Each Little World

Accidental science project

I was out in the driveway garden and noticed that I have Geranium maculatum 'Espresso' in four different locations. I remember putting the plant in two places and it likely self-seeded into the other two. The size and shape of the plants and the leaf color are all different to varying degrees. I think it is all based on the amount of light each plant is receiving. I was so fascinated by this little science walk that I took a picture of each plant.

This one is growing upwards, definitely reaching towards the light. No surprise as it is right next to the house and has been hidden behind a big container. 

Number two is further along the same stone wall. Mark parks his truck here, but this plant gets some light as the rear of the truck doesn't usually hide the entire plant. No flowers open as yet. 

This one is hidden from sight most of time by the truck. To me that would suggest its foliage should be green but it is definitely darker than its two neighbors along this wall. But no flowers blooming yet either.

This is the original plant and it's across the driveway in a raised area. Unlike the other three it grows more horizontally. And it has the chocolate foliage that its name suggests. This has been growing under our Forest Pansy redbud where it gets early spring sun. But there is a bad chance that the redbud has died so that will affect the future of this and all the shade plants that were growing under it. 

Hot pink

A gorgeous weekend has the garden suddenly bursting into bloom. 

Acer tschonoskii ssp. koreanum

Paeonia mairei

Container plantings

Last summer, it seemed like most of the containers I saw on garden tours were planted with Begonias or Coleus. I'm not sure if that meant they were the gardener's favorite plants or the ones most available to buy. 

I find Coleus varieties very attractive, but difficult to use once I get them home with me. So I was smitten with this pot containing a single plant left to flower. What could be prettier?

I initially thought this planting was a little lacking for my taste, until I took a couple more steps past the front door in this garden . . . 

and discovered this display. The Begonias nod to the simple grouping by the nearby door, but are show stopping when grouped with multiple varieties of Coleus and a purple leaved Japanese maple. 

Flowers, furniture and umbrella all glowing in this small shade garden.

The same colors that I saw in countless displays, but this time with Fuchsias and sweet potato vines.

This display was was unusual with the glass art and the container providing the dramatic color rather than the plants.

This was my favorite Begonia composition of all those I saw. The orange of the flowers was toned down by its neighbors and the Begonia foliage reflected the underside colors of the huge tropical leaves above it. Perfection.

I've decided to test a couple of Begonias in my garden next season. But I'm still undecided about adding Coleus. 

In the same vase on Monday

It has been so cold that I haven't been able to bring home any flowers from the grocery store on my recent shopping trips. Instead, we've been enjoying the very long lived flowers that I bought for Thanksgiving and Christmas. When the Thanksgiving bouquet started to fade, I took the best flowers and arranged them in new displays. This group is in a contemporary interpretation of a Japanese wall vase. This container does not hold a lot of water and I have no idea when I watered it last. Clearly, that's not a problem for these flowers. 

I took the red-dyed Goldenrod and added it to the holiday display around the ceramic platter that hangs by the front door. 

This is the last stem from the bouquet one of my friends brought me last month when my sister died. Mark has it in his bathroom on his typically crowded sink.

I grabbed a bunch of Tulips a couple of weeks ago on the one day I could safely get flowers from the warm grocery store to my warm car. When I got them home I was not all that happy with how tight the flowers were and how tightly they fit in the container. 

I moved a few tulips to another vase with the end of the Christmas greens.

I enjoyed them more as they started open more.

But neither Mark nor I were really happy until the flowers started on their slow path downward. I love to watch that process; I think it is Mark's favorite floral moment. He took dozens of photos as they faded.

It's going to be much warmer tomorrow, so I should be able to treat myself to a new bouquet when I go grocery shopping. 

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!