Nasturtium
It has been a generally hot and dry (read depressing) summer for our garden). In early August we awoke to find that we had drawn down the well with watering and so had to forego our normal watering plan. So my looks around the garden prior to Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day were fewer than they might otherwise have been. We did still water Beth’s new raised bed and the Nasturtiums and Calendulas have responded by blooming all summer long and into the Fall.
Calendula
Many of the other flowers in bloom are a testament to how well some species can survive in adversity.
Alstroemeria ‘Sweet Laura’
Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)
Venturing out onto our ultra-dry hillside which never gets watered at all anymore, I found several champions of the survival school.
Buddleia
Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)
Crepe Myrtle
Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’
Notice the spider on the Lemon Queen and it’s very adaptive coloration.
Spider on Lemon Queen
The butterflies are also very attracted to Lemon Queen.
butterfly on Lemon Queen
I also saw a lovely Monarch Butterfly on the Tithonia in the vegetable garden.
Monarch on Tithonia
One very noteworthy Fall-blooming flower is the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. I’m becoming more of a fan every year and it’s a good thing because it keeps spreading of its own volition.
Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’
Another fall bloomer was a bit of a surprise. This Sweet Autumn Clematis was something I pulled out three years ago and I was surprised to see it return in two separate places this year.
Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora)
It’s a lovely flower but can get too aggressive if left to its own devices. I will probably try to transplant it to the woods.
In the alpine beds I have two erodiums that are returning to bloom right now.
Erodium chrysantha
Erodium
In the greenhouse I have just finished restarting all the oxalis. At the same time the Bulbine has come back into flower.
Bulbine frutescens
And one of the cyclamens has taken on a very distinctive flowering by simply spilling over the edge of the pot with a great many flowers and no leaves at all.
Cyclamen graecum
Lastly just to note that man (or woman) does not live by flowers alone. The raspberries are joining the apples as delectable fruits to be harvested this month.
raspberries ready for harvest again
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day August 2016
Gentiana paradoxa
I find myself at the beach for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, but before leaving I snapped a few shots of the flowering activity around our hillside. The gentian pictured above is a vigorous spreader in the Alpine bed that is a reliable harbinger of fall. The feathery insides of the flower make it one of the prettiest flowers I know.
The rest of the yard is dominated by the hardy annuals and sturdy perennials that can make it through a dry Maryland summer. A great example is the state flower, Black-eyed Susans, that dominates our front bed.
Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta)
In the vegetable garden we often grow Mexican Sunflower (Sithonia) which are very attractive to butterflies.
Tithonia
There a number of plants that deserve special praise for returning one or more times during the summer.
Clematis ‘Roguchi’
Asclepias ‘Hello Yellow’
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’
The salvia is not supposed to be hardy in our area, but it has returned reliably for 5 years now.
The two lobelias, red and blue, are winners for an August garden.
Lobelia cardinalis
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
Amongst the shrubs, the Hydrangea ‘Limelight makes a long and lovely showing.
Hydrangea ‘Limelight’
From the greenhouse a number of the formosa lilies are in full flower.
lilium formosanum
And the small Herbertia texensis is putting out it’s complex flowers.
Herbertia texensis
Let me close, because the beach is calling, with a wildlife image from the garden. I found this remarkably lovely caterpillar on a tree peony leaf.
Caterpillar (American Dagger Moth?)
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day July 2016
Orienpet Lily ‘Anastasia’
Well, if you had to pick a theme flower for this month’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day it would the lilies. Despite the dry weather we have been experiencing, they are exploding all over the yard, especially the hybrids between orientals and trumpets (aka orienpets). They are tall, fragrant, floriferous, and individually stunning.
Orienpet Lily ‘Anastasia’ single bloom
In the house they make quite a display too.
Orienpet Lily ‘Anastasia’ in the house
Here are some others of the lily orienpet persuasion.
Orienpet Lily ‘Scheherazade’
Orienpet Lily ‘Scheherazade’ single flower
Orienpet Lily ‘Pretty Woman’
Of course, even the old-fashioned orientals are pretty spectacular.
Oriental lily ‘Time Out’
Oriental Lily ‘Casablanca’
Oriental Lily ‘Muscadet’
And then a new one added to collection this year is Lilium henryii hybrid.
Lilium henryi hybrid ‘Madame Butterfly’
There are course still many annuals and some of the standard perennials, but one of the species that has asked for special recognition is the Crocosmia. These wonderful bulbs from the iris family are durable, productive and beautiful, year after year.
Crocosmia ‘Lucifer’
Crocosmia × crocosmiflora ‘George Davison’
Another new plant for us is the popular anemone ‘Wild Swan’.
Anemone ‘Wild Swan’ front
It is especially characterized by the purple markings on the back of the petals.
Anemone ‘Wild Swan’ back
In the greenhouse we have several noteworthy arrivals. First a very unusual Pineapple Lily.
Eucomis vandermerwei
This is only found in the wild between 7000′ and 8000′ in South Africa. At some point I might experiment with growing it outside.
Also from South Africa is member of the Amaryllis family, Cyrtanthus elatus x montanus.
Cytanthus elatus x montanus
A little Cyclamen is flowering from seed planted in 2013.
Cyclamen hederifolium
And a welcome returnee is this rain lily.
Habranthus brachyandrus
One of the fun things for me is finding the unusual animals that populate the yard, if you take the time to notice them. Last week it was this wonderful dime-sized spider that caught my eye.
Jumping spider from the greenhouse
A Higher State (Steppe to Alpine)
Steamboat Lake and Mule’s Ears (Wyethia mollis)
We just returned last week from a spectacular trip to Colorado that was focused on the North American Rock Garden Society‘s (NARGS) annual meeting. The theme was ‘A Higher State — Steppe to Alpine’ and it was in two locations, the Denver Botanic Garden and Steamboat Springs over 5 days. It had been a while since we had been to Colorado, so we met with friends and family in Boulder and Golden beforehand. I’ll try to give a brief overview of what was a wonderful and relaxing exploration of mountain wildflowers.
Hiking just outside of Boulder we encountered this lovely Calochortus.
Calochortus gunnisonii
The NARGS meeting began at the Denver Botanic Garden where we got a personalized tour of the rock gardens by Mike Kintgen who oversees the Alpine collection.
Mike Kintgen at DBG
Their garden features a crevice garden which has been established for several years now (long enough to see several successful cushions)
Crevice garden at the DBG
They manage to grow the wonderful Devil’s Claw that we first saw in the Dolomites last year.
Physoplexis comosa in a trough at DBG
The Denver Botanic Gardens are not to be missed if you are in Denver. In this season they have a spectacular display of Foxtail Lilies.
Through the looking glass
A Sea of Foxtail lilies
On our way to Steamboat Springs we stopped at the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens in Vail which has newly constructed tufa wall for optimum planting of tiny alpines.
New Tufa bed at Vail
And the outside part of the gardens is quite nice as well.
Betty Ford Alpine Garden
In Steamboat Springs we visited local gardens including the Yampa River Botanic Park which right along the Yampa River in a very pretty setting. They have built a stunning crevice garden there.
Crevice Garden at the Yampa River Botanic Park
Another view of the Crevice Garden
Panorama of the Crevice Garden at the Yampa River Botanic Park
I fell in love with a little Stachys planted in one of the crevice locations.
Stachys lavandulafolia
We also took several hikes in the trails surrounding Steamboat Springs. We drove out through countryside that really summed up what steppes are all about.
Steppes near North Park
Just along the side of the road we saw beautiful Lewisia and Shooting Stars.
Lewisia rediviva
A sea of Shooting Stars
Shooting Star (Dodecahedron puchellum)
One stop near a trailhead into the Zirkel Wilderness area produced a bevy of these very small Ladyslipper Orchids
Ladyslipper Orchid (Cypripedium fasciculatum)
We stayed a few days past the conference and on the last day of hiking we walked up a ridge near the Rabbit Ears pass area. The views were excellent, but it was remarkable how you had to pay close attention to see that the hillside was covered with wildflower treasures.
Windy Ridge rich with wild flowers, especially Glacier Lilies, Lewisia, and Larkspur.
Erythroniums galore
Glacier Lily (Erythronium grandiflorum)
Lewisia pygmaea
Lewisia pygmaea (White form?)
Delphinium nuttallianum
And a final sighting on this ridge was a very nice ground orchid.
Spotted Coralroot (Corallorhiza maculata)
All in all, a wonderful trip, with a suitcase full of tiny treasures brought back to Maryland from the plant sales at the conference. My thanks to Laporte Avenue Nursery and Sunscapes Rare Plant Nursery.
Also, I should mention that the Denver Botanic Garden has published a very nice book on this region of the world (and similar) entitled ‘Steppes: The Plants and Ecology of the World’s Semi-arid Regions‘. Check it out…
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day June 2016
Lilium asiatic ‘Netty’s Pride’
Ok, this is way late for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. No Excuses. Everyone has gardens to build, weed, water, and harvest. But what really slows me down in posting is when I find a lovely flower that I acquired years ago and can’t figure out what the name is. And that leads me to the internet and well, you know how that goes. One thing leads to another and pretty soon you are buying another few plants instead of posting about the ones you have.
Anyway here are some of the flowers that I should have been sharing. Lillies and Iris are foremost. The Spuria Iris are some of my favorites.
Spuria Iris ‘Cinnebar Red’
Spuria Iris ‘Shelford Giant’
The Spuria are generally pretty tall, but Shelford Giant is especially high up before it flowers.
Spuria Iris ‘Shelford Giant’ showing height
I used to focus on the bearded Iris but I’ve found that many of the other species Iris are more reliable and enjoyable. I’ve never had the Iris borers focus on the other species the way they can on the bearded hybrids. In particular the Japanese Iris have a way of making nice clumps in the perennial gardens.
Iris ensata ‘ Agripinella’
A new Japanese Iris for us this year is this four-foot tall specimen from Plant Delights.
Iris ensata ‘Flashing Koi’
The Blackout Lillies are creating their normal smashing display of vibrant dark red.
Lilium ‘Blackout’
And in anticipation of setting a new height record for us the Trumpet Hybrid Pink Perfection is now higher than the 8 foot piece of granite in our Monument Bed.
Pink Perfection Lily next to Monument
Our potted lily wanna-be from the Amazon is in full flower at the moment.
Hymenocallis ‘Sulphur Queen’
I need to single out the last of the Arisaemas now in fully display. Both A. fargesii and A. candidssum took until June 4th before they showed their first pointed tips coming out of the soil. I especially love the pink of the A. candidissums.
Arisaema candidissimum
Arisaema fargesii
Just a few other shots from around the yard before I go…
Knockout roses ‘Pink’
Asclepias tuberosa ‘Hello Yellow’
Mix of wine cups, spotted orchid, Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’, and Gladiolus alatus.
Dactylorhiza fuchsii
Stewartia japonica
Bulbine frutescens
Raspberries
Blueberries
And let me close with another gem from the greenhouse…
Habranthus tubispathus (sometimes called copper lily)
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day May 2016
Clematis ‘Niobe’
Ok, it’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day for May and I’m already late (again). Everything is flowering (or so it seems). The peonies, iris, azaleas, rhododendrons, alliums, and so on. Let me share some of the main headliners and then get to some of the more unusual flowers.
Rhododendrons are represented by three of our standards. First the ultra-reliable R. chionoides which spends more and more of its time lying on the ground with various prostrate branches.
Rhododendron chionoides
Then a scintillating pink that we have mixed into our camellia bed.
Camellia Garden Rhododendron
And I always have to share one of my favorites, R. ‘Viscosepala’, which has a magnificent fragrance.
Rhododendron ‘Viscosepala’
This was the happy result of crossing R. molle and R. viscosum in 1844 at the famous Waterer nursery at Knaphill in England. I think it deserves more recognition. You can sit on the deck in the evening and smell this honeysuckle-like fragrance surrounding you.
The peonies always go through a progression of tree peonies to species to Itoh hyrids to herbaceous. The tree peonies and species types are just finishing now after serveral weeks of simply splendid flowers.
Tree peony just finishing
And the Itoh hybrids are lovely to look at right now.
Itoh Peony ‘Morning Lilac’
The unopened bud of the Itoh hybrid ‘Sequestered Sunshine’ looks like a giant rose.
Itoh Peony ‘Sequestered Sunshine’
The first large bearded Iris are in bloom now and I just noticed a number of flowers on the Japanese Roof Iris yesterday.
Japanese Roof Iris (Iris tectorum)
Now let’s explore some of the less common flowers around the yard.
The Lamium orvala never fails to elicit comments when I point out the orchid-like flowers hidden under its leaves.
Lamium orvala
In one of the shade beds I see that one instance of the Rue Anemone has semi-double flowers that also seem to be bigger than its relatives.
Semi-double white Rue Anemone (Anemonella thalictroides)
In the front bed my planting of Dianthus spiculifolius in the large tufa rock seems to have taken hold.
Dianthus spiculifolius
Also in the front yard I had planted a Snow Poppy several years ago. It has spread but I had never seen it flower. Until this year.
Eomecon chionantha
The Snow Poppies are in a shady area near where the Woods Poppies (Stylophorum diphyllum) have long since taken over, and where the large Japanese Maple limits the sun and moisture in the summer time. I’m happy to have them spread at a reasonable pace.
Snow poppy colony (the curly leaves are the Woods Poppy mixed in)
At the GreenSprings Garden Plant Sale on Saturday I picked up a very nice little Calanthe hybrid orchid for the monument bed.
Calanthe hybrid hardy orchid
As we walk back to the Alpine garden I discovered a little ornithogalum growing with the little alpines and I couldn’t imagine how it got there until I reread my bulb order from last year. Ornitogalum exscapum is described as compact and flowering from the base and indeed that seems to be the case so far.
Ornithogalum exscapum
Nearby two of the Lewisia are in bloom.
Lewisia ‘Little Plum’ (Lewisia longipetala x cotyledon)
Pygmy bitterroot (Lewisia pymaea)
And in the trough in front of the greenhouse one of my favorite campanula relatives is just coming into flower.
Edraianthus pumilio
This makes a compact little cushion that is a wonderful example of why I like growing alpines. That’s a little Dianthus alpina that is showing nearby.
And in the Greenhouse I was delighted to discover last week that two of the three rare Scillas that I planted last January are starting to grow.
Scilla madeirensis in leaf
These are very beautiful plants and I’m hoping to see flowers before they go dormant for the summer.
Let me close with an Iris relative, Gelasine elongata, also growing in the greenhouse.
Gelasine elongata
This flowers at the end of a 2 ft. long stalk. It is said to be marginally hardy here so I may give it a try outside.
Seed Tales
Labeled Tulipa sprengeri, (Zephyranthes dicrhomata?)
I was pleased to see a bud coming out of my planting of Tulipa sprengeri this past week. But what emerged is very likely Zephyranthes dichromata. That’s pretty much par for the course on starting some of these unusual plants from seed. You can wait years for a seedling to emerge and then discover that it was either a mislabeled package or some friendly neighboring pot contributed some viable seed. It’s likely that the Zephyranthes jumped from a neighboring pot because they do seed freely. But then there are the successful outcomes like the big Paradisea that is just finishing in the greenhouse right now.
Paradisea lusitanica
This is a beautiful lily-like plant more than 2 feet high that came from seed distributed by the Pacific Bulb Society in the spring of 2013. It grows wild in the mountains of Portugal and might be barely hardy here. Another successful seed sowing from the PBS in 2013 was Dichelostemma multiflorum which grows wild in California.
Dichelostemma multiflorum
I’ve planted a lot of seeds over the past few years and managed to lose of lot of my seedlings last year when the water timer failed while we were on vacation. I’ve kept all those pots just in case, but decided last week to go through the hundreds of pots and reclaim the soil and pots.
Hundreds of pots to be reclaimed
I was delighted to find that some of those pots had seedlings just starting.
Brimeura amethystina seedling starting 3 years later
Fritillaria meleagris seedling
This all serves as a reminder that you have to patient to allow good things to happen. Another sort of patience comes with waiting for the first flowers. Four years ago I bought a tiny little seedling of Paeonia rockii from Wrightman Alpines. It has taken until this year to produce it’s first flowers. I think you will agree that it was worth the wait.
Paeonia rockii
Another delightful species Peony that is flowering right now was obtained from Plant Delights
Paeonia obovata ssp. obovata var. willmottiae
So returning to topic of planting seeds I should note that many of the seeds come up in abundance. They are often very cute as they so immediately resemble the plants that they will eventually become.
Draba parnassica
Antennaria rosea ssp pulvinata seedlings
Phyteuma scheuchzeri seedlings (BotanyCa)
Silene acaulis seedlings
Gentiana dahurica seedlings (BotanyCa)
Altogether, looking at the three alpine seed exchanges that I participate in, the results are just short of 50% of the seeds successfully started so far. In other words, so far, so good.
The other part of the seed topic is collecting the ones that are appearing right now. Many of the spring ephemerals are putting out seeds in quantity now.
Eranthis hyemalis ‘Schwefelglanz’ seeds
Hepatica seeds
Often the spring emphemerals have elaiosomes on the seeds that make them attractive to ants. So there is a brief 3-5 day window when you can just knock off the seeds to collect them. Otherwise, if they fall, the ants will gather them up and take them home for planting.
Ant carrying Hepatica seed
And, of course, every seed is not only a potential new plant, but also acts as currency if you are involved in seed exchanges.
Let me close with a few more of the flowers that have bloomed over the past two weeks.
Tulipa humilis ‘Alba Caerulea Oculata’
Corydalis turtschaninovii ‘Eric the Red’
Borage
And lastly a beautiful new Allium from Odyssey Bulbs
Allium (nectaroscordum) tripedale
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day April 2016
Panorama of Front Yard
Well for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day there is no difficulty with finding things in flower. April is a fantastic time for a Maryland gardener. Just a few days ago we were assessing the damage from killing frosts (Toad lilies and the asian Disporum are surprisingly vulnerable), but right now we are relishing the blooms. Daffodils and Tulips headline the show. For example, there is this new addition to the woods.
Narcissus ‘Precocious’
And old favorites in the front bed.
Tulipa ‘Monte Carlo’
A naturalized tulip for woodland areas.
Tulipa sylvestris
And this new addition from Odyssey Bulbs last year.
Tulipa ‘Goldmine’
But the various smaller plants always capture my attention.
Erythroniums are at their peak right now.
Erythronium ‘Pagoda’
Erythronium multiscapideum
Erythronium dens-canis ‘White Splendor’
Close by is a new Scilla relative that we added this past year (also from Odyssey Bulbs).
Fessia hohenackeri
Note the lovely blue anthers.
There are also the epimediums, seemingly delicate plants that are oh-so-hardy.
Flowers on Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’
In this case the leaves are as special as the flowers.
Leaves on Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’
An aquilegia that my eldest son grew from a Scottish Rock Garden Society seed distribution begs for attention right now (very dwarf).
Aquilegia flabellata ‘Nana’
And there is a Muscari that I got from Brent and becky last year that is growing in very difficult place between maple roots and an American Holly.
Muscari latifolium
In the camellia bed we find a lovely little corydalis that has lasted for several season now (hard to do with the blue ones).
Corydalis turtschaninovii ‘Eric The Red’
The name comes from the leaves, not the flowers.
Nearby is one of my favorite trilliums.
Trillium ‘Roadrunner’
Also in the Camellia bed is one of the tiniest Hepaticas I have seen, the result of several seedlings I planted from Hillside Nursery.
Hepatica japonica seedling
The Alpine bed features a very nice Daphne, that has all the fragrance that you expect from a Daphne.
Daphne collina x cneorum
And in small trough #2, there is the most beautiful little phlox that is doing alll that you expect from a phlox.
Phlox sileniflora
And from the greenhouse there are a couple of plants that have come into the house recently.
Hippeastrum striata
This small Amaryllis-want-to-be is also called the Barbados Striped Lily though it is actually from Brazil and it is multiplying in it’s small pot like mad.
And a south african plant originally purchased from Annie’s Annuals.
Ixia ‘Buttercup’
This is at the tip of two-foot long stalks this year.
Finally, I should mention the various flowering trees. This is right now the peak of the crossover between the various fruit trees, crabapples and cherries, giving way to the dogwoods.
Crabapple (variety long forgotten)
The apple trees in the orchard are in the midst of one of the finest bloom cycles I have seen.
Mutsu Apple covered with blossoms
These are the highlights on Ball Rd. What is growing in your garden?