Green Tree Frog

I am nothing if not easily distracted. Back to Hibiscus tomorrow. This is a very tiny tree frog I came across yesterday afternoon sunning him/her self on the handle of a watering can which was sitting in a bucket of water. This guy and a friend could have both easily fit on a dime. I haven't gotten out my frog book to look him up yet, but I think he might be my elusive Spring Peeper that I have been trying to see/photograph for years. I love the tree frogs because, besides singing their little hearts out with a noise all out of proportion to their size, they have such cute feet with their 'suction cup' toes. He seemed totally oblivious to me since I looked at him for awhile and then went inside to get my camera and came back to find him in exactly the same place. The bullfrogs are singing a lot right now. We have them in three of the ponds. We bought a couple of bullfrog tadpoles years ago to put in the largest pond. I think we moved tadpoles around with waterlily pots to get them to the other ponds since I don't think the bullfrogs traveled all through the garden and across the bridge to get to Lake Amanda. I also came across my first baby toad of the year yesterday. It must have just been that sort of day.
Jane

Hibiscus syriacus - more Rose of Sharon

I realized after the last post that I probably shouldn't assume you all knew what I was talking about when I mentioned the old fashioned Rose of Sharon, so I went out and took some pictures. The first is probably the most common color, a nice lavender. There may be a named variety of this one, but if there is, I don't know it. It is the one that seems to get shared around (that's how I got my first one) and seeds prolifically. As long as you get the seedlings out when they're tiny, it's no problem. Let one get a foot tall, hidden in some nearby foliage, and you'll have quite a tug to get it removed.

This one is probably the next most common one, the white with a red eye, also unnamed as far as I know.

This last one turned up as a seedling here and is pure white with no eye. I haven't seen one like it in catalogs, so I may propagate it when I have time. The flowers are a bit smaller, but there are lots of them.

Cool weather today so lots of weeding will get done. A few more days of this and we just might get caught up.

Jane

Hibiscus syriacus - Rose of Sharon

These are the old fashioned Rose of Sharon - the ones that pretty as they are, do seed all over the place. I've solved that problem, at least in part, by cutting off seed pods before they mature. That's probably better for the plant anyway, since maturing seeds does take some energy that could be used for something else.
This first one is Blue Satin. It is supposed to be an improvement over the older one, Bluebird, but the color seems to vary year by year according to the weather and some years one is better, some years the other and some years both just look lavender like the old ones. The other old one I have here is a white with a red eye, which as far as I know isn't named and is always just called 'the white on with a red eye'.



This is Bluebird. The difference in color from Blue Satin can be as much due to the camera and internet browser as the flowers themselves. All of these seem to stay under 8 feet tall in the sun, a little taller in the shade, but put them in sun since they seem to like it better. No fragrance on the flowers as far as I can tell, but since they seem to be constantly hosting those small bumblebees, I don't get my nose all that close anyway.

This is 'Rose Satin', introduced with 'Blue Satin' a few years ago. I think there might be another too, in addition to the doubles which I'll do tomorrow. This flower is about the same size as the 2 previous ones, maybe 3 inches across.

This is 'Aphrodite' which is a slightly lighter pink, a slightly smaller, wider bush, and a slightly wider flower at maybe up to 6 inches across. I think it is a clearer pink, also.

These aren't fancy or cutting edge, but they are dependable and bring a lot of color to the garden. Not especially good as cut flowers since each bloom doesn't last that many days, I do use them, removing the old blooms each morning to keep the bouquet fresh. They're low maintenance since once established they don't seem to require any supplemental watering except in severe drought and never need pruning unless you want to limit their size. If you do prune, do it right after bloom rather than in the spring since doing so in the spring will diminish bloom for that year.

Jane

Hibiscus - 'Tosca' and 'Lohengrin'

These two Hibiscus are unique in that they are from a cross between Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) and the southern 'Confederate Rose'. They grow into small trees, maybe 15 feet tall, multistemmed, and provide nice shade rather quickly.
This first one is 'Lohengrin', at least I think it is. They're kind of like twins. You know both names and never seem to be able to figure out which one is which. I'm not the only one who gets confused on these. I've seen both names on either picture in a number of catalogs.
The other result of this cross is 'Tosca'. Both have flowers that are larger than Rose of Sharon and right now thay are buzzing overhead with all of the bees of various sorts busily pollinating them. I won't tell all of the buzzing things that they are wasting their time since both of these are sterile and don't produce viable seeds. This is probably their biggest improvement over Rose of Sharon - no seedlings all over the place. They do sucker a bit, so you'll find the occasional baby a few feet away. We've left some nearest the trunk and either dig the others up and pot them to share or just cut them off.

We have quite a few of these on the property and wouldn't be without them this time of year for the bright colors. Better in sun than shade, but seem to be able to grow in either.

A Chipping Sparrow Nest

I wish I could have gotten closer so I could have a picture of the little baby in this nest who was barely out of the egg. There are 2 more eggs to hatch. Chipping Sparrow eggs are a light blue with light brown spots. This sparrow knew how to put her nest in a very safe place. It is in a variegated yew which is somewhat overhanging one of our ponds and is wrapped with chicken wire in an attempt to keep the deer from eating it since it seems to be one of their farovite foods in the winter. Even though I can't get close enough to really see into the nest without risking falling into the pond because of the steep slope, with a telephoto lens or binoculars I can keep an eye on the babies. The nest is only about 2 feet off the ground. I have found other sparrow nests in the center of a clump of ornamental grass and right on the ground under a shrub. They seem vulnerable usually, but since the parents seem to always have new babies at the feeders, so they must have some idea what will be safe. Hank only noticed this nest because he was weeding right next to the bush. Chipping sparrows are primarily seed eaters and live here year round. In the summer they do eat bugs which is always a welcomed habit here. If you don't know them, they are 'sparrow sized' small birds with a rusty colored top on their heads. Very cute. One of these days I'm going to sit near the feeder and try and get pictures of all of the birds who visit there. Too much to do this time of year, though.
Jane

An unexpected garden delight

Nothing really special here, just a Japanese Painted Fern, a seedling hosta and a trillium, but when I discovered them yesterday after picking up a branch of a Cotinus 'Grace' that a deer had broken, I was just so pleased that we still have a hosta that hasn't become salad for Bambi. It was also odd to have a trillium still up and green, though admittedly, starting to show some browning. Most of our trilliums have long since gone dormant.

My serious gardening right now seems to be limited to early morning weeding and mulching. I just choose a small section every day and finish it. Huge progress on the weeds is not being made, but rather more slow and steady. It does leave some parts of the garden a bit less than tidy, but by August, a lot of the garden, especially peonies and things in a lot of sun, start to look a bit tired anyway. Daylilies are about over except for occasional blooms on the late ones that the deer haven't finished off. What is coming into bloom now are the hibiscus. We planted them purposely to give us color in August and they do their job well. I think I'll write about them for the next few days as they start to bloom. Everyone should have some for their huge flowers and bright colors. Some are more adapted to small gardens than other - some are just downright obnoxious in their size and habit and we have had to transplant a few to more out of the way places because they were just running all over their neighbors ... but more on that tomorrow.

Jane

Species Daylilies

Just when there is so much to write about in the garden, it seems that there is just no time to write anything. Here are some pictures of species daylilies. If my memory serves, some of these are foreign species, brought here - maybe all are.
The first is Hemerocallis multiflora.



This mext one is Hemerocallis minor. I've heard some people say that this is not a species, but a named cultivar. I don't know for sure. One thing I do know is that is is terribly cute with very small flowers - from where the name derives - and starts blooming with the very first ones in the late spring and continues for quite an extended period. I've even had it rebloom in late summer, but that doesn't happen all that frequently. Very thin, grassy foliage. In a clump 12 inches across, there will be hundreds of fans.

This next one is Hemerocallis hakuuensis. That may be spelled wrong, but that's how I have it listed. No books at hand this morning to check on it.

This one is Hemerocallis fulva sempervirens.

This is Hemerocallis dunortieri.

Last, but not least, is Hemerocallis aurantiaca.

There are a number of other species, and we grow at least another 5 or 6 in the gardens, but I don't seem to have pictures of them. I've been trying to take pictures of everything, not just the pretties that catch my eye like I did back in the film camera days, but haven't quite caught up. I think I've gotten about 3/4 of them done this year and hope to have them up on the website shortly - just as soon as I get a little free time. This mornings job is cleaning up the limb from the huge, old maple in the front yard that fell last night, just barely missing the porch.
Jane