Each Little World

GBBD:10.15.2023

Mark and I took a mini vacation to Milwaukee from Thursday to Saturday which led me to forget the date until late yesterday afternoon. It was chilly, very rainy and windy in Milwaukee and the state of the garden and the rain gauge suggest the weather was the same here. We haven't had a killing frost but the weather hasn't quite moved the late bloomers into the mass of flowers the buds are suggesting. Despite the rather sad look of the garden we got almost 2 and 1/2" of rain and more is forecast for midweek. 

The Aconitum were giants this year with some towering over my head. They all came down in the storms but are still flowering. 

The 'Chocolate' Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium rugosa 'Chocolate) also got beaten down and is resting on top of a newly planted Fillipendula 'Red Umbrella'.

Anemone japonica 'September Charm' is a gorgeous charmer but quite rampant. Hoping I won't regret planting her. The weather also took a toll on her. 

Anemone japonica 'Whirlwind' got moved this summer which really cut back on flowers and stem height.

Tricyrtis formosana is a low grower with arching stems. The flower buds are nicely vertical on this variety for a great display. Unlike the T. hirta varieties, this one is very hairy.

The rabbits ignored T. formosana this year . . . 

but not T. hirta. I have a number of this variety with different foliage but somewhat similar flowers. This clump, in deep shade, is loaded with flowers, has mid-green foliage and was blowing in the continuing wind.

The same plant has brighter foliage in the sun. Last year this plant made such a huge, tall clump I broke it up and moved it around. It was so big it blocked the view of the shorter plants growing behind it.

I grow T. hirta 'Lightning Strike' for its striped foliage.

T. hirta 'Tojen' has large flowers that are strikingly different than its relatives. It has alway been a floppy plant in my garden, so I re-planted it next to the Stripe Bark Maple hoping that will help to hold it upright.

In recent years there have been a number of new T. hirta introductions with gold-edge foliage and different color combos in the flowers. None of them have done well in my garden.  They've just stayed small and languished which suggests I should try  moving them before I decide to kiss them goodbye. 

GBBD: 9.15.2023

Too little rain, too many days in the 90°s and now too cool and cloudy. It means a lot of flowers are half fried and many are not yet blooming. But the road work is nearing an end and it's pleasant gardening weather, so I'm not really complaining. However, as a result of the weather, I did decide to just use this recent vase as my Bloom Day offering.

It is filled with sprays of the massive Thalictrum 'Splendide', Agastache 'Blue Fortune', Anemone japonica 'Max Vogel' and the first flower of Tricyrtis 'Togen.'

Also in bloom in the garden are Anemone japonica 'September Charm', Kirengeshoma palmlata, Caryopteris 'Snow Fairy', multiple varieties of Heuchera and Geraniums and swaths of Calmintha nepeta ssp. nepeta.

The more pleasant weather has seen me working in the garden for hours at a time: Watering, weeding, pruning, deadheading and working on beds where I ripped out half the plants last fall and need to get them replanted to my new design before the weather cools down too much.

GBBD: 7.15.2023

The mini Hostas are starting to bloom. You can see from the hose that I watered at the beginning of the week, not believing we'd get any of the rain that was predicted.

I was wrong. From lunchtime Wednesday until early this morning we got almost two inches. Heavenly. 

Allium 'Summer Drummer' is the latest to bloom. Its papery covering started peeling off July 5th, but these lovely buds still have not yet opened as much as I expected. 

Hemerocallis 'Petite Sioux' is a small-flowered daylily from my first garden. I got it at a Wisconsin Daylily Society sale in the early 1990s and have never seen it to buy again. One of my absolute favorites for color, bloom size and bud count. The flowers are not quite fully opened in this image.

H. 'Lady Inora' is another small flowered variety but larger than 'Petite Sioux.' Great bud count on this one as well. The buds on this one all opened in time to get beaten up by the rain. 

H. 'Little Rainbow'

I love the Ligularia varieties with tall flower spikes like 'The Rocket'. I added another similar-flowered one this year named 'Eva Heimann.' 

Though I am less fond of the flowers of Ligularia 'Chinese Dragon,' the buds are wonderfully curious and the foliage is among the largest and most dramatic in my garden.

Asclepias incarnata 'Ice Ballet' has fragrant white flowers that are a nice change from the more typical pinks and oranges of most milkweed flowers. Then again, given the number of orange/peach/reddish Asiatic lilies and daylilies I have in the garden, perhaps adding an Asclepius tuberose might make sense. 

Since I haven't posted anything since last Monday, I am rushing Bloom Day a bit and posting today. 

June blooms

The garden is full of lilies; Martagons in full bloom and others just on the verge of flowering. The current high temps should push the late ones open as it shortens the bloom span of the early ones. Here's a sampling. 

This unknown white variety popped up amongst my red ones a few years ago.

Martagon 'Mrs. R.O. Backhouse'. I love the way the lily buds echo the color of the foxgloves.

Martagon 'Claude Shride'

The bud count on these is amazing.

Penstemon 'Dark Tower' with Allium 'Summer Drummer', a very tall and very late bloomer. Also quite small compared to many Alliums. 

IVOM: GBBD 5.15.2023

I decided to combine the two memes as I've been bringing so many flowers indoors it seemed like a nice way to show what's happening in the garden. These vases have many of the same flowers used in different combinations. 

A bouquet for a friend

Tulip wittalli (left), T. sylvestris (right) and a pair of my favorites, T. acuminata.

Fritillaria pallidiflora on its last legs.

Fritillaria pontica waiting for a vase.

Currently blooming but not pictured: Various Brunnera, Trillium, and Peonies.

GBBD: Waiting for Spring

GBBD: 09.15.2022

Rain, gray skies and cooler weather have energized some plants and knocked others sideways. Thalictrum 'Splendide' is the drama queen of Thalictrums. This year she wasn't nearly as dramatic as in the past. All my Thalictrums were 1-2 ft. shorter than last year. 

Anemone japonica 'Max Vogel' is a much more intense pink than I anticipated or this photo indicates. 

Astrantia major 'Roma' with Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta. The Calamintha is still going strong everywhere it's planted 

Sedum 'Matrona' with Hakonechloa

Tricyrtis hirta, a tall variety with straight stems. The rabbits are munching any Toad lily they can find. 

Tricyrtis hirta 'Empress' looks quite different from the variety above in person. 

Tricyrtis 'Tojen' is pushing between the two trunks of a small tree.

Begonia grandis with 'Chocolate Shogun' Astilbe in the rear. 

Kirengeshoma palmata Koreana group 

Anemone japonica 'Honorine Jobert' just starting to bloom. The nearby 'Whirlwind' is still tightly closed. 

I planted Caryopteris 'Snow Fairy' last spring after admiring it in a friend's garden. It looks like a shrub but is actually a die-back perennial. Though I love the foliage, I was particularly excited about the fact that it got blue flowers in the fall. 

Glad I wasn't holding my breath as the flowers are quite underwhelming. I'm hoping that there will be more and larger blooms next year as the plant settles in. 

To see what's blooming in other gardens, visit May Dreams Gardens who hosts this long-running meme.

GBBD: 8.15.2022

My garden is in transition. These are all late summer blooms with fall Anemones, Cimicifuga, Tricyrtis and mums all budding up but not yet flowering. The August stars have been a few new plants among old favorites that have kept me engaged watching their progress.

I fell in love Gladiolus murielae when I saw it in a friend's garden last summer. I bought a dozen bulbs to try it out in my garden. I'm going to attempt to overwinter my bulbs and will definitely add more next spring.

My two Agapanthus 'Galaxy Blue' made it through the winter, though one is much happier than the other. The plant that is getting a bit more sun has 5 flowers while its partner only has one. But even one of these blossoms is a beauty. 

From the way the flowers emerge between a pair of leaves to the way the spent flowers twist themselves up, I've been fascinated by Belcamda chinensis 'Freckle Face.'  Plus it's a butterfly magnet.

My Phlox paniculata 'Jeana' got beaten up when I knocked this lantern over on them earlier in the season. But they've bounced back. 

'Jeana' is tall and willowy with heads comprised of small flowers compared to most Phlox varieties. 

Geranium 'Perfect Storm' is a new purchase. Initially I thought of putting it with the Phlox, but eventually planted a pair of them with a pair of Geranium 'Crystal Lake' if you can picture that. 

Astilbe chinensis 'Delft Lace' is a mid-size Astilbe that performs well for me. But it never looks, to me, like the picture that all the nurseries use in their catalogs. 

Hosta 'El Nino' is one of the rare Hostas that I let flower. 

I have big patches of Heuchera 'Brownies' all over the garden. Neither the flowers nor the foliage is showy but it is a problem-free Heuchera. Plus the flower stems are very tall making them useful for bouquets. 

Great Blue Lobelia is one of the few natives that I've planted that is doing well. I'm hoping the flowers last until the yellow and white fall flowers around them open. 

Visit May Dreams Gardens to see what's blooming in a host of other gardens. 

GBBD: 7.15.2022

My Ligularia and tall Thalictrums were all in bloom at this point in the summer for the last two years. Another sign of how the weather has everything on a different schedule this year. At the moment it's lightly raining but it looks like we're soon going to pass through the big hole in the center of this storm. Aargh, my garden is dry as a bone. But there are some lovely bright floral spots:

Lilium canadense are still performing.

But July in the Midwest is daylily season, Hemerocallis 'Petite Sioux'

H. 'Lady Inora' with Astilbe taquerii 'Superba'

H. 'Little Rainbow'

Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' is Zone 6 but my last plant returned for a few years. So I'm giving it another try. 

I'm still in thrall to my new Hydrangea serrata  'Mountain Mania'

Hakonechloa grass with Sedum 'Matrona'. I like it best at this stage before the flowers have really opened. 

Hostas are beginning to bloom, along with Alliums and a few sporadic Geraniums here and there. In my garden, mid-July is more of a foliage than a flower moment.

GBBD: 6.15.2022

Despite being gone from the garden for the first ten days of the month, I didn't miss much. One Peony had come and gone as had the flowers on my various Brunnera. But my new Alliums are just opening and the Martagon lilies will follow shortly.

I've been trying to take more wide shots that will help me remember what's planted in a given area; something plant portraits don't do. This is the bed at the top of the stone steps leading into the front garden. It includes two flowering shrubs: Philadelphus 'Snow Dwarf' in the foreground and Deutzia 'Yuki Cherry Blossom' in the rear. I think the Deutzia needs more light to really flower. The Peony is P. 'Soft Salmon Joy.'

Dianthus 'Bath's Pink' is growing between the two flowering shrubs in the above photo.

Gillenia trifoliata aka Bowman's Root is behind the Peony in the first photo. 

The Geranium pharum in this bed are almost done flowering but Tiarella 'Elizabeth Oliver' is still going strong . . .

as is Thalictrum 'Evening Star.'

In the back garden Thalictrum 'Black Stocking' blooms before any of my other large Thalictrums.Chives echo the color.

Iris pallida Dalmatic was in the garden when we bought this house. It likely was growing here from the mid-1950s when the house was built. This is the Iris that smells like grape pop. I've been moving clumps around trying to find enough sun to get them to bloom. 

I keep planting Digitalis trying to find one that is more peach color than pink. Clearly this is not it. There are seedlings everywhere so who knows what I'll get next year.

A new Allium in the street side garden: Allium nigrum 'Silver Spring'

Allium atropurpureum, also new, is flowering in the back garden. I planted it with Allium 'Summer Drummer,' but it looks like these may be over before it blooms. 

Candelabra primroses have been flowering for ages. 

Loving this old nameless Heuchera whose flowers are mixing with the foliage of Epimedium rubrum.

i was pleasantly surprised to discover how flowery Luzula nivea (snowy wood rush) is when it blooms. I think I will divide some of the plants to get an even better show. These are much prettier than my other Luzula plants.  

Tuesday's high temperature was 96°F and today it waa 78°F when I got up at 5:30 a.m. Lots more heat in the 10 day forecast. I had a long list of things I still wanted to do in the garden before the Garden Bloggers Flingers arrive at my house on June 25. I think the weather is going to keep me from getting much done.