Winter Red

The Ilex verticillata 'Winter Red' stands out from the background of dark greens, browns, and greys with its brilliant and large red berries.  It has a bumper crop this year, with the wet spring and early summer providing plenty of moisture to this damp loving variety.  But even more importantly, the pernicious deer is no longer hanging out in the labyrinth.  Last year the berries were eaten off as soon as they turned red.  How each year can bring such differences!  As for that deer, I hope someone was able to enjoy some well flavored meat.

Celosia Survivors

 

So here they are, Sis, the survivors of the Celosia seed that you sent last year.  Two other patches were decimated by who knows which of the varmints, but these came through.  If you look closely, you can still see where tops were chewed off, but there was enough plant for them to pull through.  I did pull a couple of white ones to keep this color for future cycles.

Now that the weather is cooling, the autumn jobs are beginning to become visible.  Unfortunately I spent this last weekend doing a lot of writing for my Clinical Pastoral Education class, so there has been no time to work outside.  Those jobs can wait until later, and so they must for now.

Large Milkweed Bugs

Yep, that is what these critters are called, Large Mildweed Bugs, or if you prefer the Latin name, Oncopeltus fasciatus.  There are probably hundreds on the Purple Milkweed seed pods, and they insert a long tube into the seed pod to eat the milkweed seeds. 

There is one adult visible halfway down this pod, and the rest are nymphs of various ages and sizes.
What is amazing is the crowd of nymphs sitting under the leaf at the bottom of the photo. 

Maybe I should be cleaning them off to protect the seed pods, but I find them fascinating.  The orange is so bright, and they really don't harm anything else, so I will let them be.

Summer Colors

The center of the labyrinth is showing many colors in the middle of the summer.  The cool blue of the Agapanthus, the intense red of the Hibiscus and the glowing orange of the Crosocmia are competing for the eyes of each viewer.  Even in the bright mid-day sunshine the colors are bold. 

Many gardeners and nurseries like soft, pastel colors.  In some gardens with less intense light and more shade, those colors are subtle and relaxing.  But even with trees and bushes getting taller and offering shade, most of the labyrinth is dazzled by the sun.  It needs colors and flowers that can hold their own, and not wash out.

I adore the true blue of the Agapanthus Stevie's Wonder.  This butterfly was certainly adoring sipping nectar out of its flowers.  There were also different bees reaping the sweet harvest, though some seemed to be struggling to get far enough down into the funnel to reach the good stuff.

While individual flowers may die and fall off the cluster, many buds are forming to replace them.

The Crocosmia Star of the East is putting on its show next to the bench.  It is nice to sit down and reach over to tip the flower up and look into its throat.  This variety is doing a bit of wandering around, even trying to grow into the grass walkway.  I now have enough individual pieces that I will move some into other sections of the beds and see how they do.  I could use more of this intense orange around to provide a spark of color.  I will look for a place that gets more sunshine that this spot under the tree; it gets shade most of the afternoon.

Then there is the Hibiscus Walter Fleming with its deeply creased, heavy textured flowers with the bright yellow stamens.  I have gushed about this one over the years.  It suffered a set back when the white tailed rat chewed off a few dozen flower buds several weeks ago.  But it is stubbornly coming back.

We have been using a foul smelling repellant to keep away the deer and rabbits. It helps.  I did see this morning the deer had eaten off all of the gladiolus flowers, but there was not a major intrusion into other areas.  We have added a number of physical barriers, which shift it out of its habitual paths, however, there is no way to surround everything with the high fence that would be needed.

Like life, a garden needs to be enjoyed a day at a time.  Appreciate each flower and plant, because there is no way to know what tomorrow will bring.  It has been a good summer, with lots of time to be outside caring for everything in cooler than normal weather.   For that I am thankful.


 

Lily of the Nile

There they are, the record number of five blooming stalks on my Agapanthus, 'Stevies Wonder.'  So far they have survived the deer, which has been absent since all of the July 4th fireworks were set off by neighbors.  Last year the deer chomped off the heads of buds as they were opening.

Today, we found evidence that the deer came around the end of the fence with our neighbor on the north, because it clewed off a few roses.  It paused to empty its bowels behind the house, and wandered through the labyrinth.  It nibbled on a few of the celosia, just starting to set buds, before leaving.  Such rude and impudent behavior.

We have put in three tall metal fence posts, strung fish line among them, and added three short posts that disappear in the day lilies to poke its legs.  Will it be enough?  I hope so.

Just in case I got these photos, even though all of the buds haven't opened all the way.  I want some documentation that they were here!

There is a lot more blooming.  Near the leg of the bench you can see the orange flowers of the Crocosmia 'Star of the East.  In the bottom right corner are the celosia seedlings, bravely growing in the face of evil predatory deer.

But today I rejoice in my Lily of the Nile!
 

Summer Flowers

With days of steady heat and humidity, the garden is settling down into more cautious growth.  We finished our first thorough watering of the labyrinth area, and will now be monitoring each section, using soaker hoses as necessary, and spot watering those areas that need it.  Some of the newly planted perennials have been lost because we didn't realize how much water they needed for the first few weeks.  Most are doing fine.

There have been a few butterflies passing through.  This one stayed around for a day before moving on to tastier options.  There have been fewer butterflies than many years in the past, for unknown reasons. 

The day lilies in the North garden, far from the rampaging teeth of the deer, are doing well.  They will need to be divided and replanted in the fall, and some either given away or move to new locations.  I can see them from my desk as I write this, through the porch door.  There should be enough buds to last for a month before they wind down. 

We have been keeping the deer away with smelly sprays, and placing the garden cart across one of its favorite paths.  I am not sure how long those strategies will last.  I hope that the Lily of the Nile, with 6 fat buds, gets a chance to bloom.  All got eaten off last year.

The early Hardy Hibiscus is open and blooming.  The three hibiscus varieties provide major color through the summer and into the fall.  I have been battling slugs, and the deer chewing off buds this year, but for now the pests are in abeyance. 

Wow, I think that is the first time I have used one of my Word Power words from high school.  Do you remember that first set starting with "a?"  Abate, aberration, abet, abeyance . . .  Of course, as I typed that in, I had to check the spelling of aberration because I used two "b's" and one "r!"  So much for Word Power!

Back to the garden.  Fortunately, the grass is growing very slowly and doesn't need mowing.  And I have no chigger bites so far, so our very cold winter appears to have brought them under control!

Snow and Fire

It is almost the end of June, and many flowers are at their peak.  Your eyes are drawn to the scarlet color of the Crocosmia 'Lucifer' in the foreground of this picture.  They stand out against all of the surrounding green foliage while reaching out over the pathway.  Walking the labyrinth this time of year requires pushing aside flowers and leaves that just don't have enough room in the narrow beds!

What catches my eye are the large white blossoms of the Crape Myrtle, Lagerstroemia 'Faurie Fantasy.'  I am constantly amazed by how beautiful it is when flowering.  The plan was for it to grow up alongside the sun porch, to screen the view of our neighbor's house, which it has fulfilled in its twelve years.  What I had not anticipated was being able to look out of the porch windows and see those flower clusters a few feet away.  It also provides a lot of shade, which helps keep that south side of the house much cooler.

We have had a new series of nibbling pests working at the lower level.  Rabbits!  The neighbors say there has been a flood of them across the area.  We had not realized how much the foxes kept them under control, and we haven't seen a fox in years. The rabbits have nibbled at some Celosia seedlings.  Don't worry Sis, a few have escaped damage and the nibbled ones seem to be trying to put up new side stems.

They also attacked several Portulaca, not just chewing them but digging them up!  The Portulaca were planted under the standard cedar, at the lower right side of this photo.  Hubby wanted to experiment with the bright red flowers among the intense yellow of the Moneywort, Lysimachia nummularia ‘Aurea.’  They are a bit fluorescent together, but hold their color in the intense sunlight.

There are a few renegade Crocosmia 'Lucifer' that stayed behind in this section.  I thought I had gotten them all, but for a few years, a small number in this location will be fine, until they try to take over the bed again.

In the background the smoke bush is still blooming, though sections of the filaments are starting to pull off.  So are other earlier flowers starting to fade, but that is the rhythm of a garden. 

View from the Bedroom

This is the view out our bedroom window in June.  Lots of different types, sizes and colors of leaves with occasional flowers appearing for a short time.  It gets much more shade than the rest of the yard, partly because of its location on the north side of the house.  But it also has a 20 foot 'Little Gem' Magnolia on the northwest corner, and a Japanese Snowbell in the middle.  Some of the branches of the snowbell are visible on the upper left side of this photo.

I also call this the hidden garden, because most of the time the wandering deer do not find their way into it.  So it has lots of Hostas and day lilies.  Just this morning I looked out the kitchen window to see a young deer walking into the labyrinth.  When I opened the front door, it looked at me casually and didn't move until I was stepping off the front porch to push it out.  The dog had no clue, so she didn't help anything. 

Visible on the right of this photo is Hydrangea Serrata 'Blue Bird.'  When I saw it at the nursery, growing among acidic soil under a pine tree, the blue color was intense.  Growing it alongside the foundation, I have to constantly add aluminum sulphate to the soil to keep the blue.  As you can see in the close-up below, I haven't put any on recently, and that is okay since I like the variation in color also.

That Bush is Smoking!

Most people are familiar with the tree versions of Continus coggygria, with their 20 foot tall heights and powder puff flowers.  This is a dwarf version, named 'Young Lady' that I originally bought from the National Arboretum nine years ago.  It is only now reaching five feet.

I tried a few locations before it settled into this one, and has been quite dramatically blooming for a few years now.  In this shot the whole bush appears to be glorying in the light of the setting sun.  They grab onto the sunlight, glowing from within.

These massive and delicate clusters of fine fibers are soft to touch, while hiding almost all of the leaves in their 2-3 week height of bloom. Only a few new shoots with bright green leaves are visible.

Here you can see how the thousands of fine, translucent fibers float above the thin stems to create that effect. 

It is quite satisfying to have this eye catcher when most of the spring bloomers are trying to produce seeds.  Of course, I am cutting them off as soon as possible so the plants can build themselves up for next year.  The hardy hibiscus are putting up their tall stems, and getting ready for their display, but it is still a few weeks away.

Purple Milkweed

Five years ago I purchased several seedlings of Purple Milkweed (Asclepias purpurascens) from a local native plant nursery.  There were maybe 4-5, each less than 4 inches tall.  The first year there were no flowers, and I wasn't sure they would survive, but the did.  Slowly they grew in size and the number of flowers, until last June I featured them for the first time on this blog.

Now they have taken off.  They are no longer individual plants, but are spreading out into a clump that needs to be managed.  I had to pull out several plants that had developed from roots a couple feet away from the clump because they were threatening one of the hardy hibiscus plants.

I am considering removing all of the other plants in this section of the bed, to give it over to these common, yet wonderful, flowers.  I will wait and see.  This is a host plant for butterfly caterpillars, so they could get pretty ugly looking if they are found.  Yet, I wouldn't mind having that problem if it encouraged more butterflies. 

Former Heather Bed

The last winter was no colder than can be expected for this location.  The temperatures went down into the 20's, and stayed there for long periods of time.  However, a series of warm winters for the last five to seven years induced a sense of illusion. It seemed safe to push the plant zones up, growing plants that are not winter hardy.

The danger of zone creep became clear in cleaning up the garden this spring.  Many plants did not survive the cold, including all of the Rosemary.  What I didn't expect was the impact on the heathers.  They were originally planted 10 years ago and survived very cold winters soon after. The tender varieties had died.  I thought the remaining would be safe, but was wrong.

Weeks ago I pulled out the dead heather. Wondering what to put in place of them, I considered the two "Hidcote Blue" lavender planted in a few empty spots.  They survived with just a bit of damage. 

This is a great site for lavender.  They would like the excellent drainage and lots of hot sun.  There is plenty of room for them to spread out, and they will hold the soil in place.  So I bought twelve small pots - it is better to start them small since they need to grow extensive roots before getting much bigger.  There are four new Lavandula angustifolis "Hidcote Blue" with two already established.  There are five Lavandula angustifolia "Munstead" and three Lavandula heterophylla "With Love."  I am taking a risk with the "With Love" variety, which is zone 7, but the garden is solidly within that zone.  The other two are hardy to Zone 4 and 5.

After setting out the pots on the ground, I decided to add a low rose bush, one of the new "drift ground cover roses, "Peach Drift."  I have tried other roses in this location, but none have survived.  I hope this one can handle it.

The last step was running a soaking hose through the bed, so that each plant gets plenty of water for the first year.  We will need to water every 3-4 days this summer, but they should be drought tolerant by next year.

The garden keeps reminding me that plants have a natural cycle of dying.  I have had to let go of my old dream for this particular section, and try out something different, hopefully better.  It sounds like other parts of my life.

Another Labyrinth

I have been away for a few weeks attending the Spiritual Directors International conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico, followed by a contemplative retreat at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico.  This is a picture of the Chartres style labyrinth at Ghost Ranch, set below one of the red rock mesas.  I walked this every day I was at Ghost Ranch, each time the light was different on the rock. 

Easter 2014

After a long winter, with the temperature regularly dropping below freezing, it is such a joy to see intense, bright colors against what is still a fairly gray background.  This is the 'Don Egolf' form of Cercis chinensis, or Chinese Redbud providing a magenta crown over the bed of daffodils.  This dwarf form of the Redbud has been blooming for more than a week, with the cool weather acting to keep the flowers from fading too quickly.

While I am unable to find the variety of daffodils, they have a light fragrance that occasionally reaches my nose when the breeze is right.  As long as the wind is not too strong, as it is while I am writing this.

Speaking of daffodils, is it interesting how some varieties, like these, settle in and multiply rapidly, while the four other varieties that were planted at the same time only have a few remaining bulbs blooming.

Along with the flowers, much of the emerging foliage has its own character to add to the delight.  These are the stems and leaves of the Paeonia 'Kopper Kettle' which is one of the "Itoh" or interspecies varieties.  It includes the genes from both the herbaceous and the tree peonies.  In this picture you can see two woody stems that began the winter with buds, just like a tree peony.  In previous years, those buds have grown up along with new stems growing up from below the surface of the ground.  However, it appears the long periods of below freezing weather were too much, and the old woody stems from last year have died.  Not to worry, there are lots of new stems that were safely underground.

I love the colors in these, which contract so well with the soft, light green colors of the rest of the new foliage.  While these are too dark to say they glow with color, the next photo shows something different.

The Spiraea x bumalda 'Goldflame' that grows on the edge of the slope behind the house seems to be lit up by fire.  The colors will fade down in a few weeks, but then the pink flowers will open up.  Now, I will admit that pink flowers above yellow orange foliage has led me to question holding onto this spirea.  But then each spring, before the grass turns green and most leaves are opening, this fluorescent display wakes me up from my winter doldrums, and I cannot imagine pulling it out.

To top it all off, these bushes are one of the few things that have survived a tough spot.  The hillside is a very sandy/gravely soil, with the full sun all morning drying it out.  I used to call this area my heather garden, but most of the heathers were killed by the extended cold, and those that still have live sections will need major pruning to get rid of the dead parts.  I have also had some success with lavender plants, but those were also severely hit by the cold.

The Viburnum 'Allegheny' is blooming again!  This time in the right season.  I like the contrast of the new flowers against the old, winter scarred leaves below.  In the background you can see the new leaves emerging, with their soft velvety surface.  This bush always surprises me.

Finally, the North Garden, between the house and the board fence on the property line, has a batch of trout lily, Erythronium ‘Pagoda’, at the base of a tree peony.  I so enjoy the bright color and upturned petals of these bulbs.  They proclaim that better weather is coming, and all will be well.

Finally, Hellebores

The evidence of a longer, and colder, winter can be seen in the timing of the initial flowers of Hellebore "Winters Bliss."  This is an early bloomer, and a few years ago it opened its first flowers the first week of February.  Now that we have begun the third week of March, it finally is willing to open up to greet the morning sun.

Temperatures were in the 70's yesterday, as we began the heavy clean-up.  Each year further into my older age, I dread cutting down the ornamental grasses.  We use the hedge trimmer to cut the stalks 6-10 inches above the ground, then everything is dragged down into the ravine, into one of two enormous piles of debris that is too coarse or woody for composting.  We finished cutting a section of grass Dad helped us plant 12 years ago.  But that is only half of it.  The rest will get done next weekend. 

The largest collection of Hellebores are in the North Garden.  Here is a cluster of a pure white variety with strokes of green at the base of the sepals. 

Since they are growing in a place that never gets sunshine, I particularly enjoy the brightness. This clump spreads out wider each year, unlike most of the Hellebores that stay within a small area.

Only one of the purples had an open flower, and it was buried back in the corner between the house and the porch.  Those yellow stamens make the whole image of these flowers come alive.  The purple/black varieties have very large buds, which should be open the next time I am at the house. 

I have never had success in cutting flower stems to take with me when I have to go into the city.  Since they last for weeks when grown outside, I would have thought them to be ideal to use as a cut flower?  I will try again this week and see if I can keep them alive.

Finally, here is a picture of the full moon rising over the Chesapeake Bay last night.  There was still color in the sky from the setting sun. 

The Crocus win the Gold and Silver

Caught up in the Olympic spirit of competition with hundredths of a seconds between the top two competitors, I walked out into the yard.  The crocus have bloomed before the Hellebores!  Here is the yellow - wait, I have the variety written down somewhere.  Ah yes, this is Cream Beauty.  Looks a bit like a gold medal, doesn't it?  This particular one is growing under a tree, allowing the sun to warm up the soil in spite of the cold rain.

These crocus, originally planted in the lawn in 2001, have settled well into their environment.  We have to delay mowing in the Spring, or mow around the crocus clumps, to build up bulbs before trimming the leaves off.

The other variety that is up in much greater abundance is the white, Purity, scattered in the grass.  I have grown fond of seeing the bright colors of the crocus against the still brown foliage of the zoysia grass.  It seems to be a more neutral background then the normal green grass, and has the added benefit of not growing up to cover the flowers until they are long gone.

Not much else is blooming other that the winter jasmine that started opening scattered flowers back in January.  Those were badly damaged by the temperatures in the 20's the last few weeks, so they are looking rather ragged.

After the Snow

After the series of snowstorms, each attempting to slow down the movement toward spring, comes hope. 

Here is Helleborus x ericsmithii 'Winter's Bliss', the earliest variety of these late winter blooming wonders.  This is just one of the two clusters of buds that have bravely raised themselves through the snow.  It's has a close cousin that may also have pushed up buds, but it lives in a heavily shaded place that the sun cannot penetrate, with several inches of snow over it.

The other varieties of Hellebores are quietly waiting in the wings with no flower buds.  Soon I will need to trim off all last years leaves so that the flowers are easy to spot.

But for now, Winter's Bliss is front and center, ready for her close-up.

Sleuthing Deer Trails

There is nothing as good as snow on the ground to show exactly where the plant terrorizing deer walk around the garden.  One doesn't need extensive CSI training to decipher what is going on.  Fortunately the recent snow and frigid weather has preserved lots of evidence.

We now know the deer are coming around the end of the fence on the north side of our property, and walking along the top edge of the hill.  As the first photo shows, there is are regular tracks around that edge and up into the labyrinth.  The most frequent exit is through a visually open section of the hedge which has deciduous hollies, at the top left side of this photo.

In this second photo that same exit is also at the top left. But the trail continues around the path of the labyrinth.  "Continues" is the wrong word, since the deer clearly likes to hang out in front of the evergreens.  Occasionally the critter of destruction exits through the hedge along the road, on the right side of this photo, to go into the county nature preserve.

Maybe I am being cruel about the pointy toed creature.  In this last shot, it is clear the deer is following the labyrinth trail around the viburnum in the center.  Maybe walking the labyrinth is a spiritual practice, and it is drawn to the holy mystery of the place, finding God in the pathways strewn with treasured plants? 

However, eventually it is overcome by its voracious hunger and destroys the beauty around it!  Beast of destruction!

January Snow

The snow remains a week after it fell, which is good since it provides insulation for the soil from the record low temperatures.  It simplifies the picture, only showing trees, bushes and grasses that are more than a few inches high.  It has also provided evidence of the deer trails, confirming the coming and going of that vegetation terrorist.

The Hellebores, which were showing their buds, are buried, so there will be no flowers anytime soon.