they may be, they probably wouldn't be able to make it in my 'yard' of stones!
Hope you feel better soon!
I know four of the five. I'm kicking myself because the one I really fancy (photo 4) is the one I don't know but know I should. Also, I can assure you that the other 4 do well in clay soil as well. :)
P.S. I believe the saying is actually "No GOOD deed goes unpunished." (At least that's what it was in the whacky messed up corporate world, as it was so true!)
Hi, Titanium;
I didn't think through this contest very well - I guess I should keep quiet about the true identities until next Thursday. However! I've got some perfectly purple seeds for your siberian garden. If you like to play in the mud, plz let me know. And, thanks for sending good wishes my way. :))
Ah, thx, Shady;
One reason I lurk on your blog all the time is the fact that you have shade! Mature trees! And, loads of pretty shady perennials, too. I don't even bother looking at the 'shade' sections of the garden catalogs as I know the poor things would surely die... :D
Hi, Jan;
If you and Iron ever make it back to SLC, we should take you out to the west desert. To a place we call Wonder Rock. So named because it's a wonder we haven't been arrested for snitching so many purple! stones from there. They'd be perfect in your "garden."
Good catch, Monica :D
That saying came true quite frequently when I was a corporate, drone, too.
Clay soil is such a fact of life out here that I didn't think to mention it.
PS: #4 might be delighted to live in Chi-town though it would rapidly turn into the incredible hulk.
I have phlox, one of your purple flowers, and sage (or variation, thereof), another on your list. I have the third flower featured in your five as well, but I don't know what it is called. I'd love seeds, though, if you have some left over. I can send you lovely purple bean climbers in exchange...or bright red poppies.
Well, here are my guesses, and I do hope you will feel better soon.
First pic: Salvia
Second: Phlox
Third: poppies
Forth: primroses
Fifth: Stock
Hi, Betty;
If I have seeds to spare, I'll most definitely send you some goodies. Sandy's been scouring the 'hood for bright red poppies and she'd be thrilled to hear we've found some.
Good guesses, Flowercents. Mum's the word as to whether they're correct... until Thursday, that is. :)))
Beautiful post..all so super lovely! Love the swallowtail butterfly....magnificent!! Have a nice wkd!
Kiki~
Sorry to hear you've been so sick! That's no fun! Hope you're back to 100% SOON!
I have the third one in my garden and it's fabulous! Goes crazy, I cut it back, and it goes crazy again. No wonder it got perennial of the year awhile back! Oh...was that a hint?
The one I want is the one after that. I don't know what it is, but it's just amazing. If you could just DM on Twitter as to what it is, I can look for seeds or plants to buy. I promise I won't tell!
Hi Kate, sorry to hear you had the flu! I'll take my guess at the plants:
1. looks like a salvia (sage) of some kind.
2.The flower has 4 petals, so it looks like something from the brassica family. Maybe Aubrieta (rock cress) or Arabis
3. Looks like one of the cranesbil geraniums
4. Looks like Phlomis (kasmir sage?)
5. again a brassica family: mathiola incana (stocks) or if it was really tall a dames rocket (do you grow dames rockets, hesperis matronalis, they are so fragrant, and grow tall. They grow wild all around town).
That's my guesses. It is hard to tell without touching, smelling, etc. Fun post!!!
Part Black Death? That sounds bad. I hope you feel better soon!
Here's my guesses:
1) salvia
2) Dame's Rocket
3) Geranium
4) Phlomis
5) the last one looks like Dame's Rocket to me too, so I know one of these must be wrong. lol
I'm sorry about the hellacious flu, Kate, and hope you're mending quickly. Your purples are perfectly passionate!
Thanks for the well wishes, everyone and - as always! - I'm grateful for the blogosphere so I can visit dear friends and not infect any of my favorite gardeners.
Kylee - I'd love to send you seeds of your favorite mystery flower. I'll tweet you to discuss. :))
Gloria - You definitely need these goodies! I believe your garden soil is very similar to mine.
Sorry to hear you're under the weather, Kate--I sure hope you didn't have a hex put on you from Wednesday.
No prize here--the first photo I definitely recognize, as I have some bee-magnet nepeta in my garden,too. The second I'm guessing is a verbena of some type and the last one a phlox--all without looking at any of the comments, pinky-swear:) But the third and fourth I'm not sure of.
Put your feet up and get some rest; I hope you are feeling better soon.
Kate I've grown all of these, except number 4, in my various gardens. The photos are reminding me of hot summer days full of buzzing bees and gliding butterflies. I hope you are feeling better very soon.
Hi! Just found you from twitter!
Are you in Colorado? I'm in northern Wy at 4000', zone 4.
My garden blog is: http://mysquarefootgardenadventure.blogspot.com
Kate, Lovely purple blossoms . . . I hope you are feeling better!! ;>) Carol
Wow ... Kate girl I haven't read backwards for a while .. makes me dizzy ? haha
I'm so sorry you have been sick with that horrible bug .. but I'm glad you are feeling better ! (I have strict orders NEVER to let my bugs ? get the best of me and stay on the bathroom floor (it is a comforting floor) like I did .. the floor did its best but it wasn't good enough ? LOL
Those are gorgeous plants and what a shot of the butterfly : )
Have fun with the ID game girl !
Joy
Salvia,Dames Rock, Geraniums, Phlox and I do not know one of them but it is gorgeous. Reminds me of stock maybe. Oh, well what gorgeous shades of lavender. Hope you are better now girl. Cannot have one of my bloggers sick.
Lona
What a great resource!
Just read your comment back to me. I'm actually in Ann Arbor, MI, not Chi, though I do go to Chi kind of a lot for someone who lives in Ann Arbor and I like/hang out with a lot of Chi bloggers. Maybe I'm a Chi wannabe!! (Just can't afford it!)
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