Orienpet Lilium ‘Scheherazade’
Well, for mid-summer it’s got to be all about the lilies for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.
Each time the wind begins to chime,
And end begins to near
A whisper of the softest sort
Flows gently to the ear
The scent and sight enough are great
Yet lilies live for more
The lilies whisper poetry
As none have heard before
— The Lilies Whisper Poetry by Deborah Amar
Orienpet Lilium ‘Scheherazade’
Lilies are definitely the most striking flower in the yard right now. They come in all shapes and sizes.
Orienpet Lily ‘Anastasia’
Lilium oriental ‘Muscadet’
Lilium oriental hybrid ‘Casa Blanca’
Lilium ‘Madame Butterfly’
Oriental Lily ‘Stargazer’
Orienpet Lily Conca d’Or
Of course, the lilies also work on the inside of the house.
Showy lilies on the mantle
However, there are other things happening on our hillside. I notice, for example that the Corydalis are doing there usual magic in the front yard where they just gently spread over any vacant space.
Corydalis lutea
Similarly, the echinacea are everywhere in the perennial beds.
Echinacea purpurea
I should also share the Cestrum which is just now flowering for the first time this year and they will go on like this for the next 5 months.
Cestrum ‘Orange Peel’
The Hydrangea are just now flowering for the first time this year as well and they will also have any extended flowering.
Hydrangea paniculata ‘Limelight’
One of the real delights for us is the Bishop of Llandaff Dahlia which has once again survived a winter in the ground.
Dahlia ‘Bishop of Llandaff’
In the middle of the backyard there are some allium also showing up for the first time this year.
Allium ‘Millenium’
If we go back beside the greenhouse the alpine bed has some Daphne that are flowering once again this year.
Daphne collina x cneorum
Nearby in the troughs there is one with a little potentilla that flowers for a long time.
Potentilla hyparctica ‘Nana’
And in another trough a very tiny thyme that has taken over a good part of the trough.
Thymus serpyllum ‘Elfin’
I should also share the vegetable garden which has a number of flowers.
Vegetable Garden
Although flowers are not the main purpose there are many, many flowers every day in the vegetable garden.
Cucumbers
If you think of corn as a grass, it is the tallest grass we’ve ever grown in our garden this year.
Kandy Korn
We’re just hoping the raccoons don’t come exploring for the corn. I won’t go into the peaches, pears, and apples — more about those in the future. But the wildflowers in the pasture are quite striking right now.
Wildflowers in the pasture
We mowed them down once because of the poison ivy, but the flowers seem to be outgrowing the poison ivy at the moment. And finally, it has rained now and then for which I’m quite grateful.
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day November 2022
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 June 2022 (very late)
Nightrider Lily
Well, I’m very late for posting this past month’s Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. My excuse is that I was in Ithaca for the North American Rock Garden Society’s Annual Meeting. It was a wonderful meeting but I was busy from dawn to later hours and it left me no time for posting. And when I got back I had trunk full of wonderful plants to put in (Enkianthus, Epimediums, Spice Bush, etc.) So despite the lateness there were a few points I wanted to share from mid-June. Firstly it was lily-time as illustrated by Nightrider, the near black Asiatic shown above. Both it and other of the new lilies this year came from The Lily Garden which was new and wonderful source to me.
Both of the next two were also Asiatics from The Lily Garden
Purple Marble Lily
Lily ‘Istanbul’
There was also a trumpet lily that I planted next to the grapes (from Brent and Becky)
Lily ‘Pink Perfection’
There was also a nice Arisaema below the lilies.
Arisaema candidissum (white form)
I also wanted to share more pictures from the wildflower meadow that we’ve planted in the pasture this year. I mentioned it last month but it has continued to prosper with new flowers showing up every few weeks.
Wildflower meadow
Monarda citriodora
Evening Primrose
Larkspur
Centaurea
And just to finish this belated post on a sweet note this is what we expect every evening at this time of year
Blueberries and ice cream
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day May 2022
Pileated Woodpecker
This bird has been a frequent visitor to our garden this last week so I thought you might want to join him in perusing the flowers at Ball Road for this Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day.
Azalea Exbury Hybrid ‘Gibraltar’
It’s very much the Azalea time of year hereabouts. What is especially nice this year is that we dug four layered offspring from this plant last year and they are now to be found in other parts of the yard.
New Azalea ‘Gibraltar’ from layering
One of our favorite Azaleas is beside the deck. Azalea ‘Visco Sepala’ came from White Flower Farm many years ago, though it’s originally from England. It has a spectacular fragrance.
Azalea ‘Visco sepala’
Naturally at the same time the tree peonies are stepping up to the plate.
Tree Peonies in Bloom
Yellow Tree Peony
Nearby is another very nice perennial.
Glaucidium palmatum
And a very distinctive Japanese Maple that is worth building a garden around
Golden Full Moon Maple (Acer Shirasawanum)
We also have a reliable showing of Lamium by the garage where it outcompetes the weeds.
Lamium orbala
One could easily get lost with trying to account for all the things in bloom right now. If we go back to the Alpine bed there are some special repeat performances.
Dianthus petraeus ssp. petraeus
Aubretia ‘Blue Beauty’
Ornithogalum exscapum
Papaver atlanticum (Moroccan Poppy)
Lewisia cotyledon ‘Rainbow mix’
I want to take a few minutes out to share our meadow-like pasture. Last year son Josh, cut the pasture ultrashort and then seeded the area with crimson clover and wildflowers from Wildseed in Texas. The result has been wonderful. It’s easy to get lost in just the crimson clover.
Wildflower meadow
Crimson Clover Flower
But amidst the clover are wallflowers, peas, flax, sweet william and POPPIES.
Poppy from wildflower mix
Pink Poppy
White Poppy
We also have for the first time Five Spot
Five Spot (Nemophila maculata)
As an ending point for this already long posting let me share the Viburnum on the hillside that overlooks these wildflowers.
Viburnum on the hillside
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…
Catching up with Spring
Paeonia caucasica
Spring has been rapidly moving onward in the mid-Atlantic. Bringing us, for one thing, the first flowering of a lovely peony above that we acquired from John Lonsdale two years ago.
We like the rest of society have been dutifully staying at home and, in our case, appreciating all the horticultural bounty that nature has to offer. This year many of the plants are well in advance of the norm. Although our nominal last frost date is 2-3 weeks from now the flowering fruit trees (even apples) are already in bloom. Especially bountiful are the blossoms on the Asian Pear.
20th Century Asian Pear (Nijisseiki)
20th Century Asian Pear blossoms
Even the Kwanzan Cherry is fully in flower, fully two weeks ahead of last year.
Kwanzan Cherry
I had the intent to track the progress of the garden a bit closer than usual, but I find myself jumping from one object to another as the plants keep popping up. Erythroniums are especially lovely in the spring, sort of a precursor to the larger lilies to follow. We have a raised bed by the deck that is crammed full of trout lilies (Erythronium americanum). This is what it looked like a week ago.
Erythronium americanum
Many years I ago I dug some of these and moved them out to forest in multiple locations. Although the plants have succeeded marvelously in the woods, despite deer and other animals, they do not flower. They spread like mad but they seem to have no interest in flowering. So last year I thought I would inspire them by planting in their midst some horticultural cultivars which have always flowered in the yard (Erythronium ‘Pagoda’). And, indeed, they shot up lovely looking buds which the deer promptly chopped off. Perhaps the E. americanum are simply wiser than me and know that it would be foolish to flower in the forest.
In any case we still have Erythronium to enjoy in the yard.
Erythronium ‘Pagoda’
Erythronium revolutum ‘White Beauty’
Another spectacular genus to enjoy right now are the Epimediums. Beth was gifted with two Epimediums years ago that established large and lovely clumps at the back fence. Not only are the flowers lovely, but the leaves are beautiful in the own right.
Epimedium x rubrum ‘Sweetheart
Epimedium x rubrum ‘Sweetheart’ flowers
Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’
Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’ flowers
Other Epimediums are well established in other parts of our garden.
Epimedium ‘Pretty in Pink’
Queen Esta Epimedium
Some more traditional parts of the garden probably include this very hardy and early azalea.
Hardy pink Azalea
A spectacular little primrose hybrid.
Magnificent little primula
Multiple trilliums such as the T. grandiflorum
Trillium grandiflorum
Daphne at the front fence
Daphne x transatalantica
And a new japanese quince that I received as a father’s day gift last year.
Chaemoneles speciosa ‘Double-take Scarlet’
But gardens are not made with flowers alone. There are some special green things on their way right now. The little Pteridophyllum has the glossiest green, fern-like foliage at the start of the year.
Pteridophyllum racemosum
Peltoboykinia comes from the high mountains of Japan but seems to be happy here in Maryland.
Peltoboykinia watanabei
Multiple variants to may-apples are on their way.
Podophyllum delavayi
And the first of the Arisaemas is on its way.
Arisaema ringens
While i’m in the yard, I still need to mention the star flowers that have been a real pleasure this year. This little Ipheion has been flowering for weeks now.
Ipheion uniflorum ‘Tessa’
As we go back to the Alpine bed there are a lot of flowers calling for attention
Alpine bed, south side
Two that always stand out are the Pulsatilla and the Armeria.
Pulsatilla campanella
Armeria maritima ‘Victor Reiter’
And at the greenhouse entrance is a trough with a delightful little Androsace that has been a regular participant in our springtimes.
Androsace barbulata
But before I leave off posting for today, let’s take a walk to the forest, through the garden gate and past the very large wild cherry trees.
Wild Cherries
Our trail leads us past many clumps of daffodils that have been planted over the years, past scilla, toothwort, hepatica, anemone, muscari and bluebells
Mertensia virginica
To a very special clump of daffodils with haunting green eyes.
Narcissus ‘Arguros’
Arguros is the Greek word for silver and seems appropriate for this treasure.
May this posting find you healthy and able to enjoy the world around you.