Each Little World

Lilies and daylilies

It's high summer and the garden is bursting with bright colors and towering plants. The view out the living room windows is all green, but take a short walk up to the Sacred Grove and the scene is entirely different. Up there, I've got deep dark red Lilium asiaticum landini and bright yellow Lilium leichtlini in one bed. Across the path are three types of orange lilies and assorted daylilies.

I planted Lilium henryii in memory of my late father-in-law, Henry. It is always at least 6' tall if not a bit higher.  

Lilium lancifollium flore pleno is the double form of the tiger lily. Lilium superb, the Turk's Cap lily, is just about to bloom. Though all three lilies in this bed are orange, the tones are  markedly different tones of that color. 

Hemorcallis 'Lady Inora' shares the bed with the orange lilies. 

Tall spikes of Thalictrums lighten the look of the lilies' heavy flower heads.

Across the path is Lilium leichtlini. I love the delicate blush of red on the backs of the flowers. I'd like to get more of this bulb but haven't seen it offered recently.

I seem to have lost the name of this daylily, but based on its markings I think it is one of Pauline Henry's Siloam varieties. Lovely pale yellow with a purple throat.

The dark red Lilium landini (center) are so dark you can barely see them in this photo. That's Hemerocallis 'Little Grapette' in the foreground with Ligularia 'The Rocket' adding more yellow. 

Around the corner by the Tea House side of the above bed are red daylilies: H. 'Little Red Warbler' on the left and H. 'Petite Sioux' on the right. 

At the top of the stairs out front is Hemerocallis 'Early Bird Cardinal' backed by Berberis 'Orange Rocket'.

If you asked me if I had any bright summer flowers in the garden, I'd say that I have very few. But walking around with a camera suggests I haven't a clue about what I've been planting the last few years!

Summer color: GBBD 7.15.2019

It's an old-fashioned July: sunny, hot, humid and no rain in sight. I start wilting once it hits 80°F. so I am going to work less in the garden until it rains or gets cooler. I've been going out at 6 a.m. but I get too wiped out too fast and I don't get much else done the rest of the day. The summer flowers are just starting to bloom in my garden. Most of the lilies, daylilies and Astilbes are just on the verge of opening; stay tuned for more color later this week. 

Lilium asiaticum 'Forever Susan'

It's backed with an early-blooming Astilbe, 'Mighty Chocolate Cherry', which emerges with bronze foliage that turns green, 

Astilbe 'Mighty Chocolate Cherry' has become a large, dramatic plant in one year. 

More bronzy green foliage on our weeping Beech (Fagus 'Purple Fountain') with Astilbe 'Fanal'.

'Fanal' is the one Astilbe that never fails me and increases quickly enough to let me use it as a groundcover. 

My daylilies are just starting to open. I dug them out of the "Wild Time Banke" last summer and moved them all to new locations. I attempted to keep track of who was who and where I planted what, but I am not really sure I did as good a job as I intended. This one is planted by the rusty orange Tea House and is nameless for the moment. 

This is Hemerocallis exaltata 'Giraffe' seedlings. I planted this in 2016, moved it in 2017 and it finally bloomed this year. The flower scapes are about 4' tall and the flowers have a strong substance. Very striking. 

I am so happy with this plant that I had to share two photos. 

The loss of our 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple means that the pond gets more sun which the waterlilies are loving. 

Stop by 'May Dreams Gardens' to see what's blooming this month in other bloggers' gardens. 

Wednesday vignette

Clematis alpina 'Stolwijk Gold' is just as beautiful in the summer without any flowers. The stems are distinctly red, contrasting with the eponymous foliage. 

The rain effect

Our rainy spring and fairly wet summer (so far) has had a major effect on the garden. The beneficial effect is the lush growth on just about every plant in every location. Usually by early July, this patch of Carex siderosticha 'Lemon Zest' is browning on all the edges. This spot is quite sunny and rather dry, causing the Carex to sulk come summer. But this year the Carex never slowed down with the constant moisture. This plant couldn't be happier with the weather!

The downside of so much wet weather is diseased foliage on many plants. The poster child for the problems a wet spring can cause is our Crabapple tree in the front garden. It was planted in the mid-1950s by the original home owner before many of the resistant varieties were developed. The wetter the spring, the earlier our tree drops its leaves. First they turn yellow with brown spots then they come down in a blizzard that coats the plants and paths under the tree. 

With Hostas whose leaves are deeply cupped like 'Inniswood', you can't just shake the Hosta leaves to make the diseased Crabapple leaves fall off. It's a daily job of hand-to-hand combat. Sunday was a beautiful day and Mark and I both spent time in the garden. I did a number of chores but I amit that I never did get around to cleaning this Hosta. I will need to do it before the next rain or the Crabapple leaves will glue themselves in place and be a real pain to remove.

Colorful cones

There are few cones on evergreens more colorful or beautiful than those on the Korean fir (Abies aoreana).

Unlike many conifers, the cones are borne on the top of the branches in upright rows, making a dramatic and highly visible statement. 

This is a fairly slow growing tree, at least in our experience. We still get cones even though our tree is on the north side of the house in part shade much of the day. 

Market finds

I love Foxgloves but only the peach colored varieties which are always in short supply around here. I almost ordered some from the East Coast but decided against it. So I was thrilled to discover Digitalis 'Dalmation Peach' recently at K&W in Janesville. I was even more thrilled to discovered a vendor selling them at the local West Side Farmers Market last weekend. That color is perfect with Berberis 'Orange Rocket'. 

I don't buy many annuals other than herbs like Basil. But the same vendor was selling Salpiglossis plants, an old variety that is rarely seen these days. I fell for it and bought three of them. The colors range from dark red to almost black with wonderful purple-striped variations in between. The variety is 'Royale Mix'.

What a difference a week makes

This photo from Memorial Day weekend shows the leaves on our purple weeping beech (Fagus sylvatica 'Purple Fountain') to be a beautiful warm complement to the orange and brown Tulips planted below. 

By the following weekend the leaves had made the switch to the color that gives the tree its name. 

It was striking to watch the color change and deepen daily. 

We designed the garden with a curve of clipped Yews but did not have anything in mind to put in the bed created by the shrubs. 

When we saw this tree at Stonewall Nursery, we knew it was just what this spot needed. The leaves will lose some of their purple and turn more green as summer commences. For now, they are a dark delight.

(In this photo and the one directly above it, you can see one of our Japanese maples that did not make it though the winter.)

A symphony of green

The garden is still full of flowers with more on the way. It's the glorious greens, however, that caught my eye this week.

. . .

A species Peony going to seed with Taxus baccata aureomarginata in the background.

Taxus x media 'Densiforma' awaiting its annual haircut with T. baccata aureomarginata in the foreground this time. The growth on all my evergreens has been spectacular this spring. I keep running my hands over the soft needles before they hardens off. 

Tsuga diversifolia 'Loowit' is ten years old and about 2 feet tall. 

Tsuga canadensis 'Moon Frost' has creamy white new growth that is quite different from Tsuga 'Gentsch White'.

Tsuga canadensis 'Ashfield Weeper' is 20 years old and huge. A pair of Royal ferns (Osmunda regalis ) of similar age are unfurling in front of the hemlock.

Tricyrtis 'Lemon Twist' looks best to my eye at this stage. It gets large yellow flowers later in the year which always feel a bit out of scale to the rest of the plant. 

The view up the slope toward the Tea House

From the backside of the slope looking a bit to the left of the view above.

Planting inspiration

Nothing like a garden tour to present plant combinations that I've never thought of and fell in love with on the spot. This is Ligularia surrounded by Astilbe in a sunny but moist location at Hornbaker Gardens in Princeton, Illinois. 

This combo from a recent WHPS members' garden tour did not photograph well but was stunning in person: Native Jack-in-the-Pulpit plants seeded into a bed of Hostas. Since I have Jacks that have done exactly that with a new Hosta bed, this grouping convinced to let well enough alone and not to move the Jacks. 

I was stopped in my tracks by this grouping at a friend's garden: Shredded umbrella leaf (Syneilesis aconitifolia) fronted with Aster 'Eastern Star'. Most gardeners — including me — grow Syneilesis as a specimen plant. But this grouping of big swaths of both plants took my breath away. Now I need to figure out if there is anywhere in my garden that I could let Syneilesis spread out like this. 

Another glittering spring

Who tossed those golden coins,

The dandelions glittering

on my lawn?

— Kazue Mizumura

The lawn is covered with yellow coins but I liked the look of these two. Each one found a location where they did not have to share the stage with others of their ilk!