New Year's Flowers

 With the warm temperatures, many of the plants are confused about what they are supposed to be doing.  Here is one solo German Iris, which usually does bloom in the Spring and often re-blooms in November.  But this is its first time to make an appearance in January!  It was a delight to arrive yesterday afternoon, after being away for five days, to see the yellow shining in the garden.

The daffodils have put up leaves, some as much as 12 inches high in their confusion about what to do.  However, we have not had enough time with freezing temperatures for them to set any buds.  I wonder what they will do if the thermometer doesn't go low enough.

Several of the shrubs have patches of flowers that have awaken early.  Here is one cluster on the Viburnum x burkwoodii 'Conoy' that couldn't wait, even through the rest of the bush is waiting for later.  I will be watching to see what happens next.

Here you can see another side of the same Viburnum, with the view out to the Chesapeake Bay.  This is the time of the year when all of the evergreens provide most of the visual interest for the entire garden.  Having different colors of foliage, with varying leaf sizes and textures creates a more subtle display.

Around the back of the house, in the lavender bed, the Rosa 'Meiggili' ‘Peach Drift’is bravely showing its color in front of the tall grass. 

Finally, the winter jasmine, which has a few blooms throughout the winter whenever the temperatures get above 40 degrees.  Here it is the best I have ever seen it, because every bud has opened.

Happy New Year is what they all seem to be saying!

Impermanent Snow

The winter storm that has been sweeping across the country has arrived.  It started this morning with snow.  Fortunately, I grabbed my camera early in the morning because even as I was taking pictures, it was shifting into rain. 

The upturned, curved leaves of the Osmanthus captured and collected the flakes of snow.  The meager light seemed to be concentrated by the snow and leaves, so they were almost glowing. 

Soon we will be pruning off some of those branches, to use for decorations in the house. The bright yellow green sets off the dark green and red berries of the hollies. 

The Viburnum rhytidophylloides 'Allegheny' is putting on a dramatic show in the snow.  Some leaves have turned yellow or deep red.  There are three stages for fruits, with newly opened flowers, then red or black berries. 

The snow in this shot is out of focus, so it just appears as irregular white patches.  With the light being dim, the shutter had to be wide open to have enough light to even take the shot.

This could become a favorite picture for me.  There is so much going on.

Now it is raining and sleeting.  The snow is washing into the ground, and has almost disappeared. 

The Three Viburnums

The erratic temperatures over the winter has caused an unusual event.  All three of the different viburnums are blooming at the same time.  The two in the picture on the left often bloom around the same time in the spring.  Of the two, the one in the front, which is a Viburnum x burkwoodi Conoy, opens it flowers slightly earlier than the one in the background. 

That is consistent this year. When you look at this close-up view of the flowers, you will see almost all of the individual flowers are fully open, with only a few still in bud.  The bush of the Conoy, as visible above, is actually carefully shaped into a rounded, dense form.  It can be maintained in this shape because the twigs and the leaves are smaller and respond to pruning by branching into multiple growing points.  This creates a soft surface that is covered with the clusters.

The Viburnum x pragense, or Prague Viburnum, blooms a week to ten days later.  This can be seen in the close-up of its flower cluster which is still mostly at the bud stage.  The soft pink color on the outside of the petals is delightful, and the clusters are much denser and compact,the size of a softball.  The texture of the shrub is much more linear and open.  Maybe it is the way I have been training it because I want a thin and tall form, but it seems vertical in all aspects, with strong trunks.  That slim profile provides a detail to the foreground to the big view, without blocking that view.

The third viburnum, a Viburnum rhytidophylloides 'Allegheny,' usually blooms in the autumn.  Or just a frequently, it tries to bloom during warms spell in the winter, and the flowers get frozen back when the temperature drops.  This is the biggest, and most coarse of the three.  It is currently about eight feet tall, and just as wide, the leaves the longest and widest of all the three.  I don't have a good photo of the entire bush for comparison.  Currently it is in an awkward stage having had bad winter kill two year ago when it broke dormancy in the middle of the winter.  There are new branches suckering up from the ground, which are beginning to cover up its open nakedness.  I am trying to respect its privacy, waiting for it to be decently covered up.

The last few days have been very busy with heavy autumn work.  Even with two of us working most of the time, there has been  lot to do, but also a lot got done.

This shot, taken just a week ago, is already out of date, since the leaves on the Crape Myrtle, 'Natchez,' on the left have already turned yellow, and most fallen to the ground.  The Katsura on the right has also lost most of its leaves.

One of the things that got done today was the final digging out of the grass and putting in edging strips for the entrance of the labyrinth.  It has taken so long because I have been debating how to finally lay it out.  In the photo on the left, in the lower left corner is a spreading rosemary, seeming at the end of the flower bed.  Now, the bed extends another four feet, and I moved part of the tree peony from the North Garden just a foot to the left of the rosemary.  Pictures later.

Much of the work for this time of year is not dramatic.  We spent a morning cutting down a yew hedge at the side of the sun porch, and digging out most of the stumps.  It will become the site for a triple bin compost heap. We put in a temporary hardware cloth and metal post bin for the winter.  I spent a lot of time and energy taking the top off of the existing pile, mixing it in with leaves that David collected and chopped up with the mower before they all blew away. 

The Viburnum rhytidophylloides, 'Allegheny,' is blooming profusely, again in the autumn, which always seems strange to me.  There are even a few red berries, but typically it gets hit by a frost before it can produce many berries, and just looks bedraggled. For a time of year when little is blooming, I shouldn't complain, but it is a surprising cycle.  Maybe it is as confused as the many daffodils, which have pushed their leaves up five inches above the round, thinking that maybe spring has arrived.  Two years ago the same bush did this end-of-the-year growth, and was severely frozen back by the winter cold, killing many branches.  It is just beginning to look good again. 

Every fall the climbing rose in the North Garden, a Rosa x 'Meivaleir' 'Garden Sun,' does a final explosion of flowers at the end of October into November.  Even knowing it will probably do so again, the exuberance of flowers are surprising, especially since the canes always look very beat up and bare.  

Early April

The warm and early spring is bringing many different plants into bloom at the same time.  This view shows the Viburnum x Burkwoodi Conoy in full bloom in the front, while the Viburnum x pragense is still in bud, directly behind and a bit to the left in the picture.  But if you know where to look, just to the left behind that, you would notice the new needles emerging on the Dawn Redwood as well as the slight bit of green new leaves on the tall wild cherry.  The Crape Myrtle has waiting a bit before putting out its leaves. 

Unfortunately you can also see, on the right side about 2/3rds up, the light blue paper covering a new house being built on the waterfront.  Like all new construction along the Bay, it stands on 10 foot stilts above the water level, with a two story house on top, so it really sticks up in the air like a sore thumb. 

Here is a close-up of that same viburnum.  When I was taking the picture in the late afternoon, it was swarming with bees, some of which are visible in the photo. This bush has grown to fill its location, and requires careful pruning to keep it within its boundaries.  Fortunately, it responds well to the regular and tight pruning needed, filling in the empty spaces with new growth, and replacing old growth that must be removed.  I could imagine a row of these being used for a dense and flowering hedge.  It would not allow strictly geometric shaping, since there are always new branches growing out, but would be perfect for an informal, irregular, evergreen border.

Looking back to the original picture, you will see a group of yellow daffodils blooming on the left side.  These are in their second year, and have nicely multiplied the number of flowers so they create quite a nice splash of color.  I hope they will be good for 2-3 more years before they will need to be dug up.  I liked them so much, here is a close-up.

Finally, we planted a variety of anemone bulbs, which are providing some nice alternative colors.  I will close with those photos for now.

January 2012

It has been a mild winter up until the first week of this month, with the temperatures plunging into the low 20's for a few nights.  This killed off the foliage of the few remaining herbaceous perennials.  But some other specimens are holding their own, such as the Viburnum Alleghany bush, seen on the left.  This bush was severely damaged last year in a similar sudden drop in temperature, with large sections killed in spite of its hardy nature.  So, the few surviving old sections are blooming, even though the new suckers have not gotten mature enough to do the same.

Some plants, like the Sedum 'Angelina' that grows beneath the Inkberry hedge along the road, resist the cold.  This particular spot is protected enough that the intensity of the chartreuse color has not shifted.  I have no idea where that beech leaf could have come from, since there are none in the immediate area.  At the top right you can see how the zoysia grass has faded into its tawny color for the winter.  While many people dislike this characteristic of zoysia grass to shift from green to brown in the winter, I rather like the way it changes everything.  For four or so months green is not the dominant color, and anything that is green, such as the Sedum, becomes more noticed.  Last weekend with the full moon, the lighter straw color of the grass seemed to shimmer in the moonlight.  That would not have been true if it were still green.

The thyme that grows in some of the narrower sections between the paths of the labyrinth is also looking very strong and healthy in the softer winter sun.  I love the way the reddish lavender highlights appear in the cold weather.  I haven't figured out what causes some of the stems to have it, while others don't, but the variegation provides a subtle bit of warmth to the patch.  This year I hope to find and plant some more varieties of thyme into these different sections in addition to this one and the lemon thyme next to it.  They enjoy the long hours of hot sunshine, can survive being run over by the mower wheels or even chopped off by the blade if they get too tall.  As one of the few plants avoided by deer, who seem to avoid many of the herbs, thyme would also help protect the bulbs planted underneath.  Sad to say the deer have been nibbling at the tops of the daffodils and other bulb leaves that are supposed to be deer proof!  So, a disguising layer of thyme may be in order another year.

On the other side, at the edge of the parking pad, the Magnolia 'Little Gem' has recovered very well from last winter's destruction by heavy snows.  There has been vigorous new growth throughout, from near the ground and all the way to the top.  It has been spoiled this summer because we could not get the faucet to completely close, so there was a constant drip of water over its roots.  Once we spent the three hundred dollars to get a plumber out to fix the faucet, it will have to keep going on its own.  It was even spared losing branches for holiday decorations, but that means all the more for next year. 

There are more pictures to come, but they will have to wait for another day. 

Hardy Hibiscus in July

Now that it is July, each of the plants is doing its best to make a show, as the picture above makes clear.  There was one casualty last winter, the large viburnum bush that screens much of the labyrinth from the road and the neighbors nosey eyes, got confused and entered Winter in Spring mode.  Much of it was killed off. 

If you look at the right of the photo where you see our neighbor's bright white front steps, you will see a few of the viburnum's remaining branches.  It is supposed to hide those steps.  You can see on the right, the new suckers that are coming up from the roots.  Each is only about a foot tall, but these are the future trunks of the bush.  Once they get big enough, the old ones will get cut out.

But the topic for today is the hardy hibiscus, of which there are now three.  Each provides some bright color in pink, red or mauve.  If you go back to the top panorama, you can see all three.  In order, from the right and below those white steps is a bright pink one, just to the right of the center tree trunk is a dark red one, and below the left side of our neighbor's arch top trellis is a mauve one.  Each has a different history and style.

The pink one comes from the house my family owned in Pleasant Valley, New York.  My parents bought a large, old farmhouse, and in the first few years I discovered a hibiscus growing along the side of the pond.  When I showed Mom the flowers, she knew what it was, and had me dig it up to plant it up next to the bay window.  This was in the mid-60's, and it was probably originally planted by the previous owners who had landscaped the area near the pond.  I assume it is an early variety of Hibiscus moscheutos, but cannot find any source on the Internet to identify it.

The color is bright and simple, and the flower is not complicated. Each flower lasts about a day.  This particular plant was moved to the current location last fall, and has settled into its new home very quickly.  Since there are not as many buds on it, there will only be two weeks of flowers, but that period may lengthen as the plant gets bigger. 

The one in the middle, behind the tree is Hibiscus "Robert Fleming."  Its flowers are HUGE, at least 8 inches across, and open up very flat like a plate.  As you can see in the picture there are many buds to go on this stalk alone, and there are seven stalks.  These flowers stand out even when partially hidden by the foliage of other plants.  I first wrote about it last November, and I am still thrilled with this plant.  My only concern is that at the current rate of growth, which is near a young boxwood hedge, it will soon become much to large.  But I like it where it is.

The last hibiscus, which is a mauve/pink color is to the left.  I must apologize because i had planned to get a close-up of it, but never took that picture.  But then, I also wasn't able to find its name, and since I am trying to be sure to include accurate names whenever possible, I will need to catch up on that one later.  We bought it to grow on the porch last summer, and put it in the ground in the Fall.

I will close with a shot taken from the road to the right of the top picture.  You will see the church bird feeder I painted a couple years ago - this is the first it has been put out in the garden.  We plan a vine to grow up the post, but haven't picked one out yet. The post is there to prevent future vehicles, including snow plows, from driving through the garden and hedges.  If they try it again, at least their vehicle will get as messed up as the garden has been.  Anyway, here is the shot.

Katsura and Viburnum

The Katsura "Heronswood Globe" has now reached its peak color for the fall, a brilliant yellow that glows with the sun coming through the leaves.   This is almost the same color as Ginkgo leaves which are also changing color at the same time, but it is a much more manageable sized tree, only growing up to 15 feet.

I found it at the National Arboretum sale, like so many others, but it is commonly available in many nurseries.  In the five years it has been in place, it has grown a substantially thicker trunk and is now about 8 feet tall.  Some scale of its height can be determined by the Karl Foerster Feather Reed Grass on the right edge of the photo, which is about 5 feet tall.

I irreverently call it my lollipop tree, because of the round ball on top of the stick of a trunk.  It is the only tree that will be planted in the labyrinth, and provides shade for the center.  Soon there will be a chair under it where people can sit in the shade and look at the Bay.

To the right side of the photo, in the back, there is a large, dark green leaved bush.  That is a Viburnum rhytidophylloides Alleghany, which was developed and introduced by the National Arboretum. 

It has deeply indented veins in its leaves, creating shadow lines when the light is right.  The flowers come both in the fall and the spring, and sometimes, as in the photo at the left, berries have already developed before the rest of the cluster of flowers begins blooming.  It is unusual.

This is a very tough shrub, that was bought just after buying the house, and temporarily planted on the north side.  By the time it was moved into its current location a few years ago, it had already grown quite a bit with a large root system.  Digging it out, one root was particularly hard to cut off.  Then a few weeks later when the oil furnace and water heater seemed to have run out of oil, the technician discovered the copper supply line running twelve inches deep alongside the house has been cut!  Oops!

Because this shrub holds its leaves through all but the worst winters, it provides an important screening for the center part of the garden.  It blocks the view into the garden from the houses behind it, and further up the street, offering some sense of privacy.  Here is another view of a cluster of berries and flowers.

Going back to that chair under the Katsura, you may be wondering where is this view of the Bay?  Why is this blog called the Labyrinth by the Bay, when there have been no pictures that showed any kind of view, water or otherwise?   So, here it is, when you turn your back to all of these details.