Each Little World

Hellebore seedlings

I planted my first Helleborus foetidus (from Pine Knot Farms) in 2017. It did so well that I added a pair of H. foetidus 'Red Silver' (from Plant Delights) in 2019. Last year I decided to move one of them and lost it over our much hotter and quite dry summer.  

At the end of the season I discovered it left behind a forest of seedlings. I am going to pot some up for me and garden friends. 

I haven't ever had or dealt with Hellebore seedlings. If you have had experience with them, I'd love any advice you care to share. 

Wordy Wednesday

Epimedium rubrum is the first of dozens of Epimediums I've purchased. I probably bought it in the early 1990s which explains why I have two large sweeps of it along both sides of my driveway.

Last year I dug out a big clump in the back garden when I decided to redo a bed. I've you've ever tried to dig out an established Epimedium you may already know that it is not an easy job. 

The plant was big, healthy and blooming its head off, meaning there was strong growth underground. When I dug down I kept finding a web of old rhizomatous systems that were rock hard and prickly. 

I removed them in big horizontal chunks. They were such a surprise to me that I had to take a picture — or two. Epimedium rubrum and E. 'Lilac Fairy' are my only two plants that spread out rather than staying as a clump

I've divided and moved 'Lilac Fairy' often enough that its never developed an underground structure like this. I've no idea if this is typical for Epimediums or if it takes 20 years to get to this stage. 

The alphabet garden

Roy Diblik of Northwind Perennial Farm in Wisconsin often talks about plants in terms of the alphabet. Though we have only 26 letters in our alphabet, he notes that we come up with an endless variety of words and ways to use them.

Thus 26 different plants would give you more than enough garden options for a lifetime. Since I keep a record of all of my plants on individual index cards, Diblik's concept sent me looking at my alphabetically-arranged list of perennials. Here's what I discovered:

• There are no plants under "F." Instead I use "F" for my many, many ferns. 
• I have a mere 3 plants whose name begins with "K" and only 2 under "M."
• I have no perennials whose names begin with "N" or "O" or "W, X, Y or Z."

As for the other letters of the alphabet, some have a number of different plants listed. Others are almost exclusively one group as the following letters show:

B is for Brunnera

E is for Epimediums

F is for ferns

G is for Geranium

H is for Hellebores and Hostas

I is for Iris

P is for Primulas and Peonies

T is for Tricyrtis and Trilliums

What this little exercise did was to let me quickly see what plants I favor over others. I was not at all surprised as I know these are my favorites. It does suggest, however, that I should use this list as a quick way to see if I have enough variety in terms of size, texture, season, color and all the characteristics that make for effective plant groupings. An easy task for a winter day that will help me when I hit local nurseries come spring.

Stars of the 2022 garden

My gardening friend Erin Schanen, The Impatient Gardener, just posted a video on her YouTube channel about the plants she considered award-winners in her 2022 garden. She has a bigger garden than I do and grows annuals, veggies and trials a lot of plants.

But she gardens in southern Wisconsin like me. So I am always interested to see what's doing well for her. Watching her video made me look back at my gardening year to determine what plants are on my awards list.

Here are a few plants — in no particular order — that performed well for me from the get-go in 2022. 

. . .

I bought a dozen bulbs of Gladiolus murielae, split them into two pots and fell in love. They had elegant flowers, very statuesque foliage and looked good in and out of flower.

I just ordered 3 dozen for this coming season. It may have gotten too cold in the garage where I was trying to overwinter the original bulbs for them to survive; we'll see. But I think I may be finally hooked on adding containers to my garden. 

Though I had a Geranium 'Rozanne' surrounded by Calamintha nepeta ssp. nepeta in my Traffic Island bed, I was never that crazy about it. I am much more pleased with Geranium 'Azure Rush' and G. 'Crystal Lake.'

Both are sprawling plants with pale toned flowers with striped interiors. They don't need any attention from me which is always nice. This is G. 'Crystal Lake.'

I love Brunnera and am growing just about every variety I have seen for sale. I don't know when or where I found B. 'Dawson's White,' but it is a winner. I moved it last spring from a shady spot with a lot of root competition from big trees. I put it in a spot that turned out to be quite sunny.

When everything around it was stressed from the heat, dryness and loss of part of the nearby tree canopy, 'Dawson's White' just soldiered on. The expanses of white on the foliage never browned until so late in the season I didn't care. 

I grew a beautiful blue Agapanthus from Seneca Hill Perennials for a good ten years in my garden. When the polar vortex killed it a few years ago I was broken hearted. I didn't think twice when Olbrich Botanical Gardens offered Agapanthus 'Galaxy Blue' for sale in 2020.

It came back again beautifully this past summer and is a clear winner in my garden. I love being able to grow it as a perennial rather than as a house plant. 

I decided to take a chance on a different variety of Hydrangea when I planted H. serrata 'Mountain Mania in 2021. I love its orange-tinged new foliage. Frankly, I adore this whole plant.

It came through its first winter with flying colors. I hope that means it will keep doing so. This year I also added Hydrangea arborescens 'Mary Nell,' highly recommended in the Mt. Cuba trials. It blooms on new wood in the shade!

I've been growing Luzula sylvatica 'Aurea' since I purchased it from the old Heronswood nursery in 2004. I moved a few plants in with some Hellebore seedlings a year ago and I am really happy with this color and texture combination.

The Luzula is very yellow when it first appears in the spring. It can take dry shade, but this group is in a fairly sunny spot and is doing so well it feels like a new plant. Sometimes the oldies are still the goodies.

Speaking of Hellebores, I planted a pair of H. foetidus 'Red Silver' in 2019, but lost one of them last winter. Missouri Botanic Garden says they may not be reliably hardy in Zone 5 but I've had good luck with another one of this type.

The good new is that the departed plant left behind seedlings.That's a first for me — and it puts this plant in the winner's circle even though it will take quite a while to get blooming size plants again. 

IVOM: Bouquets in black and white

I cut the seedheads off of my Belcamda chinensis knowing they have a reputation as rampant self-seeders. Given that it's planted next to the gravel-filled upper pond, I could just imagine my frustration if the seeds landed there. Thus I've been enjoying this small bouquet of shiny black buttons indoors, instead of worrying about them free out of doors. 

Our recent warm weather pushed my Thanksgiving rose — Helleborus niger — into spectacular bloom. Here it is last Monday, Nov. 7th.

_{Last Thursday we finished our winter prep on the last warm day. Overnight the temperature dropped from the low 70°s to the 30°s. That was followed by wind, rain and snow showers. When the temperature finally hit 32° early this afternoon I went out and cut a few Hellebore stems.}

_{The flowers were lightly brushed with snow with iced and downward curving stems. It didn't take them long to perk right back up however. You've gotta love a plant that can deal with serious weather.} 

Where they went No. 2

More looks at where some of my 2022 plant purchases have gone.

. . . 

The Lower Moon Garden

Thuja orientalis 'Franky Boy' performed beautifully in a pot all summer.

It has such great texture that it was nice enjoying it up close.

Its permanent location is far out in the front garden. Given it's potential size — 4'-6' high x 3'-4' wide — I am hoping it won't take too long for to become visible at a glance out the kitchen window. Right now it's barely noticeable among the nearby ferns, ground cover shrubs and trees.

Once the leaves disappear and the Geraniums die back for winter, it will definitely be more visible, especially with a little snow cover on the ground.

The West Gate Garden

On the west side of the house we planted three seedling European spindle trees that I bought from the original Heronswood nursery. Opposite them were three burning bushes original to the house. Over time, both plantings were devastated by tent caterpillars and we removed them all.The ground covers in this 2011 photo are also long gone.

I loved the transition from the shady front space to this short sunny corridor. But Mark has been after me to put something taller in there. I don't want to lose all that light so I have been focusing on tall but narrow plantings. 

On the front left is a Thuja occidentals 'DeGroot's Spire' which will get around 16' high and a little under 3' wide. This is the last big plant that I intend to put in this area. It went in late in the summer. 

There are clumps of Epimediums echoing the same plants across the path. Between them on the left is a very small Taxus cuspidata 'Amersfoort' (6' x 4'), followed by a Cornus sericea 'Pucker Up' (eventually 4' tall) and ending with a Carpinus betulus 'Columnar nana', a dwarf fastigiate Hornbeam that will ultimately get up to 6'-8'.

IVOM: Fall gatherings

These arrangements are from the last couple of weeks when I've been pulling out vases that haven't seen the light of day for a long time. This is a contemporary Chinese ceramic container, but it is not glazed inside. I stuffed a plastic bottle into the opening to hold water without leaking. 

A number of years ago I fell in love with the seedheads of Hosta flowers when I saw them in a bouquet a friend had composed. Now I always let a number of the flowers get to this stage. In fact, these pods were the impetus for the display. 

I like these Sedum flowers best before they open and turn pink. 

I think I should have added a couple more stems of Sedum flowers at differing heights. This feels like a bouquet that is not quite finished. But I didn't want to denude the Sedum plant — which is in a very visible location — by cutting more flowers. 

I moved this large wood fired stoneware pot to use the pedestal as a staging area for photographing the vase. Afterwards the vase went to the dining table where we could enjoy it with every meal. The painting is an old one of Mark's.

This Japanese bronze container is one I often use for bouquets with toad lilies (Tricyrtis). I had a stunning display of Tricyrtis hirta this year, but it was in the wrong location and needed to be divided and moved. So I clipped all the flowering stems to bring indoors. 

I added clippings from an unknown Heuchera with pink flowers and some stems of Anemone hybrida 'Max Vogel.' The Anemone gave up the ghost in 24 hours, so I need to do some research to see if there is a way to make it last as a cut flower. 

I cut a big stem of hardy Begonia, along with some of the beautiful foliage of this plant. This is another case where I needed a couple more large flowering Begonia stems but didn't have any. I added what was available but I was still unhappy with the hole on the left side of the bouquet (first photo).

The toad lilies go on and on and are one of my favorite flowers to bring indoors. Luckily I still have a number of them in bud and bloom to continue to enjoy indoors and out. 

To see what others have put in a vase today, visit Rambling in the Garden who hosts this long-running meme. 

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.

Late summer plant splurges

I ordered a few plants online in the middle of July when the heat was dreadful. The first week of August I went out to K&A Nursery (both locations) to get a couple of Dramm hose nozzles and came home loaded with plants. In other words, during the hottest part of the summer, I found myself with a worktable loaded with work.

I'm happy with my purchases and am getting them in the ground at a reasonable rate. The prices were great since the season is winding down. With the recent rain and temps in the lower 80°F range, I'm good to keep going. Here's a look at a little of my hauls.

This Helleborus argutifolius variegated seedling is from Dancing Oaks nursery and is listed as a Zone 6 plant. However, I've had great luck with other Zone 6 Hellebores. I don't care if this ever flowers; I bought it for the foliage. It was so reasonably priced that I think it is definitely worth taking a chance on it surviving. 

This is Athyrium 'Crested Surf', a painted fern variation. I bought this to do a version of a plant combo I saw on a recent garden tour. 

I sent for Astrantia 'Vanilla Gorilla' from Avant Gardens in 2017. It has great foliage and flowers and no problems — if you don't count rabbits. I've never seen it to buy locally until now. So I got two. Once this is planted and settles in, the pale color becomes more creamy white than yellow.

Someone posted this photo (below) on the WHPS FB page. I made a note of the names of the Clematis but not the person who shared the picture. When I discovered both varieties at K&A I was a goner. 

Clematis 'Samaritan Jo'

I've had mixed success with Ajugas but I am ready to try again with some varieties that are new to me. Ajuga 'Parrot Paradise' should be a perfect ground cover under 'Amber Jubilee' Ninebark.

I put a pair of Geranium 'Perfect Storm'' with a pair of Geranium 'Crystal Lake' near my Calamintha and Allium 'Millenium' mix at the end of the driveway.  

I also got three each of Aconitum fischeri and Digitalis 'Dalmation Peach', a Eupatorium 'Chocolate', Geranium phaeum 'Margaret Wilson' and a few shrubs. But that's another story.

Wordless Wednesday