Each Little World

December delights

Despite overnight lows down into the teens and snow flurries a number of times last month, my garden is surprisingly green for December 1st. Of course, my conifers are the green mainstay once serious snow arrives. For now, however, quite a few plants are still providing bursts of greenery.

Many of  my Carexes retain their color, but none looks better than C. plantaginea. I have it growing in ground cover swaths as well as specimen plants like this one along the stone steps up into the front garden. 

At the top of the steps is one of many Christmas ferns (Polystichum acrostichoides), all looking good. This fern takes a while to attain a decent size; but once there, it is an instant garden treasure. 

Not far from the Christmas fern is this big patch of Epimedium perralchicum 'Weihenstephan'. This is one variety that retains good looking green foliage longer than any other Epimedium variety in my garden. 

This Helleborus foetidus functions as a shrub in the back garden. 

Luzula sylvatica 'Solar Flare' is interspersed among Hellebores and spring snowdrops. It keeps its bright yellow green color until the snow covers it. 

Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' is a Zone 6 plant that has survived for three years in my Z5 garden. It always looks good but the plant is shrinking rather than growing. 

Last spring I moved and divided my Autumn fern (Dryopteris erythrosora 'Brilliance'). It has taken a long time for me to finally find the right home for this fern but all of them settled in beautifully and are still looking sprightly. 

I keep adding interesting ferns when I see them. Polystichum makinoi is from a PNW nursery but has done well here. 

The deceptively delicate-looking Adiantum venustum aka the Himalayan maidenhair fern. When this fern is happy it can be a bit of a monster. Another clump of it is currently eating an Epimedium that may not survive the process. 

There are a number of Digitalis seedlings in the garden which make it look like spring is almost here!

GBBD: Nov. 15. 2021

It is rare that there are flowers blooming in my garden in November. But these three are reliable performers as late autumn turns cold. 

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Calamintha nepeta subsp. nepeta changes color from white blossoms to soft lavender as the temperatures cool. 

I started watching this clump of Helleborus niger on Nov. 6. The weather was nice enough that I pulled off the leaves that were hiding the buds. 

By last Thursday (Nov. 11), it was obvious the weather was about to get much colder. So I piled fallen leaves back on the plant to protect it until spring. But first I cut a few buds that were starting to open along with foliage from Vancouveria hexandra, Geranium phaeum and the Hellebore. 

Overnight the Vancouveria foliage faded as the Hellebore flowers fully opened. It's always a thrill to have a little bouquet from the garden indoors this late in the year. 

The warm weather we'd been having kept the leaves on the Hamamelis virginiana, hiding most of the flowers. 

The chill overnight on Thursday and Friday's snow showers got rid of the yellow leaves, letting the flowers shine.

I don't know when this shrub has looked so good in November.

More fall color

Despite the Ginkgo losing its leaves before they'd turned yellow, it's been a spectacular year for fall color in the garden. My fall blooming witch hazel, Hamamelis virginiana, insisted on keeping its leaves, making it hard to see its fall-blooming flowers. 

The larch along the back fence, Larix laracina, is so bright we can see it across the width of the garden from inside the house. That's a Dawn Redwood with its deciduous needles turning cinnamon color in front. 

I love the subtle coloration of the fallen redbud leaves, Cercis canadensis 'Forest Pansy', with the Carex siderosticha 'Lemon Zest.

This Korean Maple, Acer pseudosieboldianum, has been unable to make up its mind. From day to day the color changes dramatically with no one tone dominant.

Every day I walk to the back garden to see what's happened overnight. 

Another Korean maple, across the path from the one above.

I love the fact that the leaves are right down to the ground on this tree; making it a perfect partner to the Toadlilies. 

Wordless Wednesday

The Ginkgoes give up

We'd been watching our Ginkgo trees to see if the leaves were going to manage to turn their lovely buttery yellow color before they came down. The answer again is NO! One of the dwarf trees was just about there but the big tree and the other dwarf were just an acid green on their way to yellow. Last Tuesday night the temperature went below 25°F. In the morning we looked out and the leaves were all on the ground and draped over every shrub and object nearly.

Fall bulb order

In late July, a Wisconsin garden blogging friend reminded her readers that it was time to order spring-blooming bulbs for the best choice. Having missed out on some special bulbs I wanted for the last few years, I did not take any chances this year.

I put in my order to Van Engelen on April 30th, as soon as their re-designed website went live. I ordered more Martagon lilies from Solaris Farms on June 13th. I ordered more Lilium canadensis (below) as soon as they were available, since the ones I got last year were so lovely.

I feel like I ordered a lot of bulbs — around 225 — but I am guessing I am quite restrained based on the size of my garden. But I knew that come October, my energy for planting would be waning. So I tried to be realistic. I planted most of them on October 18th, 19th and 20th, a trio of warm, sunny days that could not have been more perfect for working outside. Here are a few of the flowers I'm most excited about. 

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Lilium martagon 'Slate's Morning' from Solaris Farms. I have had great luck with Martagons and decided it was time to spring for a few  more. When I say "a few more," that's exactly what I mean. At $16.00 each, I only ordered three. I planted them in a spot in the garden where there are no other Martagons; nor many flowers except for early bloomers like snowdrops and Hellebores.  

I have a love/hate relationship with Alliums but I keep being struck by mass plantings of them, so that's what I am going to attempt. I got 10 Allium 'Summer Drummer,' a very tall variety, to mix with the next Allium below. (A garden friend who lives nearby, said she has not had good luck with this 'Summer Drummer'. We'll see how I do.)

I ordered 25 of Allium purpureum which gets 2-3' tall. These were mixed in with lavender Thalictrums and Veronicastrum.

This beauty, Allium 'Silver Spring', was planted among Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta, Geranium 'Crystal Lake' and Penstemmon 'Dark Towers.'

Fritillaria raddensa is rock hardy and long-lived according to Van Engelen. But I had no luck with it when I tried it a number of years ago. But a tall, pale yellow flower in April would be so lovely in the garden that I'm trying again. I just have to replicate the conditions of NE Iran to Turkmenistan!

Muscari are one of those "no fail" bulbs and M. comosum looks like a fun one to add to my other ones. It gets 6-12" high so it should make a visible statement almost anywhere it's planted. 

Now I just have to wait six months to see what happens!

Slow fall color

We've had a warm autumn, with no killing frost yet. That means our fall color is coming on very slowly with the greatest part of the garden still sporting green leaves on most plants and trees. Some plants, like this foxglove, decided to rebloom. 

My oldest Tricyrtis hirta finally opened. Many years it gets frosted before it can bloom. 

Bowman's root (Gillenia trifoliata) and Japanese blood grass are showing the merest hint of color. 

Same with the Stewartia.

Cerecis canandensis 'Forest Pansy' has been leading the way.

Spring and fall, the foliage on this tree is noteworthy. 

The real color at the moment is centered on the maples. Our big Sugar Maple was supposed to come down last year but got rescheduled for this winter, so I've been documenting its color. Most of the maples out front turn red, while the Sugar Maple turns a beautiful gold, providing a nice foil for the other maples. 

I love watching Acer triflorum, the three-flowered Maple, turn color. I am out there daily checking on its progress. It's just visible on the left in the photo above.

Tues. Oct. 19

Fri. Oct. 22

I took this shot of the Sugar Maple from inside (through the window screen!) trying to show how tall Acer mandschuricum (Mancurian Maple) below it has grown. It's wending its way deep into the branches of the dying Sugar Maple. 

These understory Maples all have beautifully layered structures. 

Look at that straight trunk. The trick will be to take out the big Maple without harming the one beneath it. 

Acer tschonoskii ssp. koreanum is just across the path from the Manchurian Maple. It has usually lost its golden leaves by the time its neighbor turns red.

Now I'm waiting to see if the Ginkgoes turn color before they lose their leaves, as has happened the last couple of years.  

Wordless Wednesday

Something soothing

At this point in the growing season, I see bright colors everywhere I look: Asters, Dahlias, Zinnias, sunflowers and goldenrod. Not in my garden. With a summer that has been both hot and dry, I want a visual break; a sip of something soothing to cool everything down. The following are a few favorites that provide that experience in my garden.

Astrantia major  'Vanilla Gorilla' tends to throw out a number of solid green reversions in midsummer. As long as I cut them off, the plant quickly perks up with new variegated leaves. It is a different shade of green than every other plant I grow. 

Hedra helix 'Glacier' needs light to full shade which makes it a treasure in my shady garden. I've been growing this since 2017 and have not lost any of it to polar vortex weather. So far it has not spread more than I want it to nor have I seen any kind of flowers or seeds on it. 

I discovered a small clump of unhappy Brunnera 'Dawson's White' and moved it to a sunnier and more moist spot where it has quickly started to spring back to life

The pond re-design necessitated pulling out a big sweep of Carex siderosticha variegata. I moved it to the slope that I am reclaiming from dying grass and weeds. I love this Carex but don't see it for sale anymore. 

I am absolutely in love with the way Carex pennsylvanica flows down this slope like a waterfall.

Hope your garden is helping you to stay cool.

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..