Jun 16 2017

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day June 2017

Author: jw

Anemone multifida ‘Rubra’

I will lead off this very late Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day post with a lovely little anemone that came from the NARGS seed exchange three years ago. It’s not spreading but seems to be holding its own in the Monument bed.

I am always surprised that two of Arisaemas hold off until June. Their colleagues begin back in April. But just when you think that winter has finished them off, the Arisaema candidissimum and Arisaema fargesii come popping up through the ground.

Arisaema candidissimum

Arisaema fargesii

It is also surprising to see the Freesia laxa return every year.

Freesia laxa

According to the books this little corm is not viable in our climate. Not only has it returned but it’s jumped the tracks and moved to another garden bed as well.

I have it growing now next to the reliable Brodiaea ‘Queen Fabiola’.

Brodiaea Queen Fabiola

That’s a white Callirhoe in the front of the image.

Callirhoe involucrata var. lineariloba ‘Logan Calhoun’

And they all mix together like this.

Star flowers, wine cups and Fressia.

In the same garden bed we have a bright yellow Butterfly Weed.

Asclepias tuberosa ‘Hello Yellow’

This is very popular with all the butterflies and bees. For example this swallowtail was cruising around the yard.

Zebra Swallowtail

Nearby we find a lovely clematis growing up a trellis.

Clematis ‘Krakowiak’

Also by the garage there is a marvelous foxtail lily that came from Far Reaches.

Eremurus stenophyllus

Back in the monument bed there is the first of the Asiatic lillies coming out.

Asiatic Lily ‘Netty’s Pride’

And a chinese ground orchid that is a little taller than our other ground orchids.

Bletilla ‘Brigantes’

Back in the Camellia bed, emerging through the rapidly growing Japanese Anemones is a very pretty Astrantia.

Astrantia ‘Sunningdale variegated’

If we go back to the Alpine bed, as I do several times a day, a very nice dwarf plant in the Campanulaceae is just finishing. I cannot read the label but I suspect it’s an Edraianthus.

Edraianthus sp?

Just finished now is also another pasque flower.

Pulsatilla campanella

Also in the alpine bed is a new gentian that we found at Oliver Nursery this spring.

Gentiana cachemirica

In the greenhouse there are a few picture-worthy objects as well.

Ornithogalum fimbrimarginatum

This is a two-foot tall Ornithogalum that came from the PBS bulb exchange.

Another PBS acquisition is this Pine Woods Lily.

Alophia drummondi (Pine Woods Lily)

I almost forgot to mention the Stewartia. It has been a consistent flowering tree for June 15th. This year it is loaded with flowers but only one is actually open now.

Stewartia japonica

However, life is not flowers alone. It is the peak time for our berries, especially the blueberries.

Blueberries at their peak

It’s a joy picking blueberries. We brought in gallons last night. I’m convinced the only reason we can do so is that just behind the garden we have a very large mulberry tree and an equally large Bird Cherry that provide even greater interest for the birds.

Wild Cherry (Prunus avium)

Speaking of birds I’ve seen some really nice ones on my early morning bird watching including this Baltimore Oriole yesterday.

Baltimore Oriole eating cherries

Well, that’s a glimpse of our garden right now. What’s happening in your garden?

Sep 15 2016

Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day September 2016

Author: jw

Nasturtium

It has been a generally hot and dry (read depressing) summer for our garden). In early August we awoke to find that we had drawn down the well with watering and so had to forego our normal watering plan. So my looks around the garden prior to Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day were fewer than they might otherwise have been. We did still water Beth’s new raised bed and the Nasturtiums and Calendulas have responded by blooming all summer long and into the Fall.

Calendula

Many of the other flowers in bloom are a testament to how well some species can survive in adversity.

Alstroemeria ‘Sweet Laura’

Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum)

Venturing out onto our ultra-dry hillside which never gets watered at all anymore, I found several champions of the survival school.

Buddleia

Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

Crepe Myrtle

Helianthus ‘Lemon Queen’

Notice the spider on the Lemon Queen and it’s very adaptive coloration.

Spider on Lemon Queen

The butterflies are also very attracted to Lemon Queen.

butterfly on Lemon Queen

I also saw a lovely Monarch Butterfly on the Tithonia in the vegetable garden.

Monarch on Tithonia

One very noteworthy Fall-blooming flower is the Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’. I’m becoming more of a fan every year and it’s a good thing because it keeps spreading of its own volition.

Sedum ‘Autumn Joy’

Another fall bloomer was a bit of a surprise. This Sweet Autumn Clematis was something I pulled out three years ago and I was surprised to see it return in two separate places this year.

Sweet Autumn Clematis (Clematis terniflora)

It’s a lovely flower but can get too aggressive if left to its own devices. I will probably try to transplant it to the woods.

In the alpine beds I have two erodiums that are returning to bloom right now.

Erodium chrysantha

Erodium

In the greenhouse I have just finished restarting all the oxalis. At the same time the Bulbine has come back into flower.

Bulbine frutescens

And one of the cyclamens has taken on a very distinctive flowering by simply spilling over the edge of the pot with a great many flowers and no leaves at all.

Cyclamen graecum

Lastly just to note that man (or woman) does not live by flowers alone. The raspberries are joining the apples as delectable fruits to be harvested this month.

raspberries ready for harvest again

Nov 05 2015

C&O Canal at Noland’s Ferry

Author: jw

Trail along the C&O canal

We’ve had a wonderful extended Autumn with many clear sunny days. On one of them last week we took a morning walk along the C&O canal. This national park is only 15-20 minutes from our house. The overall park is essentially a biking-hiking-running trail that extends 185 miles from Washington, DC to Cumberland, MD. Noland’s Ferry is at the 45 mile point along the trail and is a broad leaf-strewn walkway in this season. There are other parts of Frederick County that are lit up with color this time of year, but along the canal it’s mostly greens turning to yellow. Nonetheless one of the joys of walking is noticing that which is not visible from car or bike. We walked about 2 miles down the trail towards Washington and then returned, moving at a pace that encouraged observation. Even at that pace we noticed things on the return part of the trail that we had missed on the outgoing trip.

Some of the most striking elements were fungi. The Bear’s Head Tooth Fungus looks like a waterfall frozen in time.

Bear’s Head Tooth Fungus (Hericium americanum)

The Jelly Ear Mushroom is said to be good to eat, but we limit ourselves to puffballs (which we have eaten many times).

Jelly Ear Mushroom (Auricularia auricula-judae)

And then there was this very phallic white mushroom which I’ve not been able to identify.

Pure White Mushroom

Along the trail was a very tiny snake, about the size of a worm. It seems likely this this is an Eastern Smooth Earthsnake. They do have babies in the fall but they are not very big in any case. It eats earthworms, slugs, snails, and soft-bodied insects. On balance that’s the kind of diet I can appreciate.

Eastern Smooth Earthsnake (Virginia valeriae )

There were two interesting fruiting plants that we noticed. Spicebush is a smallish native shrubby tree that is found in wooded lowlands. It has plants of both the male and female persuasion so it will be interesting to return in spring to see if we can identify them.

Spicebush (Lindera Benzoin)

And the Eastern Wahoo is another small native tree that has what seem like packages of pink candy hanging from its branches.

Eastern Wahoo (Euonymus atropurpureus)

The leaves had not yet turned but like its relative, the Euonymus alatus, the Eastern Wahoo should have strongly colored red leaves.

At one point we looked up and noticed a tree with remarkable orange foliage. At first I thought sugar maple, but that is not common with us at all. When I got home and did a little research, it was pretty clear to me that what we saw was Black Maple. This is a close cousin to the Sugar Maple and as many of the same positive attributes. It would be worth trying to propagate in our forest.

Black Maple (Acer nigrum)

Black Maple leaf (note the typical 3 lobes)

Jul 05 2014

The British are Coming

Author: jw

British Soldiers (Cladonia cristatella)

Well I meant to get this posted for the Fourth of July, but you can move the clock back for a day to imagine my patriotic alert about the British Redcoats. This is a fruiting lichen that has taken hold of a fence post in the yard. It’s quite small (think of miniature match sticks) but within this tiny world is incredible complexity. The lichen is a marriage between an alga and fungus that succeeds through cooperation at the most basic level. Both are required before you see the little red caps that release the fungus spores. You can see how the brilliant red gave them their nickname harking back to the american revolution. They are also known as matchstick moss or red crested lichen. I’ve been wrestling with how to photograph all the detail at this level and this is best I’ve come up with so far.

British soldiers (Cladonia cristatella)

We have had wonderful weather for the fourth of July holiday, almost unprecedented. It’s inspired some really lovely flowering around the yard.

Bletilla ‘Kate’

Stewartia japonica

Astrantia ‘Sunningdale variegated’

St John’s Wort (Hypericum ‘Hidcote’)

Gentian septemfida

We get seedlings now from Prairie Sun that seem to have no trouble from year to year.

Rudbeckia hirta ‘Prairie Sun’

And a new daylily from Oakes.

Apollodorus Daylily

And we have new seedling Corydalis in the greenhouse derived from Dufu Temple that is flowering from seeds planted in January.

Corydalis sp ex Dufu Temple

Of course one does not live simply by photographing flowers. We have been harvesting gallons of blueberries (about 8 gallons frozen so far this year). This is yesterday’s pickings.

Gallons of Blueberries

And we made blueberry ice cream for the fourth of July.

Blueberry ice cream

Yum…

Jun 01 2013

What a weekend!

Author: jw

Callirhoe involucrata (first bloom today!)

We just had a spectacular Memorial Day weekend. The family was down for a long weekend and the weather got better every day. The sunshine and the rain gave a boost to all the flowers that we’ve been growing. There was a lot of time spent out of doors. In between gardening activities we played baseball and picked strawberries.

Picking strawberries

My granddaughter and youngest son completely weeded and mulched the blueberries.

Weeding blueberries

Blueberries all weeded and mulched

And while that was happening my eldest and I put up the trough which they had gifted me for Christmas. I had picked it out at Oliver’s three weeks ago.

Preparing the Large Trough

For a planting mix we used equal parts of Miracle gro, chicken grit, topsoil, and sand. I hope the plants recognize the care that went into this decision.

Trough Mix

Trough mounted on blocks

The fun part comes when you start to lay out the candidate plants (which I had been storing up for months).

Planting the trough

The finished Large Trough

Here is a completely annotated version of the trough.

Large Trough w- names

It will be interesting to see how many of these alpines survive our sometime brutal summer.

I got so enthused with this process that after the kids left I planted a second, smaller trough that I had brought back from Stonecrop this year.

Preparing the Small Trough

Small Trough in process

Finished Small Trough

And here’s the annotated version of this trough which sits just outside our backdoor for daily inspection.

Small Trough w- names

Well, this gives some idea of what I’ve been up to but I need to share a few special flowers as well.

Persian cornflower

Phlomis russeliana (Sticky Jerusalem sage)

Calochortus venustus

Conandron ramondioides (very tiny but cute)

Bartzella Itoh Peony

Spuria Iris ‘Highland Coral’, the first spuria to bloom this year

And last but not least a wonderful Arisaema.

Arisaema candidissimum (Pink-flowered White Stripe Cobra Lily)

Dec 07 2012

Is it too early for Spring?

Author: jw

Daphne ‘Lawrence Crocker’ flower

I’m seeing some unexpected spring flowers already and it’s tempting to just skip winter altogether and move on to spring. We had almost no snow last year and nothing on the horizon for this year. This tiny little Daphne with bright pink (and very fragrant) flowers would love to be in a real rock garden but it will have to settle for a spot in the garden next to the garage while it slowly grows to shrub size.

Daphne ‘Lawrence Crocker’

Another surprise this week was the first flower on Primula kisoana

Primula kisoana

Another flower this week that was more or less expected (but fully appreciated nonetheless) was the first snowdrop of the year.

First Snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis)

Lest we get totally carried away by these first harbingers of spring, I’m still willing to celebrate the remains of the autumn. The spirea at the back of the garage is a multi-season plant and at the moment is in it’s full fall color.

Spirea thubergii Ogon fall color

All around the yard the various hollies have been having a field day. For some reason they decided to really ‘berry-up’ this year.

English Holly

And the Heavenly Bamboo beside the garage is doing what that plant’s designer intended. Beautiful foliage and then berries as an extra special reward.

Heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica)

Oct 18 2009

Abundant Harvest

Author: jw

The monthly Picture This Photo Contest sponsored by Gardening Gone Wild has the theme Abundant Harvest. I can’t say we currently have sufficient output from the vegetable garden to qualify for abundant harvest. I could harvest all those Cosmos that I pictured in my previous post but that seems a bit wasteful — to pick all those flowers just for a photo op. So instead, consistent with the GGW guidance, I explored some of our previous harvests.

I went through our many picking basket shots

One of many picking baskets

and the various apple baskets

one of many apple baskets

and the many flower bouquets

One of many flower bouquets

and even the wild wineberries that we harvest.

Wineberries grow wild in the White's forest

I even looked at the fiddlehead fern salad that we enjoyed in Boston

Fiddlehead fern Salad in Boston

but I found nothing that so profoundly expressed the theme of Abundant Harvest as this image from the Lake Market in Calcutta. This will be my submission to the October Photo Contest…

Vegetables at Lake Market, Calcutta

To fully appreciate this scene you have to understand that these vegetables arrive in the middle of the Calcutta metropolis from market gardens in the suburbs only by a difficult early morning journey (the traffic is incredible) and then they will all be sold that day (forget about refrigeration) for use later the same day. While Calcutta may not be on everyone’s tour list for the first trip to India I guarantee that a visit to Lake Market will make you think carefully about what you have gained and what you have lost with the demise of the farm/market economy. Most of the crop land around Calcutta is incredibly productive with as many as three crops a year. We toured one farm that was about as big as our own 7 acres and it made us think twice to realize how many people were supported by the same quantity of land in the suburbs of populous Calcutta.

Jun 26 2009

And The Birds Keep Coming (and the berries too)

Author: jw

This morning we did our normal sunny day routine of starting the day with an hour in the garden before breakfast just watching the birds come and go at the Mulberry tree. Beth has come to appreciate the meditative quality of getting into the pace of the birds. Normal routine is probably not the right descriptor because even though the general approach is the same there is always some surprise if you are patient. This morning I noticed a tiny participant in the morning events. It was a Ruby Throated Hummingbird perched on a vine in the tree.

Ruby Throated Hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

Now I’ve seen the hummingbirds flitting about the yard but I don’t remember seeing one perched before. Everything about them looks so delicate. And yet, as Beth noted, if you look them in the eye you could say they have an attitude…

Another occurrence this morning was the first time I’ve seen the Baltimore Oriole go into the yard close to the house. He was in and out of the cherry tree and going down to the ground in pursuit of some insect or worm. The remarkable thing about spotting the Orioles so regularly is the number of years we never saw them (or noticed them which is hard to imagine given their brilliant orange coloring).