New pics taken today. I saw a hummer really working over the zonal geranium (last pic), so decided to report how attractive he found it. The color isn't correct in the photo...true color is sort of a fluorescent salmon & the individual blooms are about the size of a dime. I've had this "novelty" geranium for 3-4 years.
The Moon Raker phygelius is about 6' tall...my oldest one.
The canna seedlings were started a few months ago & if you look closely, you'll see new shoots beginning to emerge.
The Hot Lips salvia has gone to the red & white coloring, now that the weather is warmer.
Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
JP, most of mine top out around 3'. Moon Raker stayed in the 3'-4' range for its first few years, but now grows taller. It also didn't spread much & never far from the mother plant. Now it's popping up as much as 5' away. That's not really a problem where I'm growing it.
African Queen is a "big girl" too. It grows easily to 5' and has a reputation for spreading. Mine has spread very little...so far.
Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
Also, I have been wondering what influences the different colors for Salvia hotlips? Mine have been bicolor, solid, white, back to bicolor and now almost all red.
Jessica
Saline, LA (North central Louisiana)
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Patrick, lovely shots of your garden! Which colour of Costa Rican Canna are you growing? We grow yellow/red, red, orange and a white with a little yellow.They are the easiest plant to grow here!
Here is a photo I took a few months ago that I like.
Hi Pam, that is the novelty (zonal type, I think) geranium that I referred to above the pics. I was surprised to find the hummer so busily going after its nectar. I think only the 4th pic has any brugs in it... they are way in the background. Pic 3 shows canna seedlings and pic 4 has Salvia B&B at the lower left.
Jessica, those are a type of kniphofia (red hot poker) - somewhere I have the name, but I can't remember it at the moment.
Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
Lol, Joan...the nice part about showing your garden with a camera is you can focus on what looks good & "hide" what doesn't! I'm struggling, still trying to get my gardens whipped into shape. The ol' body sets limits I didn't face when I was young. I'm making progress, but it's far from a show place.
Oh, Jessica...I think the consensus on Hot Lips' coloring is that it's mostly temperature based. Mine were solid red for the first few weeks they bloomed. Now that we're seeing some warmer days, I have mostly red & white. At some point (perhaps during our warmest summer weather) I expect to see mostly white, then a swing back to red/white and/or solid red. She's a gal who likes to vary her outfits!
Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
This message has been edited by Celtguy on Jul 7, 2008 11:13 AM
Patricia, I don't remember what color cannas my seeds came from. I'm thinking red, but time will tell. Are your cannas species? Do your hummingbirds use them?
Patrick
USDA Zone 8b
Heat Zone 3
Sunset Zone 5
SeaTac, WA...one cool place
Patrick, according to my plant book, most of the Costa Rican Cannas are 'Canna x generalis'. I was given 12 from a former neighbor just before moved here nearly three years ago when she felt sorry for me when I said there was only a large Hibiscus tree in the 'former cow pasture', where the house was located!
Lo and behold, now I have a hundred or more, part way up the first driveway on both sides, plus other place. The joy being, is that I don't have to dig them up in the winter!! These have done extremely well considering they never received fertilizer or even additional water, even during the very dry 6 months of the year.
The hummers do use them on occasion, but prefer the Canna indica.
This orange one was from another source, and I keep it separated from the others in a different garden area.
I took the photo below today, after the hummers kept checking it out on the porch.
Last post on this subject, I promise!
Patrick, managed a couple of shots of a Plain capped star throat feeding the Cannas this morning, albeit at a distance.
This first managed to capture a little of the red gorget
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opps, guess I was scanning to quickly, so much to read on the forum lately!! I thought the first pic were brugs. 
