July Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

Clary sage (Salvia sclarea)

Clary sage

 

This summer the deer have been incredibly voracious--they haven't left me very many flowers to show! One they haven't touched is the biennial Clary sage I planted last year. The flower spikes are big and bold, I'm sure their musky smell is the reason they've been left alone.

 

Centaurea cyanus 'Emperor William'

The nearby Centaurea 'Emperor William' which I grew from seed a couple of years ago, has been reseeding itself ever since, but this year, the seedlings all got chomped back and only this one plant somehow managed to avoid being eaten. I love their bright blue color!

 

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa)

 

Butterfly weed is another plant deer don't eat much, although they managed to eat the flower buds of all the 'Hello Yellow' ones--these plants are just finishing their cycle of bloom. The Buddleias are starting their show--with the extreme drought in our area and barely enough rain to bring relief, nothing is looking too great, only a few flower spikes where normally bloom would be profuse.

 

Butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii)

 Buddleia Pugster 'Miss Molly'

Buddleia lindleyiana

The Buddleia lindleyiana is a native of Japan and is doing well in my Virginia garden, but I'm discovering that it likes to sucker, and needs more room. I  love the graceful arching flower spikes, and the pollinators really like this variety: butterflies, bees and hummingbirds.

 

Bottlebrush buckeye (Aesculus parviflora)

Speaking of plants beloved by pollinators, my Bottlebrush buckeye is about to bloom--it's a bit late this year, it's usually in full bloom by now. My tree is now about 6 foot tall and wide, it will probably reach its mature height of about 10 feet in a few years.

 

Seven Son Flower Tree (Heptacodium miconiodes)

The Seven Son Flower Tree, which normally doesn't bloom until August, budded out very early and has started to open its small clusters of seven flowers each. This shrub is a native of China, but still attracts lots of native pollinators such as dark swallowtails, and the hummers too.

 

Coneflowers under the Seven Son Flower Tree

Close-up of Coneflowers.

The back bed with a variety of Coneflowers and other blooming plants lies under the Seven Son Flower Tree, but this year, the coneflowers have been decimated--very few are left. I really need to be more proactive in spreading deer repellent or there'll be nothing left to show for all my labors.

 

Crocosmia 'Lucifer'

Clematis 'True Love'

 

Again, these Crocosmia and clematis flowers above are the only ones left from the deer's depredations. The heather below grows under a wire cloche, or there would be nothing left of either foliage or flowers. 

Heather.

On the east side of the house, the hydrangea 'Incrediball' is lovely, the other hydrangeas have been chewed up a lot--only one flower left on the lace-cap  hydrangea, the one on the other side of Incrediball (behind) has not a single flower left! 'Little Quick Fire' hydrangea sustained very little damage, but the Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' is standing only because of the tomato cage protecting it.

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers'

 

Lavenders are among few flowers that deer don't go for, and the mint family is also generally spared.

 

Lavender 'Grosso'

Hoary mountain mint with Ninebark tree 'Coppertina'

 

Salvias are not appetizing to deer either, and generally spared--I bought the one below at Green Springs Gardens, where our botanical artist group had a show this spring, and deadheaded it--it's starting to re-bloom. I thought that zinnias were immune to deer too, but this year my seedlings have been decapitated.

 

Salvia

Vitex agnus castus

The Vitex above is usually in full bloom at this time, but with the current drought, growth has slowed down so much! 

The plants on the deck and hanging baskets are out of the deer's reach, of course, so I may still enjoy those flowers.

 

Cuphea 'Hummingbird's Lunch' on the back deck.

Hanging basket on the porch.

Calibrachoas on the deck.

 

The Cuphea 'Hummingbird's Lunch' hasn't attracted many hummers, but well I remember how one evening last year, in late September, a lone female hummingbird, apparently starved, came and gratefully buzzed every flower.

To sum it up, this July I'm short of flowers to show. Let's pray for some good rains in our area soon, so that I may have something in bloom to show you next month!

Bursts of Color

Asian lilies.

The reds.

 This week the Asian lilies are adding bursts of color to the beds in the back yard, along with the daylilies. The red lilies opened first, with the orange and pink coming in behind. The yellow ones are still in bud, and will likely open last.

The pinks.

Asian lilies in the long island bed.

Along with the Stella d'Oro daylilies in the Little Indians bed, the butterfly weed  (Asclepias tuberosa) and some early pale purple Phlox brighten the length of the bed.

 

The Little Indians bed from the front.

The Little Indians bed from the back.

This year the Asclepias 'Hello Yellow' that I planted a couple of years ago has finally produced a few blooms, although the plant is still very skimpy compared to the orange ones. On the western front, the yellow daylilies are blooming. 

 

The back yard seen from the deck.

 

The lavender in the back yard beds didn't winter very well, many branches died off and required pruning. As a result, there are much fewer blooms this year, specially the pink and 'Grosso' varieties. I wonder if the bushes will regrow or if will they have to be replaced soon.

One can catch a glimpse of the row of Stella d'Oro daylilies in the Little Indians bed from the east garden, where the pagoda dogwood is setting seeds after flowering.  I don't recall this tree setting seed before. The hydrangeas here are starting to bloom--I'm not surprised that the 'Endless Summer' variety is showing buds, since this variety can bloom on new as well as old canes. But the shoots on the lacecap variety died back to the ground as a result of the low temperatures during the past winter, so it's not likely to bloom this year. The white 'Incrediball' is a different variety that blooms profusely on new canes, a reliable performer every year.

The east garden.

Hydrangeas one the east side.

The Cumberland azalea is blooming fairly well this year, though the flowers seem to be paler this year than they used to be. Every spring I put soil acidifier and fertilizer around it and my other Rhododendrons hoping to keep them happy, but the sad truth is that acid-loving plants don't like this soil, it's a never-ending battle to keep them alive, much less prosper.

Cumberland azalea (Rhododendron cumberlandense)

Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate'

Last fall I transplanted the Tradescantia 'Sweet Kate' that my sister Bea had given me to a sunnier spot, and that has paid off--the plant is blooming much better. It's a beautiful combination of yellow-green foliage that sets off the deep purple of the flowers.

 

Bunny ears in a rabbit den.

 

Yesterday evening after a long session of watering my front garden, I happened to see a rabbit in my flower bed. Nothing unusual about that, the local rabbit population frequents my garden, the back yard usually more than the front. Fearing that the rabbit had found some plants there very tasty, I shooed it away, but decided to investigate what had attracted the rabbit.

I noticed one spot that I had mulched just a couple of weeks before had fresh dirt and some pebbles, which seemed unusual. There is a bed of creeping phlox there under the cherry tree, and right where the dirt was, there was something that looked like animal fur. I lifted up a bit of the phlox to find a hole, and peering inside, saw several tiny bunnies huddling together. It was hard to tell just how many, but there was a small ear, a tail and an eye. I ran to get my phone to get these few shots.

One bunny's eye looks out.

I covered up the hole, but was so excited that I called Herb over to show him what I'd found. When I uncovered the hole the second time, one tiny bunny got so spooked that he ran out from the bed of creeping phlox (there must have been a second entrance to the den) and jumped into the bushes by the front porch! I covered up the hole again and we left the front yard. I hope the poor little bunny was able to get back to his home eventually, and that mama rabbit came back. I haven't see her today, but I expect she will be back, so I'm keeping an eye out. The things I see in my garden are a constant source of wonder!

Elleber Ridge

Tiger swallowtail butterfly on flame azalea flowers.

 

The day after my hike to the Dan Ingalls Overlook Trail  I had planned to go with Amanda's friend Charles on a plant finding expedition. Charles Garratt is a well-known photographer and native orchid aficionado who has located and documented an amazing variety of hard-to-find orchids in Bath County and neighboring areas.

Charles was very kind to offer to drive me around and show me some botanical sites; we agreed on exploring a botanical site known as Elleber ridge, on the state line between Virginia and West Virginia, where we might find some orchids in bloom at this time of the year.

 

The bathhouses in Warm Springs

The Warm Springs gazebo by the bathhouses.

We agreed to meet in Warm Springs and ride north to Highland County, which I'd never visited before. The ride through the fields and forests bordering the Jackson river was lovely, everything looked so lush and green with all the recent rain. Highland County is the least populated county in our state, known to me primarily for its sugar maple syrup production. Charles told me that raising cattle was currently topping the list for economic activity here.

 

Wild columbines in Highland County.

 

As we passed open fields heading into the mountains, we saw lovely Columbine flowers along the roadsides, and Charles remarked that some botanists believe these may be a different species of Aquilegia than the ordinary A. canadensis, because they seem to bloom all summer long and are taller than usual. I guess only DNA studies could determine if it is a different species or simply a variant.

At the top of the mountain was the entrance to the Elleber Ridge area, and as we made our way down a steep forest service road, we crossed a stream and several ravines. Charles kept a sharp eye for  unusual vegetation by the roadside. Deep in the woods he stopped at a place where there were several pieces of heavy machinery--it appeared that the forest service was getting ready to cut down a stand of Virginia pine for timber.

 

Padleaf orchid (Platanthera orbiculata)

In the shade of the pines by a small creek we found many orchids growing among thick stands of fern: quite a few pink lady slippers (Cypripedium acaule) were still in bloom here, and some padleaf orchids (Platanthera orbiculata) in bud were getting ready to bloom. We took lots of photos of these and other lovely woodland flowers. What a shame that heavy equipment was about to destroy this wonderful orchid refuge! If I'd had a place to keep some of these orchids alive, I would have rescued them right on the spot! Alas, if they manage to survive the timbering operation, it may take many years for this population to recover.

 

Pink ladyslipper orchid (Cypripedium acaule)

Pink ladyslippers

Mountain woodsorrel (Oxalis montana)

 

Flame azalea (Rhododendron calendulaceae)

After that stop, we pulled up by a thicket of Flame azaleas and mountain laurels. The Flame azaleas were absolutely irresistible! Even the butterflies couldn't leave them alone! 

White monkshood (Aconitum reclinatum)

We also found white monkshood in bud, and a maple in bloom--I later confirmed it was mountain maple (Acer spicatum)--it's unusual to see a maple flowering this late in the season. This small understory tree's normal range is much farther north, it's only found in the higher elevations of the Appalachian Mountains. An enormous pipevine twined into the top parts of a tree overhanging the stream where we ate our lunch.

 

Pipevine (Aristolochia macrophylla)

The drive back through the town of Monterey and Rte. 220 was very scenic. It was early evening by the time we got back to Warm Springs, when Charles said he had one more site to show me. Earlier we had talked about shale barrens, and their unusual native vegetation, and he now surprised me by driving through the town of Hot Springs down to the sewage treatment station. Right across from this was a sheer wall of rock facing southwest--a shale barren!

A shale barren near Hot Springs.

Clematis viticaulis in shale barren

Clematis viticaulis in shale barren.

Charles had talked about two of our native clematises that grew in this inhospitable habitat: Clematis viticaulis and Clematis albicoma. Here were some clematises with their characteristic seedheads, at least one, possibly both species! There were also butterfly weed (Asclepias) in bloom, the native Sedum ternatum, and in the rock undercuts, some spleenworts (I believe these are Asplenium trichomanes).

 

Sedum ternatum in shale barren

Spleenwort in shale barren (Asplenium trichomanes)

The summer temperatures in these shale barrens can reach up to 180 degrees, and the vertical slopes drain quickly, making this environment very hot and dry. The plants that live are able to adapt to these extremes. 

I enjoyed the day and the company to the max: it's not often that I get to see and photograph so many plants new to me, in such amazing settings, and talk to such a fascinating plant aficionado! I'm hoping to acquire some of these clematises native to the shale barrens, to see if they will grow in my garden--I'm sure there are some dry, hot spots that might provide just the right conditions for them, if I can only find the drainage they need.