Hydrangeas

Today is what I would call and "un-gardening" day. My own word, I guess, but I use it for when I un-do a garden. We planted a whole garden with hydrangeas a dozen years ago, maybe a little longer ago than that. They didn't bloom right away, but grew wonderfully and had become quite large.

This one, Hydrangea macrophylla 'Blue Wave', is a recent acquisition, planted in another part of the garden, and it does bloom, though this photo was taken the first year and was quite blue, while this year's blooms were pink. It all depends on the pH of your soil. More acid means blue blooms.

This one, Hydrangea macrophylla 'Mariesii', apparently bloomed once, though I don't remember when. I know it bloomed because I have a photo of it. I don't think it has bloomed since.

This one, Hydrangea macrophylla 'Nikko Blue', is the only one that blooms. It blooms almost every year, though it is a much smaller bush, not more than 2 feet tall - some of the others were approaching 5 feet. Maybe because it is closer to the ground, the stems on this one aren't as likely to freeze. Because it blooms, it was spared the shovel this afternoon. I potted up pieces of several of the others that had made reasonable sized offshoots and will offer them for sale in the spring to people who live in places where they will bloom.
Non-bloom in hydrangeas is usually caused by winter damage to stems. Since hydrangeas bloom on last year's stems, if they winter kill you won't have any bloom. That was the problem here. So... the hydrangea bed is gone and has been replaced by a couple of gorgeous dogwoods and will be filled in with hostas in the spring.
I honestly hate 'unplanting' things, but I've learned to think of it sort of like rearranging the furniture. If things aren't working, just move them. If they really aren't working, get rid of them. Life is too short to live with plants that aren't doing what they're supposed to be doing. There are just so many wonderful things waiting to take their place.

Now, the hydrangeas that I co-exist with better are those on which I don't really expect blooms. It's not that these can't or don't bloom, just that since they rarely do, you plant them for the leaves and don't worry about the rest. This first one is Hydrangea macrophylla 'Lemon Wave' which has green and white and yellow leaves, no 2 alike.

My other favorite macrophylla hydrangea is 'Wave Hill', a green a white variegated one.

But if you really want bloom, at least in any place where the stems will freeze over the winter, skip the macrophyllas and get and Annabelle. This is a large bush that I think I've probably written about before. The blooms are large and are great for dried arrangements all winter. They go from green to white and last for quite awhile. They grow in light shade - actually prefer it, and seem to be a bit tolerant of at least minor drought.
So my compost heap has a bunch of hydrangeas and I have a redone garden. Not bad for an afternoon's work.
Jane

Viola labradorica

This is not an especially unusual plant, but anything that is blooming now in mid October has to be considered kind of special. Even more unusual to have a violet blooming this time of year.
Viola labradorica is also sometimes called Alpine Violet. The foliage is even tinted deep dusky violet. It is smaller than the usual wild violets and spreads by stolons sort of like a strawberry, which means that if you have one this year, you will have many next year. It also spreads by seeds. I have little colonies spread throughout the gardens and it never really would be considered invasive despite its tendencies to expand. Hardiness zones are zones 3 through 8.
Their main bloom season is in the spring, but they bloom here off and on all throughout the growing season. They will grow in sun to quite deep shade, though in the south, shade will be preferred. They prefer moist but well-drained soil. These violets will even tolerate a bit of light foot traffic, and given their diminutive size at only about 4 inches tall, they might be good between stepping stones, though I haven't tried using them in that way.
Labrador violets are native to the northern United States, eastern Canada and Greenland.
They are readily available from quite a number of mail order nurseries and aren't a bit expensive. I enjoy having them pop up here and there and should they ever get out of hand, they are very easy to thin out, unlike the other wild violets that we have here.
Jane

Fall Crocus

No, this picture wasn't taken last spring. These are the little known fall crocus, Crocus sativus is the one shown. There are also a number of others. This one is good down to zone 5, likes to be planted in rich, well-drained soil and to be divided occasionally. It is native to the Mediterranean. This is the crocus from which saffron is obtained. It takes the styles from 4000 flowers to make an ounce of the spice. Now you know why it is so expensive. They come up seemingly overnight, no leaves visible (they were there in the spring, I think). The blossoms close at night and on cloudy days.

The next two pictures are of another fall blooming crocus. This first is Colchicum cilicium. They have very large leaves in the spring - very un-crocus-like - and then send up many blooms in the fall. They finished blooming a week or so ago.

This last one is another colchicum called 'Lilac Wonder'. There are also white versions, but most you find will be some shade of pink of violet. The genus also includes some spring and summer bloomers, but I haven't grown them. Plenty of other crocuses in the spring. What I really appreciate are these fall bloomers. They like moderately fertile, not overly dry soil in sun or light shade. They also tend to appear suddenly. One day a bare spot, the next a full clump of blooms.

Too much to do outside this time of year - weeding, pruning, weeding, transplanting, weeding ... you get the idea.

More when I get a chance.

Jane

Plumeria

Plumeria, also known as Frangipani is a tropical tree. When I got mine about 5 years ago, it was about a foot tall. I got it late in the season and so it didn't get to be outside for very long. I brought it inside to a cool room with filtered sunlight and it promptly dropped all 6 or so of its leaves. I was expecting that, but still, when you have a nice green plant with a pouf of leaves at the top, it is somehow disconcerting to have them all fall off in one day. I left it there until spring, keeping the soil moist but not wet and pretty much ignoring it. When frost free weather returned, I put it outside. It grew 6 or so new leaves and by fall it had grown about 6 inches. Leaves were still in a pouf at the top of the stem. This continued, with it growing 6-12 inches a year, but never flowering. I bought it because I had heard about the wonderful fragrance and was getting a bit disappointed. After all, it isn't the easiest thing to keep inside in the winter now that it was as tall as I was.

So last winter, or maybe towards spring, something that looked more like a bloomscape appeared. This spring I took it outside as usual, but I had read about 'plunging' the pot (more on that in a minute), and thought I'd try that since the thing had gotten really top heavy what with being so tall and skinny with all of the leaves at the top.

I guess I did something right, or maybe it just had to be a little older, but it bloomed all summer outside. I brought it in about 2 weeks ago and put it on the sun porch, though it will go up to my sewing room once the porch gets too cold. When I went out 2 days ago, there was this lovely flower and at least another bud to go. The nicest thing was that being in an enclosed space with no breeze, I could fully enjoy the lovely scent. I waited a long time, but it was definitely worth waiting for.

I found a website http://www.plumeria101.com last spring when I was trying to find out how to get my plumeria to bloom. I was sure I was doing something wrong. The site has just a ton of information like: they can grow to 30 feet tall in the tropics - can you imagine how gorgeous that would be, and how good it would smell?, some can have 200 blooms per cluster, the flowers are often used for leis in Hawaii. It will also tell you everything you could ever want to know about growing and propagating them.

Anyway about this plunging thing. They suggested that the plant would be happier outside if you would dig a hole and put the pot in the ground. The plant would also probably like just being planted out, but I wouldn't want to have to disturb the roots to dig it up again, so this seemed like a good idea. It meant that it would stay more evenly moist and I wouldn't have to be worrying about it blowing over. It worked like a charm. I thought it might have sent a lot of roots out of the pot, but that didn't happen. I just lifted it up, wiped off the pot and brought it inside.

On another subject, we lucked out with the rain, getting almost 2.5 inches. Things look so much happier. We even had full grown trees that were starting to wilt. The creek isn't running yet, but I'm not complaining. Weeds are also pulling out much easier than they were during the drought.

Jane

Still Blooming

Just a few more pictures to show that you don't have to be without flowers just because it's almost October.
This clump of Salvia came up all by itself. I had Salvia in the area last year and now have 6 or 8 plants that had self seeded. I sure hope it comes back next year since it has been blooming now for months.
Lamium usually blooms in the spring, but occasionally will rebloom in the fall. This 'Red Nancy' is covered with bloom as is 'Anne Greenway', one with green and yellow leaves.

Another bright red flower in the garden right now is this lovely clump of Impatiens, a really huge clump growing in more sun than Impatiens should like. It's probably 2 feet tall and wide and has been covered with bloom since late spring. It started out as one of those little 6-pack plants. I usually take a couple of smaller Impatiens into the greenhouse to enjoy or make some cuttings. They usually don't make it to next spring in good shape, but they normally bloom at least until Christmas.

Most people don't grow hostas for the blooms (mistake since some have gorgeous flowers and hightly scented ones). Most of our hostas have finished blooming except for a couple of really late ones. For the first time that I can remember, we have hostas that finished blooming in mid-summer, reblooming now. I often have daylilies that rebloom, but it is really unusual, at least in my garden, for hostas to do it.

Heucheras are also not especially grown for their flowers, though I don't know why since the newer ones have lovely blooms. This one in a too dry and probably too shady place has sent up a new bloomscape in the last weed. Flowers on these can be red, white, pink or lavender, maybe other colors, but that's what I have here.

This is one of our hardy geraniums, the name of which escapes me at the moment. It was new this year and started blooming soon after it was planted and hasn't stopped since. It was tiny when I planted it back in May, but now it is almost 2 feet across and just covered with these lovely purple flowers.

Digitalis (Foxgloves) are definitely spring bloomers. This one just appeared all of a sudden. Didn't see it a weed ago and now it is in full bloom. The funny thing about this one is that it is blooming and it is only about 8 inches tall. This type is usually at least 3-4 feet tall in bloom. Cute little thing that I almost missed.

Dianthus are pretty dependable repeat bloomers. I always make sure to dead-head them because that encourages more bloom. They're bloom at least until frost, and if there is a light frost, it won't even bother them.

I got to take pictures today because we didn't have any of the promised rain after very early this morning. We did be 3/10 of an inch overnight and the plants are thrilled, but I hope we get the promised 3/4 inch tonight because we have just been so dry. Azaleas and dogwoods among others are setting their buds for next year right about now and they need the rain to insure good bloom next year.

Jane

Blooming Today

After too much time spent digging and planting and weeding, I took some time off to take pictures of things still blooming on this last Sunday in September.

Achillea, common name Yarrow, is a pretty dependable rebloomer after taking a little break. I expect I will have blooms on at least several of them until frost. Right now I have a rose pink one and this one blooming. They make good cut flowers and expand nicely to make a good sized clump after a few years.
Calendula is a self seeding annual that comes in many shades of orange/yellow/beige. I planted them years ago and always have some, though they are pretty much all this color now. Guess it's time to plant some new colors next spring. A good cut flower and will last past the first few light frosts.

Several of my Clematis are reblooming this year. This one is Duchess of Albany and is the only bell shaped on blooming now. All of the blue ones seem to be in bloom. This doesn't always happen, but is most appreciated.

This is Diervella (I think I've spelled that wrong, maybe?) 'Cool Splash'. It is a wonder variegated shrub for full sun even when it's not in bloom. The flowers aren't all that showy but it seems to bloom from spring until frost.

This is the last bloom on Hibiscus 'Nacodoches River'. It has different leaves for a hibiscus, being very, very thin and more of a reddish color. It grows in one of our small ponds. The flower is also much smaller, maybe 3 inches across, than those dinner-plate types that were blooming a month ago.

Hydrangea 'Pink Diamond' has finally turned pink. The flowers have been out for over a month, but have been very slow turning pink this year. Worth waiting for, I think since this is the best pink color I've seen in years.

This is also the last Lotus bloom of the season. 'Shewan Batsu' is a slightly smaller bloom than 'Imperial' which is in the other pond. Still, at 6-8 inches across, it makes quite a show. The first hint of frost will do in these plants. They look so sturdy with their huge, leathery leaves, but after frost the only thing that will remain will be the seed pods to be collected for dried arrangements.

I've always loved this Nicotiana sylvestris. It doesn't even come up until August some years, but then takes off. The plant makes a rosette of huge leaves at least 2 feet across and then sends up a bloom scape that is often taller than I am. The flowers are sweetly scented, especially in the evening.

We are still having occasional rebloom on some of the daylilies. This tiny one is Pixel with blooms only about an inch or so across on scapes less than a foot tall. Oh so cute!

If you've remembered (and had the time) to cut back your Tradescantia after the first bloom, you should have lots of new bloom right about now. This one, 'Karminglut', has just started blooming again.

And last, but not least, the first blooms on the Tricyrtis, the Toad Lilies) opened this morning. They just sit there all summer and then in mid to late September cover their whole stems with these interesting spotted flowers, one at each point where the leaves are attached to the stems. Sometimes slugs can be a problem, but it has been so dry here the past month or so, I think our slugs have all dried up or left for more pleasant climates.

Lots more still blooming. If it doesn't rain too hard, I'll share some more of our September blooms tomorrow.

Jane

Asimina triloba

Last week here in Athens County we had the Ohio Paw Paw Festival so I thought is might be appropriate to feature our native fruit today. I guess I should have done it last week to encourage all of you to attend the festival, but I guess I'm not always that organized. The leaves above are from a tree by the side of our house. The PawPaw is a tree that grows at the edge of the woods, light shade and all that, and over time will form a thicket of sorts. I had 2 groves of them when I lived in West Virginia.

In the spring they bloom with an unusual brown and green flower. Unfortunately, here they are often hit by frost so that some years we don't get any fruit at all. This year we were lucky and will have a small harvest. Unfortunately, neither of us are really fond of pawpaws - we just like the wonderful tropical look of the trees.

This is what the fruits looks like once it starts to get big. Green with a 'bloom' covering them

And here is one I picked yesterday that is very ripe and has even split open. Not sure if that was because it was so ripe or because it was so big and split when it hit the ground.

And here's what if looks like when you slice it in half. On the bottom right is a seed.

A bit about the tree, thanks to a bit of research. I learned a few things even though I've been growing them for years. Although it is common in most places, it is an endangered species in New Jersey and a threatened species in New York. There has been some promising research that shows that some of the chemicals contained in the seeds might be effective against cancers of the prostate and colon. The leaves contain trace amounts of a poison and so almost everything will find them unpalatable. The exception is the zebra swallowtail butterfly. Their larvae feed on the leaves and retain enough of the chemical to make the butterflies unattractive to things that would eat butterflies.

If you were interested in sowing some of the seeds, they should be collected as soon as the fruits are very ripe. They are cleaned and soaked briefly in a 10% clorox solution. Rinse very well after that. They are then placed in a zip loc bag with moist sphagnum or peat moss and kept at crisper temperatures for at least 100 days. Once planted, keep pots warm and don't expect any green to show for 9 weeks while the plants grows roots.

And here is our special baby - a variegated pawpaw. We hope to have some of these to sell in a year or two.

Jane