A Leafy Indulgence

Free Range Poinsettias

2012-01-14T17:29:00.010-05:00

Do I have a green thumb or what?
How many people keep poinsettias after Christmas and try to get them to rebloom the next year? And how many people, with fungus gnats, white flies, and yellow leaf drop throw in the towel and throw the darn thing away? They may be cheap but they're not easy.

Two years ago, I planted a cheap holiday poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) outdoors in the spring. I wanted to give it a chance to live on past its normal life expectancy so retired and moved it to a warm sunny southern climate.

The southern side yard was a perfect place, and it grew quite well. In the fall, the new leaves became smaller, grew more slowly, and had a red tinge to them and their veins, like we all do after too many merlots. The experience was encouraging and rewarding, as reported that year. [21.10.2010]

This spring, I placed two potted poinsettias from last Christmas in the side yard, hoping to decide on a placement later. Laziness set in and 'later' turned into 'never.' They stayed in their pots with their original soil. In the fall, due to cold and longer nights, they began their change again. Our frost came very late this year; so as long as they were not yet compost fodder and not in the way of the fall garden chores, they stayed.

They were moved to the deck, close to the warmer house after the first light frost, and eventually made their way indoors. I decided to keep them going to see what would happen to those reddish leaves. Every evening upon retuning home from work, I stumbled around a dark house to find my poinsettias and move them from their sunny daytime french doors and place them in the dark cellar near the outside door. Every morning, I reversed the routine (but needed not stumble) or placed them outdoors on those occasional warm days. Poinsettias need long nights to bloom and bloom they did in time for Christmas.

One plant was purchased at an inexpensive supermarket, and the other at Home Depot. (No need to spend oodles of bucks on throw away plants during the holiday shopping season.) The National Poinsettia Cultivar Trials indicates there are hundreds of varieties. My two show notable differences.

One has dark green leaves, and much larger blooms than the other lighter green leaf. But, this one with the naked legs lost more of its lower leaves. Both plants have smaller blooms than when purchased, and much stronger stems. I will attribute this to not being fed a constant junk food diet of fertilizer. I remember that whole stems on both plants easily broke off after purchased, maybe due to the soft fast growth promoted by production nursery greenhouses.

The red flowers are actually bracts (like dogwood tree 'petals') and have so far lasted a month. The yellow flowers in the centers are just now beginning to bloom. Next year I promise to take better care (larger pots, pruning, and some love) during the summer and hope to write about the larger blooms in 2013.

Alexandria Holiday Decoration

2012-01-07T19:01:00.015-05:00

It was a busy time during the holidays, and without many plants growing, there was not much material for the blog. I thought another yearly door decoration post might be in order.

Over the past few years, a securities company across the street from my office in Old Town Alexandria decorates its front door in true colonial style. Natural fruit and greens adorn the door and transom window during the holiday season.

A few years back, I took a candlelight tour of nearby Mount Vernon. George Washington and his friends celebrated Christmas, but it was not the holiday it is today. Decorations, understated by today's standards, were usually natural greenery. Plants that magically remained green through this bleak time of year held a special significance and were thought to bring life and good luck to the household.

December 25 was the beginning of the Christmas season, culminating with the more important feast in January, twelve days (of Christmas) later. Gatherings of friends for dinner, games, and music were the important items for the holiday here in Virginia - not the trimmings and trappings. Any fruit used as interior decoration was eventually eaten.

These Old Town door decorations consist of boxwood wreaths on the door, and actual oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, and apples above. I do not know what the sprig is at the pineapple - it looks like amaranth.

Iris Rerun

2011-12-19T22:30:00.021-05:00

This is just a quick post to keep the blog going until the next post. Winter does not have a lot going on for me that hasn't been mentioned before. One exception is yet another post about Clarence the bearded iris [2011.05.03].

As mentioned in a previous post [2011.10.23], he started showing signs of blooming in November and December after taking the summer off. I did a bit of research online, and discovered the wonderful world of re-blooming iris. Clarence apparently belongs to this group. I believe that the Tidewater Gardener mentioned in the past that 're-blooming iris' usually means one more time in the fall, and means a smaller bloom production. This was certainly true here with Clarence.

Recent frosts have not affected the buds, maybe because the plant is located in a bed on the south side of the house, but a very heavy frost does affect any flowers in full bloom. What a surprise, especially when everything else in the side slope garden is dead and gone for the season.

Neon Hostas

2011-11-06T21:34:00.010-05:00

With three or four years of hostas under my belt, you would think I know my plants pretty well. This fall they surprised me, maybe because of the unusual weather, maybe because of they are more mature, or maybe because they are trying to impress me.

Two of the hostas have stood out. The first, True Blue, was purchased three years ago and is described as, "Large, heart-shaped gray-blue leaves with slightly wavy margins and moderate puckering, excellent substance and pest resistance, near white flowers." To date, they have proved the description correct.

This fall, however, True Blue turned mellow yellow. The leaves changed color to a neon gold. In the dull shade of the back yard, the yellow is a stand out. In previous years, the leaves may have been a little colorful, but mostly just turned brown and disappeared.

Leaves on trees seem to be holding on longer this fall. My bearded iris is blooming again. Is there a more gradual than normal change in the season this year, allowing the hosta to fade slowly rather than quickly die off? And what are those black and tan pointy thingies hanging off the hostas? For the first time, the True Blue seed pods fully matured, completely dried, and dropped seeds!

And who is in that last photo? It's Frances Willimas, the other large shade hosta. Like the True Blue, their leaves are dying off slowly, but are not changing color all at once. Instead, these are changing from the outside edges inward, producing a tri-color green, yellow, the brown pattern. The seed pods are also quite plentiful and maturing.

The other hostas are turning in this fall as usual. Only the large hostas are putting on a show this year.

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, acidanthera

October 2011 Flowers In The House

2011-10-31T00:11:00.014-04:00

Indoor flowers on the last Monday of the month.
No corn or corny-copia on the front door, so what does one do for the holiday season? Why not join the Flowers In The House gang.

There were a few zinnias and marigolds left in the garden after the cold storm this weekend. Fortunately, after last night's freeze I could still harvest something and will enjoy them for a few more days indoors. This samples the bounty of peppers and flowers that were brought in Sunday.

Along with my obviously contrived contribution, find other garden bloggers' Halloween Flowers In The House at the blog Small But Charming.

Act II - Autumn

2011-10-23T20:36:00.005-04:00

Many of my perennials begin in the warmth of spring with a vibrant burst of life, only to slowly give up in our notoriously hot and humid Washington summers. In August, the plants are as tired of the heat as I am of trying to care for them.

The garden comes back to life for one brief final fling when the nights cool and the days shorten. The steam-heat-loving fungal diseases disappear, as do many of the crawling and chomping beasties. Several plants are now on their encore performance prior to the final act of frost, and some are surprising. I like good surprises.

The miniature rose bush [2011.05.29] succumbed to black spot while I was away for two weeks in September. I came home to a barren cluster of stems with no vegetation or buds. Now it bravely blooms again, although I don't know how with stems devoid of leaves. I think I see a few new fresh shoots with leaves erupting.

Cardoon plants (Cynara cardunculus) were given to me this spring and did nothing all summer after being planted in the hot garden where the infamous octopus hollyhocks were removed. The future colossuses (colossi?) valiantly struggled through their first summer and now look like they are loving life.

The self-reliant white nicotiana [2009.07.09] annuals bloom through spring and most of the summer. After seed pods set, the flowers stop and there is little rebloom even with deadheading. There is a slow decline until I eventually put them out (rip them out) of their misery. The seeds are scattered and come back next year. In fall, some of the roots left in the ground erupt into a huge clump of leaves. Some of these will slumber through winter and wake up in the spring with a big head start on the sprouting seeds.

Fall blooming iris? The bearded iris Clarence [2011.05.03] must have heard me complaining that he took two years to bloom, so now he's making up for lost time. There is a lonely stem of baby iris buds reaching up. I hope they can open before frost. Do bearded iris bloom in the fall in addition to the spring? I guess so.

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, zinnia, salvia, marigold
• Harvested: 2 Anaheim pepper, 1 tomato

And It Goes With...

2011-10-14T19:26:00.020-04:00

I am not known as a gardener that plans to match colors in blooms. For the first time this year, however, I began actually thinking about colors of adjacent plants. I believe it started last year when I noticed some green hostas with lime green trim ended up next to a yellow hosta, slightly greenish oak leaf hydrangea blooms, and a lime green coleus - purely accidental.

This year I planted that lime green coleus with dark maroon spots near some maroon heuchera, and planted purple zinnia mixed in with yellow zinnia. I had a vision of the results, although the visions did not quite turn out.

First, the purple zinnias did not germinate as well as the yellow. Second, the purples were a bit taller. If you are looking for pictures, you are out of luck. Third, my vision was blown away with hurricane Irene.

I do, however, have a few unplanned shows of purple - yellow combinations in the garden. First, those canary yellow zinnias were not blown over in the front garden, and ended up putting on a show. They contrast with the purple New England asters. The asters are about past their prime today, but the zinnias go on.

In the same garden, the cooler-loving purple May Night salvia has sprung back to life as it usually does after a hot summer. At its feet, the self-seeding, late maturing Mexican zinnias are now exploding in a riot of yellow. Both are coming into prime at the same time.

So even though the planted color combinations failed to materialize this year, the unplanned ones were just as spectacular as those in my vision.

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, salvia, zinnia, acidanthra
• 2-week harvested: 10 Anaheim pepper, 2 tomatoes

Rain Lilies

2011-09-15T22:52:00.000-04:00

This spring, I found, ordered online, and planted one of the gems that I discovered at the Dallas Arboretum last year. The Rain Lilies Zephyranthes candida were planted along the edge of a bed with hopes of a blooming summer. After noting them in a past blog post, I found out the name signified that they bloomed after a rain in the late summer or fall.

Zephyranthes are related to the amaryllis family, and are native to Argentina and Uruguay in South America. Those found blooming in the late summer heat of Dallas [17.10.10] were plentiful along the walking path.

My plants began growing after the spring rains with some small green sprouts resembling grass. Excitement turned to cautious optimism throughout the summer, as hot weather seemed to stop growth, but not kill them off. I soaked the area well during a two week period in Virginia's summer heat wave, hoping to trick the lilies into believing it was rain, and hoping to get them blooming.

Then in the middle of summer, one bloomed. One lonely pink flower proudly bloomed and was placed in a post for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day [15.7.11]. But wait - this was pink. I ordered several white bulbs. I was resigned to the fact that I received another mixed-up nursery order. I noticed the leaves on this particular plant were thicker and longer than the others, and held out hope that this one plant was different from the others.

After Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee dumped beaucoup buckets of rain within two weeks, the other bulbs began blooming this week. It turns out that they are all the correct white species, 10 inches high (25 cm), with 1/8 inch wide grass-like leaves (5 mm) and 1 1/2 inch white star flowers (3 cm). So, they really do come out after a rain.

Looks like only one is pink. I will move it to another location this fall, and wait for both of each to easily multiply and fill in, as they are supposed to do.

For The Record:
• Drained clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments
• Full sun
• No fertilizer

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, zinnia, rain lilies, rose, rudbeckia, salvia
• Harvested: 2 small peppers, 5 chilis, 1 tomato, 1 cucumber

Zinnia-mania

2011-08-30T18:45:00.011-04:00

In the past I viewed zinnias in the same way as marigolds and petunias. They were easy annuals that grew and flowered nonstop through the summer, became ungainly toward the end of summer, and then succumbed to fall disease or needed to be taken out because of their old age. Let's hope I don't have the same fate in my old age.

The Tall Zinnias
However, I have since appreciated one trait that zinnias have over the other two: they make a good cut flower, and come back after cutting. The flowers can also last a while on the plant like marigolds, and come in more color varieties. For the last few years I planted Violet Queen - a supposedly purple (but more pink) tall, double flowered variety (Zinnia elegans). Like most zinnias, some were double flowered and some were not.

This year with the Violet Queen [past photo] seeds running low, I ordered yellow Canary Bird zinnia to plant amongst the remaining 'purple' Violet Queen and keep them company in the side garden. Most of the purples did not germinate- (if a good photo of both together develops later this year, I will post it.) The yellows flying solo in the front garden receive more sun. The soil is also better there, having been worked on for more years. I can report that Canary Bird is a winner.

More of the blooms are double-flowered than the violet. They also began blooming a bit earlier than the violet, and have more branching with blooms than the straighter violet. The color is spectacular, I believe because the blooms are the same color as the anthers and stigma. This is one worth planting again.

The Short Zinnias
One year I purchased a mix of a few babies called Mexican Zinnias (Zinnia augustifolia) or narrow-leaf zinnias: white, yellow, and orange in the mix. Without me knowing, they reseeded themselves behind my back and came back the next year in the two places where they had been the previous summer. I was tearing out the infants as weeds since I did not recognize them. The leaves on the seedlings looked similar to a salvia growing nearby, so I let a few grow to see if they were weeds or salvia. Yellow zinnias began blooming.

I also stopped decimating the volunteers in the other bed where they had been growing the previous year. Orange flowers began to emerge there. Since then, I have kept the yellows in one bed, and the orange in another along the walk, and they reemerge every year from their own seed. I give a few away and transplant a few when starting growing in the spring. Funny, but none of the whites reseeded and came back.

This year, after about 5 years of remaining separate, a few yellows came up in the orange bed. What audacity and impudence. I will attribute this to an increase in butterfly and bee activity last fall, beginning about this time of year. Although I would prefer a uniform color, I let it happen. Zinnia augustifolia needs to grow before exposing the flower color. By then, they is too big to think about ripping out. And at this size, they do not like being transplanted.

The plants start out very, very slowly in the spring and develop for a month. Another month of growth producing leaves, a few blooms pop out. Then all of a sudden in midsummer heat, they explode and go wild, developing into the masses you see in the photos.

What I really like about these, in addition to the reseeding, is their ability to naturalize and neatly spill over the edge of the walk like the alyssum without becoming a nuisance. They do not make good cut flowers, since their habit is one of a tumbleweed. Their beauty is in numbers. I tried saving orange seed and starting indoors this spring. I had some success, but the germination rate was not good.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments
• Full sun is best
• Small amount of fertilizer
• Tall zinnias tend to develop powdery mildew in autumn when temps cool
• No pests or disease on the dwarf zinnias

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: Mexican zinnia, zinnia, cosmos, salvia, sunflowers, rain lily, rudbeckia, daylily
• Harvested: 2 peppers, 4 tomatoes
• Removed: Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers

August 2011 Bloom Day

2011-08-15T22:24:00.041-04:00

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.
Mass blooms are highlighted this month. First up is the cleome that ate Alexandria. This out of control monster does a good job of scaring away the neighborhood kids. Dwarf sunflowers cower in fear at the other side of the yard. Across the walk are some Mexican zinnias continuing to spread and merge into one large clump.

The hedge of cosmos feeding the bumblebees are showing their age with fewer blossoms and thinner plants. My canary yellow zinnias are new this year and live up to their name. If I can only keep the finches from plucking off the petals to get at the seeds, they would be spectacular.

And the sweet alyssum is flowing and oozing onto the brick pavers, providing a delicious fragrance and giving some contrast to the frog - my garden bling.

Find other garden bloggers' bloom days at the blog May Dreams Gardens.


Cleome hassleriana

Helianthus annuus "Waooh"		Zinnia agustifolia

Cosmos sulphureus		Zinnia "Canary"

Lobularia maritima

Garden Calendar:
• Harvested: 8 cherry tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, 2 chilis, 2 tomatoes

Peppered With Promise

2011-08-10T22:37:00.061-04:00

This year I found no Karma hybrid pepper seeds left over from previous years to plant in the spring. As I usually do, I moved on to try a different variety. My results with Karma, as well as my other pepper varieties are described in a previous post from 2008 [31.08.08].

This year I selected Early Thickset. Descriptions made it sound like a good substitute for my Karma peppers. But wait ... I found a few Karma seeds hiding in the seed tin after the Thickset seeds arrived! I had the chance for a head to head competition.

Both peppers germinated in their indoor starter cups. For my pepper-thon, the best seedling of each variety was planted next to the other in the front cottage garden. Both had the same good soil, ample sunlight, water, hot weather, and fertilizer. They grew as side by side companions through the spring and summer, and now the results are in. Karma still rules.

Comparison
Both plants appeared identical in size, coloring, and leaves, and were not bothered by pests or disease. But there was a difference in the peppers.

Early Thickset was not early after all. Both plants set fruit at the same time, and both matured to red at the same time. No advantage to either. The Karma produced only two large peppers, while the Thickset had five in the first summer cycle. The Karma peppers were uniformly large and turned red. The Thickset peppers had one large, four smaller, and turned a rusty reddish-brown. Thickset probably has a better tolerance for our summer heat, and thus could set fruit at higher temperatures. So we get bigger peppers with Karma, more peppers with Thickset. Notice also that Thickset had four internal ribs, while Karma had three.

Taste
The important test is taste. Both were cut into. Both were juicy and had that fresh bell pepper aroma. Surprisingly, the Early Thickset not only flunked the 'early' test, but the 'thick' test, too. Karma had much thicker walls. Maybe as indicated by the color, the Karma were definitely sweeter tasting.

Karma is the winner, since I would rather have fewer fruits per plant if it means I get sweet tasting, juicy, meaty peppers.

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, rudbeckia, cosmos, zinnia, nicotiana, cleome, sunflowers, marigold
• Harvested: 5 peppers, 1 tomato, 3 cukes, 56 cherry tomatoes

Christmas Present In July

2011-07-30T21:24:00.039-04:00

Some of the best plants are those that are gifts. At Christmas, I invite some close friends over for dinner every year. I don't know when it started, but we began exchanging small inexpensive gifts at these dinners. This past year, however, I received a large gift certificate for plants at High Country Gardens from one good friend. Her justification was that I had her as a dinner guest several times during the year.

I spent the winter combing through the catalog and adding up the totals. One of the six plants I elected to order was the kniphofia Wayside Flame. A previous post documents the experience with my first monstrous kniphofia. [26.6.2010] Last fall I moved the big bad boy to a more appropriate location with lots of room to play. I had looked at several other kniphofias that would not take over the front cottage garden, so I appreciated the opportunity to get a smaller replacement sooner rather than later.

High Country Gardens had a few different varieties in their catalog. I settled on my selection after checking an online Kniphofia List from the International Bulb Society. The plants came in spring and were planted. I expected my Wayside Flame to bloom next year, but surprise - a present in July. It sent up one lonely flower stalk this year. Most appreciated.

For The Record:
• Fertile well-drained soil
• Full sun
• Small amount of fertilizer
• No serious pests or disease

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, nicotiana, kniphofia, cleome, zinnia, cosmos, rudbeckia
• Harvested: 1 tomato, 40 cherry tomatoes, 3 cucumbers

July 2011 Flowers In The House

2011-07-25T23:08:00.012-04:00

This is a past photo of the Fourth of July 'dinner on the deck' flowers. The liatris represent skyrockets in flight, bursting over the rudbeckia.

Find other garden bloggers' Flowers In The House at the blog Small But Charming.

July 2011 Bloom Day

2011-07-15T20:22:00.046-04:00

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (After)
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.
Many more blooms are found in the garden now, but these are a few plants that are new to the garden this year. The Echinops was given to me last year and is blooming for the first time this year The marigold is an old heirloom variety that I grew from seed. One rain lily bloomed to date - pink instead of the white I ordered. This is the first white cleome for me.

Find other garden bloggers' bloom days at the blog May Dreams Gardens.


Echinops ritro Globe Thistle		Tagetes patula French Marigold 'Harlequin'

Zephyranthes Rain Lily		Cleome spinosa

Garden Calendar:
• Harvested: 8 cherry tomatoes

Ankle Deep In Poppies

2011-07-08T21:25:00.049-04:00

My seed order came in spring with yet another free seed packet of something I didn't order and didn't know where to plant. Upon closer examination, this free seed packet was filled with poppies - how could anyone refuse free poppies? And these were California Poppies (Eschscholtzia) to boot. I am not sure which exact species these ankle-high babies belonged to.

I read the seed packet to learn more about the booty of treasure I had been blessed with. OK, now I get it:
Packed for 2010. Sell by 10/31/10.

I threw them outside in full sun, in clay soil, along the platform running down the side garden. They took their sweet time in germinating, and then began filling in the small space with blue-green lacy foliage as I had imagined. They were off to a good start.

After our hot weather hit, they started blooming. Only 9 inches tall at most (20 cm), the plants barely made it up to the raised platform surface. The first blossoms were biggest, then as the weather got hotter, they decreased in size. The mixed colors of red, orange, yellow, and cream on the seed packet turned out to be mostly yellow, with a few cream.

I was a bit disappointed in the limited number of blooms. In fact, the number opened at one time never amounted to more than 20% of the plants. I was hoping for the showy displays in the Dave's Garden photos and on the seed packet. They were, however, planted in Virginia clay, and never thinned out as the seed packet recommended. Who thins out outdoor seedlings?

In researching some facts about my tiny beauties, I found that they are native to North America, but named after Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz, a German botanist. They are toxic (so they are at home in my 'poison' garden.) Native Americans used Eschscholzia californica to treat lice, and to induce sleep in children. (I hear toxic plants usually do that to children.)

"This species is highly variable (more than 90 infraspecific taxa have been described), not only among different plants and locations but also within individual plants over the course of the growing season, especially in petal size and color."

An interesting feature on the plant is the seed pod. It starts out small inside the flower, then grows into a 3-inch long (7 cm) string bean after the blossom dies. I will try collecting seeds for next year to cultivate more blooms if they are not self-reseeders.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil with some peat amendments
• Full sun
• No serious pests or disease

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink & orange cosmos, rudbeckia, nicotiana, liatris, cleome, coneflowers, marigold, echinops,
coreopsis, calendula, loosestrife, rose, physostegia, eschscholtzia, daisy
• Harvested: 3 grape tomatoes

I Thought This Was Lobelia

2011-07-04T09:27:00.032-04:00

When a little local nursery that carried a unique selection of perennials closed for good last fall, I picked up a few cheap plants and planted them around the gardens. I am too lazy to label, but I did set markers out so I would know something was planted in the location, preventing me from disturbing the area in the spring.

I was looking forward to the new red lobelia (Lobelia cardinalis) this season. A few plants did not make it through the winter, but the lobelia was alive and growing this spring. I thought it was lobelia. It turned out to be the crazy daisies. This is fine, but it seems the lobelia was one of those other piles of dead material with adjacent stick markers that was lost in the winter.

What was I thinking? The white daisies are next to the white phlox, which is next to the white cleome. Everything else in the bed is colorful.

The Shasta Daisy (Leucanthemum x superbum Crazy Daisy) is about 2 feet tall (60 cm) and blooming quite well for its first year. They have remained upright and growing in a tidy clump with blossoms looking wild and raggedy. The flowers last longer than most others, and I am wondering if deadheading them will produce new blooms for the summer as the care instructions indicate.

The lobelia clump (at least I think it is) was further down the slope and now quite dead, overgrown by the nicotiana flopping over.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments
• Mostly sun
• Small amount of fertilizer
• No pests or disease

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink & orange cosmos, rudbeckia, nicotiana, liatris, cleome, coneflowers, marigold, echinops,
coreopsis, calendula, salvia, hostas, loosestrife
• Harvested: Dill
• Lettuce now bitter

None-nions

2011-06-26T19:09:00.029-04:00

Onions and radishes are two vegetables that I cannot grow well, (except for one year.) School kids can grow radishes, but I can't. Every year I try and every year the result is a row of plants with red roots but no radishes.

This year's onion crop was ready for harvesting this weekend, when the onion tops stopped growing and wilted over. The largest "none-nion" was the size of a quarter (2 cm).

Several years of purchasing onion sets and planting in different conditions around the yard gave the same paltry results. Two years ago I bought some red onion plants at a local high school booster club spring plant sale. I grew in with the front flower garden and produced respectable onions, so I tried planting red onions from seed last year. I bought Red Burgundy, an heirloom onion that is a short day (100 days) variety suitable for southern states. They were planted in the same successful spot, but the largest onion was a ping-pong ball size (3 cm). Most were marbles.

This year, I started the seeds earlier, and planted earlier, thinking the hot weather previously did them in. They matured earlier and were smaller. It was suggested that I try direct sowing onion seeds in the fall, so I will try something new. How do the farmers at the farmers market do it?

I am about to give up on "30-day" radishes, or give seeds to the local school children to grow for me.

For The Record:
• Rich soil amended with humus and peat
• Full sun
• Organic slow-release fertilizer
• No pests or diseases

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, rudbeckia, small poppy, liatris, cleome, cosmos, geranium, nicotiana, calendula, echinachea,
daylily, salvia, daisy, spiderwort, loosestrife, bachelor buttons
• Harvested: 14 onions, red leaf lettuce, red romain lettuce

Looking Good From Behind

2011-06-22T23:49:00.019-04:00

It was June 2010, and my first year as a master gardener-in-training. I received my invitation for seven members' garden tours, and decided to trip on down to a few located nearby.

I had considered opening up my own plot to the tour but feared the consequences. One day I pictured myself offering visitors glasses of lemonade, and pretentiously parading around the yard receiving accolades from my fellow gardeners for my accomplishments. On another, I was struggling to hold the interest of bored visitors wondering why they ever dropped in on a first-year gardener to view his mundane work-in-progress collection of plant swap misfits.

At the first garden visited, I was welcomed by an apologetic gentleman who explained that he had returned that week from a month long vacation in Florida, after signing up to host a tour several months prior. The property was very pleasant, but filled with numerous potted plants, some semi-neglected and others crying to be planted.

Surprisingly, he offered his visitors a free plant from a "needs a home" pile. The ladies visiting at the same time declined. I picked out a small budding unknown daylily (Hemerocallis) that was labeled "red." I was secretly hoping to hear, "take the ladies' allotment, too" but it didn't come. There is a certain pleasure in hoarding - a topic for another day.

The daylily bloomed in my front cottage garden as dull and dark maroon with a saturated yellow throat. It had smallish blossoms, about 3-4 inches across (10 cm). I found it unappealing and drowned out by my more colorful characters in the garden, but was too busy (lazy) to move it. This year I have come to appreciate its unique color and contrast. I call it the 'Redskins Lily' in honor of our team's burgundy and gold colors. Since it is now established, there are more blossoms and its bloom time does not coincide with the other clowns.

What I find interesting about this flower is that it actually looks great from behind. The yellow throat contrasts nicely with the dark maroon, especially since yellow is more visible from the back of the petals than from the front. Bloom time and context can make a dull dark daylily a winner.

For The Record:
• Well-drained organic soil
• Full sun
• Small amount of fertilizer
• No serious problems

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: pink cosmos, liatris, coneflower, daylily, cosoms, nicotiana, daisy, cleome, marigold, spiderwort,
hostas, rudbeckia
• Harvested: lettuce, dill

June 2011 Bloom Day

2011-06-16T18:38:00.011-04:00

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (After)
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.

There is so much going on in the gardens, I needed an extra day to document it all, and ended up leaving some things out. The peony poppies are about pooped out while the yellow daylilies are coming on. A maroon daylily was handed out at a master gardener tour last year. Coneflowers are all over - purple, coconut lime, and a sundown series. Cleome is robust. Bachelor buttons are new for me this year and so are the yellow oriental lilies. Get a load of the production on the rudbeckia, nicotiana and cactus!

The Find other garden bloggers' bloom days at the blog May Dreams Gardens.


unknown poppy		unknown daylily

unknown daylily		unknown asiatic lily

Echinacea 'Sundown' Big Sky Series		unknown asiatic lily

Astilbe 'Radius' (Astilbe x arendsii)		Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana)

Cactus Opuntia		Echinacea 'Coconut Lime'

Bachelor Button (Centaurea cyanus )		Cleome (Cleome hassleriana )

Rudbeckia hirta		Nicotiana sylvestris

Hydrangea Gratitude

2011-06-12T05:28:00.015-04:00

Plants can evoke memories of a personal event or a person. A gift plant is permanent - marking an event or symbolizing thanks long after a gift basket is eaten or a floral arrangement has dried out. I have a few such plants in the yard and will write about others at a later time.

My miniature rose bush [28.5.2011] was one such thank you gift, and the Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) was another. This plant was given to me by an artist friend for helping her with a web site of her work. She heard me mention in passing that I was going to eventually get a hydrangea, because other friends previously promised a piece from their yard but never delivered.

The hydrangea came in a medium sized pot with extremely thick stems resembling tree trunks, but was otherwise healthy. It had been cut back severely in the past, probably because it was outgrowing its home. I was afraid the roots were too shackled to pull through the transplant, but it grew and bloomed for the past three years.

The friends that promised a piece of their plant keep warning me of the monsters these can become. I have been carefully watching it and strategically trimming in the fall. It still has more space to grow into.

It is a native to southeastern deciduous U.S. forests, and is at home in my partially shaded back yard. An added bonus from this plant is the ruby red leaves in the fall. The hydrangea is also available in white or light pink blossoms now, and also in double blossoms. The one I received came with no other name on its tag.

The 10-inch long (25 cm) ice cream cone flowers (as a neighbor's child calls them) were more numerous this year, but not as vibrant white. I attribute this to the dry weather. I am recovering from surgery last week and could not tend the gardens for a while. The plant wilted as blooms started. Water saved it, but the flowers still exhibit a brown tinge. I have read that it does not like heavy clay soil, but so far is happy and healthy in my partially-amended Virginia clay.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil with mulch and organic amendments
• Partial shade
• No bother from pests or diseases

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: hydrangea, larkspur, geranium, nicotiana, orange daylily, marigold, cleome, coneflower, hosta,
asian lily, salvia, poppy
• Vegetables: tomato and Pepper blooming & setting fruit
• Harvested: 1 onion, lettuce

Not Your Grandma's Hollyhock

2011-06-04T20:42:00.046-04:00

I remember visiting my grandmother while younger and seeing hollyhocks growing on the side of the house. Last year I thought these would make a nice vertical statement in my side yard garden. I imagined upright sentinels standing tall against the house and watching over the shorter garden inhabitants.

Most seed catalogs offered us hollyhocks with the double-flowered, powder puff, clown button blossoms. You can tell where I am going with this. I assumed these were the 'new and improved' varieties that other gardeners craved. I wanted the simple hollyhocks of yesteryear.

I settled on Malva in the catalog. After starting seeds, watching them grow and bloom, I included them in a Garden Blogger's Bloom Day post [15.8.2010]. There I lamented the small open petal blooms and held out hope that the following year would bring different results.

It's the following year, and they're back. Canes are not straight and tall, but are growing in a mangled twisted forsythia-like mess. (The photo was taken before they went wild.) The canes and flowers are numerous - not the tall orderly soldiers expected, but haphazard disheveled conscripts. It turns out I don't have hollyhocks - I have mallow or French hollyhocks - Malva sylvestris. Oops.

Stalks are 5 feet tall (1.5 m) if upright, but after starting out upright, most have become arched, bowed, and tortuous as they grew. Aphids love them. Leaf miners lover them. Mites love them. I do not. I am going to cut them down and see if they grow into a bush.

Give me the tall single flowered heirlooms for next year.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil
• Hot south-facing full sun along the house
• Mites, leaf miners, and aphids

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming:hydrangea, hosta, nicotiana, larkspur, rose, salvia, coneflower, cleome, geranium, daylily

Pipsqueak Rose

2011-05-28T21:33:00.050-04:00

My only rose bush is tiny. On New Year's Day, I host an annual open house for neighbors, who usually bring contributions of wine or food. Two years ago, my next door neighbors brought me a miniature rose bush in a small pot. Its name on the tag was "Miniature Rose Bush." Well, they were not gardeners, you can tell.

It grew through winter in its cozy pot at the base of my east-facing french doors. Actually, it did not grow, but it did not die. Having survived the winter, it was placed at the side yard, along stepped platforms [3.09.2009] leading to my new deck. This area was being landscaped, and I needed something to keep the cactus [24.06.2009] company and reduce the runoff down the slope.

Two years and two winters later, it prospers in its sunny dry spot. Last year, it bloomed profusely at times during the summer, interrupted by periods of rest. Flowers are vivid red and fade to a light red-pink after about a week. They have little fragrance, and no real stems for cutting.

I trimmed it back last fall like a good gardener, and this spring it responded by growing into a bushy ball about one foot (30 cm) high. And, it now sports multi-blooms on a single branch. It fits in adjacent to the walking surface where it gets noticed.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments
• Full sun
• Small amount of fertilizer
• Little disease, but a few aphid outbreaks

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: hydrangea, nicotiana, larkspur, bachelor buttons, coneflower,
rose, hollyhock, phlox, salvia, geranium

A Change Of Heart

2011-05-21T20:52:00.028-04:00

After moving into my house around twenty years ago, it was obvious that past owners had been gardeners. Although it was a used rental when I got my hands on it, there were several plant specimens of note around the grounds from better times of previous owner-occupants. Daffodils, azaleas, iris, roses, and holly were found hidden among the overgrown jungle.

But, each plant had some inferior quality to it. The bearded iris (iris germanica) was a small flower, with light lavender falls and bland colored upper petals. It was a shorty at only 2-feet tall (60 cm.) I did not find its likeness in any iris catalog. I ripped it out, along with many of the other substandard "heirlooms." (The red azaleas and the daffodils were kept.) But, I did not get all of the plants, and some gradually came back. I let them grow.

I appreciate my inferior no-name iris more these days. I see them as "subtle." Either my taste and attitude evolved and matured, or the irises evolved over the years. I do not remember them as this attractive.

For The Record:
• Heavy clay soil with no organic amendments
• Full sun
• No fertilizer
• No pest or diseases

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: nicotiana, bachelor buttons, alyssum, rose, hollyhock, spiderwort

Ain't No Rhodie Kill

2011-05-13T13:16:00.034-04:00

After purchasing my house, the hybrid rhododendron Roseum elegans was one of the first plants bought for the yard when my gardening journey began, back in 1988. An older hybrid from the 1830's, it was also one of the few 'first plants' that survived my horticultural learning curve.

There were actually two planted in the corners of the rear yard, back when a diseased apple tree and a neighbor's overgrown crabapple trees blotted out the sun. Over the years, my dogwood and muscular star magnolia grew to provide the shade that disappeared when the apple trees were cut down. Both rhodies grew in the deep recesses of the back, but one died out about a decade ago from some mysterious die-back disease.

Growth slowed over the years, but the sole survivor bloomed each spring, with some years more exuberant than others. Summers revealed occasional winter die-off or diseased sections that needed amputation, yellowing leaf and drop, chomping bugs, vitamin deficiencies, or 'white fuzzy bugs.' But the plant always pulled through.

Then in winter of 2010, our town was hit with two record 24-inch snowfalls close together [2010.02.19]. The spring thaw revealed that the grand old lady had been flattened. My recent master gardener classes taught us to let the plants be and allow them to bounce back on their own. Remarkably, most branches did that, but some required pruning off.

This year the plant is taller than ever at about 6-feet (1.8 m), albeit with a bit of a scraggly appearance from the previous winter damage and pruning. And the 6-inch (15 cm) lavender blossom balls are numerous.

As evidenced by the photo, birds love hanging out in the dogwood tree above and providing fertilizer. This spring, I will need to rescue the rhodie from the invading azalea hordes nipping its base, and maybe prune to restore its shape. The survivor deserves better care after being in the dark forgotten corner of the 'back woods' for so long.

For The Record:
• Moist soil with acid and organic amendments over time
• Light to heavy shade
• All sorts of diseases but they never kill it off

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: dutch iris, iris, salvia, hollyhock, rhododendron, alyssum, geranium, macrorrhizum geranium
• Transplanted outdoors: peppers, tomatoes

A Clearance on Clarence

2011-05-03T06:20:00.010-04:00

With four varieties of iris in the yard, why would anyone want a fifth? Because none of the four are a true bearded iris (iris germanica) with a true blue iris color - (my Dutch iris is blue, but it is Dutch.) I selected Clarence, a blue one from the gazillion varieties at Shreiners based on photos and descriptions. "Highly recognized for its dependable rebloom, this light blue bitone has quickly risen to prominence."

I never ordered Clarence, although I did search for it when I ran across iris plants for sale at local stores. Then in late spring of 2009, I was at Walmart, the discriminating gardener's source for high end plant material. (I was frantically searching every store for vegetable plants still left on the shelves for garden procrastinators). While browsing the offerings the store carried, I spotted Clarence iris on the clearance rack for around $3. But, there were only leaves - no blooms to verify that the label was correct. I succumbed to the sale price; I took a chance.

Expectations were high in spring of last year after coddling my prize during the previous summer. But alas, there were no flowers. What went wrong? Was this really Clarence or a Walmart dud? After another summer of cosseting, Clarence is finally blooming this spring.

The flowers are huge and well proportioned, at 5-6 inches wide and high (15 cm). Light colored standards ease into a creamy yellow beard, and cream colors ease into the blue falls. And the 3 foot high (1 m) stalks stand up. For comparison, my Invitation Iris [15.5.2009] needs crutches now, even through it is not yet blooming.

I finally got a proud blue iris.

For The Record:
• Clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments
• Full sun
• Small amount of fertilizer
• No serious pests

Garden Calendar:
• Blooming: azaleas, Clarence iris, ajuga, salvia, allium, macrorrhizum geranium, muscari