Bogturtle's Garden

February 2012

2012-02-01T15:28:00.003-05:00

The Bearberry, Vaccinium ova-ursi 'Massachusetts' is mixing with the other low, acid soil loving evergreens, as I hoped. The particular clone called Massachusetts is not from the local pine barrens, where you can see bearberry along many roadsides. It is, however, supposed to be more heat tolerant than forms from far North. While I understand yellow-leaved and purple-leaved plants are extremely popular, I rarely buy any. The yellow remind me of a chlorotic sickness and the purple in Summer also seems as if there is something wrong. But the purple color taken on by many plants, in this season, seems attractive. Fables, vaguely based upon fact,can be spun in this blog. This land, supposedly, was underwater during the last ice age. Thus the constant sand, but, as the ice retreated, gradually, for centuries, the arctic plants, at the Southern edge, moved North with the retreating ice. Because of the thin canopy, and recurrent pine barrens fires, the Bearberry survived here as a remnant of those cold ages. A remnant population that would have been shaded out by a dense, rich forest such as would occur with richer soil. That's my story, but I may not stick to it.

And the Lingonberry, in a commonly offered dwarf form is spreading, also. Both it and the Bearberry must find 7a close to the Southern limits of their range. It is successful, but doesn't seem to bloom, here, or bear fruit. It is not native to N.J.
I think it has the ponderous proper name of Vaccinium vitus-idea minus, but I can be quite creative.

A good many Winter flowers would never fit a child's idea of what a flower should look like, and many adults seem to feel the same way.
These catkins have been in bloom for more than a week. As a new gardener, I bought a hazelnut plant and should have known I would never get hazelnuts. It is a huge plant, and a good source of perfectly straight poles and stakes. The plants were, and may still be, cut to the ground so new young stakes of poles could be harvested. Polarding?
I would need, I suppose, more than one plant, if nuts were to come, but then there are the squirrels. A harvest is not going to happen.
Before a collection of Winter-blooming plants was established, this plant would have been a great encouragement that Winter will soon be gone.

The same nursery, where Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' was first seen, also had one small plant of this obscure cultivar of Vaccinium. Probably a selection of the Low-bush Blueberry that covers the high places in New England. It has the typical red Winter twigs. V.'Ruby Carpet'.

Hamamelis 'Diane'. Shown constantly, as any reader would see.
The first, and so the largest. Because it is just outside the path to the back door, and where the car and truck are parked, it will require pruning, so it's nature to spread, horizontally, will not interfere with our walking.

It was impossible to ignore the thousands of Snow Geese that passed, today, 2/2.
They were headed North, but later, after dark, I know many passed closely overhead, going the other way. A mystery. Cornell Ornithology features U-tube type videos of these birds. They are like a blizzard, and ridiculously noisy,

The first of the many Tommie Crocus, Crocus Thomasinianna, or such. And the only one sort that has really multiplied. The tiny bulbs get moved about when plants are transplanted or dug up, and the great variation in the color, from almost white to deep lavender, prove they also seed about. There was a collection purchased over 20 years ago, described as 'Winter Crocus'. Generally smaller flowered than the more commonly seen sorts. A number of Species and hybrids. It is supposed that voles and mice ate the others, or the soil or climate did them in. A few other sorts bloom occasionally, and the larger flowered, later sorts seem to go on for five to ten years before disappearing.

Taken through the window with my rinky-dink camera, and then magnified, afterward.
No doubt I said, perhaps a year ago, that the male Cardinals will be more brilliantly colored from here on out.
A trimming edge, on each new feather, is not so colorful, but it wears off, just for Spring and mating season. The bird is not ready to be difficult and territorial towards other males, quite yet. Generally, about half a dozen gather in, near the bird-feeder, with little contention, all Winter, although they will not sit next to each other while taking the seed. I will know when the time for establishing a nesting territory is here, when I hear the males singing.

Jan. 16-31

2012-01-19T18:51:00.018-05:00

Above is Hamamelis 'Diane', just opening some of the blooms.
And, to the right, is the large Leucothoe called 'Cherry Hills'. Leucothoe does very well, here, while far from its native home. The plant sometimes reacts to Winter with a black-cherry shading of the leaves. Mine has dark green leaves with dark reddish blotches. Still, it is a fine burnished evergreen.

And another witch-hazel has opened.
It must be Hamamelis 'Rochester', and the source said it might bloom in December, but it has opened this week. That it might add to having flowers every month of the year was much more the attraction than the assertion that it is the most fragrant of recent cultivars. I have yet to check for an odor, and have noticed none when passing the plant by.
The expense, with many witch-hazels hybrids may be because they are grafted upon our native species.
And strong shoots do, occasionally, come from below the graft, with different leaves. That only happened once, among the several clones I have, and I cut the vigorous shoot out, immediately.

Southern NJ is not gray and brown in Winter, as is typical of many forests of N. Jersey. The pines, cedars and holly give a great deal of green. Against that background the colored-barked Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' glows yellow and red.

The flowers of Lonicera fragrantissima are just about all open, and if you walk past it, the breeze may bring the scent to you. Here, crowded in on the woodland edge, among Holly and Amelanchier, the rangy plant is thriving. I do not like yellow leaved plants, and this shrub will not let them go, whether the normal green or yellowed.

A third Edgeworthia has been added, and it is a clone of E. chrysantha chosen by a rather famous plantsman. He named is 'Snow Cream'. And when the Winter winds down, it should open the fragrant, pale yellow flowers. The other two are doing well, and the buds are not as silvery white, but they are loaded. The pictured plant is small, with just a few.

The Hamamelis, or Witch-hazels have all done well here, so, even though the 'Wisely Supreme' has only two flowers on an eight foot tall, skinny tree, I expect nothing but improvement, as years go.

And Hamamelis 'Jelena' has acted the same, after three years of healthy growth and good bloom. About two flowers on the whole plant, this year. Still, this is not the expectation, in coming years. Jelena is set against a Canadian Hemlock, Tsuga canadensis, if my memory is correct. And that is advisable, as the bloom is more prominent against a dark background.

When I first gardened, any plant that turned the color shown, would be taken as dead.
An interesting evergreen, that is nicely green in Summer, Microbiota discussata refuses to grow with any speed, here. It must be the sandy, acid soil, as the plant can take some shade.

Shown over and over, as the seasons change.
Various Viburnums, Cornus 'Arctic Fire' and behind it a ground hugging Forsythia, many acid soil evergreens, and, finally, the blue Arizona cypress 'Blue Ice'. To the right is a native holly, Ilex opaca, that was here when we built the house. By chance, alone, the two at the end of the house are berry bearing females.
In the very foreground are a few grass-green branches of a rather massive Kerria japonica.

In the micro-climate of Southern exposure, sheltered by the forest and close to the ground, a few Snowdrops are opening. Perhaps Galanthus elwesii.

It is unlikely that any visitor would find this little Magnolia 'Bracken's Brown Beauty', because it is behind a screen that is covered by an evergreen vine, but, after some years, it should be prominent. I can see the wisdom of buying as big a plant as possible, so you can enjoy it, without waiting, but I am too frugal and too patient. It will grow taller than the screen that hides it. One of the hardier clones of Magnolia grandiflora.

1/25
Similarly, the little Japanese Apricot, Prunus mume 'Peggy Clark', is in an out-of-the-way spot. Really a grand choice for a patio or just outside a window, but the property is getting full, and especially near the doorways. It will grow tall enough to be seen as we park the automobiles.
Pink flowers are not usually a favorite, but the inch wide double, bubble gum pink flowers are so unique in January. Amazing, really.
Honeybees were out, again, but I did not see them visit these flowers.

This uniquely colored little plant will never be let out of a pot. The first I ever saw had covered acres of marshy land, in Bucks County, Pa. and the millions of yellow flowers, growing in that situation, fooled me. I thought they were the Marsh Marigold, which is native. They were Ranunculus ficaria, which is not native and something of a monster.
I have some other monsters, referred to as thugs in the garden forums, on this property, that I brought here. Common periwinkle is one. A few plants now cover many areas.
Ranunculus repens 'Floraplena' is another. I will never get rid of it. I did take a sponge, put weed killer on it, and tediously smeared it on every little leaf I saw, in among my perennials. I do not see much now, after two such ridiculous sessions that embarrass me, as I mention them. Patience, anger, attention to detail and fanaticism for an hour or more, the first time. My fanaticism worked and it is very uncommon there. I still get after the few leaves I see and don't worry about being poisoned, myself.
Another is Lysmachia nummelaria, Creeping Jenny or Galloping Charley, or whatever.
The double flowered or white flowered forms of the Marsh Marigold are still on the want list.
A nursery listed several forms of R. ficaria, including this metallic colored one, called 'Brambling', which I will try to keep from forming seed. The one I took home from Pennsylvania had bright green leaves and beautiful yellow flowers and, within a year, dozens were around, and some far from the parent. I got after every one and have seen none for several years. I do not know when the plant, in the photo, decided to emerge, but the pot showed nothing as Winter began. I know it dies down completely for the Summer.

On a dark, rainy day, the red, in the buds of Camellia 'Red Candles' really does show up.

Another Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'.
Yesterday, driving not far from here, I passed a little house with these growing just by the road. Someone had pruned them down and the shrubs had come back about 3 feet tall. They were brilliant, having come back so bushy and twiggy. When Spring comes, that is the treatment for these, as the color shows better in those low, pruned bushes than in my lanky ones. To date the concern was that mine would thrive, and they really have.
I have lost C. seracea and C. s.'Cardinal' and I assume it is because they need more neutral soil than this acid sand.

A few flowers on another young Witch-hazel, Hamamelis 'Palida', I believe. Several were blooming at this time, on my last visit to Longwood Gardens, about a two hour drive from here. Totally mature ones were blooming, in early February. The pleasant odor was quite distinct, there being millions of flowers.

Another small shrub is just beginning to bloom. One of several Winter-blooming Viburnums, V. bognantense. A white-flowered form is supposed to exist, but I have not seen it listed by any familiar nurseries.

Jan. 1-15, 2012

2012-01-01T00:30:00.037-05:00

Without doubt weather with temperatures near 25 degrees will be here, and it looks as if the Mahonia is just about as far along in blooming as it will get. Another is dropping the blooms.

Recent photos have been posted in the Garden Web Forums 'Winter Garden' section, but those are from States just slightly South of here. Perhaps some bloom might be over in Salem County, NJ, in zone 7B.
Here, a very few flowers have started to unfurl on Hamamelis 'Robert'.
Today's activities included putting raked up leaves into wire surrounds, to protect the Floribunda Roses, if that is what they are. The 'Knockout' Roses will need no such protection, and are still green. Time was taken, also, to spray 'Liquid Fence', as the rabbits have nibbled some shrubs. It is effective, expensive and obnoxious. For some reason, our rabbits are timid. They can be heard, hopping at full speed, off into the woods, if someone goes out after dark. Rarely, they can be spotted feeding on spilled seed from the bird feeder, but leave at the slightest alarm.

The sky was lavender, and my little camera would not capture it, accurately, on any of the many settings. Sometimes it is ghost green, or turquoise. I often wonder how many people pause to notice.

This tiny Bergenia hybrid was recently added to the rock garden. It shows a great deal of the color many sorts turn, but they seldom do on this property. Aside from some weeds, other plants in the photo are Laurentia fluviatilis, (which may have other names, and is commonly called the 'Blue Star Creeper'), and a few leaves from Lychnis coronaria 'alba'.

Nandina domestica 'Harbor Dwarf'.

1/4

Arum italicum 'Marmortum' looks like wilted spinach. In this zone 7a the temperature was below twenty degrees, perhaps even 15. Generally, it rarely goes below 10 degrees.

The photo above shows how the Arum has bounced back, flawlessly, when the temperature went back above freezing.

And this plant, Cyclamen hederacea, responds in the same way.

But Jasminium nudiflorum, the Winter Jasmine, cheerfully faces the worst. Sixty degree weather, recently, brought on the bloom, and the cold has changed nothing about the flowers that are open.
The cold allows the small, scentless flowers to last and last.

Above is a terrible picture, taken of a moving honeybee, with my cell phone. Here on January 6, with the temperature, according to the news, at fifty three degrees F. Back in this clearing in the woods, and because micro-climates are common, the temp. might really be close to 60. Quite a few buzzing around the Winter-blooming Honeysuckle, Lonicera standishii. A lifetime ago I kept bees, but have no idea where these come from. There are many people within the distance bees will fly, whose lives I do not know. And, not as likely, they could be just wild honeybees. But honeybees they are.

On Jan. 7 the weather was around sixty again. So the camera was used to catch this much superior photo of one of the many bees around the honeysuckle.

Enough of the Dwarf Blue Scottish Kale is left for a meal or two. Too bitter, for me, until after definite frost, but high in nutrition. The Swiss Chard was entirely harvested and put with Kale in a wilted Winter greens dish my wife fixed as part of a meal for company. They all liked it, which surprised me, as the flavors are strong.
A number of leeks are available. None as big as could be bought in the market. Soil was constantly mounded up on seedlings planted in a trench, so the white portion should be extensive Potato Leek soup might show up before Winter's end.

Eragrostis elliotii, a weeping love grass. Shown often, and appreciated as an unusual blue-gray clone of this native. But it is dead and almost a pale tan, now. Still, in a carefully planned garden, its contrast of color, shape and texture might appeal to some gardeners.

The overly vigorous Akebia is still green. That should not continue into February, but may.
The reputation is that sprouts will show up, far from the original planting. None, so far.

The foxgloves, to the lower left, will keep their green rosettes, regardless of the bitter weather.
Both the blue-green sedge, Carex 'Blue Satin' and the Autumn Fern may get through the Winter like this. And a number of evergreen shrubs may stay with little damage, here on the North side of the raised deck, out of most Sun and sweeping, drying Winter wind. They include Camellias and an Osmanthus.

Tiny twin white flowers are open on Lonicera fragrantissima, but only a few. A honeysuckle famous for a powerful lemon scent, but my clone is not amazing, in this regard. It does smell beautifully, but does not fill the yard.
Other seasons there are plants that do, like Viburnum carlesii and Osmanthus fragrans.

A year of visits to this blog would run through the full cycle of changes, and repetitive comments.
The cultivar 'Massachusetts', of the beautiful native ground cover Arctostaphylos ova-usi, always gets a edging of rime on cold nights. The fine low Juniper below it is J. 'Silver Mist'.

The other of the three Winter Honeysuckles, here, is also blooming, this Jan. 12. Lonicera purpusii is the hybrid of the two Chinese species, L. fragrantissima and L. standishii.

As with all, the bloom is always in pairs, and there is a fine fragrance.

1/14 With the thermometer on the shady porch reading 34F, Hamamelis 'Robert' continues to bloom in the streams of Sun slanting from the South.
Many of the Witch-hazels cultivars have a pleasant odor, but only the older, larger trees will have enough flowers to scent the air around them.

December 16-31, 2011

2011-12-16T00:19:00.007-05:00

Lonicera standishii has responded to a warm day by opening a few flowers. I do not detect the beautiful scent that is put forth by its relative, L. fragrantissima. That plant has not bloomed, but should do so at the end of Winter. Another, which may be a hybrid between these two, also is not blooming. That one shows purplish shades to new Spring foliage, while neither parent does. Very strange. That one is L. purpusii. All are rangy, homely shrubs that stay green to a great degree in this zone 7a.

Below is Vaccinium crassifolia 'Well's Delight' again, showing the glossy, ground-hugging foliage with the new, reddish ends.

But I see I am successful in my ambition to have flowers out-of-doors in every month of the year.

Mahonia 'Midwinter Sun', once again. Five branches, now. Each ending in a bunch of lemon yellow blooms.

And the other Mahonia, perhaps bealii, showing the beautiful glossy foliage along with the flowers.

There is a formidable laurel tangle on the neighbor's property. It attains about 10 feet high, and blooms beautifully, in Spring. Kalmia latifolia. On my own acres there are only one or two native bushes, but there are several purchases. One was at a ridiculously low price at season's end. Another blooms snow white and is budded up for the first time in years. And another, with no promising flower buds, is a creeping ground-cover, which is quite strange for a Mountain Laurel.

The commonest red-barked Japanese Maple is 'Sango Kaku', and I believe this dwarf form is a 'witches' broom' formation that was propagated from the common rangy sort.
It is the variety, Acer palmatum 'Fjelheim'.
It really did seem to suffer, and dead, gray twigs were cut out, as it is used to brighten up this Winter.
It will be kept out of sweeping, bitter winds and must be protected from completely drying out in the pot.
The wonderful museum and gardens, in Delaware, called Winterthur, had potted 'Sango Kaku' decorating their visitor center patio, one Winter, and in imitation, I keep this 'Fjelheim' in a pot. It can be moved from place to place to brighten the dull season.

The largest and oldest of the Winterberries on the property, is 'Sparkleberry'.
Because each berry-bearing female must have pollen from a Ilex verticillata male, that blooms on the same days. So the male variety, named 'Southern Gentleman', is planted nearby.

There was a photo of Hamamelis virginiana, the American Witch-hazel, in bloom, last month.
And this form ('Harvest Moon'), uncharacteristically, looses most of the leaves, before blooming. Usually, the little, spider-like blooms are hidden by the yellow Autumn leaves.
At any rate, one flower was open, on 12/20. My phone took a blurry photo.

Without doubt there are entire books on Hamamelis, the Witch-Hazels. And there is a new American species, just delineated. Yet they are unknown to many gardeners. My wife does not appreciate the un-flower-like little blooms. Too much like little spiders.
But there are so many sorts, most blooming in shades of yellow, orange or red. Most of mine bloom from late January on, depending upon the weather.
Since some are fragrant, they are nice near paths. They are positioned so that, from the house, the Sun is behind them. Or they are placed against a dark, evergreen background. Both placements will help to bring out the color.

Surely, with full Sun, Jasminium nudiflorum, the Winter Blooming Jasmine, can be a solid sheet of flowers. Mine get about half a day of Sun.

Anyone interested in Conservation should be aware of 'The Tragedy of the Commons'.
So it seems wrong taking greens for Christmas, but these are cultivated and wild plants on my own acreage, and less than any one year's increase is cut.

Low pressure systems, that bring rain or snow, spin counter-clockwise in this Northern hemisphere, so when systems pass North of this area, the warmer air, characteristic of the South, get drawn up over us. This explains this rather warm day and the bloom on Lonicera standishii.
The species should have a fine fragrance, but none was detected, today.

December 1-15, 2011

2011-12-01T08:31:00.015-05:00

12/1 I cannot recall if Lamium 'Herman's Pride' is evergreen, but both sorts seem to do well in cool weather. The other, Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' seems to melt away in the hottest, most humid months.
Herman's Pride is usually neat and compact, and blooms with partly hidden, lemon colored flowers, each Spring.
The gray leaved plant, to the right, is Lychnis coronaria 'Alba'. It makes a nice evergreen (evergray?) rosette, and sends out tall, lanky, blooming stems in Spring. I am tempted to cut off the flowering stems, as the plant resides in the rock garden.

The white Camellia is blooming, even after real frosts, but only one bud remains unopened.
I would get more sorts, after this one has exceeded expectations, but where to put any more is a real question. Hardy sorts seem to thrive here in zone 7a, but I have not put any where they would experience sweeping, bitter Winter winds.
Mine are on the North side of the pool deck or tall, evergreen native holly trees.

Beyond a touch of fanaticism, the Winterberry bushes have been covered with bird-barrier netting. After seeing perhaps a tenth of an acre of them, loaded with berries, at Longwood Gardens, and passing individual wild ones, completely red, it has been annoying to see mine stripped before Chrismas. For a minute I watched the robins, a few among hundreds roving, now, in their frustration with the netting. Each individual may learn to avoid the bush, but there are hundreds that must learn, individually. At any rate it works,(sorta)and my plans to have Christmas decorations, out-of-doors, are succeeding.
I do not believe even these hundreds of robins could strip the area at Longwood.

A hybrid Viburnum, whose fist sized blooms smell like baby powder, each Spring, is retaining these brilliant leaves. My best guess that it is V. carlesii 'Macrocephalum'. I am using a setting that emphasizes reds, on my little camera. Actually closer to accurate than other settings, with this red.

If this vigorous little Camellia was in a courtyard, a person could easily appreciate the slight color held by the many buds, all Winter. The best bloomer of the several sorts, here. C. 'Red Candles' seems unusually hardy.
One would suppose, since tea is in the same family, the leaves would over-caffeinate the tree crickets that chewed them.

One can depend that evergreens have strong repellent chemicals or they would never keep their leaves in Winter. And some go even further, with thorns. Deer are not a problem, presently, nor rabbits. Both are not common, currently. In the past, both have made pests of themselves. They avoid the plants I spray with liquid fence. A pair of Cooper's Hawks always seem to raise a family and often hang around, so they may get the rabbits. I have seen the common Red-tailed Hawk take off with full-grown squirrels, so rabbits would be no problem to them. I hear Barred and Great Horned Owls, (this being the mating season), and coyotes have moved in, in the last 3 or 4 years. The deer herd has been decimated by black tongue disease, and may not have been ready for the Coyotes. But starving deer will fill their stomach with anything. Even the local Red Cedar will be eaten, although I believe the chemicals in it kill off the forms of life in a deer's gut that help digest plant material for the deer. They starve and damage the forest, with their stomachs full of cedar.

Years ago, this Mahonia was planted. It may be M. 'Charity', although that sort seems to suffer, each Winter, on my property. Or it could be the species, M. beallii, which seems hardier. At any rate, as recently noted, it is coming into bloom for the first time.

I am, of course, still learning. I could not understand why what I thought was Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Rubra', shown here, looked so different from the regular yellow-flowered E. chrysantha sort I had growing here for years. The leaves are smaller, the branches thinner and the flower clusters slightly different. An on-line nursery was offering C. 'Rubra' that looked just like mine. They identified it as C. papyfera, not chrysantha. Papyfera, in keeping with rumors about a relative, Daphne, is supposed to die suddenly with little explanation. It has done just fine for several years for me.
My wife, several years ago, asked if the prominent, silvery buds were actually blooms. They will be noticable, all Winter, and open when Spring is just here.

The nearby ocean cools very slowly, so the worst of Winter is usually in January, Feb, and sometimes March. The Epimedium sulfureum remains good looking until then. Once the damage occurs I take out the string trimmer and clear all the shabby foliage away. The coming flowers will be easier to see and the ugly foliage gone. The only attention the plant needs.

Hoarfrost from overnight remains as an edge on each leaf, but will soon be melted by the Sun. Arctostaphylos ova-ursi 'Massachusetts' (a selection of Bearberry) is supposed to be adaptable to this warm, humid region. I know the species lines the roads in the pine barrens, just North of here. And I also know that I killed it when I put acid-soil fertilizer on it. Fertilizer designed for acid soil loving plants. It has really started to thrive and I never fertilize it, now. As I hoped, all the acid loving, low growing plants are all weaving together in a small area designated to them.

Frost is on Nandina domestica 'Harbor Dwarf'. It has never exceeded two feet in height, nor ever borne the berries characteristic of Nandina.
It would be a splendid, low, evergreen hedging plant.

Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' holds on to the leaves but it is easy, now, to see how it will brighten up the dull Winter days.

Almost every plant, I have learned about, that I think will survive in zone 7a and bloom in late Fall or Winter, has been moved in. I can think of Heather, and it might do okay, but demands full Sun, and that is uncommon on the property. Decent sized plant are available, but seem pricey. And the plant will grow, and splay out with a dead center, in time.
Some of the Winter blooming plants have been here for several years, and have yet to bloom.
I am convinced that if the temperature is above freezing, Mahonia 'Winter Sun' flowers will continue to expand. Amazing, still, after years of having the plant.

Ilex opaca, the common American Holly is loaded with berries. Half the trees have none, being male, but many females, deep in the woods, do not bear. They would need more Sun. The major understory tree on these acres and on hundreds of other acres in S. Jersey.
This is the real reason why huge flocks of Robins rove about all Winter.

Aside from the Mahonia, shown recently, another flower blooming in Winter, is Jasminium nudiflorum. I expect the flowers in January or February, but a few warm days have brought out a few of the inch wide, odorless flowers. The plant is not really a bush or vine, but a little of both. A tall mass of tangled branches composing a ground cover. I pulled some of them up onto the lattice around the pool. The long, lax branches root where they touch the ground, so I already have been able to move several small sprouts to other areas

A beautiful closeup was lost by me from both the camera and my files, so I have included a photo from another Jan. or Feb., past.

Another Cornus 'Midwinter Fire', I think!

The same plants are continually shown, and this one is a native of States south of here. Vaccinium crassifolia 'Well's Delight' is a particularly small leaved variety of this evergreen ground-cover. The name indicates it is related to the blueberry, but the tribe is much larger than people would expect, at first. Many species are native.

Nov. 16-30, 2011

2011-11-16T10:59:00.009-05:00

Nov. 16
Fothergilla 'Mt Airie' is beautiful in two seasons. The first is in Spring, loaded with bottle-brush shaped white flowers, and now. The leaves are fluorescent.

The green shrub, behind the Fothergilla is Lonicera fragrantissima, which stays quite evergreen in this zone 7a.
The other tree, with small orange leaves, is Amelanchier, of some species.
Amelanchier, of two species, are very common, locally. Also known as Shadbush, Shadblow and Sarvice or Serviceberry. This is possible A. canadensis, since it is 20 feet tall. A. stolonifera is also common, here, and I have planted two, myself.

Here the same sort of Fothergilla, not with Sun, is Fluorescent golden yellow.
In the back is another golden shrub that is here because it beats the Forsythia in blooming, each Spring.
It is Corylopsis pauciflora.

My collection does require patience. Last year (finally) Stachurus praecox 'Mixzuraki' formed a few flowering stems, which never bloomed. This year there are many.
The shrub has been here for perhaps 6-8 years.
The plant is unique in both the nature of the flowers and their timing.

I can expect that plants new to the property will bloom well in their first time here. They are grown so well. Then they sulk, for a while. Usually, they pick up, but it could be in a year of more.
Here this form of Hamamelis virginiana named 'Harvest Moon' is only producing a few spidery yellow flowers. Last year, as a new introduction, it bloomed predictably, and after most leaves had fallen. Usually, the common Eastern Witch-hazel blooms at this time, with the bloom hidden among the yellow leaves. This form usually sheds the leaves first, making the bloom easier to see.

It appears as if Mahonia 'Winter Sun' will bloom between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Enkianthus perulatus is a case in point. A splendid, beautifully grown little shrub, when purchased. Parts have died, but it should begin to thrive. Situated well, here, where the soil is acid and moist, and the plant is at the woodland edge. The flowers are attractive, but this Fall coloring is a good reason to have the plant. It is fluorescent red and eye-catching.

I expected the perennial Geranium 'Brookside' to just fade away, but it is taking on brilliant color.
The fine leaved plant behind it always colors and goes through most of the Winter with brilliant reds and oranges. It is Nandina domestica 'Harbor Dwarf' and, although and evergreen shrub, its height makes if fit into the area designated to perennials very well.

Actually a luminous golden color, Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' will be shown later, when the colored stems brighten dull Winter days.

I recall a cartoon in the New Yorker Magazine. Teachers are taught that there is never a question their students ask that should be classified as stupid. Then the cartoon shows a teacher saying, in response to a question from one student, in front of the class, 'There is no such thing as a stupid question, Timmy, but if there were...........
And so I come to this shrub, Dirca palustris. I think the common name is 'Wickopy'. A native plant, of real use to the Native Americans for basket making, as the twigs are tough and flexible. It is rare and may be the only species of its Genus. As the photo shows, it does not color beautifully, and has not bloomed so far. It was purchased, as many plants have been, because of its unusual bloom time. The flowers are tiny, and not colorful, but come early in Spring. There are few shrubs purchased by me, that seem of no ornamental value, but if there were.....................

Hamamelis 'Diane' will take on red tones, with full Sun, but I placed it near the back exit, with a background of a dark evergreen holly. The spider shaped little flowers look best back-lit by the Sun, or with a dark background. Quite a few of these large leaves will hang on into Winter. You can tell if you have a knowledgeable and fair minded supplier, if they will volunteer this one flaw in this beautiful Witch-hazel hybrid.

I believe this glowing red shrub is Cotoneaster apicularis, and it was placed next to the silvery-blue Arizona Cypress just for this brief contrast of the two.

At the other end of the property, the Cotoneaster apicularis 'variagatus' is changing, also. Generally, because each leaf has a white edge, the plant looks pinkish for a brief time.

Clockwise, the plants that might be of some interest are: at the top left Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink' and above the bucket, Corylopis gotoana. I did not expect much Fall color, but the plant's graceful growth, and flowers at the end of Winter make it a nice addition. Sort of covered with fallen leaves, the silvery evergreen, in the lower right, is Juniperus 'Silver Mist'. I am sure it would appreciate full Sun, as would the other silvery-blue evergreen to the lower left. That is J. squamata 'Blue Star'. Another two are the red-leaved low-bush blueberry clone called Vaccinium 'Red Carpet'. And, at the base of the half-barrel bucket, Arctostaphlos ova-ursi 'Massachusetts', the Bearberry.

Another Fothergilla on the property is a recently introduced clone of Mt. Aerie that is an unusual blue-gray in color. I think I recall that it was not suppose to color highly in Fall, but it is, actually, quite brilliant reddish gold, despite the dark photo.
The name F. 'Blue Shadow' comes to mind.

Zenobia pulverulenta 'Woodlander's Blue' may keep these brilliant Fall leaves into Winter, and, like the Witch-hazel hybrid 'Diane' it may not ever let loose of some until the new foliage comes on, next Spring.
Paghat's Garden is a magnificent and amazing website where she puts info. out about amazing numbers of plants, once and for all. I cycle with the seasons, repeating myself with the same plants, as they change and mature. So following, for a year or so, will show the same stuff and comments.
Zenobia has only one species, as far as I know, that is a S.E. USA native. A native of wetlands, it is doing fine here in part shade. Green and bluish forms exist, and if I can find a silvery, gray or blue leaved plant, I will try to get it.

Winterberry, Ilex verticillata 'Red Sprite' has lost its leaves, as have most other plants, in the last windy rain. Of the 6, nearby, this one is most heavily berried, being closest to the pollinating male.

November 1-15, 2011

2011-11-01T13:39:00.018-04:00

11/01

Camellia 'Autumn Moon'.

For the last week or so the native Dogwood, Cornus florida has been food for both the Gray Squirrels and a huge flock of Robins. To the point that most of the brilliant berries are gone.

The small, dark red shrub below the tree is also a Dogwood, but planted only for the winter twigs. Cornus 'Alleman's Compact'. The twigs are very dark red, like the leaves and only really show up in contrast to snow.
And, generally, these colored barked shrubs, of a number of species, like moist soil, not strongly acid, and my soil is just the opposite. I surmise that 'Alleman's Compact' would be a colony, by now, if it was in ideal conditions.

11/1 To this point, despite the first frosts, the flowers continue to develop on Mahonia 'Winter Sun'.
Another rather uncommon shrub, here, Osmanthus fragrans, has always waited for cool weather to bloom, but the weather has moved from almost consistently warm to sudden frost, so we will see if the bloom will be triggered.
I am waiting for two other Winter-flowering shrubs.
One is Stachyurus praecox, which, last year, formed a few flowering stalks that never amounted to anything. It has many, this year, and maybe these will bloom in latest Winter.
The other, also a Winter flowering shrub, is equally unusual in S. Jersey. That one is Chimonanthus praecox. I see no buds, so I will have to wait another year, at least.

Corydalis linstowiana 'Dufu Temple' is still blooming after two nights of frost. The inch long flowers are non-carrying blue, that is truer, in this cooler weather. Rock known as Pennsylvania Field Stone was incorporated in the house and extra pieces of a shiny type, called Mica Schist, were used to build the original tiny rock-garden. They were re-installed with new rocks, about a year ago.
The name I have used is Laurentia fluviatilis. Seems a good reason the green ground-cover was given the species name 'fluviatilis' by someone. It does seem to flow. The common name is 'Blue Star Creeper', but the actual and Scientific Name is in a state of chaos. It is also listed as Isoma fluviatilis. I have also seen it given the Genus name 'Pratia'. I recall it is evergreen in this 7a zone.

Frequently shown, Corydalis lutea really has not been a pest, here, although it is often described as that by others. C. 'Dufu Temple' has had the same reputation. I would appreciate some seeding around by both, next year.

The brilliant stems of this 'colored bark' Dogwood seemed so bright and red, and yet they look so unspectacular in the photo.
I have it listed a C. sericeae.

11/3 Dependably evergreen (or gray-green) Lychnis coronaria 'Alba' is a good addition to the rock-garden, but I prefer it never produce the tall flowering stems. They seem too tall for the area.
The seed is sure to sprout, and that can be good or bad.

Another fine, low-growing evergreen is Stokesia laevis. It is also very easy from seed.
For some reason, in the last 5 years or more there has been an expansion in the number of types available, but most of mine are from seeds purchased a lifetime ago. Just the native Species with little variation seen.

And two other that are dependably evergreen, here, are the shiny green Helleborus, and Campanula perscifolia. The C. persicolia (peach-leaved bellflower) was grown from seed and should bloom the normal blue-violet (of the particular clone called 'Telham Beauty) and another un-named sort that should bloom white.
I planted Telham Beauty, 30 years ago, and it lasted with considerable neglect for over 10 years. But these new ones were started last Spring.

Asarum splendens looks like it should be evergreen but it melts away, here in zone 7a, when Winter gets really bad.

And so does the European Ginger called Asarum europaeum, despite consistent description that the plant is evergreen. It is messy looking when hard Winter hits, here. Usually in January and Feb.

I assume this is the arrow-leaved native Ginger, and that it is not evergreen.

Two other ground-covers that are quite evergreen are Mazus, and the purple-green Ajuga. I, definitely, limit Ajuga, and keep the Mazus from climbing over the lining stones into the lawn.

Many of the shrubs are attaining a large size and are now in competition for room in the short border near the above-ground pool's deck. All the Viburnums have beautiful purple tones, but are here for the bloom. The Cornus 'Midwinter Fire', low by the grass, is a fine gold, but is, as said often, here for the brilliant Winter stems.

Pseudocamellia japonica. As with the Witch-hazels, Hamamelis', the positioning of this plant, in front of the evergreen native Holly brings out the coloring. In our woods, presently, orange trees are hardly a rarity. Holly is the commonest of understory tree on the property, and the real reason the Pseudocamellia is placed here is that it appears in the center window of the banks of casement windows at the end of the house addition.

Planted for the clear pink flowers, before the leaves, in Early Spring, Rhododendron mucronulatum 'Cornell Pink' has turned a clear golden color. The Winterberry is kept in a pot, so it can be moved around, but the leaves of these plants just seem to tarnish and fall.
And the blue little evergreen shows an extreme color contrast.
Juniperus squamata 'Blue Star' is very commonly sold, locally.

Visits to this blog, over a year, will reveal repeated comments and photos, with the seasonal changes. It is a good idea to buy the largest size shrub you can afford and handle. I recall a person, at a local nursery, buying a large and expensive (and beautiful) magnolia. He said he did not wish to wait for years. I will have to wait because I wanted a number of different plants and spent quite a bit on the variety. This little evergreen is Magnolia 'Bracken's Brown Beauty' and will have to grow several years before I can see it and before it will bloom.

11/10
In a day or so the European White Birch (Betula lenta?), has changed to its yellow.
A much longer lived tree than our local Gray Birch and, apparently, less likely to fall over.
This photo was taken through a front window.

Absolutely brilliant leaves glow on the Pseudocamellia. The little hardy Cyclamen will keep these patterned green leaves, turning black in deepest freezes and bouncing back at each thaw.

I recall, from childhood, the color of quince jelly, and Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur' takes on similar shades.
The Leucothoe 'Cherry Hills', to the right, provides contrast.

The local chokecherry shrubs, along the road, are as brilliant as my purchased Prunus arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima'.
The large golden leaves belong to the hybrid Witch-hazel, Hamamelis 'Jelena'.

The seed-grown Bergenia has endured for a generation, never taking on as much Winter color as appears to be coming, this year. My assumption is that it would thrive better in a cooler, less humid climate, but it certainly has been tenacious.
Usually, one or two stocky flowering stems come in early Spring.

A close match in color. The round-leaved plant is Viburnum carlesii 'Compactum', which blooms briefly but beautifully, each Spring. In the Garden Web Forums people ask about plants whose odors carry on the air. V. carlesii is one. I enjoy it at a distance, as it is powerful. The Oak-leaved Hydrangea blooms and the flowers change from white, in Spring, through pink to wrapping paper brown. I can't be bothered trimming them off, so they will hang all Winter.

The last roses of Summer actually endured some light frost and were taken in around 11/9. Both are old varieties that may be superseded now. Disease has not been a problem and insects have been controlled,
but being in the woods prevents day-long Sun.
My wife cuts them and brings them in as soon as the buds seem ready to open.

The coral color is the beautifully scented 'Tropicana' and the yellow is 'Forty-niner'.
I call them hybrid tea roses, and have never looked up what 'Grandiflora' or 'Multiflora' mean.

September 16-30, 2011

2011-10-16T10:21:00.018-04:00

Camellia 'Autumn Moon'.

Part of gardening is anticipation. The Digitalis, or Foxglove requires planting the seed, potting each up and getting them big enough to fend off weeds, before finally putting them in the ground. All for a two or three week blooming period. I am sure they re-occur in some gardens from fallen seed, but that does not seem to happen here.
But this year the evergreen plants are larger than ever and have always wintered perfectly. So the show should be the best, ever, next Spring. Biennials require saving some of the seed for an extra year, so bloom comes every Summer. Mine are never the match of the same sort, at Longwood Gardens. The plants were five feet tall. Quite amazing.

Aconitum, and my little camera has reported the color fairly accurately.

Arum italicum 'Marmoratum', shown above, has never become the pest alleged. And the fragile looking foliage endures the Winter perfectly. The fine looking Lamb's Ears often just turns black and rots away, returning bigger and better each Spring. So the Arum occupies the spot in the alternate Season.
A nursery, with a overwhelming list of available plants, sent the clone pictured to the left. This single, 4 inch long leaf showed up. Good thing they gave me a price cut, as most of what they sent was pathetic.
But Arum italicum is a sturdy, vigorous and easy plant, so a beautiful colony may be here, someday.
The plant place is in the upper mid-West and the people are plant fanatics.
Takes one to know one.

Potted up so it can be used somewhere among my wife's Christmas decorations, on the porches.
One of the Winterberry Holly sorts, Ilex verticillata 'Hagandoon'.

The pot was left near the appropriate male, and the results are fine.

Cyclamen hederacea. This is white-flowered with pewter markings on the leaves.
Far easier to grow, under deciduous shade, then I imagined. The main problem is other, taller and more aggressive plants taking up the space in the late Spring and Summer months, when neither the leaves nor flowers are seen. An emphasis has been placed on having plants to dress the place up in the dead of Winter and these patterned leaves are a definite plus.
Great plants for a small garden where they can be viewed close up, they come in all sorts of patterns and shades of silver or pewter.

Anemone japonica 'Honorine Jobert'.

Buddlea weyeriana 'Honeycomb' with a Monarch butterfly that has been hanging around for a day or so. The host plant, a Milkweed, Asclepias tuberosa bloomed on the woodland edge, as it does each Summer, but I did not see any caterpillars, this year. This butterfly, for all I know, could be moving down from Canada.

Being familiar with the little African Violet relative called Achimenes, a selection of different colors were ordered.
Very small corms arrived, looking like tiny, tan, unopen pinecones. And they did badly, suffering from the soil I put them in. Previous posts showed the violet blue species called Mexicana, and a pink hybrid paler than this one . Such easy plants, they suffered because of my taking too much on.
As the weather cools I will leave them where they get no water. Then I can dump the soil out and sort through for the corms.
I will just store them in a dry cool place for next Spring.

On a return from an unrelated errand I stopped, once again, to search unsuccessfully for the rather rare plant called the Rattlesnake Plantain. No spectacular flowers on the tiny wildflower, but nice patterned evergreen leaves. But I did find the more common Pipsissewa maculata, that blooms with fragrant waxy white flowers late in Spring.
The Spotted Wintergreen, which actually does not have spots.

And the entire White Pine plantation has a ground cover of the Partridge Berry, Michellia repens. This plant is very common on my own property and is unusual for these wintergreen flavored twinned berries.

This little evergreen fern is the Ebony Spleenwort. It would seem like a good addition to a shady place in a rock garden.

The best laid plans o' mice and men gay aft aglay.
And I have made great surmises and guesses about the White Pine plantation. It is next to a boat works, that has long since stopped building wooden boats. Their main income seems to be catering to owners of fiberglass boats, going fishing, and Winter storage of the same.
But I surmise some hopeful owner, long ago, planted the plantation as a direct source of wood for boat building a century ago. But the trees that looked so beautiful until this year seem to be dieing off. There are signs on the road, in the area, about pine beetle spraying and many species seem affected.

And I go further, without really knowing, that the dead pines, useless now, that are cut down, would only have fallen into the roadway that they edge.
White Pines, like many trees, must have a life span which might explain the deaths, but I suspect they could have gone on for another century.
They are not native to S. Jersey, but this was a magnificent grove and beautiful, until this year.

After many years, and telling about it, each Fall, I am still amazed that Mahonia 'Winter Sun' starts to bloom now. And the buds will grow rapidly, even with cooler and cooler days. It has never bloomed, with huge clusters, like it does in zones 8 and 9, but these two inch long clusters should get 8 inches long. Last week they were not in sight.

Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' has done very well, growing rapidly. And at this late date it is in bloom, ripening berries, and changing to yellow leaves, all at once.
Only here because the leafless branches will add color in the dreary days to come. They already are yellow, shading to red.

This photo does not show the brilliance that the stems have already achieved. It is Cornus 'Arctic Sun'. And, for some reason, this plant is growing at one third the speed of the various 'Midwinter Fire' specimens.

Mahonia 'Winter Sun', just shown above, is not the only one on the property, but the rest, with dry, acid sand and light shade, are growing only a little faster than a concrete garden sculpture. This little one has a few flowers coming, and I did not record what sort it is.

These three shrubs complement each other and face down the woods. Vigorous clumps of a native grass, shown often in the blog, actually were too big, and have been moved. The gray-green Cotoneaster is more easily seen. C. apicularis 'Variagatus', if I recall correctly.
The little Winterberry is covered with a bird net, as I see no reason to grow it if I cannot have the berries in the dead of Winter. The woods are already noisy with a huge flock of Robins, presently eating the Dogwood and Sourgum berries. The shiny green shrub is Viburnum prahgense. Spelling is always iffy.

Eunomys alata makes the most spectacular hedge for a few weeks and is easy, the rest of the year, but I have no interest, here. But a form called E.alata 'compacta' was available and is in a pot, to be taken away during all the months is is not worth seeing.

The island bed is still in bloom. I have yet of figure out why the pink in the Roses 'Blushing Knockout' is so washed out in the photos. Not even light frosts seem to completely stop them.

A fine place to sit, on a warm Winter's day, and get away from things. But I figured out why I enjoy vacation houses and public or private gardens elsewhere. Nothing I see, there, needs my tending or fixing.

A good crop of Kale that will taste sweeter after frost has hit.
The commonly offered Scottish sort, that is shorter and blue in color.

Gelsemium rankinii is not common in gardens. While G. sempervirens is evergreen in my 7a zone, G. rankinii blooms very briefly, resembling sempervirens, but does not seem evergreen.

A plant of the swamps in the South that deserves a place, here. Still in the pot, after a year or so, needing a decision.

In illustration of what I call 'Japanese Gardener Syndrome', every time I looked, recently, at this edge of the path, all I saw were burgeoning Violets, that were overwhelming the Winter leaves of some Spring bulbs.
Probably an hour or more digging it all up and sorting out and replanting the bulbs, with hopes for Spring.
As nice as the Violets are, in bloom, they are rank and undesirable the rest of the year. They will be severely limited, but never gone.

Eragrostis elliotii, in this grey-green form, is much taller and broader than I knew, when I ordered it.
Here for several years, it has been moved to make other plants easier to see. It can stay in this spot for many years.

After years of constantly including it in this blog, I still cannot pass Cupressus arizonica 'Blue Ice' without a publishing a picture. Just one branch, caught by the Autumn Sun.
A hardy, wind resistant evergreen, with the more Sun the better. Very fast growing.

Beautiful coloration is spreading over the little Pseudocamellia japonica tree. Ideal for the small patio or courtyard, where it can be viewed up close. But, in contrast to the Camellia, currently in bloom, the flowers lasted only about a day, when they bloomed at June's end. Away for 10 days, I missed them all.

As you read about plant origins and where various clones of a plant have come from, certain names keep showing up. Yinger and Avent being among several. And this plant is one selected by Tony Avent. Edgeworthia chrysantha 'Snow Cream' is supposed to be more vigorous than the typical form, that has been here for years.
The plant was purchased from my favorite nursery, about an hour north of here. With my zone being slightly warmer, almost anything I buy, there, will survive here.

October 1-15, 2011

2011-10-01T10:26:00.066-04:00

For some reason Gaylussachia brachycera is blooming again. I cannot see how the huckleberries will ripen, before frost. The box huckleberry really thrives, here, but was originally found in a small area of S. PA and neighbor States, on acid shales. One of the World's rarer plants.

This Carex, or Sedge is new and I hope I have put it where it will thrive. Shade with a little Sun, and soil that is never bone dry. The blue tinge does show in the photo. C. 'Blue Satin'.
From my favorite nursery, but I try to keep any commerce or politics out of this blog.

Part of a very available woodland edge, faced down with plants placed for contrast, a shield from seeing neighboring houses and color in every season.

The white Japanese Anemone has been so easy and did so well that I thought I would get this newer, double pink form. Anemone japonica 'Mont Rose', I believe. And still in the pot.
both my wife and daughter like pink flowers, so a division will go to my daughter's house, for some shady spot with reasonable moisture in the soil.

Anemone japonica 'Honerine Jobert' again.

In the photo below, one single, almost microscopic flower is blooming out of season. The plant is Laurentia fluviatilis, but is offered under many Scientific Names, which defeats the whole purpose of such Scientific Nomenclature. Giving each species one, universally published name, is meant to allow for sensible communication. We should all know what plant we are talking about.
The plant died out, suddenly, in the spot where I put it, and has crept among the rocks, nearby, either from surviving bits or seed. A fine show of flowers in Spring and evergreen behavior, at least in this zone 7A, last Winter.

The color is almost accurate. A little too true blue.
Tradescantia virginica, in various clones, is too successful, here, and barely tolerated. Rank foliage that blooms from Spring to frost. Each flower lasts one day. It seeds around, but starves to death when I cut or rip leaved to the ground. It might take two or three such attacks to kill it.
Just enough here, now, that its beauty can be appreciated.
A great plant for some shade, in moist soil. A flowering weed of a plant that will take over from other weeds.

By contrast, if I have such an area, I would much prefer this beautiful oriental Asarum splendens, shown below. And my colony is really starting to take off. I will have to get the Woodbine or Virginia Creeper out. Talk about weeds!

Viburnum pragense is growing very slowly, here. The glossy leaves will not hang down like bassett ears, in the middle of Winter. One of its parents has that flaw.
It was put there to block a view, when most of the trees are bare.

The white Aster is a native that is everywhere where the property is not carefully tended.
The great grey-green clump of weeping love grass is bound to be moved. Native, but seldom in this unusual color.

The wild Turkeys are amazingly shy. Super wary, with amazing eyesight and hearing. The first photo is through the partly closed shutters. If I had opened them, the turkeys would be gone.
Our local deer are rarer, now, from both 'black tongue' disease, and, I suspect, the recently arrived Coyotes. They were not in S. Jersey until the last few years. They must get Turkeys, also. Wary and strong fliers, the big birds still need time to get off the ground. And, of course, the poults cannot fly, at first

Hypericum hookerianum. In some literature this is described as invasive. The two inch wide flowers have not made seed capsules, here. Perhaps in time. The tall, ground-cover type, H. kalmianum is close, so there might be hybridization.

H. hookerianum seems a smaller growing plant, with smaller flowers, than the more common H. patulum ' Hidcote'. And in the confused literature some are listing H. hookerianum 'Hidcote'.

The old Edgeworthia chrysantha has recuperated from nearly dying from drought, a Summer ago. I had to cut it to the ground at that time. So it is good to see flower buds on it. The silver is dew.
10/11

These pale violet Asters are blooming in half-shade, and have wandered here for years. Too tall for my taste, and just like clumps I see at the side of the road, locally. Any I would add to the small perennial area would be put into sunken pots. Then I might have to re-pot, every two or three years, to keep them vigorous. I have lost patience with any perennials that are happy wanderers, and Asters definitely are.

The tall Japanese Anemones, shown below, wander also, but quite slowly. Moving into better light, with time.

Camellia 'Autumn Moon' had formed a few buds, and because another Camellia, 'Red Candles' had done the same, I assumed this bush, like 'Red Candles' was a Spring bloomer. I thought it was the one called 'Red Jade'. Red Jade and Autumn moon are side by side. But the buds swelled and this first one opened.

Here is another plant that is growing amazingly slowly. It might prosper in soil less acid.
Well advertised, years ago, but seldom mentioned, lately. Microbiota discussata, and described as an evergreen that is fairly tolerant of shade.
It does turn a rust color in Winter. So it is not really an evergreen!

The Colchicum 'Waterlily' has put out this last bloom.

Cyclamen hederacea will go all Winter beneath the Pseudocamellia tree, taking advantage of Sun that cannot reach the ground until then.
I chose the less common white-flowered form, and there is also a choice regarding leaf patterns and colors, for a real collector. Some individual plants can have almost solid silvery or pewter leaves.

Another shade-tolerant evergreen, that is also growing so slowly I am amazed. It is the Plum Hew, Cephalotaxus harringtonia, but in the lower, 'Prostrata' form.
Over the years, in each photo published, it and the Microbiota have looked almost unchanged.

Several of the new additions to the renovated rock-garden have died, either quickly or slowly.
But this one, often offered in local markets, looks like it will survive. Winter may do it in. It is the alpine geranium, Erodium reichardii 'Charm'.
The heavy bloom is in Spring, but I know of no plant that delivers a 'Swan Song' before it dies. This inch wide bloom, on the ground-hugging plant, is an indication of health.

Callicarpa of some variety. Three sorts were ordered before I ever started this blog, and I did not care about saving the names. I assume this is an easily grown shrub, and my only problem is that it is hard to find a spot that is not already occupied. The shrubs have wilted without added water, here. Even in their half-shade location. The soil is very sandy.
Still, I would like some elsewhere on the property. As Fall continues, it is my plan to take cuttings and use rooting compound. Plants can still put out roots while temperatures are above freezing, without such problems as hot dry air and strong Sun. Just an experiment.

A few strangely shaped flowers on the Aconitum or Monkshood. Bonemeal is a must for this plant, in this garden.
But, with that supplement, the plant seems very enduring.
Probably the most commonly grown sort.

The knockout Rose, 'Blushing Knockout' blooms as 6 5x5foot bushes, from the middle of Spring until after the first frosts. And, in this humid climate, black-spot and pest free. I make an exception to that with the Japanese Beetles, but they have been controlled well for the past several years.

Bellamcanda, the Blackberry Lily has formed the seeds. Another super-easy plant. Originally found in a seed catalog, they no longer list it. It is the dwarfer sort shown earlier this year called 'Freckles'.

Sept. 16-30, 2011

2011-09-17T13:49:00.019-04:00

This Colchicum is, actually, the sort called 'Waterlily', and it does bear a resemblance.
Reported as a hybrid between C. autumnale 'Alboplenum (a double white) and C. speciosum 'Album',(also white), it is lilac pink. This, on the surface, seems to challenge principles learned in fundamental Genetics. Of several photos posted, to replace older ones, this latest shows the color best, with more bloom from the one bulb. 9/19

Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur'. More and more berries will turn the dark blue.

The obscure little Euonymus is doing well in the renovated rock garden. The leaves are the size of a child's fingernail. I always have called it 'Broxensis', assuming it came, originally, from the N.Y. Botanical Garden. It meets the description of the form called 'Kewensis' very nicely, and that would mean it had a British origin.

The view from our dining table. A friend, who says he ends up counting the holes in the pegboard at his mower repair shop, each Fall, must be happy, as the lawn needs mowing more than once a week, with all the rain.

9/22 On the last day of Summer, Viburnum mariesii has started to color up.

And this is the first year that Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet' has really taken on good color. And garnet red is a good description of the color. The other plants were described and shown recently. A similar labelled photo will follow, as some readers might like to guess what plants are shown.

I did not ever recall that I had grown both the blue and the white Platycodon that I gave away. It is easy to see why the plant has a common name of 'Balloon Flower'.

Probably Ilex verticillata 'Sparkleberry', it is one of the 'Winterberry' varieties. I suppose the heavy berry yield is the result of the male pollen producer being within six feet.

Aronia arbutifolia 'Brilliantissima'.
Actually to add color to the woodland border, in Fall. Some sorts of this native were improved as food in Europe, like the sort called 'Viking'

An amazing plant, Veronica 'Goodness Grows' has not stopped blooming since Spring.

Anemone japonica 'Honorine Jobert' is one of the first plants I purchased, and it has been growing, basically with no coddling, for over 40 years. Able to grow 6 feet tall, with stems that have never needed help. They are on the North side of a vine-covered fence, sheltered from intense Sun, strong wind and parched soil.
In this garden, the plant has hardly wandered from the spot where it was planted.

A full-grown Virginia Pine began to list so much that it was likely it would come down. That would have been an inconvenience, but not a danger, if it did not come down just as a car passed under it. I cut it down and had to cut it all into sections, as it was blocking one side of the circular exit drive.
Without a chipper, I was left with a pile of branches. To hide the mess, I am looking for a vine. The little pest of a morning glory, with its beautiful inch and half wide flowers would work. At least in the Summer. Ipomea hursuta, I think, and from a highly respected British seed house.
A rampant little monster.

A vastly more expensive solution would be a vigorous mass of Clematis armandii. Close by, there is one, that is beautiful all 12 months of the year. The white, vanilla-scented flowers bloom briefly, and are worth the wait. I would have to look around to see if any rooted extensions are at the base of the old post it is covering. Or I could try rooting some cuttings. Seldom have tried that.

Another choice, good for the light shade of the area is the Hydrangea Vine 'Moonlight'. It is not evergreen, but the foliage is beautiful.
The one, here, is on the low fence built to hide the trash cans, ladders and other utilitarian stuff.

The little rock garden had been totally the domain of weeds, and, in frustration, anything of value was potted up, and the area was sprayed with weed killer. When it appeared that there were none left, rocks were purchased, added to the existing ones, and the area was replanted. There are many weeds, and have been, but they are not in control.
Part of the solution seems to be vigorous, successfully growing choices, able to compete with the weeds. But it is among the most labor intensive parts of the garden.
To the right are the fresh leaves of Arum italicum, whose emergence coincided exactly with the start of Fall. The Lamb's Ears may melt away, in the Winter, and the Arum will take the place, until into next Spring.

It looks as if the new Autumn Fern will do well in the area where the gray-green Japanese Painted Fern has been. The Autumn Fern has some new, mahogany colored leaves.

Cotoneasters are used as landscaping on many commercial properties and, like Viburnums, are a vast tribe. This one, I believe, is C. apicularis 'variagatus'. I always have to check. Generally giving a grey-green cast. Many have attractive fruit and some are evergreen. I do not have room in the cultivated areas for any more, but there is hardly a garden where some sorts would not suit.

The shiny Viburnum, to the left, is V. pragense, a hybrid originating in Prague.

Shown, recently, this Cotoneaster is called 'Tom Thumb' and is also deciduous, like the one above.
Beautiful Fall colors are a plus.

This is called 'Mooncreeper'.

This type of morning glory relative is called the Cypress Vine. Without looking at my records, I do know it belongs to that morning glory genus, Ipomea. The finely divided foliage is reason for the common name. The flower is a true red, but only a half inch across. The vine has never grown taller than about 8 feet, for me. An annual, and I am hoping it is no too late for seeds to form, as I have none for next year.

Buddlea weyeriana 'Honeycomb' was attracting a Buckeye Butterfly. And I wanted to get the photo, but the butterfly was too alert. Last year I was successful, but the butterfly had been drinking the juice of fermented wild black cherries, that were littering the driveway. It was definitely not alert.

But I did get a photo from a distance. Enlarging the image makes it less than crystal clear.

The butterfly landed on a different flower head. And it is interesting that, when I approached it, it flew away, even while a mature Praying Mantis was two inches away, acting like a hanging leaf.
I suppose I saved the butterfly from the mantis.
And that incident shows that predatory insects may be helpful to gardeners, but they do not discriminate in their food. I had seen one with a Black Swallowtail, last week.

I seldom prune any of the Clematis, but if a gardener does, there is a system they should follow, depending upon a classification system.
So it is good to know if the particular sort belongs to group I, or II.
This is the sort called 'Ramona', but I do not know what group it belongs to. At any rate, I sometimes get sheets of flowers, briefly, in Spring, and a very few until frost.

September 1-15, 2011

2011-09-04T10:06:00.059-04:00

Labor Day is treated as a patriotic holiday by my wife, and flags and a bunting are up.
The photo is blurry, but shows a few interesting things. An iron compound has limited the action of slugs that find the sweet potato vines too appetizing. This year the Caladiums never grew big. It is interesting to see the annual variation.

The bamboo stakes are put in the pot, around the edges, and are bent and wired together at the top.
Like every gardener, I have plans for next year, and Ipomea 'Heavenly Blue' will be grown like this. When a greenhouse was available to me, I started the morning glories in late January. They bloomed in a timely manner, then. Starting them in an unheated seed box, out-of-doors, results in bloom by later August.

This fine group of little Cyclamen hederacea is blooming in deep shade. But I know most of the shade is the product of deciduous shrubs, and the Cyclamen leaves will gather light, all Winter. The leaves will soon show up. They are the blooms of one corm, that may be dinner-plate sized, by now.

Corydalis 'Dufu Temple' was described as vigorous and liable to seed around, like C. lutea.
I have seen no seedlings, but some cool nights have made it bloom more.
It never stopped blooming, from
Spring planting.

The 'Carefree Rose' designed with yellow blooms was purchased very early in Spring, blooms unseen. It has continued to bloom well, but the pale yellow blooms fade to cream immediately. Improvements may come. No black spot, no other problems, to date.

Buddlea 'Honeycomb' has a scattered number of these small flower heads. I believe this hybrid originated in Scotland.

The corner of the auto parking area does not have much color, at this time. Part of the little area designated for perennials and part of the little rock garden are shown. There are no annuals. They would still be blooming. There are no Asters. A tall type wanders, close by, but until I can put them in containers, like the Physiostegia, and Monarda, I will keep them out. They wander too much. The Monkshood has not budded and the Japanese Anemone is just budding up.

The evergreen Berberis 'William Penn' cannot be recommended to highly. Fresh looking at almost any time of year.

Newly planted, this Spring, the Buddlea 'Blueberry Cobbler' will, I expect, become huge, like the white one shown often here.

The native Passionflower vine,Passiflora incarnata, in this rarer white-flowered form, has been shown several times. I suspect, like many vines brought in, it may need determined control. The sweet odor was noticed for the first time, as I passed by. The humid, warm air may be the reason. Have no idea if other people would like the smell. I don't, but another person might think it is wonderful. I guess it only matters if the pollinating insects like it.

Tucked into some neglected corner, the old-fashioned cottage garden perennial goes on and on.
Another plant that may be around generations after someone planted it and the house is, actually, only a foundation. It is, I believe, Sedum telephium, but is called the 'Live Forever'. Pink flowers are no great favorite, but this one was chosen because it changes into a seasonally appropriate terracotta color.
Now that the main little perennial bed was cleared of weeds and unwanted plants, it could be moved there and provide a nice contrast.

Trying to show the change in color on the berries of Viburnum nudum.
9/1

9/14

Eragrostis elliotta, in a particularly grey form, has formed these huge clumps and will be moved, while dormant, this Winter. There is room for it, in other places, while it is crowding on other plants.

A common weed, locally, the plant called the golden aster is fine for the garden. The flowers are about an inch wide and the plant loves full Sun. Chrysopsis marilandica has come back to this corner of the woodland border for many years. This despite the lack of full Sun. Poor soil and drought do not seem to deter the plant, and, while my other true Asters will not stop wandering, it has stayed put.

This plant has sprawled out and laid on the ground, but in the neighborhood, with more Sun, it stands up.
But mine are doing well enough that others are finding their way into the same woodland border, just from seed, I suppose.

I saw the very different foliage of this Colchicum in Spring and knew it was something I had planted, but forgot what bloom might come.
If this plant blooms or increases I will get more.

There is a double form called 'Waterlily', and a rarer double white that I have grown in pots, but never kept going successfully. They could be put in the ground, if the one shown continues.

The pods of the hyacinth Bean, Dolichos labab, seem as decorative as the blooms.

I always get a few seeds for next year and the plants become among so many dozens I try to keep going.
Super easy, as many large seeded annuals can be.
A short vine that, en mass, puts on an excellent show.

The berries are already decorative on the Winterberry Holly, Ilex verticillata. This is a dwarf form, 'Red Sprite'. A male is nearby. Among 6, the ones closest to the male have the most berries. As often repeated, here, only certain male clones bloom at a time that coincides with the bloom of each female clone of Ilex verticillata.

This most ordinary looking shrub is, in my opinion, at the limits of its range. People say it will do well in zone 6, but last Winter was rough on it. Many of the evergreen leaves were damaged. It is Osmanthus fragrans 'Auriantica', the hardiest variety.
A shot of the predicted cooler weather should provoke, almost miraculously, a spate of flowers. The odor is amazing and can fill the air near it.

I have never failed to grow Platycodon from seed, but the plants only succeed, here, if kept in pots. I blame the voles that may eat the roots in Winter, or Winter soil that is too wet. Either, or both. Several plants were given to a neighbor, and they strengthened and did wonderfully, in the ground.
That renter moved and I renovated the front area, so the plants are now in pots, here.
There are so many, and they are so strong, that I will put some in the ground, where I think water might not effect them, in Winter.

Another Achimenes of a pale salmon pink. Drought must have affected the leaves, or too much Sun, but the plant is blooming like crazy, now. Really hot weather is not preferred.
An underused little corm from tropical America.

Shown recently, this hardy Cyclamen hederacea is blooming like crazy. Sold as 'white with silver foliage', it is, actually, palest pink.

9/15 Despite the constant posting, I do have a life and interests beyond gardening, and am sometimes surprised. A neat, well organized and diligent gardener would never be surprised by plants showing up. The Cosmos were not even planted, but came up at the vegetable garden edge from seed. I had planted some, several years ago.

It is my opinion that a person should buy big plants, if possible. I seldom like to spend the money. As a mail order, little rooted cutting, Euonymus 'Woolong Ghost' has been very, very slow in catching on. I suppose it will, as so many plants I plant act just like it. Even some that turn out to be overwhelmingly vigorous.

Lonicera sempervirens follows a massive Spring bloom with a sparse parade until after frost.
This is the form 'John Clayton'.

L. sempervirens 'Magnifica' acts the same. Perfectly adapted to the Ruby-Throated Hummingbird, and constantly visited.

The double Impatiens, sometimes called 'Rosebud Impatiens' are carried over the Winter inside.

August 2011

2011-08-01T16:48:00.025-04:00

Physiostegia virginica, as confined to a large pot, and sunk in the ground, has bloomed. I will be watching to see if runners grow over the rim. While 'Miss Manners' is a sort that is supposed not to wander, it has, I think, pink blooms. Not always my choice.

I noticed the blue-green in Edgeworthia chrysantha, and it does have a semi-tropical look.
Little is said that has not been mentioned, before. This plant nearly died while I was away, last year, but has recuperated. It struggles without a good, even supply of water.

This year, while we were away, the person who watered the gardens did not pick the beans. They were just right for picking.
Deer or rabbits ate them all. Several rows have been planted, and, while they are not blooming, a disgusting smelling spray is applied, after each heavy rain. The beans grown, here, are far better than the ones readily available in the market. And I hope to look for the sort called 'dragon tongue' which receives praise, each time it is served up.

Easily grown from seed, Kosteletzkya virginica blooms down by the brackish watered local creek. A pot was planted and the leggy plants are three feet tall, with two inch wide flowers.

Seldom is any effort made at propagation of trees or shrubs, but 6 small Cupressus arizonica 'Blue Ice' are being tended. They have doubled in size, since last year.

The best of the cuttings will replace this tree, which, unfortunately, is now too large for this corner of the property. Perhaps I can find someone who could use it, this coming Christmas, in their decorating. The Arizona Cypress is not that common a garden tree in South Jersey, so I was surprised to see branches used in my favorite local restaurant, one Season. A florist might have, theoretically, had some shipped in from some other part of the country.

8/4 The Anise Swallowtail caterpillars are being left alone, finally.
I did keep them away, while the Dill was being used, but it went to bloom, and was not so useful.
Found out, on 8/16, after seeing the adult emerge, that the butterfly is the Eastern Black Swallowtail, Papilio polyxenes.

Parsley is doing well in a big pot, and my wife uses it several times a week.

Rosemary and Thyme, in this small planter, are enough, since they are seldom used like the parsley.

Since Basil is used a great deal, a window box is full of that. It is going to bloom, and that ends a great deal of usefulness, but I pick the buds off.

Absolutely powder blue, the Cunninghamia lancelata 'Glauca' contrasts with the other surrounding plants.

The Winterberry Holly, Ilex verticillata, has all these berries, this year. The bush shown is one of a half dozen, here, of the dwarf clone called 'Red Sprite'. It would be nice to have the berries on the shrubs, for Christmas. Longwood Gardens, in SE PA, has many, so they may be more than the Robins can eat. My few might well be cleared of berries by Midwinter.

This is the earliest, I can recall, for the bloom of Lycoris squagmira, the 'Nekked Ladies' or 'Mystery Lily'. I do recall the leaves in earliest Spring. Since then, the surrounding shrubs have leafed out. An easy and enduring plant, and the most hardy of all the Lycoris.

Really almost blood red and cotton candy pink, these two sorts of dinner plate sized Hibiscus blooms just outside the wall of the above ground pool. They were an advertised collection on QVC and my wife liked them. Several, but not all, are doing very well. These perennial Hibiscus are so late to emerge, each Spring, that they, also, can be deceiving, and something else could well be planted right where they are still dormant.
The ones I lost could not tolerate the dry sandy soil, and needed more frequent water than they got.

The yellow Hibiscus chinensis has 4 or 5 blooms at any one time.

A good crop of Spaghetti Squash.

In the rock garden this especially short growing example of Belamcanda chinensis 'Freckles' has bloomed later than the others.

In some obscure corner the shrubby Clematis heracleifolia has been blooming for a few weeks. A dusty lavender shade.

Lathyrus latifolia 'White Pearl' has bloomed for months, now. Super easy from the seeds that will soon form

Some tarnish from Japanese Beetles is on many of the blooms of the Hibiscus syriacus ( Rose-of-Sharon). This bush is weighed down as the scrambling hardy passionflower vines climb on it. Locally, a huge garden is maintained and admission required. Separate themed gardens are set in the forest at distinct differences. Each garden based upon a different color. Each has its feisty little pair of hummingbirds, ready to noisily defend from others. In such a situation the passionflower vine could be set and controlled. Otherwise it would romp all over and just be a pest. Many more of these unique, filimented flowers are developing on the Passion Fruit vines. They are about two inches wide, with a peculiar scent.

8/6 Apparently the same caterpillar shown a few photos ago has formed it's chrysalis, to go through metamorphosis.
Most likely a black colored Anise Swallowtail.
Quite amazing, in that it constructed a silk sling, to hang from, just before it entered this stage. it is not resting and all sorts of stuff is being re-arranged.
Not home free, a Praying Mantis may get it, as it emerges. It may not wait until next Spring, but then, how the adult would get through the brutal Winter is a mystery. I know some species tuck themselves into tree crevices and make it.

There are several races of Arum italicum. Mine was purchased as 'Marmoratum' for the strong variagation in the Winter leaves. I assume most bear these same brilliant berries. I planted some, quite carelessly, to see if any seedlings will be different from 'Marmoratum'. Generally, the felted leaves of the 'Lamb's Ears' will be gone, when the colony of Arum is at its best.

The perennial Leadwort, with the impossible name of Ceratostigma plumbiginoides, is advertised as having cobalt blue flowers. Really more violet-blue than this photo shows, but impressive, despite the half inch span of each flower. Spelling if always iffy if I use my memory.

Cleome 'Helen Campbell's Snow Crown' opens a new ring of flowers each evening and those wilt by the next afternoon. Moths must be attracted each night.

The form of native honeysuckle Lonicera sempervirens 'Magnifica' follows a massive Spring display with occasional weaker re-bloom. A great favorite of the Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. They are the only species that are native, here.

8/16 Was able to see other photos and this is an Eastern Black Swallowtail Butterfly, Papilio polyxenes. The empty chrysalis case is still hanging by the silk sling.

Much sooner than I had imagined, the adult butterfly emerged and, after pumping up the wings, and drying off, it flew away.

For about 4 years, differently colored individuals of the 4 O'Clock, Marvel of Peru, or Jalapa miribilis bloomed at the side of the backyard path.

Only this one showed up this year, so I will be looking to start a number, next Spring.

Super easy, with large seeds, but I want other colors so seed will not be saved from this plant. The plants produce large sweet potato looking roots, and are quite perennial.

By the side of the old above ground pool, this really big Buddlea it thriving. Always with butterflies.
It is cut to a foot from the ground, but comes back with vigor.

The main little area for perennials was weeded out. Once again I see how 'carefree' perennials are anything but.
The happy wanderers, like Physiostega and Monarda have been relegated to large pots. Ajuga, periwinkle and the evil little double-flowered Potentilla were rooted out, along with grass and applemint, where I could. Many years of lack of care. The root mulch is down and the perennials I really value are not so crowded. This little corner, shown, is repeatedly planted with the biennial Foxglove. I think I did not start any, last year, and failed to save seed from the white strain I had for years. This strain has a number of colors, and is sold as Digitalis 'Glittering Prizes'.
Evergreen, here in zone 7a, they should bloom well in this corner. Bright shade and some brief Sun, each day.

Below, the seashore juniper really has developed some extreme silver. A plant, I suppose, for full Sun, but here it just gets about half a day. It is the form sold as 'Silver Mist'. Winding in among the Juniper is the bearberry, Arctostaphylos ova-ursi 'Massachusetts'. With new mulch burying some long growth on the bearberry, I may be able to get some new plants, in a year or so.

Veronica 'Goodness Grows' has bloomed non-stop, and flopped down, as it gained height.

Geranium 'Brookside' has nothing but leaves, now, but looks fresh. It has a ring around it, to help hold it up. One should have been put around the Veronica, above.

Lamium 'Herman's Pride' is another plant that still looks fresh. Actually, although it has lemon colored flowers, each Spring, the foliage is the main reason to grow the plant.

Here, Buddlea 'Honeycomb' has had very little bloom until now. Equally attractive to Butterflies, but one of the few available yellow blooming sorts.

And Bergenia is grown only for the foliage. It has never colored beautifully, here in humid S. Jersey, but North of here, the leaves may take on burgundy or red, all Winter.
Seed grown from a strain called 'Winter Blooming', they never have, but in earliest Spring, stalks of reddish flowers occasionally come.

For a long time, I hesitated to plant any Hellaboris(sp?). Probably, since so many perennials can be grown from seed, or are not as expensive, I was put off by the price. But, with occasional addition of some bone meal, they have thrived.

Another area that is just renovated is the nursery/recuperation area. It is behind the above-ground pool. It looks like a job that must be done every two years, as, somehow, weeds over-run it.

This Cosmo, of a double-flowered, newer variety, (doubleclick?), has, for me at least, ugly plants. But the flowers are as neat as could be imagined. A small, pollinating wasp is on it. These can sting as well as any, but mind their own business.

The plants my wife manages, on the back little landing, are, perhaps, at their best. Mostly annuals.

Epimedium versicolor has gotten very little Sun and is still looking good, after a hot, dry Summer.
The Witch-hazel, Hamamelis 'Diane' is also looking good. The next thing is the attractive Autumn color it usually takes on.
This tender Hibiscus chinensis staggers through the Winter indoors. When my wife saw the plant, now, covered with flowers, she said all her effort go keep it going was worth it.

8/23 The first bloom of a plant which I believe is Hibiscus coccinea, a southern native. It does look like it might be dependably perennial.

A very easy annual vine, Dolichos labab, the Hyacinth Vine, is, I believe, an African native. As with so many plants, here, seed is saved from year to year. The little butterfly is the Gray Hairstreak. Only once, in many years, have I seen this butterfly with wings outspread, and I will include a photo, taken last Summer.

Taken in 2010, this is the first time I have ever seen a hairstreak with it's wings open,while resting. Still looking for Hensel's Hairstreak, which is a very rare native to the Atlantic White Cedar forests.

Of the seed grown Asclepias tuberosa, the Butterfly Weed, this one seems shorter growing. For that reason it is included in the rock garden. It is blooming a month later than the others.

Lathyrus latifolia 'White Pearl'.

Two photos of one good section of a pot of the Peacock Moss, Selaginella uncinata. While the Chlorophyll in the leaves is the normal green, microscopic structures on the outside of the leaf-like parts break normal light into this shimmering blue-green. The shimmering blue, violet or green colors found in birds is also the result of microscopic structures on the feathers that break up light. Reds and yellows are usually actual colored chemicals (pigments).

My wife sets up these pots, each Summer.
The Caladiums will not be saved. Eighty degree, moist heat is needed to start them. Without a greenhouse, I cannot get them going, so they are purchased late in May or Early June.

Viburnum nudum is native to New Jersey, but this is the cultivar 'Winterthur', from that Delaware Museum and Estate.

The photo will be replicated as the color changes.

Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet' is already coloring up for Fall. Red blotches, here, that are running together. I do not think this is what happens on other properties, but, at a distance, it looks good.

The pure pink Morning Glories are ordered, each year, because my daughter really likes pink.
These leftovers were put in a pot and thin bamboo stakes were wired together to make a trellis.
Late to bloom, here, they have been blooming at her house for many weeks.
Because other colors are around, I have not saved seed. Would not expect this pure pink from my saved seed.

July, 2011

2011-07-14T21:02:00.011-04:00

This intensely red Daylily seems later than most of the others. Hemerocallis 'Chicago Apache'.

And no photograph seems to do justice to the amazing glow of this sort called Mt. Etna.

Phlox paniculata 'David' just keeps getting better. A good choice for S. Jersey, as it seems very mildew resistant.

In the photo of Phlox 'David' one bloom of Monarda
'Blaustrump' (blue stocking) is seen in close to its true color. This closeup photo is not as true in shading. Hardly blue, but a nice color contrast to other Monarda.

Lathyrus latifolia 'White Pearl' blooms for an extended period and both climbs and sprawls.
Useful, perhaps, to climb through some shrub that is just a green mass at this season.
And, of course, most commonly seen in pink and purplish shades.

This is the later blooming clone of the Buckeye, Aesculus parviflora. A. parviflora 'Serotina'.

Another Hydrangea of the same sort as the common Peegee, and problematic to me, as it may very well be 'Little Lamb'

Coming true from seed, this stockier form of the Blackberry Lily, Belamcanda chinensis, is named 'Freckles'. Super easy, the plant was featured one season, many years ago in a seed catalog, but I have not seen it listed or available anywhere else.

Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' gets no respect. Like the Oenothera fruticosa, it can be totally neglected, and it will usually be there next year. The mahogany red Daylily was among a bunch offered at a bargain price, having been superseded by superior and more modern sorts. I just ordered various colors and they are all over.

The Chaste Tree is, like Buddlea, extremely popular with the butterflies. The same blue-violet discussed, before. Vitus agnus-castus 'Shoal Creek'.

And I will not discuss what I have paid, over the years, to get Franklinia altamaha to grow on this property. I would warn anyone that it is a challenge.
This one got through the Winter and has already bloomed, for the first time. I was away at the time, but some buds remain.
There is some resemblance to the flowers of a Stewartia, and the plants may be related.

Hibiscus syriacus 'Bluebird' is well known. A Japanese beetle trap, but this year, a chemical was put on the lawn, a week or a few days before the larva emerged from the ground. They were, probably, very close to the lawn surface, and may have been killed. Fewer, this year than any year past.
Just guesswork, but the chemical was spread with the lawn-spreader in the last week of June.
H. s. 'Blue Satin' blooms concurrently, here, and that is why dozens of little seedlings have been such a nuisance.

This double-flowered Platycodon may be the sort, 'Apoyama'.
I keep it in a pot, never having succeeded with it in the main perennial bed. Wet Winter soil or rodents may be the problem.
Seems super easy from seed.

Cleome 'Helen Campbell's Snow Crown' is grown, every year. Some will show up from seeding around, but seed is saved in little envelopes. A super easy annual, but fowl smelling, in my opinion. Nice that a new group of flowers opens daily until Summer's end.
Both Cleome and the Chaste Tree have leaves that resemble Marijuana in appearance.

Here we have the form of Hibiscus syriacus that is most pleasing. Hibiscus 'Diana' is sterile, and so no little seedlings will be everywhere. Am unsure that these sterile sorts are for sale in any color than this pure white.

I am told the 'Maypop' is common in the South. Like many vines, it is a renegade, and shows up far from where it was planted. I have it where that is no annoyance. I believe it is among the few species that will bloom this far North. Two inch wide flowers, usually blue-violet, but this is Passiflora incarnata 'Alba'.
Like Asclepias, the Butterfly Weed, this plant is so late to come up that you may suspect you have lost it.

Just an inch long, in the last published photo, the Praying Mantis is about half grown. Still wingless. The Ruffed Grouse and Screech Owl both come, with no apparent reason, in two distinct colors. Some distinctly reddish and some in gray form. The Praying Mantis may be green or brown with no one ready to say why.
The leaves are of the Passionflower vine, shown above.

The Obedient Plant has just started blooming. Like Monarda, it is a terrible wanderer. Never tried 'Miss Manners', which is a variety that is supposed to wander less.
It is in a number of places in the little perennial bed.
One clump, not yet blooming, is in a large pot, sunk in the ground. When it blooms, I will root out all the others. Physiostegia virginica 'Alba'. One distinct clump will certainly look better than a blooming stem here and there.

Another splendid cottage garden perennial, the Tiger Lily, Lilium tigrinum or Lilium lancifolium is passed from gardener to gardener. This plant is about 6 feet high, and that seems typical.
The thing that makes propagation so simple is that little bulbils form in many of the leaf axils and can be picked off with a root and sprout already to go.

Achimenes mexicana seems to be the largest of the Achimenes blooms and the only one approaching blue. Really the same blue-violet.

Hybiscus 'Blue River II' somehow gained, as a companion, an equally large blooming, nameless pink.
A number of smaller pink and red were nearby and this may be a seedling, now blooming.
Both are equally the size of dinnerplates.

The perennial leadwort, which I, assume, is properly named Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, or some other tongue twister. Very, very late to come from the ground, but, if grown well, with a lot of Sun, nicely colored in Fall. A fine ground-cover.

The Wooly Betony has taken over the area where Arum italicum does so well, all Winter. And the seed stalks of the Arum are coloring up.
The proper name for Wooly Betony or Lamb's Ears is Stachys bizantina. This large leaved form is 'Helene Von Stein'. In the more than ten years this clump has been here, I have never seen it bloom. That is a good feature, in my mind.

June 16-30, 2011

2011-06-16T08:37:00.023-04:00

6/16

Hypericum hookerianum is a plant from Asia, and it shows the amazing connect between species on this continent with those in Asia.
Only a few flowers, but it is coming along.
I believe I am correct in saying the American Tulip Poplar, Sweet -gum tree, and Persimmon all have closely resembling species across the huge Pacific. Global warming, long ago, must have allowed for the migration, with lower oceans, to make a land bridge near Alaska.

Here there is a great deal of shade.
But I have seen the flower clusters on what may be Hydrangea 'Little Lamb' 4 times as big as these, but the plant has been here only two Summers.
To further confuse me, I have the new Hydrangea, 'Incrediball', in my list of extant plants, and a recent purchase, but see it nowhere on the property.

A floppy mass of flowers on Geranium 'Brookside' continues. There was a valuable British author of gardening books. I think her name was Thallasa Cruso. She said her mother called one color the 'Garden of Eden' color. This blue-violet may be what she was talking about.
At any rate, it is universal.

Here it is again. This time well reported by my little camera. And this time it is the normal color for Stokesia laevis. Stoke's Aster was listed in a seed catalog, perhaps over 40 years ago. It is still here.
Many fine sorts are on the market, and I did plant 'Peachie's Pick', but it seems unidentifiable among my several mature plants.
It is super easy to propagate, as seeds harvested are usually in bloom in a year or two after planting.
As an added virtue, in this zone of 7A, my plants are evergreen.

And here, almost the same color. This time, one of two sorts of Veronica in the perennial bed. It is V. 'Goodness Grows'. Another super easy plant that will bloom for a long time.

Lysmachia punctata does hot have the dark marks in the flowers that I thought were characteristic. Another wonderful cottage garden perennial started from seed, when we first started the small perennial area. I notice some young ones, from last year's seed.

And this Lysmachia answers the need for some shade for Hexastylus splendens, if that is what we should call this beautiful Asarum (ginger).

The various colors of the Asclepias tuberosa, at the edge of the woods, are all from seeds. The seeds were planted, two years ago, and then put in pots, to make them easy to plant.
This one is paler and more fluorescent yellow than shown. A sort called 'Hello Yellow' is on the market, but I am glad I just planted seeds and cared for them, as this has been an economical way to get my plants. Only a dozen or so, still thriving, from the packet of seeds, but a great bargain.

Usually found with wings closed, this butterfly is, apparently, not really native. Only about an inch or so across.

Clematis 'Polish Spirit' may go on blooming for a month or more. It is planted on a trellis that is now shaded by shrubs that have grown considerably, but it may still be climbing, and top the trellis. The increased shade has lessened the bloom.

My little plant of Galax aphyla is beginning to do better. It is in extreme shade, under the trio of Carolina hemlocks, Tsuga caroliniana. A sensible combination, as the two might well be native to the same woods in the Southern mountains.
I will move a division, in time, to a place with a little more light.

libytheana carinenta, the American Snout Butterfly is my guess. Because the insect is so widespread, photos show great variation in appearance. The butterfly has come to rest on Cornus 'Midwinter Fire'.
The shrub has already formed the berries.

Hard to imagine a bluer Spruce than Picea pungens, 'Thume'.

Fallgold Raspberry does not seem to be in the markets. Perhaps shipping is not easy. This is the first crop. The birds leave it alone. The berries are growing, here, at half the size of the red ones I see at the store.

The Swiss Chard, really leaves of a beet plant, is coming along. Extremely nutritious, and easy to grow, the leaves break down like Spinach. A great many leaves make a little boiled, or steamed serving.
The various colors may not show up in the cooked product.

Absolutely as the catalogs described. The leaves of Schizophragma 'Moonlight' are black green, but the pewter overlay is brilliant and changes as you walk by.
The very old Astilbe has been divided and moved to a number of places.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Queen' is at its peak.

My wife uses the Oakleaf Hydrangea as cut flowers and it does last longer than the Lilacs shown earlier in Spring.

Monarda 'Gardenview Scarlet' is starting, and is as vigorous a plant as can be imagined. It is up to four foot tall, here. It will be masses of bloom, soon.

Monarda 'Mahogany' is darker, (really cranberry red), than Gardenview Scarlet, and shorter.

Repeatedly, this common and harmless snake is called a 'garden snake'. It is a garter snake. Probably the Common Garter Snake, Thanophis sirtalis sirtalis.
It does eat toads, so I am not glad to see it where I saw a toad, last week. Few sorts of wildlife are more maltreated than the snakes. This one was resting, and posed quite calmly for the photo.

I suppose Asperula azurea will continue all Summer. Certainly not sky blue, as the name would indicate, but, once again, the violet-blue of the Stokesia, and Veronica pictured a few photos ago.

Of the same genus as the common 'bleeding heart', Dicentra 'Ivory Hearts' died down with lack of water. Decent watering and some recent heavy rains have resulted in some new growth, and more bloom.

Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca'

This two foot tall Phlox, with a pink eye, is P. carolina 'Omega'. For some reason, in the literature, it is identified as P. maculata. Smaller, earlier and less spectacular than Phlox paniculata. I have never seen the plant affected by mildew, which will get on most P. paniculata, and ruins the M. 'Gardenview Scarlet' by later Summer.

Phlox carolina 'Miss Lingard' was a little earlier, a little shorter and is also, apparently, immune to mildew.

Corydalis 'Dufu Temple' is supposed to be a form of the species C. linstowiana. True to the descriptions, it has not stopped blooming, even though it is still a pathetically small plant. The individual flowers are only an inch long. It is flopping over a clump of the old-fashioned cottage garden perennial, Lychnis coronaria.

I expect it to be as vigorous as Corydalis lutea.

For the last two Summers, my wife has left off putting the pink Impatiens in the ground, but uses these plastic window-boxes, instead. Much easier, physically.
As far as the Semperviviums go, that sit in front of the garage door, I visited a website that offers collections, and am surprised by the one sort I have. It is about 6 inches across, which is very large. It will, probably, extend into a flowering stalk. I will twist it out, if it does, as it would only flower and then die.

Part of the Perennial bed, that needs attention because of invading weeds, but not the enduring plants that are shown.

As typical, the Monarda are wandering around, and will fill the bed with quite a bit of color. The white one, which will be in bloom soon, is in a large pot. They will all get this treatment, as they are uncontrollable.

It surprised me that some seed vendor would have a packet of Chicory on the display. I was always impressed by this weed, as the flowers seemed really blue. They are not. They are the same blue-violet recently mentioned.
At any rate, they are just starting to bloom, and may be a permanent addition to the area.

This silver-leaved 'Lamb's Ears','Helene Von Stein', I think, never blooms. It usually disappears in Winter, but is back now, and perfectly. In the same area, the Arum Italicum is just about gone, except for several seed heads. They should turn scarlet for late Summer and Fall, but, usually, the voles or some other rodent must eat the ripened berries.

Another silver-leaved perennial grows too tall for this place in the rock-garden. I cut it down, and now it is starting to bloom, later than usual, at half or one third the usual height.
It is the white-flowered clone of Lychnis coronaria. The plant can be found in bloom, in the typical fluorescent royal purple, where a homestead existed, generations ago.
A short-lived perennial, perhaps, but always around, because it comes so easily from the many seeds that are produced.

I am keeping track of the return of this new form of the Fothergilla,'Blue Shadow'. Another blue or silver-leaved plant that is appreciated. It was cut down, by accident, last Winter, when just a leafless shrub. In times past, the Fall color has been excellent.

Fairly expensive in the market, the squash called Vegetable Spaghetti is vigorous and easy. My daughter uses them and I am, usually, able to provide a dozen, from a small area that only gets partial Sun.

7/25 Any place with a lot of garden plants seems to end up with a utilitarian, and, perhaps, messy rehabilitation and nursery area. Some treated lumber was left by some workers and I was able to build a very generous potting bench for myself. A polycarbonate propagation box does help me speed up seed germination, but only a bit. Have not plugged in the heating cable under the gravel, for several Springs. The little house, that looks fit for a dog, actually houses a pump where I can get to the groundwater, which is not too far down. Occasional Magnolia virginiana, and other plants give the high water table away. The box, on legs, to the right, needs black paint. It has a gap, underneath, and a screen top. It is a greenhead fly trap, and this is the season where it will be tested.

Opuntia humifusa is in a pot, and gets only what rain falls. Not for a garden with children or pets, or a gardener that will not wear gloves.
It is the only species native to New Jersey, but, certainly not the only one hardy, here.
Fairly miserable looking, all Winter, it is held in a pot, so it can be hauled out to a prominent spot for the week or so when these 3 inch wide lemon colored flowers bloom. It remains decorative, to a degree, when the fruit takes on some red color, into cold weather.

The first of a parade of flowers has opened on Pseudocamellia japonica. Perhaps two dozen to come. But each seems to last only a day or so.
As mentioned, at least twice, in past months, this tree almost died when we were away, last July.
It has returned, beautifully, and has gained a size where it is comfortable blooming.
Presently about 12 feet tall, and on the North side of a mature forest.

About four feet tall and as vigorous a plant as anyone could want, Monarda 'Gardenview Scarlet' has not failed to thrive anywhere I moved a piece. It will be cleared out of the main perennial bed, except for that which is put into a large sunken pot, and, even then, I will have to see if runners will creep over the edge of the pot, to romp again. Magnificent, and I would not do without it, but it does get mildewed, as Summer goes on.

Aesculus parviflora has only this one flower stem, this year. A stately shrub, that seems to find the forest edge agreeable, its flowers are supposed to be like bottle-brushes. I wondered how many people have seen or used a bottle-brush. Another form of the same species is somewhat later in blooming. That should have a number of blooms.
Much earlier on, Asculus pavia had bloomed. Shorter but far more attractive flowers. The clone I ended up with is an especially nice red, as the plant is quite variable.

Athyrium niponicum pictum, the Japanese Painted Fern is growing to perfection at the base of the little landing by the new addition. My wife has a number of Summer annuals in pots, as usual.

So it looks like the Japanese Stewartia is going to have a brief parade of flowers, rather than on single big show. Most of the plants were selected from descriptions, rather than a timely trip to a garden or botanical center, so they are full of surprises. Buds of various sizes have formed, so while each flower lasts one day or so, the bloom will carry on.

Behind the pool, some branches of the Campsis 'Jersey Peach' have bloomed. An overwhelming plant, that was trimmed back to nubs, in the Winter, but now has new branches about 6 feet long, most terminated with buds, not yet in bloom.
Sprouts do show up, a good distance from this parent.
And I try to harvest the incompletely formed seed pods before they ripen. I could not do this with a vine planted on a tree or telephone pole.

Branches have grown down, and some are below the water. I am sure they will never bloom. To make room on the deck, branches are pruned back. On the Garden Web Forums, opinions are traded and questions posed and answered, and this vine is often described as a 'thug'. People on the Forums are, generally, polite and happy sorts. One person said that if a neighbor dared plant a Trumpet Vine where it might get near his property line, he would have it ripped out, and havethe bill sent to the neighbor. I think I would rather have the Trumpet Vine as my neighbor.

June 1-15, 2011

2011-05-31T22:52:00.020-04:00

Kalmia latifolia, but it is a unique ground-cover discovery that I guess is named after the person who found it. It is called 'Croft's'.
It is thriving, but has not bloomed, yet. I expect pink or pink patterned flowers, as most plants have pink flowers that may fade to almost white.

But in front of the house, in rather shady woods, is this tall white-flowered plant, that I only noticed in bloom last year.

More than 12 feet high, it is growing on land that grew sweet potatoes near the beginning of the 20th century. The Mountain Laurel is one of the commonest plants in South Jersey and looks like clouds in the forest as you drive along the roads.

Lonicera 'Mandarin'. Behind this Honeysuckle is the amazing weed, Lonicera japonica, the Japanese Honeysuckle. I never stop removing or limiting it, but I make little difference. While Mandarin is odorless, the many wild Honeysuckle vines make the whole place smell great.

When I first learned about Zenobia pulverulenta, and this form called Z. pulverulenta 'Woodlander's Blue', a person familiar with it said it resembled a Blue Spruce, as a deciduous shrub. Pretty close to the truth.

The waxy white flowers are a close match to Lily-of-the-Valley, but smell a little like licorice.

Phlox 'Minnie Pearl'.

On the forest floor Michellia repens, the Partridge Berry is in bloom. Twin flowers, that result, become a twinned red berry. I seldom check the spelling of these dozens of proper names, so they are iffy.

This plant gets buried, and then protected by fallen leaves, for the Winter. The new growth finds its way up in time to bloom.

Some sort if Locust tree is blooming, by the road. Still trying to figure it out. Not clammy, not spiny, not tall, and with a little pink. The species will hybridize.

These flowers are a finer pink than the photo shows. In one or two nights a deer came in and trimmed down 3 or 4 of the bushes. They are recovering, but those bushes will not provide symmetry for quite a while, and have not bloomed as well, to date. The roses are 'Blushing Knockout.

Another newly hatched Praying Mantis is in the photo.

Tradescantia is blooming in various shades similar to the jewel called an amethyst. Few are close to true blue.
Spiderwort might be named that for the strings the sap makes, if a part is broken off, or the threads around the stamens in the center of each flower.
My comments are repetitious. Because I do not want a rather static blog, like Paghat's wonderful site about her garden, I post new photos.
The person who sold us this land called these flowers 'Noonsleeps'.

Oenothera fruticosa is in bloom. A plant that needs attention only because it will take over. The Spiderwort, to the left, is already fading away, at 11:30AM, although the one shown above is okay, being in shade.

The deciduous Azalea is 'Weston's Innocence'.
The fragrance is good. The shrub is facing down the forest edge.

The Japanese Maple is kept in the pot just so it can be put somewhere prominent in Winter. Acer palmatum 'Fjelheim'. With hundreds of cultivars, this is the only one I know of that is red-barked and dwarf.
The Leucothoe, behind it, really seems to appreciate South Jersey. Naming it has been difficult, because different sources use different names, but I have settled on L. axiallaris.

In two ways Lonicera periclymenum is like the weed called the Japanese honeysuckle. First, it opens the flowers white, but they change to yellow. Second, it has a really beautiful scent.
It is preferred, though, since it is well behaved and not overwhelming, or invasive.
The grape vine like leaves in the photo are another thing, entirely. An overwhelming invasive and pest called Amelopsis, or porcelain vine. I wanted it for the singular blue or turquoise berries that develop, having gone through violet stages. Very unique and beautiful, but the vine is a menace. It is a real Japanese Beetle magnet, that may draw them away from other plants. There is a variety with white in the leaves, that is attractive. Mine are not variegated.
One is started in a hanging basket, and by pinching out new growth, I hope to have a berried plant that is bushy and attractive, by Fall. Any others are on their way out, if I can help it.

One plant of 'Yellow Knockout Rose' was tried, and, as stated before, the flowers quickly lose any strong yellow tones. The developers will, probably, offer a more dependable yellow, in time.

6/8 Pseudocamellia japonica.
Seldom speak to other gardeners, but sometimes a plant coming into bloom is enjoyed just because of the anticipation. Have no idea if others share in this.This tree was shown earlier, and reference was made that it almost died from lack of water. At any rate, it is doing very well.
Catalogs do not tell you the individual flowers are fleeting, and the bloom period must not be very long, but a great many trees are finished blooming, so the timing is appreciated.

Itea virginica 'Henry's Garnet'.
Each year this shrub took on a slight reddish tinge, all Summer. A half cup of bonemeal, carelessly thrown, brought it this green color in a day or so. Maybe this native grows naturally in soil less acid than mine. Having never seen the plant in the wild or anywhere else, I did not know if the reddish tinge was unhealthy or unusual, and since the plant always bloomed nicely and is suckering and colonizing, I thought it was doing well.

The flat, dark green Juniper, just at the foot of the shrub, is growing with amazing slowness. No Juniper is flatter than 'Pancake'.
When it is offered, the price is usually high, but the slow growth would make propagation a lengthy process for any dealer.

A single flower stem of the commonest dwarf form of Itea virginica is shown. This plant is growing very slowly and has stayed below 30 inches in height. One person was put off by the resemblance of the odorless flowers to worms.
Itea 'Little Henry'.

Asclepias tuberosa is one of the commonest of roadside weeds, here. But if anyone wants it in their garden, it is unlikely that they can dig it. It has a deep taproot.
Still taking it from 'the wild' means taking it from public property or some private person.
When I saw a packet of seed, I tried it. In the third year, about 6 are doing very well, at the woodland edge.
Easy to grow, but so late to emerge, each Spring, that some gardeners might imagine they have lost the plant.

When I saw a nearly mature Monarch Butterfly larva doing some destruction, I decided to leave it. It will go a few more days, and then get ready to become an adult.

The dill and parsley, growing in large pots, to keep them near the kitchen, showed some very tiny Anise Swallowtail Butterfly larva. I did use Sevin on them. It would be decent of me to start a pot of each herb, just for them, since the kids would appreciate watching them mature, and crawl out of the chrysalis case.

Cunninghamia lanceolata glauca.

This grass is native, and so, like the Butterfly Weed, it grows wonderfully on the property. It is the common roadside grass, Erogrostis ellioti, but this is an unusual blue form called 'Glauca'.

Allium flavum is beginning to bloom. The heads resemble fireworks. Rarer clones exist, with pastel salmon or orange flowers. It is suggested that the plant looks best in a large drift. The foliage is appreciated, because it, also, is blue in tone. The sad looking leaves, in the background, belong to Lycoris squagmira, if I have the spelling correct. Naked Ladies or Mystery Lily. Once they are totally yellow I will cut them down.

Two plants, that can be expected to be invasive, do contrast nicely in color, and other ways.
Oenothera tetragona is a huge clump, here and will be halved, at least, after the beautiful yellow bloom is done. The blue-violet, tiny flowers are of Asperula orientalis. This is an annual, that seeds around, so that people who would like a neat garden will be annoyed. This is the first year I have grown it and find the color attractive. It is a short plant and suited to the rock garden, but would also be a nice container plant.

With a degree of moisture and light shade, this white Astilbe has been a dependable addition for over 20 years. It is, to my mind, trouble free. Pink is seldom my choice, and pink is common in many forms of this plant. This is the old sort that turns creamy, soon. The foliage is a nice contrast in the garden, usually staying neat, long after the flowers have faded.

As was noted, before, Kohlrabi seems not available in the market, and I do not even know how many people would even recognize it.

I will wait until most become the size of a baseball, and then the labor begins, in the peeling of the outside. grown under constant even water supply, they should not have turned woody. Almost like an above-ground turnip, but very mild.

A form of the native shrub called Viburnum nudum is up against the Carolina Hemlocks. It was really chosen for the bright berries, in Fall, and sometimes changes to a nice amber color, before the leaves fall. This is the selection V.n.'Winterthur'. No berries were expected until a different clone was planted nearby, as the plant is not always self-fertile. Each flower is complete, but two of the same kind, next to each other, might have very few berries. Across the yard is the form called 'Earthshade'.

Lathyrus latifolia is a perennial pea that is usually pink or pink-purple. Each flower is only about an inch across. I have always grown this sprawling vine in the form called 'White Pearl'.
Certainly an excellent, if not evergreen, ground-cover for a rough place and full Sun. Mine scrambles up into the Shadbush. I want it in other places, so I will watch for, and save the easy seeds.

All the many Winterberry Holly, here, are going to have either Female or Male flowers. So no berries will come unless a pollen producing male is available. The plant pictured is, obviously, able to produce huge amounts of pollen, as the blooms are superabundant. It is the sort called Ilex verticillata 'Southern Gentleman'.

This sizeable shrub will be shown again, soon. The classical standard for Hydrangea quercifolia, the Oak-leaved Hydrangea, called H.q. 'Snow Queen'.

6/12

Daylily 'Stella d'Oro' is in a large pot. Cannot even recall getting it and, because I do not prefer the chrome yellow, am prepared to give it away. One plant of the paler yellow 'Happy Returns' somehow got in the pot.

The kidney shaped bed, in the middle of the lawn, has this very successful line of Daylily 'Happy Returns'.
There will be several flushes of bloom, and gaps of none, all Summer.

Hypericum calcynium has survived, neglected, along the edge of the front walk. Now, with a refurbished, tiny rock garden, I will try to get it there, also. Two inch wide flowers on a plant about a foot tall. It is evergreen in this zone 7A.

What a lot of work. Weeding is the main job. The clumps of Sedum acre, now blooming with a yellow-green, were put there just to take up space, instead of the weeds that would have. They can be taken out, and more valued plants put there, like the Hypericum.

Alchemilla mollis has this yellow-green mass of bloom, but I only keep it for the contrasting foliage.

Magnolia virginiana is still in bloom along the creeks, but no flowers were convenient, except this one that is past its prime. They make the whole area smell good.

A little later than Phlox 'Minnie Pearl', the 'wedding phlox', 'Miss Lingard' may be named as it is, being white and in June.
Another cottage garden plant that has bloomed with little trouble during more than twenty Junes. It is only about two feet tall.

May 21-31

2011-05-20T08:41:00.026-04:00

5/21

This Asarum, Asarum caudatum?, is doing better than I expected. The leaves are 6 to 8 inches long.
To date it has not shown slug damage, which I notice of the more beautiful Chinese sort called A. spendens.

This native weed seems related to the strawberry and might be popular with a boxturtle that found the berries. They are watery and tasteless, but might be nourishing.

Rhododendron chionoides was the first planted here. It blooms pink and fades to white.
That huge plant has branches down on the ground, so I scraped the bark off the lower side of a branch, and buried the damaged part some.
A year later there were roots on the buried section. I was able to separate that part from the parent. The result, after several years is the plant shown.

Lonicera sempervivium 'John Clayton'.

L. sempervirens 'Magnifica'

These two plants would seem to be the same Genus, resembling each other, but the one on the left is the vigorous Corydalis lutea, and the pink flowered one is, probably, Dicentra exima.

Clematis 'Ramona' and the white-flowered C. montana 'Grandiflora'.

Akebia quinata must be carefully placed. Amazingly vigorous, the long sprouts shown are pruned off, to contain it. No fruit yet. I assume that is because no other plant is nearby. That is good.

Vaccinium crassiflolia 'Well's Delight' is another plant shown every few months. A few small, urn-shaped flowers came this year, but nobody grows this excellent ground-cover for the flowers or fruit.

This fine-leaved dark green Cotoneaster is, I believe, C. apicularis. It is also here to contrast with a silvery plant called Cupressus arizonica 'Blue Ice'. The combination is especially nice in Fall, when the Cotoneaster turns a deep red.

There are more plants in this collection than can be attended to, seeing as I, actually, do have a life.
This Forget-Me-Not is supposed to be a poolside (marginal) plant and has never done well in the half-barrel water feature. It is blooming at a few inches in height. It will be put at the base of the rock garden.

The little rock garden is looking great and the only remedy I have for the weeds that would soon overtake it is to care for the desired plants and fill every space. There will always be weeds. Any gardener deceived by the sales pitch of 'carefree perennials' soon learns.

The beautiful Lonicera tragophylla is blooming. Large flowers, for a honeysuckle.
As far as I know, the flowers are odorless.
This is one of the parents of a honeysuckle I have tried and failed with. I will try again. It is L. tellmanianna.
Another plant bred from a cross involving L. tragophylla will be blooming in a day or so.
That one is the fairly well-known L. 'Mandarin'.

One of the strawberry jars with Semperviviums.

Mistakes are frequent. In trimming weeds and pulling little trees and shrubs, this plant was cut to the ground. All the blue, gray or silvery leaved plants are especially appreciated, and this is the unique blue-gray leaved Fothergilla 'Blue Shadow'.
Its membership in the vast Hazel tribe is revealed by the tones of the newest leaves. The language link between this coloring and 'hazel eyes' must be real and ancient. The mature leaf shows the blue shade developing

I try to make this blog a pleasure to visit and a break. But I was fascinated with what I assume to be a Black Widow Spider. Usually the books say there is an orange mark underneath. How many people would check the underside? Over the years I have seen several, and all have some orange on the back. I had to make the picture big to show the spots. The spider is quite small. It is the unusually large jaws that allow this spider to bite humans. The pool cover had been spread on the ground until I got to folding and rolling it, and the spider was under it.

Calycanthus 'Athens' has always bloomed this strange grey-green.

This is among the first of the few flowers to bloom on Styrax japonicum 'Emerald Pagoda'. The story of how this plant got into the plant trade is interesting. I expect it will do better, with time. The place where it is planted seems well suited to it, as it is on the forest edge.

Even fewer blooms on this Azalea, which is so uniquely low growing that it is an appropriate ground-cover or rock garden addition. Like many Azaleas, it can cover itself with blooms, if given ideal conditions. Azalea 'Flame Creeper'.

Iris siberica 'Lights of Paris'.

Lonicera sempervivium 'Magnifica' makes a spectacular contrast to the artificial blue-green of the above-ground pool liner. The water is not crystal clear, yet, but miles from the way it looked when the ducks were setting up shop. They have abandoned the clean, chemical saturated pool.

Enkiathus 'Sinsetu' is covered with flowers. I cannot recall that it takes on the fantastic Autumn color of E. perulatus.

But this deciduous shrub is loaded with these urn shaped blooms. Since I think the name is related, in some way, to snow, they may get even whiter.

Cunninghamia lanceolata 'Glauca' was chose for the 'Glauca'. It can be a timber tree in China, and my intent is to never let this silvery-blue form get to be anything but a large, evergreen shrub. It is growing in a rough place, not carefully tended.

Above: Female flowers on the American Holly, Ilex opaca.

Male flowers on Ilex opaca. At least once a year I refer to a question that puzzles people who are new to planting Holly. All the species I know of come in two seperate sexes, and a tree is either male or it is female. Since the berry forming female flowers must be pollinated by flying insects, there must be a pollen producing tree, with male flowers, at least within flying distance for the pollinating insects. Many of the insects are small, so it is good if the two trees are quite close. I believe the successful pollination can also depend upon decent flying weather, and rain may hinder the pollen transfer. There will be fewer berries on the female tree, as a consequence.
The photo shows the old, yellowing leaves, that are always shed in Spring. Each leaf stays more than a year. New growers of Holly sometimes think the tree is giving evidence of stress or that it might be dying. I have yet to use my leaf-blower and move the layer on the short path to the above-ground pool deck.

Pseudocamellia japonica. When we failed to provide for watering, a period of absence almost led to the death of this tree. I am glad to see it with many flower buds.
It may be well established enough, this year, to not need watering, but the many days at the start of July, last year, with no rain, nearly did it in.
An excellent patio tree, because it is attractive in all seasons.
Flowering has been beautiful but brief.

The blue fescue grass is usually sold in the form called 'Elijah Blue'. There are others. I believe the proper name is Festuca glauca. When a seed packet was noticed, the seeds were planted, and a great many grew. I kept the most blue, but none are as blue as 'Elijah Blue'. No reason why these seed heads might not give a plant as blue as any marketed sorts. The little Campanula is C. latifolia, the Scottish bluebell. Easy and almost indestructible with good Sun and soil that is not too rich. The flowers are light violet blue. Seeds of the selected form called C.l.'Olympica' have sprouted. The microscopic seedlings may never make it, but the flowers are supposed to be larger than the ones shown above.

A nice place to raise a family. The honeysuckle almost hides the house at the top of the post. Constant coming and going by two Chicadees confirms my suspicion that they are successful, even though I do not hear the young. They would not approach when I got near enough to photograph.

Sedum 'Blue Spruce' hardly grew at all. Now it is in soil with some neutralizing lime and is doing as well as any I see in the markets. It just sort of existed, for years, and I never thought our naturally acid, sandy soil might be holding it back.

Calycanthus hybrid 'Harledge Wine' has opened up a few more two inch wide flowers the color of mahogany.

If someone says a Peony can be a permanent addition to a garden, this plant, in this particular spot is proof. It has been in this spot for over 30 years.

If the weather is cool, the flowers start out with some pink, but fade to creamy white.
It was selected from a dealer in many sorts, even though only a few are usually offered by a nursery with many different garden plants for sale.

All the little flowers of Campanula latifolia are pale amethyst violet, although there is a white-flowered form.

This rockgarden plant was sold to me as Potentilla crantzi 'Nana'. I have no idea how it will do.

This double white Clematis is here, but I cannot recall even buying it. Double, cabbage-like, with some green tones. The flowers are much smaller than those of Ramona, shown previously.

This huge old Rhododendron chionoides is among the first plants put here by us. Broken by storms and with sections that died off, due to droughts, it is the source of many of the younger ones on the property. The simple method of getting more was explained with the pictures of the blooms, previously. Mostly what is needed is patience.

Great, almost impassible tangles like this must be in the Blue Ridge and Western China, where Rhododendrons are important in the landscape.

Enkianthus 'Sinsetu' has not gotten any whiter in bloom. I would say the ordinary high-bush blueberry, Vaccinium corymbosum is superior, in that the flowers are whiter, the Fall color fantastic and the Winter stems brilliant red where Sun is strong. And, of course, there are the blueberries.

Grown only for the fantastic Winter bark color, Cornus 'Midwinter Fire' is doing well, here. There is some nice yellow color to the leaves in Fall.
I seldom buy any plants with variegated foliage, but there are colored bark dogwoods, like 'Midwinter Fire' that
can be found with white edged leaves. Then the plant would more decorative in Summer.

The first flower, about an inch wide, on the perennial and true Geranium. This sort, 'Brookside' was chosen among a good number of blue-shaded sorts. Really the almost universal blue-violet that my camera reports as quite blue.
Because the plant will sprawl, if there are not neighbors to lean against, I put a wire plant ring around it before it got to its full height.

These arrow shaped leaves are beginning to yellow. They will fade away, for the Summer, but were quite nice all Winter. They have also grown a foot tall, instead of staying close to the ground. The plant is Arum italicum 'Marmoratum'. In the middle, a flower, like an ugly calla lily, is blooming in pale yellow-green. A set of berries might develop, and turn an intense red, but I believe the voles and other rodents eat them. A fine groundcover for the Winter garden, and never invasive in this soil.

This plant has been on the want list for more than five years. It is Selaginella uncinata, the Peacock Moss. It needs shade and high humidity, and I have difficulty accepting that it will survive Winter here. I will plant a division and try it. The plant produces things like roots for every inch where it is touches th soil. When the light is right, the plant will develop a shimmering peacock blue iridescence.

Lonicera 'Mandarin' is opening the flowers. Much more beautiful than this dull photo shows.
And the plant does match the photos of L. tellmanniana, shown on the web. The fact that 'Mandarin' has dark colored new foliage makes me think this plant is correctly identified. Just confusion. Another honeysuckle, that could be tellmanniana, was not succeeding at all so I repotted it, and it may start to do better. I do not know of anyone who has an extensive garden that does not have a nursery or rehabilitation place. Mine is a crowded mess.

L. tragophylla is shown, again, to contrast with the darker 'Mandarin', but even my tragophylla does not match some confusing descriptions and photos on the web. And, in actuality, the photo I show is nowhere near showing the brilliance of the gold colored flowers.

Schizophragma hydrangenoides is my guess as to the spelling of this hydrangea vine "Moonlight'. It is really taking off, after a slow start.

Even with prices rising, vegetables are cheaper in some local stores designated mostly to vegetables and fruit. But I have never seen Kolrabi for sale. The stem thickens into a ball that tastes like the sweetest and mildest turnip possible. Rabbits, deer and cabbage moths make it a challenge for me.

Azalea 'Gerard's Pleasant White' is a very low growing plant, with larger flowers than the one called 'Delaware White', which is so common, locally.

Over years the white form of Digitalis or Foxglove has been propagated, and has sometimes seeded around. This year these are the only two that have bloomed. They were untended. Others are tiny seedlings, just started for blooming next year.
More work than perennials, in that they must be grown one year, to flower the next. The seeds are then saved, as the flowering plants almost always die.

The large clump of emerging foliage, to the right, is Oenothera fruticosa, which is willing to take over the planet. The color of the flowers is beautiful, and a plant that is so vigorous never needs coddling.

This little plant is new. It is a form of the impossibly named Corydalis linstowiana. Because it produces offspring easily, and blooms consistently, I will be looking forward to choosing offspring with strong blue tones. Supposedly as vigorous and long-blooming as the C. lutea. Corydalis lutea is next to it, for color contrast. A slight bobbling breeze makes afternoon photos difficult.
The little grey felted leaves under the flower are of Lychnis coronaria, but the white-flowered form. Super vigorous and appreciated more for the evergreen grey rosettes than the tall, lanky flowering stems.

Common Chives is among the easiest herbs to maintain. It has been in this pot for years and needs no special care.

Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy' has a scattering of bloom. A good ground-cover to lighten up a shady spot. It needs consistent moisture and a bright shade. The plant to the bottom is seed grown, and has been here about 20 years. Never really increasing and, generally, ignored. It is the Circle Flower, Lysmachia punctata, but mine has no dark markings in the flower. Perhaps the name comes because the yellow flowers circle the top of the plant, later on. At any rate, it is a fine addition to a garden with consistent soil moisture and an hour or so of Sun. Of course I have the five leaved Virginia Creeper of Woodbine everywhere, even with my treating it as an pest.

5/29 This two foot tall hybrid Phlox is called 'Minnie Pearl'. Just enough pink tones to keep it from being perfectly white.

Below is a rather difficult to see photo of Alchemilla mollis. The leaves really are gray-green and the flowers yellow-green. Having made a remark that Perennials are hardly care-free, regardless of claims, I feel obligated, for a while, to point out those that have been, for me. A. mollis is one.

Another photo of the Arum type flower of A. italicum. The spadix, in the flower, should form brilliant red berries, by Fall.

This double white Clematis, about 4 inches across, is probably the sort called 'Duchess of Edinberg' or something like that. It is doing okay crowded in among a good number of other vines, including Clematis 'Ramona'.

Having found the Knockout type Roses so easy, I decided to buy a 'Yellow Knockout' being offered at a very low price. It may be the heat, but the flowers have faded, almost immediately to white.
The blue-flowered plant is Geranium 'Brookside' which is another easy Perennial.

Basically, this photo becomes an eye test, as I took it to catch the 1/4 inch long, newly hatched Praying Mantis. But the plant fascinates me. Franklinia altamaha has been an expensive item, since I have purchased a number, none of which were cheap, and here, at last, is one that has gotten, at least, through one Winter. My fault, no doubt, but I would not expect any nursery to stand by their sales if the plant fails in the purchaser's garden. I would respect any gardener that gets one going and staying around. Singularly beautiful, especially if it is caught with Autumn leaves turning scarlet, while the late blooms are still opening.

May 11-20, 2011

2011-05-11T11:05:00.020-04:00

5/11 Viburnum plicatum 'Mariesii', although my spelling, from memory, is iffy.

The Azalea 'Hardy Gardenia', while scentless, is beautiful.

The white-flowered 'Bleeding Heart' will soon be finished, and the other plant, Lamium maculatum 'White Nancy'will bloom soon. Both are good for lighting up a shady spot.

This little Erodium was added to the refurbished rock garden, and I do not know if it will come back, next year. Really a dwarf plant, with half-inch wide flowers. Supposedly, the plant can just die off, if the crown is too wet, during the Winter.

My wife has planted her marigolds in the very formal manner she does, yearly. The roses are old sorts, perhaps no longer offered. Two 'Mr Lincoln', Two 'Tropicana'and two yellow that I think are 'King's Ransome'.
The blue Ajuga continue, as does the white Mazus.

The soil and climate seem ideal for these two. Leucothoe 'Cherry Hills' and the Rhododendron 'Pride's Early Red'.

Although this photo shows the shape of the flowers, the color of 'Pride's Early Red' is a true blood red.

There are a good number of the old
'Nova Zembla', and,while they are the same true blood red as the one shown above, the flowers are simpler, a little later and on a plant that sprawls hopelessly. Pinching the new shoots, yearly, when they are about 10 inches long, helps.

This pale-flowered deciduous Azalea is probably one of the 'Northern Lights' series. It is relegated to an obscure spot among a great number of shrubs that face down the forest edge.

The color of 'Purple Passion' seems accurate, here.

Each year, when I take the pool cover off, the water looks like it would be good for the old film called 'The Black Lagoon'. I always get it straightened out. However, the pair of mallards think it is fine. After chlorination, and with almost daily use, it may be less hospitable to them. Not particularly shy or wild, they took to the far end, but did not leave.

Two different camera settings make the honeysuckle, Lonicera sempervirens 'John Clayton' look like two different plants. Here it is spilling over the fence around the raised pool deck.

Here it is spilling over, just behind the potting bench I built. The above photo is more accurate in color.

A person might assume this to be a maintenance free plant, and, basically, it is. But for appearance sake, I did snip off a crowd of new, two foot long shoots of this season's growth.
A species that is a great favorite of the hummingbirds, but scentless.

Laurentia fluviatilis, the Blue Star Creeper, is about in full bloom for this area of the rock garden. How such a low growing, ground-hugging plant ever survives in the wild is a mystery. Certainly here it would not survive one year, with the invasive Oxalis and any number of other, taller weeds.

Really the brightest scarlet red, this form of Lonicera sempervirens is named 'Alabama Crimson'. No settings on my camera show the color in its spectacular brilliance.

Despite the fact that I usually pull out any I see, I still have a few clumps of this cultivar of the native Tradescantia virginica. A wonderful bloomer, in that the flowers, which last only half a day, come in almost endless succession. They are only about an inch wide and the plants were purchased as a collection of colors. As years past, only ones that have reverted to near the native color, are around. Various shades of blue-violet are here. A good selection of named forms, in a beautiful variety of colors can be found, and the individuals would probably last for years, but I did nothing to save those special selections. Double ones, never ordered, were occasional, over the years. The ones shown have lasted into this late afternoon only because of the cooler temperatures and rain.

5/15 Styrax obassia, with leaves almost a foot long, grows at one edge of the forest. The plant seems to be thriving, as it has already extended each branch by about two feet, but there is no indication of bloom at all. In another place, in a similar position, another prime little tree, Pseudocamellia japonica is not showing flower buds, either. But that is to be expected, as that plant does not bloom at this season. It waits until the vast number of trees and shrubs are done. I expected the Styrax would bloom now, or very soon.

Viburnum mariesii is at peak bloom, and the tiered branches, weighed down by rain-soaked flowers, are almost totally white.

The collection of low-growing, acid soil plants, many of them evergreen, are running together in the mosaic I hoped would occur. While a few little goldfish are in the half barrel, just because mosquitoes were breeding, I have not selected any plants.Another little fish, a hardy minnow from China, would be added, if it were available at the pet shop. It's discovery was kind of unique. It is the White Cloud Mountain Fish.

Asarum splendens.

The second box turtle I have come across, this year. This one has red eyes, so is probably a male. The other had yellowish eyes and a convex lower shell, so that was probably a female. This one looks super bright and clean, but the rain was intense until several hours ago.
The little yellow flower is on a plant that is underachieving because it is in a situation where it does not get full Sun. In ideal conditions it would cover itself with blooms. But I am surprised it has done so well. It was a mess at the end of Winter, and has come back perfectly. It is one of the most commonly sold Iceplants, Delosperma nubigenum.

Clematis montana 'Grandiflora' is on the fence that hides the above ground pool side. Since it blooms on old wood, I have not bothered to prune it.
I should do this as soon as bloom is finished.

The only wild Orchid I have seen, here, is the Pink Ladyslipper. Another photo may come. Last year 6 were in bloom in one area. Now there are many sets of two or three leaves with only two in bloom.

Don't really know what to say. Easter revisited? I do not want the rabbit around. He or she can eat a years growth of some rather rare shrub in a few minutes. And, right now I have some vegetables coming up that any rabbit would appreciate. And the ducks! Bad enough I find them in the above-ground pool. Many of the birds are intolerant of the millet, and other seed, and are after only the black-seeded oil Sunflower seed. So they throw it out. The turkeys appreciate the millet, and so did a groundhog, several years ago. And, of course, the squirrels.

Backing the small bed for perennials, and blocking the view of the above-ground pool sides, is a lattice that has, more or less, been overtaken by Clematis montana 'Grandiflora'. It has also wandered, at both ends, to mix in with other vines and shrubs.

Clematis 'Ramona' has been here for many, many years. It always blooms early, and then stops. This little section was a rooted part, dug from the old plant. That older plant has almost died off, but some shoots have come. They might just grow and bloom nearer to Summer's end. Other vines competed so well with it that they almost wiped it out.

My camera is inaccurate, at any setting, and the flower is more violet than the blue-violet shown above.

Here the C. montana is wandering into the Lonicera sempervirens 'Magnifica' That vine decorates a tall post at one end of the fence around the pool deck. Lonicera sempervirens is native to our American south, and is scentless. However, it is a hummingbird magnet, and seems to bloom in spurts, all Summer.

Another red Rhododendron. Another attempt to find a fine red that does not sprawl, like the many R. 'Nova Zembla' we have planted here.
I believe this one is called 'Francesca'. It is not quite a color match, being more like a cranberry red than Nova Zembla, even though the camera reports it inaccurately.

Azalea atlanticum is, properly, Rhododendron atlanticum. It is native and in the woods, down the road, right near the creek. But this one was purchased. Digging plants from the wild steals from the property owner or takes from the public, if the land is public. The flowers, on different plants, may be pink or white. These fade to white, with heat or flower age. The plant is deciduous, but I cannot recall any Fall color.

Picea pungens 'Thume' has the little Cotoneaster 'Tom Thumb' planted next to it to provide contrast. Tom Thumb is the smallest Cotoneaster I know of.

One of two different toads found today. I do not know if it is a Fowler's Toad or a Common Toad. The males sound a different song, in each species, but beyond that, the differences are unknown to me.
As with many Amphibians, this animal can get a lighter color with lower humidity and brighter light.

May 1-10, 2011

2011-05-01T00:18:00.066-04:00

The yellow flowers of Corydalis lutea could be seen in many places around the old rock-garden, but I almost eradicated it when I renovated the little area. This one survived and, I suppose, I will have many, by next year. Seems to me it blooms the entire growing season.

Epimedium nivea. This plant is also in the rock-garden, and most appropriate for that area, because it is very low-growing.

Both this white Redbud (Cercis canadensis 'Alba'), and the traditional color are common in the commercial and home plantings, but I have never seen a plant in the local forests.

The new, hanging little oak leaves cluster around one of the real culprits in 'hay fever' or allergies. These are the male flowers, that will release their pollen to the wind.

Trientalis borealis, the Maystar, covers the forest floor in one area. Perhaps 50 by 100 feet, irregularly. It can be classified, I suppose, as a shrub, since it has woody stems that persist as the leaves drop. I have not really noticed it, later in the year, so it may be classified as a Spring Ephemeral, even while the woody parts persist. The flowers are hardly an inch across.

Above is the fully developed Japanese Painted Fern, Athyrum japonicum pictum.

To the left is a plant I used to call the Spanish squill. It is related to the plant the English call the 'bluebell', which may still cover areas in their forests.
Hyacinthoides hispanica is a well accepted name, and it is called Spanish Bluebells. It is in many places, here, and the selected white, pink and blue are in a line in the space between the pink azaleas and the front walk. Those plants are new, and unimpressive, but, in time, you can get sizeable clusters of bulbs. Another Spring Ephemeral.

The Northern Maidenhair Fern has returned in its place against the back foundation of the house. It is growing with 'Green and Gold', which is a native groundcover, Chrysogonum virginica. Sparse flowering this year, but the plant is almost evergreen, here.

Another small silverbell that is supposed to get only about 25 feet tall. Halesia diptera 'Wedding Bells. The species usually can get to be a full-sized tree, in its native Southern USA.
Deer did browse it, when it was first planted, years ago. It was just about ruined, and a replacement was planted near it. But it has recuperated, and deer seem to be very uncommon, lately. Also the disgusting repellent spray called Liquid Fence was liberally used and still is. Although I resist any commercialization of this blog, I do find this obnoxious product actually saves my plants from the deer and rabbits, most of the time.

Viburnum carlesii carlcephalum continues to attract attention, just by the pleasant odor.

A closer view of Mazus reptans Alba.

Asarum splendens is doing better than I thought. It had, simply, spread, widely and sparsely. I am looking over the shrubs I have in pots, to see which would make a suitable shelter from Sun, for this plant.

Any occasion to publish a photo of Zenobia pulverulenta is not passed up. The new leaves are contrasting against the more usual leaf colors of a Witch-hazel (Hamamelis) and Epimedium sufureum. No other species of Zenobia seems to be named, but it does come in this form called 'Woodlander's Blue', and other named blue forms, as well as a more typical green.

Schizophragmea 'Moonlight' is developing the beautiful foliage the literature and nurseries mention.

This particular Fothergill 'Mt Airey'gets a good deal of Sun, so it, usually, turns an unbelievable red, each Fall.

Checked on this plant on my spreadsheet, and finally settled with the name Dicentra 'Ivory Hearts;'. Even if it does not bloom all Spring and into Summer, the foliage, if it remains, is a great blue-green.

Mazus reptans 'Alba'.

Gelsemium sempervirens.

Stachys byzanta just about disappears most Winters, but comes back perfectly. This form is the seldom-blooming 'Helene Von Stein'. Most often, in naming the plants pictured, I just rely on memory, and can be inaccurate in spelling. Scientific names are required to be sure the exact plant is identified, but some names are being changed. Asarum, is, at least in part, changed to Hexastylus, in some sources. Common names are totally useless, as they can be local. The fuzzy, silver-green plant pictured, would probably be listed as 'Lamb's Ears'.

Aronia 'Brilliantissima' was selected by someone because of the Fall color.
It changes to orange, here, and is a good addition to the shrub border, now.

As much as roses are appreciated, here, I grew up with the opinion that they were a great deal of trouble. Only these 'Knockout' Roses changed my mind. Japanese beetles would be all over them, if I did not take control measures against those insects, but the roses seem immune to black spot disease and other problems. Last Winter, I cut them to about a foot from the ground, but the previous Winter they went uncut. It makes no difference. They will soon be in bloom.

This Asarum is evergreen, and probably a commonly offered sort. It is, also, I assume, a native.
My guess is that it is A. caudatum. I seldom enquire about the Scientific Name of a plant, if it is not listed on the label, as even long established places, selling plants, are staffed with people who know only the common name. They would just say this is a native Ginger. Actually, it carries a chemical making it dangerous to eat.

The Gelsemium sempervirens, that blooms on the fence behind the rock garden, has single flowers. On another fence, a double-flowered sort has started to bloom, sparsely. It is in competition with other vines and crowding shrubs. It seems to be named 'Margarita', in some nurseries, and 'Pride of Augusta', in others. I will do little to encourage it since it is probably just like the older, single-flowered sort. An extremely vigorous, evergreen vine.

No single variety, I have seen, out-flowers Viburnum plicatum 'Popcorn'. The flowers are odorless.

Rhododendron 'My Jane' is so fine that it makes little sense not to purchase these newer, larger bloomed sorts, where possible and practical. We have the beautiful older sort, 'Nova Zembla' red. But the plant sprawls and requires pinching back, annually. The newer offerings do not require that attention.

The dwarf form of the Lingonberry is probably at the very southern limit of where it could grow. For that reason I did not know if it would survive, but now it is colonizing

This Rhododendron cluster is covering another obscure evergreen ground-cover called Pachistima canbyi. I am glad to see that it is also starting to spread.

The Mazus reptans did start to creep into the lawn, but it was easy to pull out.

Phlox stolonifera wanders in the small area designated for various perennials. A solid cover of this plant, perhaps less than a yard wide, is the aim, but weeds, especially the one whose leaf is in the picture, compete. Potentilla repens 'Floraplena' sounded good, in that it was low-growing with double yellow flowers. It, and the periwinkle are the two greatest nuisances in that area.

Geum borisi (Geum King Boris) has these flowers that are less than two inches across on rangy stems, over several weeks. A favorite, as much for its ability to endure as for the bright flowers. While plants, here, sometimes wane and disappear over Winters, this plant has been here for over 30 years. Any other Geum, tried, has not endured for more than a year

.

Or is it 'Bunny Blue'? A sedge with a silly name seems to be enduring, also. And a plant, similar to grass, that endures in shade is worth having. For a long time I have been planning to divide this plant, as a broad sweep would be much better than one small clump. It is under a large Viburnum, so it does get a little Winter Sun, and stays evergreen. Compared to the grass I grew from seed, which is the same species as 'Elijah Blue', this plant is not as blue. There is also a blue-gray form of the native grass Eragrostis eliotii, here, that makes this Carex look quite green.

4/3 Calycanthus 'Hartlage Wine' is not really a Calycanthus, and the history of how this plant came into being is interesting. It makes me realize what a true amateur I am at Botany. It seems every bit as vigorous a plant as the literature describes, as this plant, with a flower in most leaf axils, is only 3 feet tall, with only two branches. It can become a large shrub.

Halesia diptera is beginning to open its bell-shaped flowers just as H. tetraptera is finishing its bloom. The patch of blue Ajuga offers a nice contrast.

The red buckeye, Aesculus pavia, was purchased as a choice between two that were both a little sad looking. I think they were the only ones still around and for sale. But time passes so quickly, for me, and I realize I pay for the genetic potential. It is likely that this plant, that is askew, now, will become a magnificent specimen in a few years.

The jewel-like Green Tiger Beetle is a fierce predator and is one of a big list of insects that will prey on other insects a gardener might consider pests.

In full Sun, a plant of Gelsemium sempervirens will be a sheet of bloom. Quite spectacular and, to me, pleasant scented. Mine grow with half-day Sun.

5/6 Halesia diptera had joined a short list of plants that absolutely surpass what I expected, after reading the glowing reports in the nursery brochures. Since its seed capsules have two wings (di) two, and (ptera) wing, it gets that name. The Halesia triptera just finished blooming. The bloom is brief and scentless but much more abundant than I expected

Calicanthus florida is variable in scent. A local one can be detected as you walk by. Mine will give you the characteristic odor if you crush the blooms and smell them. The common name, Strawberry Shrub, comes from the odor.

'Hartladge Wine', the bi-generic hybrid is shown again, here, flowers fully open, to contrast with the flower, above. Much larger, and the color, perhaps, of newly split red cedar or mahogany.

For anyone wanting a dependable ground-cover, the Ajugas are it. But I limit the plant, as it is too vigorous. When I heaped leaves around the rose, in a wire cage, to protect it, this past Winter, the covering of leaves did not affect the evergreen rosettes. I will string trim off all the spent flower stalks for appearance sake, and not expect any further bloom. This photo does bring out the strong blue-violet of this most common form of Ajuga.

Alchemilla mollis is here for the contrast of the foliage, alone. I have no interest in yellow-green in either flower or foliage.
Not only do the fan-shaped, gray-green leaves hold water droplets, like drops of silver, but these leaves show the water that is transpiring out of the ends of each leaf vein.

Phlox stolonifera is wandering next to another good, broad-leaved ground-cover called Bergenia. Another plant, growing up with the narrow green leaves, is absolutely invasive and will bloom, later. It is Physiostegia virginica 'Alba'. I want the plant, and so one clump has been relegated to a 5 gallon bucket, with no bottom, to try to restrain it.

The first, but imperfect bloom has opened amid the leaves of Iris tectorum 'Alba'. Super easy, here.
From time to time, I must mention that this garden is in zone 7A.

Like a pleasant weed, the bulb called the Spanish Bluebell is coming up among the Zenobia.

This iris is a native, but a rarer white-flowered form. The bloom is only about two inches across. Absolutely another loose ground-cover for the woodland garden. Iris cristata 'Tennessee Whte'.

Euonymus 'Broxensis' ? must have the smallest leaves of any sort. It just about survived in a pot, for years. Now, with more lime in the soil, and in the new rock-garden, it has taken off. The rabbit browsed it to the ground, this Winter, but it is coming back beautifully.

Below, the photo of the pink form of the Spanish Bluebell is shown. While the blue, pink and white forms were all planted between the row of azaleas and the front walk, no white ones have bloomed.

Early on, we planted a white-flowered Rhododendron called R. chionoides, which is common in nurseries, here. But next to it, recently, I planted this totally contrasting R. 'Cunningham's White'.
A compact plant, smaller in every dimension and much earlier to bloom.

The plan to name every species of plant with a distinctive Scientific Name has totally failed, with this plant. I choose the name Laurentia fluviatilis, with tiny faded denim blue-violet flowers. Absolutely flat to the ground, it is not competing well with the oxalis and other weeds that are a constant pest in the rock garden. But it did go through the Winter well, covered at times with snow, and the rest of the time with leaves.
As soon as I cleared the leaves away, the plant changed and looked almost dead. But it has come back, perfectly.

This is the more commonly colored Iris cristata, in a slightly larger blooming sort called 'Powder-Blue Giant'. No giant, it is a low-growing woodland iris.
The flower is much more a violet than the blue color in this photo.

5/10 Rhododendron 'Purple Passion' has been here a number of years. I am sure it will produce fine, full blooms, but I am just glad it is blooming. No more difficult than any, but just in less than ideal conditions. Absolutely amazing, and almost fluorescent in color. As the plant gets taller, it will get more light.

This Carex is doing well, and unusual in having inch wide leaves.
It has a slight bluish tinge.

From early on, I thought Colorado Blue Spruce were beautiful, but there is no place here for a regular one. This dwarf, named 'Thume' has the color.