Archive for the 'Sources' Category

Chaenomeles japonica ‘Toyo-Nishiki’

One of the features of posting regularly on Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day is that you can look back and see what was happening on other years.  I was surprised to see that despite 3 days in the 80′s-90′s a week ago we are still behind most years and way behind last year.  That sounds good to me as I would like Spring to stick around a while.

As usual there are so many things flowering right now that one can afford to be choosy and I’ll ignore the hundreds of daffodils pouring in right now

Daffodil cluster

and the many Hellebores that continue their display both inside and outside.

Hellebores in a bowl

Instead I’ll focus on some of the more unusual gems to be found around the yard and greenhouse.

First up is a Kalmiopsis leachiana.  This is a rarity that I received as a gift this Christmas.  It’s a small relative of the Mountain Laurel that was not discovered until 1930 in a remote part of Oregon.  It’s now the centerpiece for the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in southwestern Oregon.

Kalmiopsis leachiana

We will do our best to keep it happy in Maryland, but I suspect it will not appreciate our hot, humid summers.

Another small delightful evergreen his the Dahphne ‘Lawrence Crocker’.  It flowered last fall but seems quite happy to flower again for springtime.

Daphne ‘Lawrence Crocker’

Another small gem showing the last of its flowers is the dark blue Hepatica.  This was obtain from Seneca Hill Perennials (now closed) and for a time was carried by Plant Delights but I’ve no idea how to find it now.

Hepatica nobilis ‘Lithuanian Blue’

The standard trout lilies (Erythronium americana) are just about finished but the more unusual ones are just coming into bloom.

Erythronium revolutum ‘White Beauty’

Erythronium ‘Pagoda’

The Erythronium Pagodas are mixed with a few Trillium luteum which flower at exactly the same time with their matching yellow petals.

Trillium luteum detail

One of the flowers that I associate with the trout lilies is the bloodroot which always flowers at just about the same time.  Just afterward comes the multiflowered bloodroot which is more spectacular and also lasts longer.

A reliable yellow flower, reflecting the sunshine, is the Tulip tarda.  Those are flowering in the front rock garden at the moment.

Tulipa dasystemon

I was quite taken by the leaves and flowers of the corydalis last year and so we have quite a number of them that are new to us this spring.  One is Corydalis ‘Abant Wine’, another of the solida hybrids.

Corydalis wendelboi ‘Abant Wine’

Our Camellias are mostly flowering now.  Especially nice is Nuccio’s Gem which was added last year.

Camellia ‘Nuccio’s Gem’

The epimedia are all beginning to flower now.  One of our first was gift from the kids and it has masses of flowers at the moment.

Epimedium Grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’ cluster

I need to give some praise to the little Primula kisoana.  Despite the fact that I’ve discovered it’s a bit of a thug in the garden and I had to evict to one of the more diffcult garden areas under the neighbor’s pine tree, when it actually comes into flower it is startlingly colorful.

Primula kisoana

I’ve moved some out to the woods and it’s flowering in a spot where many a previous plant has failed.

I need to share also of couple of shots from the greenhouse where some early forcing of bulbs has been going on.

Dutch Iris ‘Symphony’

Ixia hybrid ‘Buttercup’

The Adonis continues it’s remarkable season of flowering…

Adonis amurensis ‘Sandansaki’

And I will close with the scene that greets me on the way to pick up the paper from the mailbox in the morning.

Magnolia stellata at dawn

Greenhouse panorama

So, as we are nearing the end of the period where frost is a threat for the outdoor plants, it’s worth asking what’s happening in the greenhouse.  Despite fears from some quarters that this would be just an expensive folly, it was merely expensive but not a folly at all.  At least in my plant-centric view of the universe.  I had originally pictured the greenhouse as an opportunity to reproduce the climate of my Southern California upbringing on the east coast.  While it has done that (I kept the minimum temperature at 40 degrees this winter), it has also opened up the whole world of seed exchanges for planting unusual species from around the world.  I’ve joined the North American Rock Garden Society, the Alpine Garden Society, the Scottish Rock Garden Society, the Pacific Bulb Society, and the Species Iris Group of North America, all of which have wonderful seed exchanges for an opportunity to obtain seeds that are not only inexpensive but not generally available in common seed catalogs.  In addition I’ve ordered seed from the Göteborg Botanical Garden in Sweden, Silverhill Seeds in South Africa and from the plant explorer Vojtech Holubec in the Czech Republic.  A total of 155 seed packets have been planted from December through April.  Nearly 70 have germinated so far and just the process has been very interesting.  With the automatic watering and fan with window ventilation, the greenhouse has stayed pretty disease and insect free (I think I sprayed a branch of aphids on the citrus and bougainvillea twice).  Given that it’s open to the outdoors it seems to be less prone to runaway insect problems like I used to get in the basement.  Here’s what the benches look like in a little more detail.

Greenhouse view 1

Greenhouse view 2

Greenhouse view 3, showing purchased plants as well

And then some of the seedlings that are making progress.

Calandrinia (sown Jan 24)

Boechera (Arabis) koehleri (sown Jan 24)

Campanula zangezura (sown Jan 24)

In addition the greenhouse has been used for holding over plants bought for outside planting and some that are indoor plants.  In the latter category was a Babiana that I bought in January from Annie’s Annuals.

Babiana villosa

Interestingly the Babiana that I’ve grown from seed are not all that much smaller than the purchased plant that is now flowering.

Babiana purpea (planted Jan 16)

Some of the other purchased plants are awaiting planting outdoors including a Spring Pasque Flower from Evermay in Maine.

Pusatilla vernalis

A Chinese May Apple and an exquisite Ranuculus from Far Reaches Farm

Podophyllum delavayi

Ranunculus constantinopolitanus ‘Plenus’

And a brilliant Cana from Plant Delights

Cana ‘Orange Punch’

There is also a tray full plants from Thimble Farms in British Columbia, but I can’t show everything

The other really valuable purpose of the greenhouse is to enable frutiing of some of the tropical plants that we’ve had for years.  The Fig has fruit appearing on it now.

Fig (Black Mission)

And the citrus are all growing better than they ever have.  The blossoms on the Naval Orange would seem to predict a goodly number of Oranges next year.

Orange ‘Washington Navel’

Temperatures today are predicted to hit 90 degrees and although the watering system is nominally automatic I’ve found that I need to up the duration of watering as the temperatures rise.  In mid-winter I was watering 10 min every 4 days.  Now it’s 20 min in the morning and 10 min in the late afternoon.

Time to get out to the greenhouse and see what popped up today…

Corydalis solida ‘George Baker’ from Odyssey Bulbs

It looks like the weather girl is finally going to cease her romance with old man winter.  Just less than two weeks ago we had snow covering everything and freezing nighttime temperatures.

Helleborus Ivory Prince in the snow

But now all the usual suspects and then some are emerging from hibernation.  And with temperatures going to the 80′s this week we are going to zip through some of the spring ephemerals that I would like to see linger.  I can’t complain about zipping through the Adonis though.  The first blooms appeared in January and now the first offset runner from the original Adonis has put forth three buds that are in the various states of bloom that illustrate the richness of Adonis amurensis ‘Sandansaki’.

Adonis from above

The new offset is in the lower left of the picture above.

New offset of the Adonis

A. ‘Sandansaki’ in bud

Adonis amurensis ‘Sandansaki’ flowering stage

Adonis ‘Sandansaki’ flower in advanced stage with full lion’s mane

Ok, so it will disappear by May but what a nice four months of bloom!

One of the first things I look for in this season is the Hepaticas with their hairy little buds rising above the soil before opening to bloom.

Hepatica acutifolia

Hepatica acutiloba

There are many variations in Hepaticas, some not so easy to find.  Seneca Hills nursery had some beauties when they were in existence.

Hepatica nobilis large form blue shade

And I got a nice pink form from Hillside nursery two years ago.

Hepatica japonica pink

Just at the same time as the Hepaticas we see the Jeffersonia dubia.  I have two plants one a deeper violet than the other.

Jeffersonia dubia

Of course the lighting for the photo also influences how dark the coloring is.

In terms of dark coloring it is hard to beat Scilla siberica ‘Spring Beauty’.  The cobalt blue on the outside is matched by the blue color on the stamens.

Scilla siberica ‘Spring Beauty’

Spring Beauty stamens

Almost in the same blue realm is the Scillia bifolia which is a charmer in its own right.

Scilla bifolia stamens

We also saw the first of the Bloodroot this week.  Even encountered one in the woods where I had planted it a few years ago.

Every day in the Springtime is worth lingering over…

Lilium maculatum ssp. davuricum f. rebunense

I should take a minute to share my visit to two Carolina nurseries as part of my annual Spring Training trip to Florida.  I stopped at Plant Delights on my way south and then again at Plant Delights and Pine Knot Farms on the way north.  Each time the weather was on the cool side.  In fact on the way south it was a miserable 37 degrees with cold rain falling.  Plant Delights was not nearly so crowded as I’ve seen it on other occasions.  They even had a portable oil fired heater set up just so the people at the checkout stand could work without gloves.

Checkout with oil fired heater to keep frozen hands working.

Portable Oil-fired Heater

But it did mean that I had my pick of the plants.

Checking out at Plant Delights

On my return north I stopped at Plant Delights again and picked up my plants which they had graciously agreed to hold for me over the week (a few more jumped into the car while I was there) and then I went another hour north to the Hellebore Festival at Pine Knot Farms.

Hellebore Festival at Pine Knot Farms

Also at Pine Knot Farms was John Lonsdale who maintains a choice set of unusual plants at his Edgewood Gardens in Pennsylvania.  His website is well worth exploring if you want to indulge in plant lust.  He had brought with him a variety of cyclamen and I had already decided to expand the range of cyclamen that we have so it was a very good fit indeed.

John Lonsdale and his Cyclamen

Some of the many cyclamen that I brought back from John Lonsdale

By the time I got home there were four tubs of plants in my Prius…

At this season the showiest newcomers are probably the Hellebores.

Hellebores brought back from Carolina

Helleborus x ericsmithi ‘HGC Winter’s Song’

Helleborus x hybridus PDN double bicolor

Helleborus x hybridus PDN Yellow

Helleborus x ballardiae ‘HGC Pink Frost’

Helleborus x hybridus ‘Cotton Candy’

Helleborus x ‘Penny’s Pink’

But there were some other very interesting additions as well.  A dwarf Lily from Japan’s Rebun Island which is already in flower at 5 inches high.

Lilium maculatum ssp. davuricum f. rebunense

A nicely detailed version of the table fern

Pteris cretica ‘Korean Petticoat’

A Begonia that might possibly make it outside here with just wonderfully hairy stems and pretty foliage.

Begonia heracleifolia ‘Nigricans’

An interesting old print and description of this “Hog-weed Begonia” is found at a branch of the American Begonia Society.

There is also the very lovely little Viola Dissectas that I picked up from John Lonsdale.  I can think of a lot of places in the garden to tuck in these little beauties.

Viola dissecta

I’ve also started to get very enthusiastic about trying some of the more exotic Oxalis since seeing one in bloom over the holidays in California.  I couldn’t miss the unusual foliage of this Palm-Leaf False Shamrock.  It’s said to be tough to get to flower but with these leaves the flowers would just be a bonus.

Oxalis palmifrons

And while I thought I already had enough Canna in the yard with last year’s planting, I could turn down the vivid orange in this specimen.

Canna ‘Orange Punch’

Finally, I grew up with ice plant in Southern California.  They were everywhere because they grew where many other plants wouldn’t.  We played with them (they squish with lots of water released).  So I have been reluctant to take them up.  Besides in a cold climate they must freeze right?  But apparently they are hardier than I thought and I can now start to image how these little sunlit jewels fit into a rock garden…

Delosperma ‘Rise and Shine’

Anyway, that’s some of what I did on my spring vacation.  Now I’m looking forward to making gardens they can fit into…

Flowering clump of Adonis amurensis ‘Fukujukai’

The weatherman was calling for a last snowstorm as I took these pictures yesterday and indeed it is snowing as I type this post.  Nonetheless what greeted me on my return from spring training games and North Carolina plant shopping was this delightful clump of Adonis on a beautiful sunny day.  The Adonis have been blooming now since mid-January and I doubt that a few snowflakes today will diminish their flower power.  They have shrugged off ten degree temperatures and snow and ice in February.  The bright yellow flowers open in the sunshine and are surrounded by fern-like foliages that is pretty in its own right.

Adonis amurensis ‘Fukujukai’

They don’t appear to be particularly hard to grow and are spreading in a very well-behaved manner.  They aren’t carried by many nurseries so you do have to seek them out if you want to grow them.  I see that they are at Munchkins and Far Reaches, for example, this year.

Elizabeth Lawrence noted their value in her Southern Garden, “Adonis amurensis is a very difficult plant to get into one’s possession. Sought out and ordered at last, it did not come until May, and the weak growth soon died away. I thought I had seen the last of it. But the lovely, lacy leaves began to unfurl the following February, and among them was a flower the color of buttercup and with a buttercup’s sheen.” —Elizabeth Lawrence, A Southern Garden

Last year I invested in a more exotic version of Adonis, the Chichibu Beni cultivar.  Over the past year however, I had forgotten where I had planted it (am I the only one who does this?).  Fortunately when I returned from Florida I found it popping out of the ground and beside it the little white tag confirming that I had at least tried to label it.

Adonis amurensis ‘Chichibu Beni’

Another little gem that I had thought lost is also coming up in the garden.

Helleborus thibetanus

The Tibetan Hellebore dies back each year, unlike the other Hellebores.  I had concluded that it had died — period.  So I bought another one when I was at Plant Delights.  Had I taken the time to read about them I would have realized the unusual nature of this Hellebore means that it is going to disappear every June.  I really like the distinctive foliage on this unusual species which was only introduced to horticulture 20 years ago.  I’m looking forward to actually seeing it flower this year.

Other Hellebores are doing their thing right now.  The old purple one that was our first has a fine cluster of flowers.

Dark purple Hellebore

And next to it is the wonderful Green Corsican with a a very dense cluster of flowers that are bit more upright.

Helleborus x nigercors ‘Green Corsican’

The Winter Aconite at the front of the yard have been flowering in great profusion…

Abundant clump of winter aconite (Eranthis hyemalis)

And there are crocus and snowdrops all around the yard.

Happy crocus on the side of the hill

Galanthus nivalis ‘Flore Pleno’

The only daffodils so far have had the stems made limp by cold weather, the first time I’ve seen this happen.

Early Daffodil lying down on the job

Looking around the yard I can see that a number of the smaller consituents are getting ready for showtime.   The lovely little Draba that I got from my son as a seedling is bursting with little rosettes just coming into bloom.

Draba aizoides

The Jeffersonia dubia, a Korean relative of our twin leaf, is putting up its first buds of the spring.

Jeffersonia dubia emerging

And best of all, I see a lot of little flower buds on one of the Japanese Hepaticas.

Hepatica japonica emerging

I’ve never seen this one flower before so I quite interested in what the color will be.

And then finally the special Witch Hazel hybrid, Diane, is continuing to flower.

Hamamelis x intermedia ‘Diane’

White and Red Cattleya Orchid

One of the nice things about the late fall is that we bring the Orchids inside when it starts to get cold.  They get very minimal care on a shady porch all summer long.  When we bring them in they all respond by flowering, each type in it’s own turn.  Right now the Cattleyas are having their say.  The white and red one is about 2 1/2 feet across out of a 10 inch pot.  We really have to think about repotting it someday.  All the orchids are wonderful but the Cattleyas are simply stunning to look at.  The silky petals and sepals and the colorful lips with the delicate ruffles at the edges are always attention grabbers.  But to cap it off, as if nature decided to go all out on this one species, the fragrance is spectacular — a combination of cinnamon and vanilla that is intoxicating.  I find myself stopping by to indulge in the scent several times a day.  The flowering is measured in weeks rather than days.  Indeed some our orchids seem to persist in bloom for more than a month.  If you have a sunny window in the wintertime, there is little reason not to be growing orchids…

Large Cattleya in bloom

Orchid detail

Red Cattleya Orchid

Another exotic flower for the indoor garden which requires even less care than the orchids is our Amazon lily.  This one looks like one of those green tropical plants that you move around in the house like a piece of furniture except that twice a year it shoots up these beautiful white flowers to remind you that it is indeed a remarkable plant.

Amazon Lily (Eucharis amazonica)

The flowers are not only lovely but fragrant as well.  I don’t think we’ve repotted it for ten years.  It sits in a well lit room with northern light and it flowers like clockwork.  I had been calling this Eucharis x grandiflora but after consulting the pages of the Pacific Bulb Society I realized that it’s actually E. amazonica.  According to that source this is just a single plant from the Huallaga valley in northeastern Peru that has been cloned all over the world.  There are no records of it actually producing seeds.  Pretty remarkable when you stop to think about it…

This is from an advertisement for horticultural grit in England

There is a wonderful posting on seed sowing on the Scottish Rock Garden Club website.  Not for the first time I observed the casual use of the term ‘horticultural grit’.  In England, where practically everyone is a gardener, you can expect that they would have a specialized soil ingredient for top dressing seedlings and alpines.  For us, in the U.S., the search is more difficult.

I bought some bulbs recently from Telos Rare Bulbs that are from California and South Africa so I thought I would try to follow up on this idea of using small rocks as a top dressing.  I have often used mulch as a finish dressing in pots to prevent the soil from washing out when I water.  It has the disadvantage of getting crusty over time and not letting the water actually penetrate.  My local nursery had a product called Mosser Lee Soil Cover (river stone) which was sort of along the lines of what I was looking for.   But it was $1 a pound and not all that much different from the bulk pea gravel that the nursery sold in a plastic bag at 10 cents a pound.

Pea Gravel (left) compared to Mosser Lee River Stone (right)

So I took the less expensive approach and used the pea gravel with my Telos bulbs.

Pots finished off with pea gravel

But I still wanted to find a finer scale gravel at bulk prices.  So I consulted the web, naturally.  I found a long thread on Garden Web trying to track down something called Al’s gritty mix.  I discovered that there were people all over the country trying to solve this same problem.  My efforts led me to the local feed store in Frederick where I bought three different sizes of granite that is used for raising chickens. The product comes from North Carolina and is called Gran-I-Grit.  The 40 pound bags cost $6 apiece and have pretty much given me a range of options now.

Gradations in gravel size

Three different sizes in Gran-I-Grit

Gran-I-Grit Large Size

Another nice discussion of soil mixes and planting techniques that refers specifically to the use of chicken grit is from Tom Clothier on HortNet.

Lest you think that I have wandered off into the gravel mining industry I also did a few other things this week.  I’ve completed the overhead watering system for the greenhouse which will make it possible to travel when necessary…

Overhead watering system in the greenhouse

Overhead watering in process

And I did get outside to take advantage of some of the extended fall weather we’ve had.  I finally put in the garlic which was well overdue for planting…

60 ft of garlic row tilled up

And I’ve almost finished up with this year’s bulb planting, only about another 60 daffodils to go.  There are 40 new daffodils in the ground in addition to 55 tulips and 200 smaller bulbs.  I did some weeding this week too wherein I discovered that the Snowdrops are emerging (which is fine) but the Adonis is coming up too (which is not fine).  I put some compost on top of the Adonis to try to keep it from putting it’s flower up too soon, which it did last year prior to a hard freeze …

Cypella coelestis closeup

We’ve just started a bracing bit of fall weather and it’s time to update on a few items that are happening on the hill.  About two weeks ago, before we left for a wonderfully relaxing week on Cape Cod, we had our first glimpse of the Cypella coelestis that I brought home from Plant Delights this spring.  This is another elegant member of the iris family that should be just barely hardy in our area.  I took several pictures the morning I saw it in bloom but by afternoon it had already faded.  This is truely one of those ephemeral garden treasures…

Cypella coelestis

Another treasure from Plant Delights is the little rain lily ‘Lily Pies’.  It lasts a little longer than the Coelestis but you had better pay attention while it is in bloom because it very much deserves looking at.

Zephyranthes ‘Lily Pies’

I mentioned earlier the brilliant blue gentian that I’ve added to the garden this year.  Here is a better shot of this colorful perennial.

Gentiana ‘True Blue’

Unfortunately the rabbits have taken to cutting the flowers off to spite me.  They don’t eat them — they just cut them off.

Nearby, the Prairie Sun have mostly managed to get to flowering height and they remind one of why they are well worth growing even if they are not reliably hardy here.  What a beautiful blend of yellow shades with that green at the center.

Rudbeckia ‘Prairie Sun’ detail

Lastly, the other important addition is the new greenhouse that is under construction.  After years of contemplating we are putting up a 10 x 14 greenhouse in the vegetable garden.  It’s a kit from BC greenhouses with aluminum frame and twinwall polycarbonate walls.  We’re putting it on a 30 inch kneewall to allow for a ceiling fan, hanging plants and lots of plant height.  In some sense it will be a little cathedral for plants.

Greenhouse trenching

Greenhouse trench

Greenhouse kneewall forms

Not only will the greenhouse allow us to carry over the citrus that currently survive in the basement over the winter, but we should be able to start plants for an earlier springtime planting.  This is going to be fun!