Each Little World

GBBD: 10.15.21

This October post focuses on late flowers and fabulous foliage plants.

We haven't had a killing frost yet and there is not one on the horizon. That means it's been a perfect autumn for Tricyrtis blooms. T. macranta has never put on such a good display. Can't believe the rabbits have not touched it. Maybe that's because they keep munching on fern foliage. 

Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki' has a dramatic arching form. I moved a few stems of this plant to the top of the wall by the stone steps into the front garden where it is beginning to put on a nice little show. 

Tricyrtis hirta 'Lightning Strike' has striped foliage which means it looks great whether it flowers or not. But this year it has so many flowers that the stems are arching out like my other hirta varieties. This one is also much easier to see now that the Upper Pool is filled with gravel. 

I have such a large swath of Tricyrtis 'formosana' along the back of the driveway border that I moved a few plants to the other end of the border. They are doing beautifully, though the original group has been mowed down twice by the rabbits. 

Lots of local gardeners have been posting images of their autumn Crocus but mine just finally appeared. Now I need to make a note to add more while I can remember where they're located. 

These little flowers are being consumed by their neighbors. I may have to dig out some of the Epimedium before it kills them. 

My first attempt at growing Cyclamen has gone so well that I added four more plants last spring. Alas one was dug out and destroyed immediately by rabbits, but the remainder are doing nicely. This is C. hederafolium which you can see I bought for the foliage. 

Not a bloom but a nice autumn surprise, Podophyllum hexandrum reappeared.

Arum italicum 'Ghost' puts on such a spectacular display that I need to move it to a spot where it's more visible. Since it is summer dormant, it is hidden behind larger plants. That means you can barely see it when it is having its big moment. 

We took out a dying Austrian pine last winter to give Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy' more light and more room to spread out. It's just starting its fall color.

Not only is it a great Toad Lily season, it is a great mushroom season. Suddenly they're everywhere.

The shady and somewhat moist strip between my driveway border garden and my neighbor's exploded with mushrooms. 

The size, shape and color seem to change daily. 

Love this little guy who found a home for himself in the stone wall at the end of the border. 

To see what's blooming in other gardens, hop over here to the sponsor of this meme. 

Toad lily time

Time for a floral break from the pond.

This year's Tricyrtis (toad lilies) are blooming almost two weeks earlier than last year, according to the dates on last year's photos. Our current warm temperatures mean I am definitely not going to have to worry that frost will get them before they flower.

Tricyrtis 'Empress'

Tricyrtis formosana 'Autumn Glow'

Tricyrtis formosana. I've been growing this plant more than 20 years. A great beauty and a great performer.

My older clumps of Tricyrtis 'formosana' in the shade are almost 3 feett tall. This one, in more sun, is just under 5 feet high.

Tricyrtis hirta 'Lightning Strike' is worth growing for the foliage alone.

Tricyrtis hirta 'Miyazaki' is a low, arching variety whose flowers are more substantial and almost a bit felty looking. The flowers are very similar to 'Lightning Strike.'

Tricyrtis macrantha may be the drama queen of all my Toad Lilies

The stems are loaded with buds along their entire length.

I am out in the garden multiple times a day watching this plant open its first flowers.

The big thrill this year is that the rabbits have not touched this plant. Thus I am able to enjoy its beautiful cascading form without caging.

IVOM: Pink perfection

Once spring ephemerals have disappeared, most of what I see in my garden is green. You have to go out to the edges to find flowers and color. 

Out there, away from the house, there are Anemones, hardy Begonias and a number of clumps of Cimicifuga racemosa. 

As you can see, the flowers are all variations on pink. I usually think of pink flowers as too sweet for me, but clearly that's not the case. 

I planted Anemone 'Max Vogel' last year but the bunnies ate the flower buds. This is the first I've seen the plant in full flower and the pink is a bit more intense than I anticipated. But the Hellebore growing in front of it helps to tone the color down while it supports the Anemone flowers. 

I adore everything about Cimicifuga racemosa: Dramatic foliage, a whiff of fragrance and flowers that are always in different stages of bloom on any given plant. I have been moving these around the garden to create a couple of focal points. 

I complained to a garden friend recently that the Begonias were all facing the sun and away from the garden path. 

She laughed at the fact that I had the perfect setup: All the leaves were growing so that I approached them from behind and got to enjoy their dramatic backlit beauty without having to maneuver around trying to get this view. Sometimes it's hard to see what's right in front of your eyes. 

Foliage that fascinates

If I thought my witch hazel suckers were unexpectedly beautiful, I fell in love with this foliage quirk on a friend's mum plant.

If there was a variety that sported leaves like these all the time, my garden would be filled with them. Alas, an unexplained quirk that we can appreciate, but never expect to see on a regular basis.. 

A day in December

My girlfriends and I visited on the deck for more than an hour yesterday afternoon. We sat in our summer chairs, in full sun, with no wind and the temperature hit 53°F. when we broke up our gathering. It is liable to be our last in-person meeting for the year, judging by the weather forecast. Afterwards I walked around the garden to see what I could see. Plants I photographed in October are still looking good; a few, in fact, look better than ever. 

Arum italicum 'Ghost' has improved in size and appearance as the weather has gotten colder. Some of its leaves are almost all white. 

Autumn fern looks its best early and late in the season. It is standing tall with little or no damage from the snow we had briefly.

Helleborus foetidus 'Red Silver' has a flower stem forming. 

I first photographed this Helleborus niger on November 4th. Every time it warms ups a bit, I've gone out and cut more flower stems. It's finally starting to fade. 

Bulbs put to bed

I ordered a limited number of fall-planted bulbs this year. Just enough to let me experiment and have that sense of surprise next year when things appear. The lily bulbs, in particular, were expensive enough that I did not want to take any chances of them being dug up and eaten by garden critters. So I put milk cartons over the spots where I planted important bulbs. Looks awful but no one has gone near them as far as I can tell — other than me checking on them multiple times. 

I still have a few of these plastic cartons that are so old I don't remember how or where I got them. Mark is always after me to get rid of them because they take up space in the garage, even though they stack. But I am always finding a new use for them, so I continue to politely ignore him. 

IVOM: A Thanksgiving arrangement

I posted a version of this foliage display on October 26th, noting I had actually put it together on October 14th. It's now more than a month later and it's still looking good enough to use on our Thanksgiving dinner table — with a bit of sprucing up. 

I added a number of Bergenia leaves which had started to get burnished bronze and red out in the garden. The rabbits tend to munch these during the summer, but they return in the fall and are untouched now.

I decided to make one last foray around the garden as the bouquet still looked a bit blah even with the Bergeinia foliage. The addition of variegated Arum italicum foliage and yellow Epimedium leaves definitely brightened things up, along with an 'Autumn Brilliance' fern frond. 

Epimedium 'Waterfall' is the only one of my many Epimediums to turn this wonderful buttery color with dark edges. 

I clipped this Maidenhair fern frond when it was a flat fan. In the house everything has delicately curled up.

I only grow Arum italicum 'Ghost,' a plant that appears in the autumn when the weather cools down and pops up again when the snow melts. There are other varieties with different degrees of patterning that I continue to lust after. I've never been able to buy one as they are always sold out as soon as I seem to discover them in on-line nurseries. 

The wonky flowers on star fruit (Penthorum seloides) get better and better as the days go by.

Hope you have a pleasant and safe holiday.

Late November walkabout

November has brought us days that got up into the 60°'s and a lot of nights, like last night, that hit the low 20°'s. That means last weekend was the perfect time to stroll through the chilly garden to see what is still looking good.

The pond froze on Saturday night but it was warm enough Sunday that it melted again. 

The mossy rocks are always a thrill for me to discover. The densely weedy shoreline less so.

I moved and divided Pulmonaria 'David Ward' rather rudely midsummer. I was worried that I lost it by my thoughtless behavior in hot weather since it is not a plant that I see to buy anymore. This is the only Pulmonaria that I intentionally grow, so I am thrilled to see it again.

False Rue Anemone (Isopyrum biternatum) is one of the treasures of the cool garden in early spring and late autumn. It has white flowers in the spring but I grow it for that lovely foliage.

Some of my Hepaticas are looking good while others have disappeared. 

A lot of gardeners consider Feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium 'Aureum') weedy, but I love it. The tiniest seedlings are recognizable and easy to pull. I appreciate the note of bright green it adds whenever and wherever it appears, and the tiny daisy-like flowers are perfect additions to any bouquet.

Epimedium 'Waterfall' has been one of the stars of the autumn garden. None of my other Epimediums have this thrilling mix of color in their leaves. 

Who doesn't love Hellebore foliage? It is dramatic at any season, but especially now when it has a lot less foliar competition.

Whatever the weather

We've had a week with overnight frost, high winds, rain and just plain November days. I went out midmorning today to check the rain gauge (only .36") and to look for fallen branches from the winds that began yesterday. No big branches were down, though I found some lovely pieces of bark. I left this one on the bench by the front door to dry out a bit before I bring it indoors. 

Despite the miserably cold weather I found a lot that caught my attention no matter where I went in the garden. The beds, paths and upper pool in the back garden were absolutely covered with needles from the lone Austrian pine of the original three trees planted in the mid-1950s.

Some things, like this Himalayan maidenhair fern, seem to take the change in the weather in stride. It looks green and gorgeous until it gets buried by snow. 

Big healthy Foxglove seedlings are such a hopeful sign. But I probably should have moved them out of the path when they were tiny. I am going to have to tread  carefully next year. 

Late last fall I planted a pair of dwarf Hydrangeas. They came through the winter and grew this year with no problems. I need to put larger cages around them so they are protected from critters this winter and next spring when they put out new growth. Love their deep purple foliage. 

I've been growing this Paeonia lutea for four years. I moved it last year after deciding it was in too much shade to flower. I've never noticed pink stems on it before. Now I am going to have to make a note to see what it looks like next spring when it reappears. 

This ornamental cabbage was looking so sad that I almost tossed it. Yesterday's rain suggests it was lack of water, not the cold, that was its problem.

I discovered this Hellebore, that typically tries to flower at Thanksgiving, up and beginning to bloom ten days ago. I cut a few blossoms to enjoy inside and assumed it had succumbed to the cold weather by now. What a trooper!

Its twin, planted across the path, was budded and buried deeply in autumn leaves. I left it that way, hoping that would preserve the buds to flower in the spring. But it was ready and did not want to wait. 

Though I think winter is on its way, clearly my garden is not yet convinced.

The big bang!

My gardening friends and I have all been thrilled with the blast of color and warm weather that we've been enjoying here in southern Wisconsin. I took this photo Sunday afternoon when I came around a corner and was stopped in my tracks. That's Epimedium 'Lilac Fairy' foliage down low in front, Bowman's Root on the left, Berberis 'Orange Rocket' and Japanese Blood Grass. Just realized there's a small 'Rhinegold' Arborviate behind the grass adding to the glow. 

Alas, this morning it was clear that the weather is changing back to a typical chilly November.