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 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 May 2021
Delospermum cooperii
Well there are so many flowers at this time of the year for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day it is difficult to keep track of them all. I’ll give you just a smattering today and think back to all that I should have shared from the last month. The little ice plant shown above is one of many plants exploding out of our alpine bed. Very happy in our zone 7 landscape.
The species peonies and tree peonies are all done and we now moving on to the Itohs and the herbaceous
Peony ‘Sweet Shelly’
Itoh Peony ‘Morning Lilac’
Our row of bearded Iris is very happily blooming.
Pink Bearded Iris
Ever since we stopped weeding them amid the grass they have not had borers which used to be a perennial pain.
The early azaleas are pretty much done but the rhododendrons and deciduous azaleas are still blooming.
Rhododendron in the Camellias
Rhododendron ‘Chionoides’
Azalea Exbury hybrid ‘Klondyke’
I’ve particularly liked the compact and floriferous Calanthe discolor, a reliable favorite from the orchid family.
Calanthe discolor
The best of the Clematis remains Niobe though there are number of others in bloom
Clematis ‘Niobe’
It’s also worth noting that you can just eat flowers every night and we are always happy to see the strawberries arriving. We have probably 75 feet of row for strawberries and peas that are just starting up.
Strawberries starting fruit
And in the orchard there are oh so many peaches, pears, and apples getting started.
Peaches coming along
Back in the alpine bed we have a number of nice items happening.
Alpine Daisy
Lewisia cotyledon
Ornithogalum exscapum amidst the Antennaria and Arnebia (Pussytoes and Sandwort)
Particularly nice is a little rock rose that I got from Wrightman’s Alpines last year after seeing them in the wild in Spain.
Cistus albanicus
I think are just barely hardy in Maryland but they seemed to make through the winter and you see the number of buds on them.
On one of the nights recently i caught the orchard looking particularly spending in the evening light and I’ll close with those images.
Evening light
Sunset
Path to small orchard
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day April 2021
Rhododendron carolinianum
All the usual suspects are in bloom now for this April Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day. Daffodils everywhere, first azaleas, dogwoods, peonies opening up, and spring bulbs of every sort. I’ll focus on some of the things that catch my attention on a morning walk.
It’s hard not to notice the Kwansan double-flowered Cherry when you walk out the back door.
Kwanzan Cherry in first bloom
In the backyard the Epimediums are special right now. There are two in particular that came as mother’s day gifts from Garden Visions years ago and are now quite substantial in size.
Epimedium x rubrum ‘Sweetheart’
Epimedium x rubrum ‘Sweetheart’
Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’
Epimedium grandiflorum ‘Lilac Seedling’
Another Epimedium that I like a lot is the Wushanense variety with its red leaves and white flowers.
Epimedium wushanense ‘Sandy Claws’
There are also several instances of Erythronium cultivars that add to the explosion of Trout lilies that surround the deck.
Erythronium californicum ‘White Beauty’
There are several spots where we have lovely clumps of star flowers
Ipheion uniflorum ‘Tessa’
In addition to the Peonies that are imitating being in flower because of the falling quince flowers, there are other Peonies almost in flower.
Peony with imitation red flowers
Paeonia caucasica
The first of the Arisaema and Podophyllum are poking through the ground.
Flower buds on Podophyllum delavayii
Especially nice was to see a return of the very rare Podophyllum x inexpectatum which I thought we had lost to animals.
Podophyllum x inexpectatum
The Camellias continue to dominate the flowering landscape
Red/white camellia
So many camellias
A new addition is the Loropetalum (marginally hardy for our area)
Loropetalum newly added to herb bed
I should not forget the Adonis vernalis which wraps up our Adonis flowering
Adonis vernalis
And the Iris tuberosa which has a nice flowering this year
Iris tuberosa
One of my favorite small troughs features a very nice dwarf Daphne
Daphne in one of the small troughs
Daphne detail
If we go back to the alpine bed the reliable Armeria is nearing peak bloom growing out of tufa rock
Armeria maritima ‘Victor Reiter’
And back in the forest there are many daffodils and the first of the Jack-in-a-Pulpit
Narcissus ‘Chromacolor’ in the woods
First jack-in-a-pulpit in the woods
In the greenhouse it is Spring in South Africa
Tritoma crocata
Ferraria divaricata
It’s also worth mentioning that because we made an early start on the season in the basement this year we have been eating green salads for the last 6 weeks and the plants are even happier now that they can come outside.
Salad greens brought from the basement
We’ve also put the first tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants in the garden
Tomatoes from basement
There are flowers on the fruit trees, strawberries, and blueberries. Life is good…
Flowers on the blueberries
Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day March 2021
Helleborus in profusion
Well there has been an explosion of flowers over the last two weeks. We are back to a more wintry cold and windy day today, but we have had some stunning sunny days which have moved us well into Spring. Perhaps nothing captures the change for Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day so much as the Hellebores. The variety of shapes, sizes, and colors is remarkable. Here are a few examples
Helleborus ‘Kingston Cardinal’
Helleborus Ice N’ Roses Red
Hellebore white/pink double
Helleborus x lemonnierae ‘Walberton’s Rosemary’
A little plant of Helleborus thibetanus is not to be missed.
Helleborus thibetanus
The Camellias are all in fat bud or flowering at the moment.
Double Pink Camellia japonica
It’s also the time for the daffodils to begin all over our hillside. One of the pleasures of each year are the small clumps in the woods.
Narcissus ‘Little Gem’
Also in the woods are couple nice Scilla that are fun to come upon.
White Squill in the woods
Scilla bifolia ‘Rosea’
Like the Daffodils they are not bothered by the animals and are gradually expanding.
There are a number of Iris histroides in flower now.
Iris histroides ‘Major’
Iris histroides ‘Finio’
This last is a new addition from Odyssey Bulbs.
The cyclamen coum have been a real pleasure this year. We had never had spring cyclamen before.
Cyclamen coum
The first of the Hepaticas is out in bloom.
Hepatica x media
The first Glory of the Snow are also making their appearance
Chionodoxa forbesii ‘Pink Giant’
They run wild in our pasture and there will be many more on the way.
Back in the alpine area I was pleased to see the Dionysia make a very early appearance
Dionysia involucrata
In the same trough is a Saxifrage that is not far behind.
Saxifraga ‘Valerie Keevil’
On the sunny side of the alpine beds the Draba hispanica is moving rapidly through flowering
Draba hispanica
Right next to the Draba the Aubrieta is beginning to flower with many buds visible as well.
Aubrieta ‘Royal Red’
And the small Asphodelus that I acquired from John Lonsdale is coming into flower as well.
Asphodelus acaulis
And in the greenhouse there are rampant pleasures as the plants imagine that we live in the tropics.
Amaryllis Green-Red
Scilla peruviana
Lachenalia unicolor
And then finally a spectacular Ferraria
Ferraria crispa
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!