Adonis amurensis ‘Chichibu Beni’
I got a nice note today from Malcolm McGregor who is the editor of the North American Rock Garden Society journal the ‘Rock Garden Quarterly’. His message was that the above picture of an Adonis from last winter was selected as the the Joint Winner of Class 5 (Close up) in their annual photo contest. At the same time he said that my photo of a Gymnospermium albertii was given a Highly Commended rating in a different class.
Gymnospermium albertii
As a class winner, I am entitled to give a free annual membership to NARGS to the person of my choosing. If you are harboring an interest in rock garden plants but have not yet taken the plunge, let me know, and if it’s not already been given away, I’ll be happy to give you this opportunity. Personally I have found the whole NARGS experience — growing plants, exchanging seeds, and reading the excellent journal articles — to be very fulfilling.
Meanwhile, here is the latest little Zephyranthes in the greenhouse to usher in the fall season
Zephyranthes smallii
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day August 2015
Gentiana paradoxa
Well I have very mixed feelings for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. There are a few flowers like the beautiful gentians in the alpine bed. But it is also the dog days of August with over a week since the last rain and no rain in the immediate future. On top of that we returned from vacationing on Cape Cod to find that the water pump had stopped a week ago and all the elaborate water timing I had set up was a total fail. It was bad enough for the outdoor plants surviving the drought-like conditions, but the worst casualty was the greenhouse. With no water the greenhouse becomes an oven. I can’t even bear posting the picture of what the greenhouse looks like. The bulb things will survive but the alpine seedlings that were painstakingly started this year were devastated. Focusing on the positive, there is a splendid Cyrtanthus hybrid which found the desert-like conditions just to its liking.
Cyrtanthus elatus x montanus
Another little bulb in flower right now is a Barnardia from Japan.
Barnardia japonica
Out in the very dry yard, the first thing that strikes you as it hangs over the porch is a lovely Limelight Hydrangea.
Hydrangea ‘Limelight’
In the perennial beds there are two very striking lobelias that capture one’s attention.
Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica)
Lobelia x speciosa (Compliment Deep Red)
This one was brought up from Plant Delights this spring.
There is also a cute little Rosularia from Wrightman Alpines that I noticed flowering on one of the pieces of tufa.
Rosularia sedoides
There are lots of annuals that give us picking flowers for inside the house. I noticed a clearwing moth hanging on one of the verbenas.
Clearwing Moth on Verbena
For the annual flowers in the garden the Mexican Sunflowers have totally dominated over the zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, etc.
Tithonia dominating annuals
Mexican Sunflower (Tithonia rotundifolia)