September Bloom Day

Blue Lobelias

 

Hard to believe September Bloom Day is here--Bloom Day on the 15th of every month is hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog--welcome to my Zone 6B garden in Virginia, friends! It's been a dry August and even drier September so far, with no relief in sight--my garden isn't looking its best, despite lots of very expensive watering.

My native blue Lobelias, which normally bloom during August, started to bloom quite late this year but are still going, though the foliage is yellowing (admission: some of my photos were taken from two to ten days ago). This year I kept them sprayed so the deer wouldn't eat the flower buds, and that worked. 

The one original plant I bought and put under my 'Bloodgood' Japanese maple has multiplied amazingly over the past twelve years--this year I have several white-flowered mutants in this expanse under the three Japanese maples in my woodland garden on the east side of the house.

 

East garden woodland with blue and white Lobelias

Blue Lobelia clump

White Lobelias

 

Tropical Salvias are a great attraction for our hummingbirds at this time of the year--I love seeing them come by to feed. This summer I expanded my previous purchases of  'Black and Blue' and tried again last year's 'Bodacious Hummingbird Falls' which hadn't done well the previous year. I added 'Amistad' and 'Faye Chapel' to my selections. The 'Bodacious Hummingbird Falls' in the hanging basket seems to be the star this year--the hummers have visited this one so much--they can't leave it alone!

 

Salvia 'Bodacious Hummingbird Falls'

 

'Amistad' and 'Black and Blue' in pots along the front walk have attracted their share of hummers too, and the Fuchsia 'Billy Green' on the front porch. 

  

Front walk in the evening

  

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

 

 

Miniature yellow Dahlia along front walk.

 

The big red Salvia 'Faye Chapel' also on the front walk, proved too tempting for the deer (they'll eat some salvias!), they kept eating back the buds until I moved the pot to the deck, where they can't get at it. It finally started to bloom earlier this month, but it hasn't attracted as many hummers as the others--why I can't imagine, with that luscious color! Perhaps it's getting late in the season--I have the feeling that most of our local hummers have already left for more southern parts, and the ones we're seeing now are migrants from farther north. The nights have been getting cooler and these hummers sure are hungry!

Salvia 'Faye Chapel'

Double Tuberose blooms

My double Tuberose finally put out two blooming spikes--better late than never, the scent is delicious!

The foliage of our dogwoods is turning, which is normal for this time of the year, but a number of other trees are exhibiting early signs of fall, probably more due to drought than the season. We're still getting eighty-degree days.

 

Front walk in early morning.

Reworked stone path

 

A few weeks ago, tired of seeing the stone path across my long island bed drowned in crabgrass again, I decided to take up all the stones, get rid of the crabgrass, and put down some weed barrier cloth before setting them back. I thought a bit of gravel between the stones might look nice and keep the path weed-free. 

Good Lord, was it hard work--now I know why they call it "hardscape"! A bag of pea gravel weighs a ton, carrying it out from my car to the back yard was almost more than I could do! My husband Herb couldn't help--doctor's orders--so I had to do it all by myself. But it's finally finished--next spring I'll try to do the same with the stone threshold of the veggie pagoda. I wish the contractor had had the presence of mind to put down weed cloth there before he laid out those stones!

In addition, I expanded the bed in front of the enclosure to put in three new Salvia plants--'Pink Nebula'-- and re-planted the 'Purple De Oro' daylilies that the deer were eating back. The light blue Salvia that was there got moved to the left side of the path. The soil in that part of my garden is 100% rock and clay, very inhospitable, I worked in two cubic feet of clay-breaker mulch in there plus compost--more back-breaking work! I sure hope to see the rewards next spring.

 

Herb's bed  with Texas Red Salvia

'Autumn Joy' Sedum with Muhly grass

Moving to the right of the enclosure in Herb's bed, the Sedum 'Autumn Joy' blossoms are turning pink while the Muhly grass is getting ready to put forth its airy plumes. The Agastaches and blue Ageratum are still blooming, but starting to slow down, showing stress from the drought. The pink Gaura is blooming beautifully.

The 'Autumn Joy' in the other bed keeps getting eaten by the deer, despite my barriers, so it looks very skimpy. The few Chrisanthemum plants I have left are starting to open too.

 

Agastaches in Herb's bed

Pink Gaura

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The autumn-blooming Colchicums I planted last fall have started to pop up in the back bed, with a little bit of watering, but they're not very impressive at this point.

 

Colchicum bornmuelleri

 

Colchicum album

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another expansion project I'd like to undertake is joining up Herb's bed with the one just outside the veggie enclosure. I don't know if I'll be able to do it this fall, as I'm teaching three art classes; one class in Maryland's Eastern Shore is a two-day class, and will require two nights' stay at a local hotel. I may have to put off this project till next spring. I want to have more herbs in my garden, and perhaps a tiny water feature like a tub for a waterlily. One can always dream.

 The Badlands bed has the Prairie sage showing its sky-blue blossoms right now--the native sunflowers that complement it so well had most of their flowers eaten by deer. But these are still blooming in the veggie enclosure, along with some companion plant Marigolds and Asian eggplant.

 

Prairie blue Sage

Native sunflowers (Helianthemum annuus)

 

Marigolds and Asian eggplants in the veggie garden

A friend gave these native wild Poinsettia plants, but the deer kept eating them--after spraying them I finally got to see the red flowers--they're tiny but so cute!

 

Euphorbia Cyathophoria

 

My Viburnum 'Brandywine' is now at its most spectacular--when the pink berries start to turn blue, and the bush exhibits both colors--with the foliage turning red, it's just stunning this year!

 

Viburnum 'Brandywine'

 

I created a painting of this plant recently to put in a show presented by the Botanical Artists Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR), the chapter of the American Society of Botanical Artists (ASBA) that I belong to. Our show, titled "Autumns Splendor" is now at Montclair Library in Dumfries, VA, where it will hang until the end of October.

 

Viburnum 'Brandywine' and Clearwing Hummingbird Moth, watercolor and graphite.

 

The porch baskets are showing seasonal wear and tear--these purple petunias have the most wonderful scent I've come across in a petunia. They came from a mix called 'Pretty Grand' that a local nursery was selling. Oddly enough, the other colors barely have any scent, but at night these purple ones permeate the air on the porch. I hope I can find these again next year, though I'd prefer all-purples ones.

 

 

'Pretty Grand' Petunias

Porch basket with Bacopa, purple Ipomoea, Petunias and Pelargonium

Indoors, a miniature Dendrobium is blooming--the plant was so vigorous that I divided it into two during the summer, and both are blooming now!

 

Pink Dendrobium orchid

 

Dendrobium orchid with two blooming spikes.

 That's it for this month, thanks for visiting!

October 2024 Bloom Day

Sternbergia lutea.

 

The 15th of every month is garden bloggers' Bloom Day, when we share what's blooming in our gardens, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog. It's mid October now and fall is making its inroads in my Zone 6B garden in northwest Virginia. Welcome to my garden!

This year I planted a few fall-blooming Crocus and Colchicums to brighten my flower beds--the Colchicums have already bloomed and faded--the Colchicum album was in bloom about a week ago. One of the lovely yellow Sternbergia bulbs I planted along the front walk opened a few days ago. Let's hope the others will follow and all will multiply for a more plentiful display next year.

 

The back yard from the deck.

Looking west from the deck.

Our trees are starting to show some fall color--the hickories and sumacs in the back woods, the Yellowood tree (Cladrastris kentuckea) and  'Autumn Blaze' maple on the west side of the house. The redbud trees have dropped most of their leaves, after barely changing to a dull yellow.

 

West side of house with "Autumn Blaze' maple and aromatic asters.

The east garden from the deck.

The Badlands bed in fall with Sumacs and woods in back.

 

The butterfly weed in the Badlands bed is dying out, with only a few aromatic asters and a tiny mum blooming. Herb's bed is still colorful, with Muhly grass, 'Autumn Joy' sedum, Agastaches and other perennials. The red Salvia there continues to bloom--the late-migrating hummingbirds who visited a few days ago were most grateful for the refreshment.

Herb's bed in October.

Agastache 'Blue Boa' and 'Firebird' with lavender and grasses in Herb's bed.

Red Salvia in Herb's bed.

There are a few blooms left on the climbing rose 'New Dawn,' and the berries on the 'Brandywine' viburnum have turned deep blue as the leaves change color.

'New Dawn' climbing rose has a few blooms left.

Viburnum 'Brandywine'

This is the time of the year when every garden center and grocery store offers those florists' Chrysanthemums in a variety of colors--and the sales are hard to resist!  I bought two new ones at Lowes, which I haven't decided yet where to plant.  

 

Pink mum.

White mum

I still have some of those Chrysanthemums I buy every year that I've refreshed by transplanting to different sites every few years, like this orange one here and the purple ones below...but they rarely ever look as good as the greenhouse-grown ones. The blooms of yellow mums are just fading--perhaps the white mum would look good next to them.

 

Orange mum in the long island bed.

Purple mums in the Little Indians bed.

I'm preparing my tender tropicals to be brought indoors for the winter season by staging them on the porch, where they'll get washed and disinfected before being brought in. The other annuals are at the end of their life cycle and will be left to the mercy of the elements. It appears that our first frost may not come until early November this year, but who knows?

Porch plants preparing to be brought in.

Last blooms of tuberous begonia in hanging basket.

In the meantime, enjoy the last of the late flowers. Happy Bloom Day!

Gardener's Bloom Day, January 2024

Dried Hydrangea blossoms with snow

 

It's Gardener's Bloom Day once again, sponsored by Carol Michel's Blog "May Dreams Garden." What a lovely surprise to wake up to see about an inch of snow on the ground this morning! It's been two years since we had any significant snow here in my USDA Zone 6b garden. I believe we're supposed to get another 1-3 inches tomorrow, let's hope. I love having a bit of snow cover at this time of the year, it seems fitting and proper.

 

Princess holly, lavender and barberry shrubs.

It was about 23 degrees outside when I took these shots with my phone--why won't these phones work when you are using gloves? My hand was an icicle by the time I got back inside!

 

My cut-leaf Japanese maple 'Viridium'

Muhly grass with dried perennials.

The Little Indians bed.

The west bed with sedge and grasses.

I love the way some plants look when they're dusted with a bit of snow, but there are definitely no blooms here to be seen, unless you consider these "snow blossoms." Indoors, however, I always have a few flowers to console myself with. My collection of indoor plants is a weird mix of exotics and very eclectic, so here we are.

My Gardenia Tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata 'Flore Pleno') likes to bloom at this time of the year--I suspect this may be its blooming season in its native habitat in southeast Asia. The flowers have the most marvelous perfume for the first 6-8 hours after opening--after that the perfume fades.

 

Gardenia tree (Tabernaemontana divaricata)

 

My home-grown orchids continue to bloom: the oddly colored hybrid I bought at a roadside stand in Florida is probably a hybrid of Oncidium and another species. I brought it into the master bath after the flowers opened to enjoy its blossoms. The other orchids have been blooming for a couple of months now. The plant stand in the family room below is where most of my orchids live--as you can see I have collected quite a few over the years, mostly as presents, and a few from my botanical art classes. My students love to paint orchids, even though they're really difficult flowers to render.

 

Mystery orchid in the master bath.

Miltassia orchid flower spike.

Phalaenopsis on plant stand in family room.

Here are a few other blossoms: an Anthurium one of my sisters gave me, and a Brazilian begonia. I bought the latter because it was touted to have perfume, and I'm a sucker for perfumed flowers, but it has disappointed. This specimen, at least, has no scent that I can detect, but likes to bloom during the winter, which few begonias do.

Pink Anthurium

Brazilian begonia.

 

Someone gave me a waxed Amaryllis for Christmas but the downstairs of my house is so chilly it's taking its time to open. I thought it would be interesting to document the process of the buds opening in a painting, so that's what this last photo is about.

 

Waxed Amaryllis and painting.

I'm saving the center of the painting for the fully open flower, which will probably happen later this week. I'd love to save the bulb to grow, but have no idea if these bulbs will survive if potted once the blooms have faded. I have about four pots full of red Amaryllis bulbs that re-bloom every spring, but I don't know if these waxed ones will grow if freed from their wax covering. Have any other gardeners reading this tried it? If so, I'd appreciate any advice!