Each Little World

Wordless Wednesday

Thalictrums high and low

I love Thalictrums. There's nothing better than a plant that looks delicate but isn't. All of mine made it through our miserable winter and every other kind of crazy weather that's come along so far. This little gem is T.  kiusianum aka Kyushu meadowrue.

You can tell how small it is by comparing its leaves to the brick edging of this bed and to the mini Hostas nearby: H. 'Dorset Blue' (?) and H. 'Blue Mouse Ears'.

My queenly Thalictrums are all in the Sacred Grove where they are blooming in concert with various orange lilies. This is T. rochebrunianum 'Lavender Mist' in the background.

This is Thalictrum 'Ankum' which Digging Dog Nursery says "shows amazing vigor." I would have to agree given it is well over my head and has reached its mature size of 6 and 1/2 to 7 feet in only two years. 

It is so tall that its flowers are getting tangled with a low branch of the nearby striped maple. That could be a problem should we have any high winds. But for the moment it's glorious.

Wordless Wednesday

Actea pachypoda f. rubrocarpa

Catching up with my garden

I hate to leave my garden in June even for a lovely family reunion. All I could think about as we drove away was all the blooms I might miss, to say nothing of the storms and wacky weather that might happen while I was gone. I brought my potted plants onto the deck and filled up a bunch of watering cans so my neighbor could easily douse the plants if we didn't get any rain while I was away. 

We were gone 8 days and got a little over 2 inches of rain, so clearly we are still in this extremely wet weather pattern. The leaves on my beautiful new dwarf columnar Carpinus are starting to turn yellow and I think it's from being in a pot sitting in a saucer that keeps getting full of rain water. I'm going to plant this tiny treasure in the ground now rather than later in the season, which I hope will help it maintain its youthful vigor.

The kids had a great time playing in the garden while I was away. This is the downside of moss gardening: someone is always looking for grubs and other bugs under my velvet carpet.

Somebody jumped off the highest fence onto the Kirengeshoma after they'd dive-bombed the Synellisis (shredded umbrella leaf), leaving both of them bowed to the ground. Then they kicked up the pine needles from one end of the path to the other — after they'd dislodged one of the old logs marking the edge of the path. They do go crazy when I'm not around to yell at them.

I'm going to dig out and discard all my Stella d'Oro daylilies and redo this street-side bed. I was concerned that the daylilies I want to retain might bloom and be done before I got back. I need not have worried as they are all just starting to flower. 

I've been putting big id tags close by the flowers I want to move into other locations, so I will know who is who if there are no flowers to guide me. I'm hoping to attack this redesign project next week, unless we hit temps in the 90s again. There are a lot of problem plants that have found a home here like that baby black walnut tree (above) that all need to be dug out as well. 

Most of my Asiatic lilies are just beginning to open, including this variety called 'Apricot Fudge'. Its flowers are described as more rose-like than lily-like and I think that is true. I loved the images of this in the catalogs and online. But I do not like it in person at all. I guess I'm not too old to be taught a lesson about the difference between pictures of flowers and the plants themselves. 

 

 

Foliage Follow-up: 6.15.2018

I snapped this photo to remind myself how lovely the Deinanthe caerula is looking, just in case the rabbits get it before it flowers. I enlarged its cage once but it needs a taller one now; one the bunnies can't reach over or into. This is a Chinese Hydrangea relative which forms a 2-foot high clump with delicate blue flowers. It dies back to the ground in winter. The other foliage plants in this grouping are a seedling of Brunnera 'Alenander's Great,' Acer pseudosieboldianum (Korean maple), Jacob's ladder and an unknown Heuchera. I have divided and moved my Heucheras so many times over the years, that I can rarely identify them. 

More unknown Heucheras (below) with one of my favorite Hostas, 'Spritzer.' This Hosta looks especially nice if you can place it on a slope where you can appreciate its drooping foliage. The plant at the back with the red veins is Tiarella cordifolia 'Running Tapestry.' This forms a nice clump and then sends out runners. If you let them go, you get a ground cover that flowers, looks good all season and is pest free.

Here's Tiarella cordifolia 'Running Tapestry used as a ground cover.

I do know the name of this Heuchera: it's H. 'Ginger Ale.' A beverage and a Heuchera to love. I particularly like this Heuchera because it goes well with so many other colors without taking over. It has a subtle beauty rather than the intense drama of many of the newer varieties. Here it echoes the flower color of Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse.' 

Even though Pam Penick is no longer hosting Foliage Follow-up, I like foliage too much to let the 16th of the month go by without sharing a few of my favorite foliage plants.

End of the month views

I used to publish end of the month views of specific areas of the garden as I was designing and planting them. They were an effective record of what I had done and how well it was working. I've gotten out of the habit of taking garden photos with these kind of broad views and they are really important documentation. They help me remember in the dead of winter if I need to add or subtract anything when I am making plans and ordering plants.  

Obviously I missed the end of the month, so perhaps I will start an "almost mid-month" posting. This post includes photos taken from May 22 to June 6. They are all of the Tea House garden which has had a lot of attention in the last few years. I am standing on the west edge of our deck looking at the bottom edges of the Tea House garden.

Essentially the same view as above just closer in and taken two weeks later. The empty spot at the edge of the little stone border is where one of the dwarf Ginkgoes is growing. Its branches touch the ground so I don't let anything grow under it to obscure it.

I've just moved a few feet and am standing against the back of the house with the Tsukubai in front of me. I am standing behind the ferns and Hostas on the right side of the path in the first photo. The Hellebores in this area performed very poorly, leaving a number of holes that I expected to be filled with luscious big clumps of deep green Hellebore leaves. 

The big brown area below is where our bamboo died back. We are digging that out since it takes about 3 years to completely recover. In a spot that visible we need something more reliable which is why I'm replacing it with an evergreen ground cover: Juniperus 'Blueberry Delight'. There's a non-performing Hellebore in front of the blue Hosta which will fill that space eventually.

The area in front of the mica rock and the Cornus alternifolia 'Golden Shadows' is where the ivy I brought from my grandmother's garden died. I'm going to dig this out one of these days. I'm still deciding what to put in there. Maybe a Hosta with some yellow patterning. And I'd like a few Geums at the right front and side of the rock. More thinking needed here before plants are purchased or moved.

Even though I feel like some serious attention needs to be paid to this area where the ivy died and the dwarf Solomon's Seal is encroaching, I must admit this area has come a long way from this view of the same location in May, 2015 when the dominant plants were Sweet Woodruff, the dwarf Solomon's Seal and ivy.

What I think of as the back edge of this garden is the area that runs along the fence path. But as one walks there and looks back down at the Tea House slope it is a lovely view — if I do say so myself. This photo was taken on May 25th this year.

Here's what it looks like this week. 

And here's the view from 2015.

The Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse' will be opening any day now. They are a peachy pink that echoes the color of the Tea House's stucco walls. 

I'm standing on the steps that go up to the Tea House and looking back toward our house with the dead bamboo making that nice brown spot on the right. Hostas and Hellebores should fill the other open areas if they ever recover from the winter. 

This is a view toward the Tea House across the length of the pond. This is the area where we moved the bench that used to be on the deck. Now we can sit here and enjoy a different view of the pond than the one we see from the house and the deck. 

Don't blink or you'll miss it

The extremely hot and sunny weather we've been having has pushed flowers into — and quickly out of — their bloom cycle. From hour to hour I keep discovering something has suddenly opened. So here's a look at what I've been enjoying in the garden recently. 

. . .

This spring I cut Clematis 'Guernsey Cream' way back as I wanted to add a cylinder of chicken wire around the upper part of the wooden post that supports the climber. It doesn't have as many blossoms as in past years, but it has many more on the back side that I can see from inside the house. So I am happy with my handiwork.

The view west over the upper pool with lots of lovely new growth on the Serbian spruce and a clump of pale yellow iris that blossomed for the first time this year. The tiny green plant in the bare space by the iris is a baby species peony. In a few years it will entirely fill that area. 

The iris and spruce tree from the above view are in the back right of this image with an old Rodgersia enveloping its rocky neighbors. 

Lilies and Astrantia awaiting their moment to shine in the Sacred Grove. The old trees that inspired the name for this area of the garden, alas, are almost all gone now; victims of age.

Directly across the pine-needle path is Cyprepedium 'Aki Pastel.' This lady slipper orchid is finally settling in and giving me more than one flower. Quite exciting. 

Still trying to decide exactly which Trillium this is. Anyone know? Looks very nice with Hosta 'El Nino'.

Trillum luteum is always the last one to bloom for me. It held up to the intense heat amazingly well. You can tell how late this blooms because that is an Autumn fern coming up behind it. That fern is so late I mark it so I don't think something has died and left a hole to fill.

Nectaroscordum tripedale aka honey garlic! Absolutely adore these beauties. The only ones that have succeeded out of the 5 I've planted so far are these two. This is their 3rd year so maybe I should stop looking for the others. 

Lilium mackliniae, pink form, just planted this spring. It arrived from Far Reaches Farm in full bud.

I caged Geranium phaeum var. lividum 'Joan Baker' after I discovered the first flush of buds had been nibbled away. Geranium phaeum varieties seed a lot if you don't cut them back after flowering. But they are among my favorite plants, so I let 'em rip and pull out unwanted seedlings later. 

When I went out in the early morning last Thursday (5/24) the huge flowers on my rockii-type Peony had closed overnight. 

This is what they looked like later in the morning once the heat and light increased.

The last flower bloomed Sunday (5/27).

Lots of lilies are reaching skyward and should soon present a completely different scene in this area of the garden.

Early spring flowers

The garden is showing real growth as a result of last week's rain and warm temps. But when Hellebores and primroses are flopping you know that something is not quite as usual. I'd say the problem is highs hitting 80 degrees F. (26.66 C.) in early May. But a ramble around the garden did cheer me up with the sight of many favorites making their annual appearance despite our dreadful winter. The continuous bright sun, however, did make it a bit difficult to photograph things.

Bloodroot

Primroses, Epimedium 'Purple Prince,' and Cimicifuga

A passalong primrose from a friend's garden with an unknown Hellebore

More of the above primrose with Erythronium 'Pagoda'

Trillium

Overnight the bunnies munched the flower buds of a big Fritillary that grew through its cage, so I'm off to cut some wire for a larger cage. I really need to figure out a way to turn all the plant cages scattered throughout the garden into an art installation.

I'm confused . . .

and so are the plants. Gallanthus 'Magnet' is still blooming strongly at the end of April.

But the long row of Hellebores that line the fence are not visible at all. 

Clumps of Trillium sessile are huge and looking quite good despite their recent snowy burial. 

Lilium martagon 'Mrs. R. O. Backhouse' does not let anything slow her down. 

Paeonia Mairei is a Chinese peony and, like all species Peonies, blooms very early. Not this year. 

Helleborus orientalis 'Sympathy' is one of the few Hellebores in the garden that is visible and on the way to blooming. 

Here's what Paeonia Mairei and Helleborus 'Sympathy' looked like last Spring on April 22.

I put this bouquet together on April 23rd last year. Not one of these flowers is up this year, though leaves and buds of some of them are at least visible. The weather has been much warmer and sunny but we are still going down into the 30s overnight. So Spring is here — almost. 

Primulas

Do you own any of the superb "plant lover's guides" that are published in association with the Kew Royal Botanic Gardens? I just bought my sixth title in the series: Primulas. I already own their guides to ferns, Epimediums, Geraniums, snowdrops and tulips. At $24.95 they are comparatively cheap for a book with full color images on every page. They are a comfortable size to read and hold at 8 inches x 9 inches. All of them are packed with information and written by experts on the particular plant like Robin Parer on Geraniums.

The primrose book is by Jodie Mitchell and Lynne Lawson of the famed Barnhaven Primroses nursery. Unlike many books coming from a UK publisher, almost all the primroses in the book can be grown in my Zone 5 garden, and many can take even colder weather. So it is a great addition to my garden library. 

At the moment, I am growing nine different Primula varieties: P. bulleyana, P. denticulata, P. elatior, P. japonica, P. juliana, P. kisoana, P. sieboldii, P. veris (below) and P. vulgaris.  Almost all retain their foliage throughout the growing season and some even periodically re-bloom. While there is some variety in flower and leaf shape and size, the real variety in primroses is in their flower color.

You can find almost any color you want from white and the palest pinks to deep red-oranges and blues — to stripes. If you are looking for a specific color or shade, it is best to buy plants in person when they are in flower if that is possible. One of my favorite local nurseries — The Flower Factory — carries ten different primrose varieties, including some I am not familiar with, so I have done that. Only a few of the ones I grow are named varieties. If I decide to try my hand at raising some of the more unusual primroses like P. auricula, then I will likely look for very specific varieties. 

In my garden, three varieties in particular — P. japonica (red, below), P. kisoana (above) and P. sieboldii  (white, below) — all have spread nicely. Their leaves are recognizable when they are still tiny making it easy to pull them and replant or discard. Many primroses also like fairly most soil as long as it is not waterlogged in winter, which I am actually able to provide in a number locations .