Showing posts with label Asclepias. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Asclepias. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Second Summer

It's second summer here right now. For the past week it's been sunny and warm. What a gift! I haven't been doing a lot of gardening because of other obligations but I did get some photos. I'll be doing a lot of plant-moving and rearranging but will probably wait for spring to do most of it. 

There are still a lot of plants blooming and looking fine. 

I'm not a huge fan of mums but I decided to purchase 'Clara Curtis' after seeing so many photos of it. My plant just started blooming. It is pretty.

Chrysanthemum x rubellum 'Clara Curtis'

Chrysanthemum x rubellum 'Clara Curtis'

Chrysanthemum x rubellum 'Clara Curtis'

Another newbie is Impatiens tinctoria. I'm happy that it's finally blooming too.

Impatiens tinctoria

Impatiens tinctoria

On a recent visit to Secret Garden Growers outside of Canby, I bought a bunch of plants including this unique Fuchsia 'Nettala'.  

Fuchsia 'Nettala'

Fuchsia 'Nettala'

Another newbie this year is Correa 'Dusky Bells'. Isn't it pretty? It's supposed to bloom through fall, winter and into spring. I'm hoping so. I've got it in a pot and will bring it inside if it gets terribly cold this winter. It will help feed the Annas hummingbirds too.

Correa 'Dusky Bells'

Ah, terribly blurry photo here but it shows the bracts on my Seven Son Flower. Planted in 2002, this is the most bracts my plant has ever had! I really need to get a better photo before they're gone.
 
Seven Son Flower, Heptacodium miconioides

 Did someone say Clematis? Yes there are a few beauties still doing their thing!

Clematis 'Princess Diana'

Clematis 'Princess Diana' climbing on a neighboring blueberry bush.


A NOID crispa/viorna Clematis from my friend Deborah.





Clematis 'Gravetye Beauty'


 I really should collect the milkweed seeds before baby plants sprout up all over the neighborhood. On second thought, that wouldn't exactly be terrible.

Milkweed Seed (Asclepias speciosa)

Sedum 'Little Missy' is blooming and such a sweet little thing. I will bring her to the patio to protect her from winter's worst. She almost didn't survive last winter outside and the temps were mild. 

Sedum 'Little Missy'

 Part of last year's seed purchasing frenzy was this Linaria. Typically you find it in purple but I had to have the pink flowered variety.

Linaria triomithophora in PINK

 Speaking of seeds, I bought 'Tinkerbell' Nicotiana at least five years ago. It still seeds around in my garden. I just love these tons of flowers.

Nicotiana 'Tinkerbell' seedling

Aconitum carmichaelii  'Arendsii'

Because my garden isn't very big and Lespideza takes up so much room with its cascading branches, I decided to put it in a raised pot. It worked. 

Lespedeza thunbergii

The slugs sure love to eat my Toad Lily plants. They are also growing in pots now which will hopefully help with that problem.

Tricytris ohsumiensis 'Lemon Twist'

Tricytris hirta 'Miyazaki'


Tricyrtris hirta 'Miyazaki'

And finally, the Hall's Honeysuckle has been blooming nonstop since April. The cooler weather has definitely not slowed it down. So fragrant!


Hall's Honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica 'Hallana') along the fence.

 And now for a few critters: 


I spotted this little guy, not in my garden but along a trail I was hiking with one of my daughters. After this first one we saw 23 more! Look at his little hands.
 

And  the resident frog population is happily eating the bugs and growing fatter by the day.



These are actually two different frogs that both enjoyed camping out on my Eucalyptus.





And finally, a flock of goldfinches seem really enamored with this tiny birdbath. I took the photo from indoors so it's not great. They flew away seconds later.





I love the wildlife almost as much as I love the plants. Almost. 

Thank you for visiting. 

Thursday, September 1, 2016

It Spawned a Sport!

Those of you who are familiar with plant-speak know that a "sport" is the part of a plant that does something different from the rest of the plant. Sports aren't all that common but do occur randomly when a plant feels like being weird. Thus is the case with my 'Sayonara' Dahlia. Check it out.

The flower on the left is a sport.

I've had this particular Dahlia for two summers now. All of the buds have opened to the velvety, crimson-red flower on the right above. And then... 

This!
I don't like it nearly as well but I think it's cute and unique so it can stay. I'll let you know if there are any more sports.

Speaking of Dahlias, September is Dahlia time! Here are a few of mine.

One of these days I'm going to research why the rulers of the Dahlia kingdom chose to call this hunky gorgeous flower 'Junkyard Dog'. 


Junkyard Dog

The plant is probably six feet tall and loaded all summer with bee-filled, six-inch blossoms. I don't understand why it's so happy when all my other Dahlias are mediocre at best.



The Dahlia below waited over a year before deciding to bloom. Of course I can't remember its name. I did a quick Google search and it might be 'Rothsay Reveller'. 

Dahlia 'Rothsay Reveller' maybe...

I just bought the Dahlia below at the Big Box. Of course the tag was useless. So, another NOID. But it's a pretty NOID and I'm hoping it's hardy.

NOID ~~ No ID Dahlia

Another (impulsive) purchase is this lovely pink Dahlia (below) with another useless tag. I don't have either of these Dahlias planted yet but they'll get placed in the perennial border for a bit of contrast from all the other stuff. 

Dahlia NOID

Dahlia 'Mz Bee Haven'

In other news, I'm really loving my paniculata Hydrangeas right now. The first one below is 'Limelight.' I used to have one years ago but because I was so terrible with my watering, it bit the dust. I'm better about it now and it shows. I purchased it last fall and although it's only about four feet tall, its flowers are so cool.

Hydrangea paniculata 'Limelight'

And here is H. p. 'Pinky Winky' still all white which is fine with me.

H. p. 'Pinky Winky'

I cut this plant all the way to the ground in late winter and it shot up to five feet with these amazing flower panicles. 

A wide shot of the area

Another late-summer bloomer are the herbaceous Hibiscus!

Hibiscus moscheutos 'Torchy'



This spring, I purchased this Chilopsis linearis 'Lucretia Hamilton' from High Country Gardens. It was a tiny thing and I had my doubts about its survival. But with ample TLC it has doubled in size and is now actually putting out a few blooms! Aren't they pretty? Of course now to get it through the winter...

Chilopsis linearis 'Lucretia Hamilton'
And then there's the similarly formed flowers of Rehmannia elata.

Rehmannia elata

Finally, my 'Avant Garde' Clematis is blooming. It was worth the wait!

Clematis 'Avant Garde'

And the below Clematis from Deborah Hardwick (a master Clemat-ician) is blooming. What an honor it is to have two of her beautiful creations. 

Clematis  'Burford Bell' x crispa

A second blooming on...

Clematis 'Inspiration'

A second blooming on this milkweed...

Asclepias speciosa

I posted in spring about this seedling Love-Lies-Bleeding. It is over five feet tall now!

Love-Lies-Bleeding



My Hesperaloe decided to bloom finally...

Hesperaloe parviflora

Red-flowered Four O'Clocks

Sedums!

Ninebark and Variegated Porcelain Vine


Farfugium japonicum 'Crispatum'

Falopia japonica variegata

More Sedums!

And finally, we have a few adorable critters running around. Here's the daddy or the mama--I'm not sure which--filling its cheeks with cracked corn we left out for it. 




Look at those fat cheeks!