Each Little World

The lame duck made me do it!

Last week's lame duck debacle in Wisconsin had me in need of serious distraction! Luckily, it arrived in the form of an e-mail from Carolyn's Shade Gardens in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Her message stood out like a beacon in a sea of breaking news updates that were too depressing to keep reading. Carolyn, on the other hand, was announcing the arrival of her 2019 Snowdrop Catalog.

 

Of course, I immediately clicked on it and placed an order! I would not call myself a "galanthophile," the name given to those who obsess and obsessively collect different varieties of snowdrops aka Galantus. But I am willing to admit that I love the lore and lure around plants like snowdrops and species Peonies that have a long history replete with fascinating stories.

 

You can buy easily buy the most common varieties of snowdrops out of season as bulbs like Tulips or Daffs. But they are one plant whose success is touted to buying them "in the green," meaning right after they've finished flowering. To do that, you need to live in the UK where this is a common practice or live near a grower in the States. OR find someone like Carolyn's Shade Gardens who sells snowdrops in the green at her nursery in the spring as well as on-line.

 

The plants I just ordered will come next spring after they've flowered in her nursery. Hopefully, it will be only a brief span between their arrival in the mail and when I can plant them out in my own garden. The timing is always a bit of a hit-or-miss proposition but so far it's worked for me, having placed my first order with Carolyn in 2014.

 

 

I have had good luck with the more reasonably-priced snowdrops like G. nivalis 'Viridapice,' G. woronoii and G. 'Magnet' (both photos above are my clumps of 'Magnet') but not much luck with any of the expensive yellow ones. This time I splurged on only one variety that should make a statement ('Johnathan' below), along with some guaranteed performers from Carolyn's stock (G. elwesii and G. nivalis).

 

I will plant them in my main flower bed that gets lots of early sun and has good soil and drainage. The only drawback is that it is the farthest from the house so I will definitely have to walk up to watch for them blooming. But they will be growing near my species Peonies which are equally early and always draw me out multiple times per day.

 

CAROLYN'S SHADE GARDENS PHOTO

 

"The Plant Lover's Guide to Snowdrops" by Naomi Slade is one of the plant-specific titles in the excellent Kew guide series. It is a good place to get information on these bulbs and how easy or difficult specific varieties are to grow, along with any quirky cultivation information. Carolyn Walker is one of the snowdrop lovers profiled in the book. 

Wednesday vignette

This may be my favorite color moment of the entire autumn display: Crocus pulchellus amid leaves from Acer pseudosieboldianum. The flowers are much more delicately colored and more fragile looking than they appear in the photo. They would look like they were done when it got cloudy and cold and then stand upright and open again in the warm sun. A pricey bulb but worth every penny. 

Bulbs begin to arrive

. . . in the mail, not blooming in the garden. Yesterday I got a little box from Brent and Becky's which had three bags of snowdrop bulbs: G. nivalis 'Viridapice', G. woronowii and G. Sam Arnott. I have small clumps of the first two that I planted "in the green" from Carolyn's Shade Garden out east. This time I decided to add more typical fall planted bulbs. Last spring I actually marked where my other snowdrop clumps are planted so I will be easily able to know where to put these additions.

Sam is one of the largest in bloom size and height, so he's going under my dad's memorial Ginkgo tree where I should be able to see him from in the house when he arrives above ground next spring.

G. 'Magnet' (above) is coming from Old House Gardens which last offered it in 2014. It's a strong grower and holds its flowers on unusually long pedicels making for a particularly striking floral display. I've always regretted I did not order more at the time, so I was thrilled to see it available again. Here it is in my garden in 2015.

At this time of year when I am adding new plants, dividing and moving old stalwarts and putting in bulbs, all I can think about is next spring. Here we are on the cusp of autumn and all I want is to jump ahead two seasons. It is a crazy way to be thinking and yet it is that desire to see what comes next that keeps me going from year to year into — hopefully — a ripe old gardening age.

In a vase: Summer beauties

"Summer Beauty" is the name of the Allium that is happily growing here in the traffic island bed in the street in front of our house. 

A few years ago I planted a Calmintha nepeta ssp. nepeta in the four corners of this bed and put a triangle of 'Summer Beauty' Alliums on each side. The center was supposed to be filled with Geranium 'Rozanne' but a wild Geranium has been trying to take over and needs my attention. 

The only maintenance required for this bed is cutting back the early spring bulbs after they're done blooming. This floral combo does well with no attention from me. Plus the whole group is a bee magnet. They were everywhere as I snapped this photo in the early morning breeze.

Though I did not take advantage of it in this little bouquet, these Alliums are tall with very sturdy stems. That makes them useful in a variety of arrangements. 

 

The bouquet is on my bathroom vanity where the lighting for photos is not the best. That tall stem is the Calamintha. 

 Mark keeps pointing out that I'm always putting a vase here and there but I keep ignoring the Japanese bamboo container that hangs on the wall. I think I just enjoy it as an art object and forget it has another purpose. This is a clipping from my neighbor's Kiwi vine which grows on our shared fence. 

Curious about what other gardeners have put in a vase today? Then visit Cathy at Rambling in the Garden who hosts this most enjoyable and addictive meme. 

 

No vase today, no GBBD yesterday

My garden helper and I spent a good 4 hours in the garden on Friday morning, beginning at 7 a.m. I collapsed after she left and sat around reading to restore my energy for back to back social events that took up most of Saturday. Then out to the garden shortly after 6 a.m Sunday morning. It has been so hot and humid that early morning is the only time that I find bearable for working outdoors. Even going out that early, I was a piggy, sweaty mess when I came in.

Lots accomplished in the garden but I couldn't bear to cut any of these lilies (L. leichtlinii) for a vase for today and I completely missed the fact that it was Bloom Day yesterday. Mostly Hostas and daylilies blooming in my garden, nothing you haven't seen before, so this will have to suffice for GBBD. That's Ligularia 'The Rocket" beginning to open in the background. 

More a rescue than a vase

One of the thrills of coming home to the garden was the appearance of 'Forever Susan,' a group of Asiastic lilies that mostly got chomped by rabbits before they bloomed last summer — their first season. This year I put cages around them the minute they poked above the ground. I ordered this lily after seeing it in a friend's garden. The bi-color blooms offer a lot of drama but in what I would term a sophisticated palette. 

I planted a group of Lilium landini (below) in 2015 and its dark color later inspired me to add 'Susan' across the path knowing they would complement each other. For unknown reasons this lily did not make an appearance this year, so I grabbed a couple of new plants on my last trip out to the Flower Factory. When I went out to the garden Sunday, it appeared that a critter had tried unsuccessfully to bite through the thick stem of L. landini. It was hanging down but still attached though all the lower leaves had been stripped off the stem. 

As a result, I cut it out of the garden and plopped it in a vase on the table on deck where I was enjoying a morning coffee. I am going to have to order more of these bulbs as I don't want to be without this lily; partly because it is so beautiful and partly because without it, L. 'Forever Susan' dominates the garden more than I prefer. 

The weekend was warm but nothing like the temperatures we've had. As a result Mark and I worked on weeding, pruning and general garden maintenance which was sorely needed after eight days away. This week's temps mean that I will need to get out in the garden very early in the morning if I want to get any more work done. 

Catching up with my garden

I hate to leave my garden in June even for a lovely family reunion. All I could think about as we drove away was all the blooms I might miss, to say nothing of the storms and wacky weather that might happen while I was gone. I brought my potted plants onto the deck and filled up a bunch of watering cans so my neighbor could easily douse the plants if we didn't get any rain while I was away. 

We were gone 8 days and got a little over 2 inches of rain, so clearly we are still in this extremely wet weather pattern. The leaves on my beautiful new dwarf columnar Carpinus are starting to turn yellow and I think it's from being in a pot sitting in a saucer that keeps getting full of rain water. I'm going to plant this tiny treasure in the ground now rather than later in the season, which I hope will help it maintain its youthful vigor.

The kids had a great time playing in the garden while I was away. This is the downside of moss gardening: someone is always looking for grubs and other bugs under my velvet carpet.

Somebody jumped off the highest fence onto the Kirengeshoma after they'd dive-bombed the Synellisis (shredded umbrella leaf), leaving both of them bowed to the ground. Then they kicked up the pine needles from one end of the path to the other — after they'd dislodged one of the old logs marking the edge of the path. They do go crazy when I'm not around to yell at them.

I'm going to dig out and discard all my Stella d'Oro daylilies and redo this street-side bed. I was concerned that the daylilies I want to retain might bloom and be done before I got back. I need not have worried as they are all just starting to flower. 

I've been putting big id tags close by the flowers I want to move into other locations, so I will know who is who if there are no flowers to guide me. I'm hoping to attack this redesign project next week, unless we hit temps in the 90s again. There are a lot of problem plants that have found a home here like that baby black walnut tree (above) that all need to be dug out as well. 

Most of my Asiatic lilies are just beginning to open, including this variety called 'Apricot Fudge'. Its flowers are described as more rose-like than lily-like and I think that is true. I loved the images of this in the catalogs and online. But I do not like it in person at all. I guess I'm not too old to be taught a lesson about the difference between pictures of flowers and the plants themselves. 

 

 

Lovely invaders

The other night as we pulled into the driveway I noticed something odd among the long border of Martagon lilies. This is what I discovered when I went over for a closer look.

The breeze had everything moving lightly but you can see this lovely yellow flower is definitely not L. martagon 'Claude Shride' or 'Russian Morning.' That's all I planted here so I am guessing this must be an odd bulb mixed in the batch of 'Russian Morning' that I planted in 2015. I can't imagine it arrived in this spot any other way. 

It sticks out like a sore thumb in with all these dark flowers. So I've tied some string around it to mark it and I will move it to a better location before it goes to seed. While I was looking at the yellow flowered lily I noticed this one just a foot or so away from it.

I called Mark over to look at it and confirm that even though it was a red flower, it was not the same as the other red Martagons in the border. The flowers were much larger, a darker color and did not have any of the speckles on the petals like the others. The back of the reflexed petals is the definitive clue. 

Compare the reverse of the petals of the one above with all the others as seen in the photo below. I've marked this one with string as well but have to decide if I want to relocate it and where. And I'll have to spend some time trying to come up with the names of these two beautiful rogues who've suddenly appeared in the garden.

Lily season

Half the lilies in the garden are in full bloom while the rest are in big fat buds that will open soon — I hope. The recent heat produced multiple flowers on the waterlilies in the pond. I love the mirror-like reflections that water causes and I equally like the red stems that are sometimes visible.

You can see all the rips and holes in the leaves caused by the hail over the weekend. The wild weather also brought down lots of leaves and twiggy bits now resting on the swath of leaves covering part of the pond.

The water lilies that are blooming at the moment are almost all on the side of the pond with more shade but it does not seem to affect them. In fact, one of the interesting things I've noted is that water lilies close in the early afternoon on a sunny day. When it is cloudy and rainy they stay open for more of the day, usually remaining in bloom until late afternoon or early evening.

I am constantly fascinated by Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse.' Depending on the light and time of day, her color changes — at least to my eye. Here the flowers are an almost acid yellow. 

Now they appear much warmer and more golden.

But I always think of this lily as pinky-peach, which is the color of the back of the petals and buds. 

I've been growing L. martagon 'Claude Shride' for a long time. A few years ago I added 'Russian Morning' for a subtle contrast. 

The contrast is so subtle I can't see any difference among the blooms. Or maybe I'm just confused about what is planted where. 

Wordless Wednesday