Trumpet Lily

My Photo of the Day:

About 8 feet tall with 18 buds.

Can anyone top this?

This one needs a better stake:

Neighborhood Garden Tour

For many years in June I have made a point of snooping in other peoples backyards during the annual, free garden tour which begins about six blocks from my house. There are some fabulous spaces in this gorgeous old neighborhood. The backyards are typically modest in size, but many gardeners have put years of their hearts and souls and pocketbooks into turning these private spaces into personal paradises, with elaborate beds, walkways, seating, ponds, decorative urns and all manner of artful displays, in addition to the variety of cultivated perennials and imaginative containers with colorful plants from other zones.

Unfortunately, I slept late and forgot about the event (the 17th annual walking tour), until it was almost over. I did a quickie peek of just three yards and have a few outstanding photographs. Because of the unusual weather this year, many plants are having their best year ever, one case in point being the hydrangea. This row of white snowballs spilling out in "irrational exuberance" (thanks, Alan Greenspan) over the immaculate stone path should be in a magazine:

The leaves are enviable green and the blooms are pink and perfect:

These fluffy astilbe, thoughtfully paired with heuchera, with the contrasting greens of some extraordinary hostas (with no bug-holes in the leaves) in the background made this shady garden photo-worthy today:

One more--a perky little coneflower:

Next year I will set my alarm and visit every yard!

Garden Photo of the Day

Alliums amongst the ferns - Fine Gardening

Click on the above link to see today's photo and sign up to receive the weekday "garden photo of the day blog" from the Fine Gardening Magazine.

The word amongst in the caption caught my attention. Do people you know still talk like that? Not that there is anything wrong with it.

Here is my photo of the day:

I took this photo because I just placed a growing red canna pot half-deep in this little kidney shaped pond. Before the tree fell in my yard, in early May, I placed some scraps of canna bulbs that I had in our basement for the winter into a pot in my pot graveyard behind the pines, one of which also still remains in its decapitated demise. Recently I ventured under the still living limbs which have not yet been removed from the backyard and found these canna growing. With the excessive rain this month they grew even though I forgot totally about them, buried under the branches of the fallen box elder. The hostas, heuchera 'Palace Purple', sedge, divided/transplanted iris, and re-seeded fountain grass are thriving around the pond, but time will tell whether the canna will survive or rot in the pond.

This pond was low budget by design. A leftover pile of dirt from another landscape project, a pre-formed pond purchased for a few dollars at a garage sale, a $2 end of the season sale on 6 cultivars of hosta, a few rocks and hunks of slate dug up here and there, some goat manure from a former neighbor who was moving to California and a 100 ft. extension cord and $40 pump which I haven't been able to regulate--it squirts water out of the pond!

Except for the pump and cord, this pond project is actually a testament to how inexpensively one can transform a pile of dirt (and a lot of watering) into a little garden spot for the enjoyment of passers-by, in just a few years time.

Hosta blooming by the pond:

Daylilies, Daisies and other Delights

I bought the specimen above primarily because I liked its name. I was visiting a daylily farm with garden club a few years back. The farm had hundreds of choices (there are over 50,000 cultivars!), but this one was labeled 'Peacock Maiden' and it caught my attention. This year it has more blooms--again, the early warmth and abundant rain--and this was the first of about 30 buds on this relatively recent addition to my plant family. I have no full sun in my yard, but this one apparently has enough. The remaining photos were taken at my aunt's property.

The third week of June, the daisies are definitely out there. This one was rescued last week from being taken over by the 'Black Lace' elderberry. A Shasta daisy cultivar named 'Becky' was a PPA (Perennial Plant Assoc.) pick of the year back in 2003. I bought one, along with the Phlox 'David' (PPA pick 2002), two family names. Poor 'Becky' bit the dust years ago. My shady/sandy yard did not accommodate this sun-loving plant whose name derives from "day's eye," a sun reference from long ago. Plant names help you decide--if it has  a nice name you are more likely to buy. Plants for the plant lover are a little like pets or children--things to be nurtured, fed, watered, tucked in with mulch for protection and disciplined by a little head-wacking when necessary. If they have a memorable name, it makes it easier to bond. I know a guy who only buys hostas for his collection that have a girl's name, like 'June.' I once made a claim that I think like a plant, referencing that I can tell when a plant is feeling a little bit dehydrated and needs some water. If you have too many dependents or are too busy, they may eventually die from neglect. Thankfully, I did better with my daughter Rebecca than I did with her plant namesake, 'Becky.'

Hollyhocks & purple coneflower

It's amazing how 5 or 6 little petunia plants can fill a basket in a month's time with a little help from Miracle-Gro. This one--raspberry blast supertunia. Or was it parfait... sorbet?

             Petunia detail

Fallopia japonica 'Variegata'  

                                                                                                                          

A red variety (?) of cordyline, overwintered twice, barely, but still alive and making a statement.

This berm is new as of late last summer. It was my attempt at a teardrop shape but ended up looking more like a large uterus! It was created out of the remains of a huge black walnut tree stump grinding, a tree that was becoming toxic to many things in the yard, especially the tomato plants over 50 feet away. Also, last year it produced about a thousand walnut fruits which we had to pick up--so it was finally cut down. The soil was amended around these mostly annual plantings (I don't know the specific names--there is a coleus, but is it 'fish net stocking'?) and we hope the juglone which is present in all parts of the black walnut tree will not make any of these new plantings sick. The toxicity will dissipate over time--but how much time??

Plant names are important to the serious gardener. I also happen to like themes--in the garden, in life and in blog posts. Did you notice that in this post noting the importance of names, I mentioned fallopia, uterus, maiden, fishnet stocking and black lace?

Middle of June - What's in Bloom?

The first hollyhock bloom, having reseeded in the middle of Aunt V's vegetables.

One tall and stately purple delphinium.

One perfect mellow yellow asiatic lily--don't know its real name.

Mostly, as seen in the background of those orange Mickey D. lilies, the hostas are sending up their blooming stalks and the Stella d'Oro (or Hemerocallis 'Stella De Oro') daylilies and the yellow 'Happy Returns' daylily and the other common orange one that grows everywhere in ditches were in bloom. These daylilies are so overplanted and prominent that I could not see past them to photograph much--they are almost like weeds around town. They definitely dominated the scene, along with the hydrangeas that were coming into bloom. I have one Annabelle hydrangea that has many blooms this year, in the middle of that poppy/ivy/hosta patch, now punctuated with some of my own bright orange asiatic lilies.

Pretty in Pink

 

This garish new petunia with pink and chartreuse blossoms is called "Pretty Much Picasso" and  is blooming quite profusely at Aunt V's house in several hanging baskets. Do you like it?

These miniature shrub roses (Flower Carpet?) are just breaking out into full bloom this week. (I always seem to get a fly or a dog in my pictures). Below, some unknown cultivars of astilbe, with pretty plumes you have to love.

The Lovely Lily

The lilies in my life are starting to break into bloom this week, at Aunt V. & Mickey D!

Lilies at Aunt V:

At Mickey D's!

This one while waiting at the drive through window!

This mass of orange assaults the senses upon entering the parking lot.

These
at
church

Photo
Taken
June 24

'Lollipop'

Very first lily

June 4

Violas and 'Black Scallop' Ajuga reptans in Containers

When I was asked to do a few container pots for an April 15 event, two of which would remain on site, I struggled a little to envision anything except pansies that would survive a potential April frost.

One rule for container planters goes like this--a thriller, a filler and a spiller. The container above had a yellow ranuncula for the thriller.  The thrill is now long gone with two seed pod still sticking out of the center. The violas and a couple of pansies (because we ran out of violas) fill out the bulk of the container and are still doing well today. The surprise was the Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' which has gone bonkers. It is a ground cover perennial that had blue flowers in April but after blooming sends out runners in every direction in a little spring fling as one Rainy Side Gardener at Rainyside.com describes it.

Behind the rock are some Big Leaf Ligularia, Desdemona and Othello but I can't tell them apart!

The thrillers for the containers that remained on site after the event were white bleeding hearts, which are also still in bloom; the violas and the ajuga were both fillers but today have become increasingly good spillers:

Note:
I bought a whole flat of 'Black Scallop' ajuga the following year and it was not the same. Could this ajuga have been mislabeled and really be 'Catlin's Giant'?? In 2016 I bought six of those, and they are big and behaving more like the ajuga in this pot...

'Black Negligee'

Actaea simplex 'Black Negligee' (Atropurpurea Group) formerly called Cimicifuga racemosa, also called Actaea racemosa, commonly called Bugbane, Black Bugbane, Black Snakeroot, Cohosh, Black Cohosh or even Autumn Snakeroot, from the family Ranunculaceae, recently moved from the genus Cimicifuga to Actaea, 'Black Negligee' being one of the dark-leaved cultivars, along with other popular ones, 'James Compton' (2 just to the left of this negligee plant), 'Hillside Black Beauty,' 'Brunette' and 'Pink Spike.' Oops, I found one more common name--baneberry, another reference to its bug repellent property. And in the Actaea genus is another plant with the common name "Fairy Candles."

I am using this  post, not to put you to sleep, but to demonstrate how complicated learning the names for a favorite plant can be. When I planted 3 perennial "bugbanes" a couple of years ago, I made a point of learning all of the above data and could easily regurgitate it on a good day--excellent mental exercise for an aging gardener. Someone who desired this (not a cheap cultivar, either) handsome dark-leaved specimen with the fine textured foliage, recently asked what it was--Aunt V. was at a loss to recall the name (names), and how can you blame her?

This very shady lady is desirable for purple stems, dark leaves, which can turn a darker purple as they age or get more sun, and late summer white gooseneck spires which tower over the foliage.

In a previous post I featured the 'Black Lace' Elderberry shrub. I'm wondering if there is a pattern here of giving sexier names to plants in order to attract buyers?


Photo added 7/3/12:

Cimicifuga simplex 'Brunette

June is Bustin' Out All Over

So what's left to bloom in June? Lots really. I obviously cannot cover every blooming thing but I am going to highlight the things that I find outstanding or that are doing well in the gardens that I see or that I have some vested interest in or that I have helped in some way to make more beautiful. I will also soon start highlighting more vegetables that are liking this early hot and humid weather. The first few snow peas were eaten this past week (perhaps they have been too hot) and the early spring radishes are almost ready for a hoe-down.

Really showy last week were the tree lilacs. Client P. and Aunt V. both have lovely mature trees.

Tree Lilac

Here is another shot with the burgeoning hostas on the side:

Tree Lilac and Hosta

Also blooming large are the Giant fleeceflowers (Persicaria polymorpha) which are in their third year and are finally beginning to be the showoffs that Aunt V. wanted. They grow to 4-6 ft. tall and wide. The trick was finding a location in her full yard. They tolerate moisture and they have it in the back of the large front perennial garden, both from the sprinkling system, which draws from the pond, and with the recent abundant rains which tend to pool in that area.

Persicaria polymorpha

Black Lace Elderberry (Sambucus nigra)

This shrub that looks a little like some exotic Japanese maple has become recently trendy. The blooms are said to have a light lemon fragrance but I haven't detected it so far. I thought I cut it back "hard" last year but it is still living way too large and I will have to do a hatchet job on it after it blooms or it will take over this space which has daylilies and shastas and tall asiatic lilies and a bridal veil vine over an arbor. The elderberry produces berries, but we will not let them develop this year. It needs to be cut down to size first before we let it make berries!

The First Roses of Summer

I was asked to trim and tie back this hedge of roses last November in the back parking lot of a business in town. Last week I stopped by and was stunned to see how many different colors of gorgeous roses were already in bloom at the end of May.