Late Summer Rains and Sightings

Viburnum 'Brandywine' with rough green snake.

 

Close-up of berries.

 

This past week we've had a couple of big storms bring a lot of wind and rain--yesterday's thunderstorm dropped 1.67" of rain on my still somewhat parched garden. These late summer rains have brought out some fascinating sights that I wanted to share.

Let's start with the Viburnum 'Brandywine' berries--this is my favorite stage as they are turning pink, with a few blues here and there. Eventually they will all ripen to dark blue and then black. I took the first photo and didn't notice that there was a little green snake crawling on the branch--it wasn't until I downloaded the photos and looked at them on my computer screen that I realized that what I'd taken for a blade of grass was actually a green snake!

As I understand it, these rough green snakes (Opheodrys aestivus) eat caterpillars and other small insects, and he might have been feasting on clearwing hummingbird moth caterpillars. Viburnum is one of the host plants for this moth, and I've seen quite a few of the moths here this summer nectaring on the Asian butterfly bush. I've seen the caterpillars on previous years, but not recently. I wonder if that could be the reason why? 

 

Clearwing hummingbird moth on Butterfly bush (photo taken by David Maza).

 

The abundant rain has stimulated my 'Natchez' crape-myrtle to produce more blooms than ever before, and my Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' has been sufficiently spared by the deer to offer a few blooms too.

 

Crape Myrtle 'Natchez'

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' is blooming.

 

The wild Petunias planted a couple of years ago keep getting eaten by the deer, but recently one of the three plants managed to offer enough flowers to appreciate its beauty. This year I grew some Mignonette (Reseda odorata) from seed. Its flowers aren't exactly showy but the scent is supposed to be wonderful. I've only detected a slight perfume, but the bees love it, so I hope it will re-seed itself for next year.

 

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

Mignonette (Reseda odorata)

Another pleasant surprise to see was that one of the two Viburnums that I grew from seed collected at Brookside Gardens had some flower buds--my Viburnums appear to be of the Leatherleaf variety or perhaps a hybrid of them--Brookside has quite a variety of Viburnums growing in that area. I'm curious to see what the flowers will be like. Let's hope the deer won't devour them--they seem to be blooming unseasonably, but some Viburnums do bloom at this time of the year.

Viburnum flower buds.

The deer left me a few buds of the bush Clematis 'True Love' to enjoy--the color is lovely!

Clematis 'True Love'

My double flowering quince has produced a few out of season blooms, and other summer flowers are re-blooming after being cut back:  Verbascum 'Southerm Charm' and a red-hot poker.

Double-flowering quince

Verbascum 'Southern Charm' rebloom.

Red-hot Pokers reblooming.

With autumn just around the corner, the Japanese Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' is developing flower buds. It lives under a protective cloche which I removed to take the photograph, but any buds that protrude from the cloche get eaten.

 

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'

The deer overlooked a few of the blue Lobelias this year--in better years I've had a gorgeous display of these native flowers which have spread over this east bed. Maybe next year?

Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) in the east bed.

At last, my Salvia 'Black and Blue' is blooming! This hummingbird favorite is usually grown in a pot along the front walk, and I'd never known deer to nip it before, but this year they started to munch on it at the height of the drought, so I moved it to the deck to keep it out of their reach. The pruning set it back a bit, so it only started to bloom this past week, several weeks later than usual.

 

Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue'

 

I just love the color!

August Few Bloom Day

Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

 

Today is Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog. Here in the northwest corner of Virginia, my Zone 6b garden continues to suffer from the drought that has affected the entire Shenandoah Valley this year. Other parts of the state have received some relief lately with summer storms, but the storms have brought only a little in the way of water for my garden. This August we are still short of even one inch of rain with half the month already past!

 

Another Cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis)

Lobelia 'Starship Rose'

 

The worst part is that with very little to browse in the forests, the wild creatures have been extremely voracious--both deer and rabbits have been making deeper inroads into my garden than ever before, leaving me few flowers to enjoy.

A newly planted Cardinal flower and the Lobelia 'Starship Rose' above had to be fenced off to protect them. After their tops got munched I could see that I'd have no flowers otherwise. The first photo is  of one tiny cardinal flower that mysteriously popped up in the front yard--I have no recollection of having planted it there, but perhaps it came with some bee balm that I'd transplanted from somewhere else.

 

My front yard.

The hardy begonias in the front yard have been decimated, I wonder if they'll have any flowers this year? The other plants along my front walk aren't exactly putting on a dazzling display, but there are a few exotic flowers among them, like my Cuban rain tree (Brunfelsia nitida) and the double Tuberoses in bud. I planted the Tuberoses last year, but they didn't bloom, and I'm waiting for the buds to open so I can inhale their lovely scent.

 

Cuban rain tree (Brunfelsia nitida) with a blossom.

Double Tuberose buds.

Salvias and tropical plants along the front walk.

Other parts of the garden are looking pretty sad. I usually have spectacular display of blue Lobelias this month, but this year most of the buds have been eaten by deer, and only a few have escaped.

 

Blue Lobelia (Lobelia syphillitica)

Blazing meadow star (Liatris ligulistylis)

 

Only one spike of the Blazing Meadow Stars came up this spring, but it got eaten down, and only a few flowers have re-sprouted. The newly-planted Liatris 'Kobold' was eaten back too; that hasn't re-sprouted at all. The Stella de Oro daylily buds were eaten, as were all my other daylilies. Only now is one flower spike of Stella starting to rebloom.

 

Stella de Oro daylily.

The potted plants on my porch and back deck are about the only ones the critters can't get to, and even they aren't exactly dazzling--just getting by, perhaps..

Hanging basket on porch.

Plants on the front porch.

Zinnias, orchids and begonias on the back deck.

 

A yellow 'Benary's Giant' Zinnia I planted from seed has started to bloom--one of the few that made it, most got eaten, probably by rabbits.

Zinnia 'Benary's Giant'

My Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' has put forth one tiny flower spike, let's hope it will have a few more, but the plant's variegated foliage is so beautiful on its own, it may not need to flower.

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance'

 

The new bed with the Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum) grown from seed hasn't filled in yet, but there are a few plants in bloom. The ensemble with white salvia, mountain mint, a sedge and oat grass will look better as it fills in with time, and hopefully become a pollinator magnet.

White Salvia with sedge, slender-leaved mountain mint, oat grass and Anise Hyssop.

Tomato harvest.

 

This year the only thing that has flourished are my deck-grown tomatoes: Roma, cherry and yellow pear. Please pray for rain for our parched gardens in Virginia!