As it turns to Fall (wintertime temperatures are on the way but we have been spared a hard frost so far) this GBBD post has to focus on Camellias. It is always amazing to me what a long season we have with the Camellias. Between the C. japonicas and C. sasanquas (and the various hybrids) we usually have Camellias blooming from October through April. I began growing them with 1 gallon pots that brought on airplane rides from California and then put them in the basement each winter until I realized they were actually hardy here. We had one really cold winter that seemingly killed this red sasanqua to the point where i actually cut it back to the ground. And then the next year it came back vigorously. So this bushy flowering plant is actually the second rebirth of our Fall Camellia.
Fall Camellia
Some of the others in bloom right now are shown below.
Camellia x ‘Survivor’
Camellia sasanqua ‘October Magic Orchid’
Elsewhere in the garden the Cestrum continues it’s flowerful display
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
Pretty special for a plant that dies back to the ground every winter.
Right next to it is the Japanese quince that has no business blooming in November (but it often does).
Red Japanese Quince (Chaenomeles)
We have had a very extended Fall and the roses are still putting out blossoms.
Rose ‘Knockout Red’
And out at the front fence there are a continuing sequence of flowers on the Daphne I planted there several years ago.
Daphne × transatlantica ‘Eternal Fragrance’
In the pasture I still see spots of color from the gaillardia that have volunteered from wildflower plantings.
Gaillardia
In the alpine bed there is still a single Moroccan Poppy remaining from the many that flowered there this year.
Papaver atlanticum ‘Flore Pleno’
In the vegetable garden we not only have flowers of various sorts but fall peas and lettuce still coming in.
Fall Peas and a strawberry
Fall Peas
Calendula and Lettuce
Calendula (Pacific Beauty Mix)
Tithonia
And then lastly let me close with an indoor flower. We see flowers twice a year from the potted Amazon Lily and once again it is doing its thing with a minimum of care.
Amazon Lily flowers
Highly recommended as a wonderful houseplant that can play outside in the summertime.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day October 2022
Aconitum carmichaelii ‘Arendsii’
Just a few items for this GBBD since I’m a day late (as usual). The blue monkshood shown above is sometimes called the autumn flowering monkshood because it comes to the very end of the season. But wow, what a flower. We’ve never grown it before because it is extremely poisonous but it has a long history of being grown in perennial gardens.
Also in the front yard I found the first of the fall blooming in Camellias.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Northern Lights’
This was planted last spring and I was surprised to see it in flower before any of the other sasanquas.
The first of the toad lillies are in flower now
Toad lily (Tricyrtis hirta ‘Sinonome’
Otherwise there are many of the carryovers from previous months still in bloom.
Colchicum ‘Bornmuelleri’
Princess Flower
Plectranthus
Cyclamen hederifolium
Out in the garden in raised beds the calendula continue with their wonderful flowering.
Calendula
Calendula
And with regard to raised beds I should mention that Josh and I installed a third raised bed for next year’s gardens.
Assembling new raised bed
And as we head out to the pasture there are late flowering sunflowers
Late Sunflower
as well as some of their smaller relatives
Swamp Sunflower ‘Helianthus angustifolius’
Gallardia in the pasture
I do have to take note of the Dahlias still coming into the house
Dahlia ‘Bodacious’
And the beautiful beautyberries by the driveway
Beautyberry
Finally let me close with our new approach to harvesting chestnuts.
Harvesting Chestnuts
Just stomp on the spiny balls and wiggle the lovely chestnuts out…
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day September 2022
Dahlia in the house
Well it’s Bloom Day for September and the weather has been spectacular the past week. There are a great many annual flowers in the garden such as zinnias, cosmos, nasturtium, calendula, and daisies. I’ll just represent them all with the this big Dahlia that Beth brought into the house. And then maybe Tithonia (Mexican Sunflower) since it has grown to spectacular heights (at least 12 feet) this year.
Tithonia
Another annual that has grown on our porch this year is Plectranthus. It was overwintered in the greenhouse and then took a while to catch hold in the spring. But it now looks spectacular (and it makes a good cut flower in the house as well).
Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’
Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’ in detail
Another back porch item is the Princess Flower which continues its daily vivid flowers
Princess Flower (Tibouchina urvilleana)
At the front porch is the very green welcoming garden that Beth built with deep black rectangles.
Entrance Garden
And a particularly striking addition this year is a Carex with pink flowers that we brought back from Plant Delights this spring.
Carex scaposa
From the greenhouse comes a very striking hyacinth relative from Madeira.
Scilla madeirensis
A few other items struck me as I walked about the yard. There are marvelous peony seeds at this time of year.
Peony Seeds
The Pyracantha and Hyacinth have intertwined to create a lovely combination.
Intertwining of pyracantha (mojave) and hydrangea (limelight)
And a newly planted Arisaema consanguinum looks for all the world like a mother hen for the neighboring Cyclamen.
Arisaema consanguinum and cyclamen hederifolium
Then there are the still good-looking repeats from last month.
Cestrum x ‘Orange Peel’
Crepe myrtle white
And I discovered that the Clematis which I tried to remove at least two other times has sprung up again among the roses.
Clematis paniculata
This is a particularly beautiful and vigorous plant that is happy to take over your garden.
And if you go for a walk on the hillside you will see the Colchicum doing their fall explosion of color.
Colchicum ‘Giant’
The other thing that happens now are berries and other fruit.
Viburnum wrightii
Fig fruit ready for picking
Potomac Pears at harvest time.
And then I’ll close with one of the workers in the greenhouse that keeps the pests at bay.
Jumping Spider in greenhouse
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day March 2022
Fritillaria stenanthera ‘Cambridge’
It is two days late for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day, but I need to keep up my records. There have been sooo many flowers and activities around our house that it’s hard to account for everything that is happening. The daffodils are off to a fine start and all of their friends and neighbors are coming too. I’ll focus on some of my favorites in the interest of getting this post out at least by St. Patricks Day. The Fritillary pictured above is a reminder that some Fritillaries are willing face the viewer rather than nodding toward the grass.
It’s hard not to focus on the Hellebores for this time of year. They are everywhere.
Hellebore x hybridus PDN Double White
Helleborus x hybridus ‘Kingston Cardinal’
Helleborus x ericsmithii ‘Winter Sunshine’
Helleborus x hybridus ‘Peppermint Ice’
There is even a black one that I’ve forgotten the name of…
Hellebore black
There are several unnamed seedlings to be found in our woods since they don’t seem to be fancied by the deer.
Hellebore growing in the woods
And in the yard and the woods we find a classic primrose
Primula vulgaris
Out in the front yard the Edgeworthia is announcing the beginning of Spring.
Edgeworthia in full bloom
Edgeworthia chrysantha
And then there are the classic spring bulbs
Iris histroides ‘Major’
Crocus tommasinianus ‘Ruby Giant’
Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa)
And yet more out in the woods
Narcissus ‘Jack Snipe’
Scilla bifolia ‘Rosea’
A nice surprise for me was to discover this rock garden plant that I put in two years ago after a Yuzawa Engei order from Japan. It’s original home is in the high mountains of Morocco so I’m glad it has chosen to flower here.
Ranunculus calandrinoides (High Alpine Buttercup)
I always feel good when little Saxifrages are willing to flower in our garden troughs.
Saxifraga ferdinandi-coburgi ssp. radoslavoffii
Saxifraga ‘Allendale Charm’
You can just barely see the little piece of tufa that Wrightman’s Alpines provides.
Another first time flowering for me is this little Clivia that I got from seed via the Pacific Bulb Society back in 2013.
Belgian hybrid orange Clivia (2013)
It has a few years to go to catch up with our normal Clivia. But I’m more than willing to watch it try.
Clivia
Clivia miniata
And since I began the last GBBD post with the first Adonis image of the year, I thought it only fair to end this post with another Adonis posting, this time of the very special orange one (even though this image is from three weeks ago).
Adonis amurensis ‘Chichibu Beni’
I was afraid last year that I had lost this planting it was down to just two flowers, but it came back strongly this year — and I intend to take some seeds.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day October 2021
Amarine tubergenii ‘Zwanenburg’
It’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day as we move securely into the Fall. The leaves are changing but we see no signs of lower temperatures in Maryland as yet.
The Amarine above is a first time bloomer for me, but comes with a little background. I bought it just this Fall from Quackin’ Grass Nursery and then as it was coming into bloom I discovered that I had another one that I had bought from the same place this Spring. No sooner did I put those two in the ground but I then found that I had bought a smaller bulb of that plant from Rare Plants back in 2017 and it too was now coming into bloom (for the first time). So apparently this plant is consistently appealing to me. It is a hybrid between Amaryllis belladonna and Nerine bowdenii. It’s somewhat questionable whether it will be hardy for me here in zone 7 (Nerines would not normally be hardy here), but I have planted two of them and we shall see.
Since it’s related I should mention that Nerine sarniensis (from the Greenhouse) is also flowering now bearing out my continuing interest in Nerines.
Nerine sarniensis
The above picture is from the kitchen and right nearby is a bowl full of vegetables showing the wonderful bounty from this year.
Vegetable yield in October
We’ve also had a lot of pears that we are still enjoying for dinners and desserts. And the raspberries are still making their appearance.
Raspberries still coming in
The flowers outside still have a lot of the same participants that we’ve had for the past few months.
Double Decorative Dahlia Purple
Dahlia ‘Bodacious’ still yielding
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
Cosmos in the wildflower patch
In addition there are a few new faces on the Fall horizon
New England Aster
Japanese Anemone ‘Whirlwind’
Colchicum ‘Giant’
Colchicum ‘Dick Trotter’
Toadlilly (Trycyrtis ‘Sinonome’
In addition I thought it was interesting to note that I completely missed the start of flowering for the fall camellias.
Camellia sasanqua ‘Double Rainbow’
Camellia x ‘Survivor’
There are lots of buds on these and other Camellias so I need to pay more attention. And similarly I’ll end by paying attention to the many oxalis showing up in the greenhouse now.
Oxalis hirta ‘Gothenburg’
Finally all summer long we’ve a beautiful showing of flowers from the potted plectranthus.
Plectranthus ‘Mona Lavender’
I’ll need to find a place in the greenhouse for a part of this plant over the winter.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day September 2021
Dahlia ‘Bodacious’
We have a steady supply of flowers from the both the perennials and the picking garden for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. The dahlia above has been flowering for most of the summer.
The Tithonia in the garden give some idea of the good growing weather that we have had.
Tithonia in the garden
I always enjoy seeing the black and blue sage coming back because it was never supposed to be hardy in our area. The bees enjoy it in particular.
Salvia guaranitica ‘Black and Blue’
Bee on Salvia
Nearby the David Austin ‘Crocus Rose’ is making a comeback.
Crocus Rose
And right beside it the continually blooming Cestrum
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
I also enjoy that the Cyclamen comes up at this time of year both in the ground and in the greenhouse
Cyclamen hederifolium
Cyclamen graecum
Other flowers can be seen in the wildflower patches
Wildflower patch
Asters in wildflower patch
In the Alpine bed I discovered a Pulsatilla that is definitely blooming well out of season
Pulsatilla pratensis ‘bohemica’
Pulsatilla pratensis ‘bohemica’
In the greenhouse itself there is not only this striking Sinninglia species
Sinninglia sp.
But also a rather puzzling Buddleia which is coming up in nominally Gentianella pot.
Buddleia davidii
Elsewhere the berries in the yard are striking.
Blue Holly in berry
Viburnum wrightii
Viburnum wrightii
Finally to note once again that since we can’t survive on flowers alone, we have been bringing in lots of fruit.
Kieffer Pears (and a few liberty apples)
And for the first time Figs
Figs
I highly recommend homemade sourdough bread with brie, pear, and fig — yum…
Our 2020 Christmas
Snow came in mid-December for us and lasted on the ground until Christmas
This was the first snow we’ve had this year and indeed the first really cold weather.
The snow was the first we’ve had in quite some time and led to good opportunities for sledding
We have about a 600 foot run down the pasture which gives a long walk up the slope for exercise
This was definitely a different and unusual Christmas. One to regret the things we missed and to be thankful for the things we still have. Our youngest son ended up spending the Fall with us and then on through Christmas. He has sparked the rediscovery of the many things that we associate with the holiday season around Ball Rd. There are many large and small things that connect us with past shared memories.
An ancient nativity set
The potted rosemary has lights in the front hallway
A good friend gave us this small Christmas tree which comes out before Christmas
Two friends who miss the grandkids
Greens and Reds await Christmas
Stuffed animals and the greens
A cardinal and wreath
Pewter mice from Malaysia
The mantle dressed in green
Cuttings from the Japanese Quince
Christmas tree at night
Nerine x ‘Pink Triumph’ comes in from the greenhouse
Sunflower seed cookies
Christmas tree on Christmas morning
Enjoying Christmas morning with the rest of the family in Massachusetts
An Exhausted Christmas Elf
In addition we jointly watched the Christmas Revels celebration in Cambridge. It was great fun and I highly recommend it for anyone looking to move forward into the new year with contemplation of the way the human community has moved from the dark to the light over centuries. On the night before Christmas we tuned into the Follen Unitarian Church in Lexington, MA where the Reverend Claire Feingold Thoryn delivered a marvelous sermon discussing the Christmas Weed Tree of Toledo, Ohio and what that means for the rest of us.
Finally I should mention that I had a chance before Christmas to preview a new book written by a good friend.
Tropical Plants
Tropical Plants and How to Love Them will be available in March but it can be ordered now on Amazon. It is a wonderful exploration of tropical plants for the temperate gardener and I think a great many people will enjoy both the authoritative descriptions and Marianne’s always entertaining writing style. Highly recommended!
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day October 2020
Colchicum autumnale ‘Pleniflorum’
I’ll lead off this GBBD posting with colchicum which has been spectacular this fall. They are hardy, reliable, and beautiful — the sort of qualities that beg for planting more. So I did…
It’s been all in all a marvelous fall here in Maryland. Mostly bright sunny fall days with just enough rain to keep everything going well. Altogether we are 8 inches ahead of the usual rainfall here. The annuals have continued to bloom and I noticed that the cosmos along the fence line have decided on a fall renewal of their blooms.
Cosmos fall rebirth
And the calendulas in the raised bed are bright and beautiful.
Calendula (Alpha from Johnny’s Seeds)
Under the cherry tree in the back yard a clump of cyclamen hederifolium is putting up flowers before the leaves are showing.
Cyclamen hederifolium
Japanese windflowers are spectacular as usual for this time of year.
Japanese anemone ‘Whirlwind’
And they are joined by various instances of toad lilies (such a strange name for exotically beautiful flowers).
Trycyrtis ‘Sinonome’
The canna lily that returned from last year is soldiering on in a very crowded garden bed.
Canna ‘Lemon Punch’
And month by month the cestrum continues a flowerful statement at the back gate.
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
I noticed that the beautyberry bush is covered with its distinctive purple berries right now.
Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana)
In the alpine bed by the greenhouse there is a rather striking little saxifrage from Japan.
Saxifraga fortunei ‘Beni Zakura’
In the greenhouse itself the oxalis are dominating the show.
Oxalis hirta ‘Gothenburg’
But there is also a rather special scilla that I brought into the house.
Scilla madeirensis
These are not easy to find, but they seem to be quite reliable bloomers.
While I was out in the vegetable garden I found many more dahlias still in bloom
Decorative Dahlia
and lots of monarch butterflies visiting the many tithonia.
Monarchs in the garden
In addition I found a very distinctive moth that I had never seen before.
Ailanthus Webworm Moth (Atteva aurea)
Of course, it’s important to note that at this time of year, one does not live on flowers alone.
Raspberries yielding fall crop
Raspberries in abundance
We have been bringing in bowl after bowl of raspberries for the last 6 weeks.
And finally to cap it off here is the apple pie that we made for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day…
An Apple Pie from the orchard