sprig to twig

Talk about your unassuming little flower: Liriope would probably never make its way into a post if it were not for the paucity of bloomers in mid-November.

Wet fallen leaves are a more likely sight, with northern sea oats shuddering in the wind in the foreground, refusing to come into focus.

The hardy fuchsia ‘Golden Gate’ is hardy indeed. It is holding on long after most have succumbed to cold, rain and wind.

I usually allow the Hydrangeas to dessicate on the bush, becoming lacy shadows of their former selves. This is ‘Limelight’ going the rusty pink, with ‘Preziosa’ turning a complementary rose to sepia behind her.

See the tassel of buds forming on Mahonia ‘Arthur Menzies’? It has done that every year, then been frozen so that I never get to see that wonderful burst of blossoms. If you are longing to see a riot of color provided by blooming plants, you will have to visit other parts of the world. No problem: Carol, of May Dreams Gardens can transport you there via the magic carpet that is the internet.

And now to the “other stuff”. We were working on tidying up an espaliered firethorn the other day when R said “come over here…you gotta see this.” He held the shrubbery aside while I took the picture. Notice how distended the abdomen is. Isn’t it the wrong time of year for any creature to give birth? A raucous scrub jay was kicking up quite a fuss in that area once we moved on to something else. I hope he didn’t make a meal of Ms Mantis.

You may remember the troubles we were having with rodents tunneling into the roots of newly planted treasures. Our latest solution is to build wire cages for special plants going into open ground. It’s a lot of extra work, so it tends to hold down the flagrant purchasing of new plants…they have to be worth it. The new berm I am working on will have wire mesh at its base. The sound emitting devices seem to be slowing down the lawn damage, but we’re not taking any chances with Rhododendron ‘Ebony Pearl’ shown above.

Now just take a gander at what I filled my pockets with on my walk this morning. There are about five different kind of mushrooms here. They look and smell like the varieties I remember from childhood. Referring to the Peterson field guide to mushrooms is only minimally helpful…hard to find an exact match for any of them. Here’s what I have been doing: take a tiny taste of one style, holding it on my tongue to let the flavor develop and see if there are any superficial ill effects. If no problems have surfaced…yes, I swallow. I still feel fine these three or so hours later, so I am planning to feast on wild mushrooms this evening. Wish me luck.

Campsis x tagliabuena ‘Madame Galen’

Echinops banaticus ‘Blue Glow’

‘Blue Glow’ in bud

‘Blue Glow’ eaten by gophers…guess they didn’t find it tasty: they did this to one and left the others alone.

I should perhaps used the fireworks setting on my camera to capture Solidago rugosa ‘Fireworks’.

Started from HPSO seed many years ago, this Gaura lindenhamerii was transplanted to this spot earlier this year, and is already waving its wands of butterfly-like blossoms on long, waving stems.

Rudbeckia subtomentosum ‘Henry Eilers’

Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’

Anemone ‘Honorine de Jobert’

Eupatorium maculatum (10′ tall)

Oxydendrum arboreum

So there you have my hit parade for September. I counted 66 things blooming, but how boring would that be? If you want more, or just want to engage in a little zonal envy, May
Dreams Gardens is the place.

Astrantia rewards close inspection.

The wands of blossoms on the Heucheras have an ethereal quality that is hard to capture, but you can get an idea of the colors in this bed, with the Astrantia nearby, and a Hydrangea that will soon pick up the bruised tones.

On the other side of the entry, hot pink blossoms complement the dark foliage of Weigelia ‘Wine and Roses’.

As you can see, I really go in for the dark stuff (the garden, you may be glad to know, is pretty much where my noirish tendencies leave off). Sambucus nigra ‘Eva’ anchors another bed. I love her near-black foliage, but she is also pretty when she puts on her pink party dress.

Next to ‘Eva’, Physocarpus oputifolias ‘Summer Wine’ steps back a couple of notches to deep bronze foliage and covers herself in clusters of paler pink flowers.

Out along the fence line, the iris are in full swing. Normally, they would be finished by late May. This blush-colored one is the first to bloom,

With this sort of generic two-toned purple hot on her heels. I’m wondering if anyone knows if iris tend to revert to this color? I seem to have way more of them than planted, and fewer of what I thought I would get. Speaking of which, I ordered up a collection (mail order rhizomes), only one of which produced a flower looking anything like the photos in the full-color brochure.

Here it is, the only one to come true, and thus the only named iris in my “collection”, ‘Immortality’. The buds are a very pale ice blue, opening to pristine white.

The others must be content with names like “bronzy-yellow”,

“mahogany”

and “champagne”.

I can almost smell the Philadelphus just by looking at the picture.

…and speaking of fragrance…

The cute little pinwheel design of the buds on Oxalis adenophylla

open to this.

Whadda ya know…the tree peony ‘Gold Sovereign’ is, for once, in bloom for GBBD.

I could go on and on, but we all know about the “embarassment of riches” that is June. Instead I will leave you with an indoor shot of an orchid that I found abandoned and nursed into bloom. If you are still wanting more, click here. Thanks, Carol!

The focus shifts from searching far and wide for something to show to editing out all but the most photogenic of the bloomers in the garden. Not that they are not beautiful and garden-worthy, it’s just that the camera (or the person behind the camera) is unworthy. Anyway, here are a few of the stars in my garden this month:

A plain old barberry might seem like an odd choice to make the cut, but let me explain. This one, Berberis thunbergii purpurea arrived as one of two tiny little whips of plants from one of those cut-rate catalogs. They grew so vigorously that I was seduced into ordering other things from the same source with far less success. Those catalogs now make their way immediately to the round file. Still, the barberry shrubs came to dominate their border and surprised me with a profusion of tiny flowers.

At Dancing Oaks Nursery the Barberrys shed the cloak of contempt that so often obscures their natural charm. I left there with this Berberis replicata

and Berberis jamesiana. Purchased in 2007, they are just coming into their own. Jim here bloomed for the first time last year, but only sparsely. I take the plentiful blossoms this year as a good sign that he is working up to the clusters of pearly hanging berries that were love at first sight.

I was told that ‘Blue Jeans’ was the hardiest of the Ceanothus and I guess it’s true. I’m happy, after losing ‘Vandehberg’ last year without ever having seen a blossom.

The Rhodys are going great guns. We buy them primarily for leaf shape, but with the foliage suffering from the cold snap, the parade of flowers is a welcome distraction. This one is Rhododendron ‘Seaview Sunset’.

I wanted to show you how the buds are a much deeper hue than the flowers when they emerge, making for an interesting display. This is Rhododendron ‘Mrs Betty Robertson.

The last of the Daffodils to put in an appearance is Narcissus ‘Salome’. I have been planting daffys in drifts, but I may need to rethink that strategy after seeing the impact of this single, well-placed bulb.

Speaking of tweaking and fine-tuning, I love the color play of these orange tulips with the Fritillaria meleagris. More of the frits are called for, don’t you think?

For scent, nothing beats the old-fashioned lilac.

Andy Warhol’s “fifteen minutes of fame” says it all when it comes to bloom time for Penstemon newberryi, so even though it is just getting started, I’m sneaking it in here. Just as a point of interest, it usually blooms around the first week in April.

What is it about Epimediums? They are super-expensive, have diminutive flowers and are almost impossible to photograph (if you don’t believe me, that was the best of my many attempts). Still, I was inordinately thrilled with the first bloom on Epimedium x warleyense that I picked up at an end-of-season sale at Garden Fever. The other one I have is ‘Lilafree’, whose tiny purple blossoms disappear even to the naked eye. It does have lovely foliage that turns autumnal colors before dying back.

Almost forgot to give credit and send you on over to May Dreams Gardens, where Carol has masterminded this monthly ritual and will link you to many more May blooms.

We have set new records for rain and cold, so everything is about three weeks behind schedule. Here are a few of the things that have dared to show their faces regardless of the weather:

the anemones are doing fine, though there are fewer of them than usual.

Evergreen clematis did not die back as in previous cold years, but the blossoms and scent fall far short of the clouds that engulfed us in years when the winters were mild.

‘Ascot Rainbow’ is the only Euphorbia to hold its own. All of the others look like Holocaust survivors, though they do put out the occasional blossom:

as evidenced by this blossom on Euphorbia ‘Persian Velvet’. I won’t ruin your day by showing you the whole plant.

The natives, like this Ribes, which mostly show up voluntarily, remain undaunted other than deer damage.

As bold as they are, the deer refrain from coming this close to the house, so this one is achieving good size.

Out in the front hedgerow, the Viburnum tinus ‘Robustrum’ that has been in the tight bud stage for ever so long is finally beginning to open up to the occasional ray of sunshine.

I didn’t do a very good job of capturing the color of the emrging Dicentra spectabilis, but this is one of the few old fashioned flowers I could not do without. The flowers emerge before the foliage, but hold on long enough for it to catch up. I like the way the baby’s tears and sedums are filling in to form a dense mat, making a nice backdrop for the bleeding heart and the black mondo grass out of the frame.

Some things simply must come inside to be fully appreciated. The delicate foliage and subtle coloring on the checkered lily get a little lost in the landscape.

But Fritillaria meleagris will reward closer inspection. For closer inspection of blooms around the world, May Dreams Gardens is the place.

The Ides of March and not much to show for Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day, sponsored once again by Carol at May Dreams Gardens. If you click on that link you may have better luck with spring inspiration from other parts of the world. In the meantime, here is my meager offering:

The Hellebores are reliable bloomers, but mine flop over so that they disappear unless I reach in and tip their pretty faces up like a tender lover. I may need to follow some advice given to me by Frances of Fairegarden: move the darn things to a spot that sits above a path so the nodding flowers will be readily visible.

Dainty ‘Tete a Tete’ is always the first of the daffodils to bloom. They surround the closest of the cherry trees,and are visible from the kitchen window…good planning, huh?

Stachyrus praecox bears strings of dangling pale yellow blooms on deep red bare branches.

Shy violets are not very showy, but they perfume the air.

Out along the fence line, Viburnum tinus ‘Robustrum’ has been in this state of pre-bloom for weeks. I begin to wonder if those tight little buds will ever unfold to release the promised fragrance.

The whole plant of Euphorbia wulfenii is not a pretty sight, but a few brave stems are getting ready to do their best.

There are two kinds of Kaufmania tulips in the front entry raised beds. These are ‘Shakespeare’, just emerging. They will be long gone by the next Bloom Day, but maybe ‘Fire Queen’ will be in full bloom (dare I hope?).

Most of my time is still being spent indoors, so I truly appreciate the orchid brought to me by a friend. It is like having a flock (?) of butterflies hovering in the living room.

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This always seems to happen. Last month on Bloom Day, ‘Carmine’ was just coming on. This month it is a little bit past its peak, but I will show it to you anyway because I find its little tubular blossoms so charming.

See how the Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi has progressed since last month? It will continue to put out these little danglers for some time to come.

While this supermarket Kalanchoe, a gift from a friend, has been producing clouds of pale apricot blooms for months now.

Moving outdoors, one must look closely to pick up on the few emerging blossoms, but we can always depend on primroses even while the slugs give them a run for their money.

Something went screwy with photo editing last night when I was doing this post, but the outdoor pictures were nothing to write home about anyway. Suffice it to say there are violets just beginning to arrive on the scene, snowdrops scattered here and there and some viburnums and daffodils getting ready to pop. Right now it is snowing: big, sloppy, torn-tissue paper flakes that melt on contact with the saturated ground…at least so far. Now I am off to May Dreams Gardens to tour some gardens with more to offer this month.

I had to do my exploring for flowers indoors this month. The constant rain has made the outdoors pretty uninviting, though the occasional frosty morning brings wintery beauty that is hard to capture with the camera (for me, anyway)

You may remember the Aloe I scored on my last trip to Cistus. Well, it is putting out a flower spike.

I am cheating a bit, because it has yet to color up and blossom fully. There were flowers on some of the plants for sale, but I chose based upon apparent vigor of the whole plant, and this would seem to be my reward. I think it will be a deep pinky-orange at its peak.

Another cheater (you will forgive me, won’t you?) is the Kalanchloe fedtschenkoi. I have multiples of this from a recent dividing project. None of them blossomed last year, but this year every one of them is hard at it.

Like poppies, they start out with their heads bowed and slowly unfurl as they color up to a lovely shade I call “orange sherbet”. I’ll probably trot these out again next month so that you can see the full effect of the chandelier-like architecture in full bloom.

I seldom resort to buying flowers at the super market, but a “buy one, get one free” deal was just what was needed to push me over the edge. This combination of lilies and chrysanthemums kept my spirits up for the remarkable two weeks that they have graced our table. I will have to relent and toss them out today.

With her world-wide reach, Carol at May Dreams Gardens can introduce you to gardeners with much more to boast of in the floral realm.

Pineapple sage is one of the very few flowers just coming on at this late date.

The nasturtiums went through a ratty phase, but seem to be reenergized by the cold and damp (unlike most of the gardeners I know).

The oakleaf hydrangea is slow to turn color this year, and has sent forth a few late season blossoms that are flat, unlike the conical trusses of summer.

Once all its leaves have fallen, the Callicarpa’s berries earn the common name: beautyberry. Other than a few Verbena bonariensis and some dahlias, that’s about it for flower power in my garden this month, but visit May Dreams Gardens to find links to other parts of the world where the show still goes on.

Dahlias can always be counted upon to provide splashes of color and mixed bouquets right up until the first hard frost. This one is ‘Cheyenne’, purchased from Janet at her spring sale.

I’m crazy about this one, also from Janet, but unnamed. Color, form: everything about it pleases.

By this time, I am looking for fat red hips on the ‘Buffalo Gals’, but found this instead.

Anemone ‘Honorine de Jobert’ has been going strong for a couple of months.

As the grasses begin to tassle up, they combine nicely with the seedheads of the fading Echinops

Love the fuzzy little flowering spires on the Oreostachys

The only aster in my garden looks like a bridal bouquet.

The Hemerocallis ‘Still Life’ is racing with the weather. I’m pulling for these buds to open before we get slammed with the nasty stuff.

I’ll close with grasses catching the light against a dark background. This image speaks fall to me. Other gardens beckon. Go to May Dreams Gardens to gain access to a world (literally) of blooms.