Dog Day Suprises

Porch basket

 

My porch baskets full of Pretty Grand petunias, which were lovely when I left, were barely alive when I returned from Peru. I managed to save a few petunias in this one, the other basket had to be re-planted with other flowers--whatever was available this late at a local store.

We're in the Dog Days now, when flowers are generally wilting and fading in the heat of August. Yesterday I found some surprising blooms in my garden: these tiny pink Cyclamen that I planted last fall and totally forgot about--I spotted two of these beauties peeking out of my woodland garden east of the house when I was watering.

 Looks like more buds are sprouting, hopefully they'll make a nice display in about a week. I believe they're the fall-blooming Cyclamen coum, and I'm wondering when the foliage will emerge. It's the first time I've grown them, and it's always fun to see the development of a plant new to me.

 

Cyclamen flowers coming up

Cyclamen

A tomato hornworm has been decimating my cherry tomatoes, but I haven't been able to find it--hopefully parasitic wasps will make short order of it soon if they haven't already. A few days ago I did find a black swallowtail caterpillar eating my dill, a 5th or 6th instar it looks like. It has now disappeared, which means it's likely attached itself somewhere to spin its cocoon. I'll be looking for it somewhere near by, though the chrysalis are difficult to spot.

 

Black Swallowtail caterpillar 

 

Herb's bed is splendid with the Agastaches  and Ageratums in bloom. The butterfly bush in the Little Indians bed behind recovered and is blooming too.

 

Agastaches in Herb's bed

 

Buddleia with Queen Anne's lace

Lots of butterfly action in my garden last week when these flowers were still in bloom: the Monarch butterflies love the Prairie Blazing Meadowstar (Liatris ligulistylis). A gorgeous male Tiger Swallowtail on the Buckeye Bottlebrush, and a Silver-potted Skipper and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on my Anise Hyssop. The flowers have faded now, and new plants are blooming, apprently not as attractive to the butterflies, although I did spot a Red-spotted Purple Admiral a few days ago while I was watering. It flew by too quickly to get a shot of it.

 

Monarch butterfly on Prairie Blazing Meadowstar

 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (male) on Bottlebrush Buckeye

Silver-spotted Skipper and a Clearwing Hummingbird Moth on Anise Hyssop

 

Recently I've been more focused on butterflies because I took a workshop in colored pencils dealing with incorporating insects and butterflies into botanical paintings, and had chosen to do an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly (female) on Joe Pye week, based on a photograph I took last year. It took me about two weeks and a lot of layers of colored pencils of many shades to finish it. Below is a photo of the finished piece.

 

 

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly, colored pencils on Bristol 300 Vellum finish, 9" x 12"

 My next artwork will probably be the Monarch butterfly on the Prairie Blazing Meadow Star, but in watercolor, just to see if a different medium is faster and/or better for this type of work.

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My heather is full of flowers after a severe pruning in the spring, and the "Baby Joe" Joe-pye weed is about to open.

 

Heather in bloom

 

"Baby Joe' Joe-pye weed

The plants along m front walk are presenting some nice flowers. This year I grew some Eucomis for the first time. The double Tuberose has some lovely scented flowers. And I've got my favorite tropical Salvias like 'Black and Blue' and 'Faye Chapel' as well as two new ones, 'Brazilian Blue' and Salvia Gentian 'Cambridge Blue'.

Eucomis

Double Tuberose

Variegated cotton and double Tuberose

Tropical Salvias in pots along the front walk

Salvia Gentian 'Cambridge Blue'

A Red Dahlia I couldn't resist buying is starting to bloom. Canna 'Tropicana' hasn't bloomed yet, it's in its second year, and I'm still hoping to see its flowers, but the leaves are so gorgeous anyway, it's fine.

 

Red Dahlia

Canna 'Tropicana' with red 'Double Knockout' rose

I have no idea what I'll have in bloom for the coming August Bloom Day next Saturday the 15th.

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!