This is an excellent bloomer in my somewhat shaded southern basement window.

Sometime in during the summer of 1995, I became intrigued with the idea of water gardening. The ponds I had seen looked so pretty, but I had a hard time believing they were as easy as people were telling me. I decided to start with a whiskey barrel and liner, since I could always use the barrel for tomatoes or something if the water garden didn't work out. I started out with a Paul Hariot water lily and a Sweet Galingale for vertical interest. Both the lily and the Galingale spent winters in 5 gallon buckets of water in the garage.

The next year I was given another water lily called Attraction. This one is a fast grower and quickly crowded out the smaller Paul Hariot. Both lilies bloomed well in the little whiskey barrel.

I needed some form of mosquito control in the barrels. It just so happened that I had LOTS and LOTS of guppies indoors in aquariums. Some of these went into the barrel where they bred and bred and grew and grew and then bred some more. When fall came and the temperatures started dropping, I brought some of them inside and gave the rest away.

Pond Statistics:

• Pump: A Mini-Jet set at about 100 GPH, with a sponge filter.
• Lots of guppies
• Whiskey Barrel with purchased hard liner
• pH - usually around 8.5

This little darner was positioned smack dab in the middle of the pond, sitting upon an old flower stalk of the water lily Sulphurea. You can see the lovely mottled leaves of Sulphurea in the background

The Gardens - Annuals, Perennials and Edibles

Welcome to my Colorado garden near the base of the Rocky Mountains! Here, in unincorporated Jefferson County, Colorado, I have a little over an acre to experiment with. The plants in this mile high country have to put up with temperatures that very often swing 30 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit during a 24 hour period and spring gusts called chinooks that can reach over 100 mph. The 100 mph gusts aren't as bad as they sound, since the air is thinner here than at sea level.

As of 1998, I grow over 400 roses and have several water gardens. This page is about the other plants I grow - annuals, perennials and things to eat.

Bugs in the Garden - some of our carnivorous visitors and nectar lovers

• First Dragonfly
• Second Dragonfly
• Blue Darner
• SwallowTail Butterfly

• African Daisy variety 'Zulu Prince' * - Venidium fastuosum var. alba
• Sunscape Daisy variety 'Sonja' -Osteospermum
• Canary Bird Vine
• Cardinal Climber
• Cleome
• Cosmos - Cosmos bipinnatus and Cosmos sulphureus varieties 'Ladybird' and 'Sunset' - Cosmos bipinnatus blooms constantly from early summer until frost in colors ranging from white to pink to a dark purplish red. It now even comes in a pale yellow, although I find the pale yellow variety to be substantially stingier in its blooms. Cosmos bipinnatus is great at reseeding itself - so much so that it has become quite a weed. Most of it gets pulled out or there wouldn't be anything else.
• Mexican Sunflower - Tithonia * - Tithonia flowers glow from across the yard with their bright orange/red blooms. They are one of my best plants for attracting butterflies to the yard.
• Morning Glory - Ipomoea tricolor variety 'Heavenly Blue' - I started them inside This spring (1998) which was a mistake. They do much better if sewn directly in the garden. Still, they are a gorgeous true blue.
• Pinwheel Marigold: * - This marigold has single flowers with high contrasting yellow/maroon stripes. It's been reseeding itself for years in my gardens.
• Plains Coreopsis (Calliopsis) - Coreopsis tinctoria - This is a very bright and cheery flower that starts blooming in early summer and keeps going until frost. The flowers come in clusters of bright yellow and deep maroon, and the foliage is rather light and airy. Calliopsis is zeric in Colorado, and I've seen it used in wildflower mixes along the entrance ramps of highways here. It prefers full sun. It is easy to grow from seed by planting directly or by planting early inside. I'll find out next year if it reseeds.
• Pineapple Sage - Salvia elegans - This sage is tender in USDA zones colder than 8, but can get to a pretty good size before the fall freeze. It blooms very late in the fall and most years the frost catches it before it blooms. Here is the entire plant in late October, 1998.
• Salvia - Lady in Red - This short form of Salvia coccinea blooms non-stop all summer with bright red flowers. The local hummingbirds found these flowers very attractive. Here is one of the plants near my upper pond.
• Salvia - Indigo Spires -
• Salvia guaranitica -
• Salvia leucantha -
• Gentian Sage - Salvia patens This salvia is said to be perennial in USDA zone 8, but it is grown an an annual here. It started flowering early in the summer and I was able to keep it going somewhat all summer by deadheading the spent bracts. The flower is the most gorgeous true blue I have ever seen.
• For more salvias - see perennials list
• Sun Flowers:
  variety - Red Sun
  and another Red Sun Sunflower
  
  bird seed seedling - These grow under my bird feeder for obvious reasons. :-) They do not have the dark centers the varieties do, and are still quite pretty.
  
  variety - Discovery Mix. Self seeded this year and virtually all are polyheaded. Quite a variety of color and flower form. * Behind many of these sunflowers you see the deep blue Colorado sky. A Floridian friend calls this color 'alien blue' because it seems to dark that it looks unreal.
  Some of my favorite images of these Sunflowers:
  • Sunflower picture 1
  • Sunflower picture 2
  • Sunflower picture 3
  • Sunflower picture 4
  • Sunflower picture 5
  • Sunflower picture 6
  • Sunflower picture 7
  • Sunflower picture 8
  • Sunflower picture 9
  • Sunflower picture 10
  • Sunflower picture 11
• Flowering Tobacco - Nicotiana alata *
• Sweet Peas
• Zinnias - varity Righteous Red. Zinnias are another great butterfly attractant.

• Alliums - Moly (yellow), Giganteum, Azureum (blue), Bulgaricum, Senescens 'Glaucum' and Ostrowskianum (pink)
• Artemesia - variety 'Silver King'
• Scarlet Bee Balm - Monarda didyma variety 'Gardenview Scarlet'
• Blanket Flower - Gaillardia aristata: varieties Gaillardia x grandiflora 'Burgundy' and Gaillardia 'Kobold'
• Carnation - variety Grenadine
• Coral Bells - Heuchera sanguinea
• Creeping Babies Breath
• Coreopsis - varieties Early Sunrise and Moonbeam
• Crocus
• Daffodils
• Dahlias - variety Procyon and Alfred Grille - here in Colorado, dalia tubers must be lifted in the fall and stored in a cool dry place.
• Day Lilies - variety Stella de Oro
• Delphiniums
• Dianthus - various varieties including deltoides variety 'Artic Fire', Dianthus gratianopolitanus variety 'Spotty' and Dianthus allwoodii. Most of my dianthus are very hardy and bloom profusely in the spring. Deadheading usually results in another flush of blooms and some keep coming all summer long. They are easy to propagated by just cutting off some of the plant and sticking it in a pot. I haven't needed to put the cuttings in a more humid environment, even here in dry Colorado. My neighbor ripped out some of hers which I then rooted and planted in my garden.
• Feverfew - Chrysanthemum parthenium
• Foxglove
• Grape Hyacinths - Muscari armeniacum - this is the most commonly planted variety, and Muscari latifolium which has two different kinds of flowers on each stalk. The top ones are smaller and a light bluish purple in color, and the lower ones are a maroon purple color. The foliage has a much broader leaf as well.
• Hyacinths
• Iris, German and reticulata
• Lilies - Oriental variety 'Stargazer'
• Liatris - variety 'Kobold'
• Lavender - variety 'Munstead'
• Lupines
• Prairie Coneflower - Ratibida columnaris
• Poppies - Iceland Poppy, Oriental Poppy, Alpine Poppy
• Rudbeckia - hirtia variety 'Rustic Dwarfs' and others, and fulgida variety 'Goldsturm'
• Salvia azurea 'Grandiflora' - This salvia is supposed to be hardy here in Colorado, so we'll see how it handles the winter of 1998/1999. It started blooming in early September and kept going until a good hard freeze in October. The plant is rather floppy, so it's propped between some cosmos and other plants. The blooms are sky blue.
• Salvia transylvanica
• St. John's Wort
• Sea thrift - Armeria maritima - can produce quite a sea of pink
• Tulips - untold varieties

• Apples - various unknown varities that came with the house.
• Asparagus - I don't know what variety we have, but it produces very large, tender stalks
• Basil - Licorice
• Beets - Detroit Dark Red
• Beans - Scarlet Runner - These are very ornamental and would work in a flower garden
• Carrots
• Cherries - variety 'North Star'
• Chives - traditional, garlic and society
• Corn - Candy Corn, Ilini Extra Sweet and Rainbow Inca
• Garlic
• Grapes - variety 'Himrod Golden Seedless'
• Licorice Mint (Anise Hyssop) Agastache foeniculum *
• Plums - Green Gage and Stanley Prune Plum
• Peas - Sugar Snap
• Peppers - Anaheim
• Pumpkins - Autumn Gold
• Rhubarb - variety Chipman's Canada Red
• Tomatoes - varieties Better Boy, Brandywine, Roma and Sweet 100

• Aeschynanthus - probably Aeschynanthus speciosus

* found at Seeds of Change