Debby's Gift

 

Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) in miy front yard.

Tropical storm Debby arrived in our area last Wednesday evening and stayed through Friday. During that time Debby brought us a generous 6.75 inches of rain--a real gift! After such a severe drought during June and July, my garden is now reviving after these rains. Unfortunately, the deer have eaten so much, there aren't a lot of flowers left, but here are some of what is left for August's Bloom Day.

The cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis) under the cherry tree in front has come back--the one I'd planted in a back bed last year died in July--too dry a site for it, I expect. The location of this other seems to suit it, I hope I can get more plants to grow here.

 

Wild Ageratum on the east bed.

The wild Ageratum (Conoclinium coelestinum) which continues to reseed itself in the east bed and Herb's bed was looking very droopy, but it perked up a lot with the rains. Unfortunately the deer have eaten all of my Blue Lobelias (Lobelia siphyllitica) in the same bed, and their usual masses of flowers are gone.

 

Red Salvia

The red Salvia in Herb's bed is offering its blooms for the hummingbirds--we finally spotted a few recently, after seeing none in June and July. The deer ate the blue Agapanthus earlier, but another flowering spike has appeared; they didn't get this one after I sprayed it with repellent!

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile'

 

Deer generally avoid Agastaches, so my 'Blue Boa' were not touched, but the drought set it back somewhat. I need a few more plants to make this patch show up--another project for the fall or next spring!

Agastache 'Blue Boa'

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

A few black-eyed Susans bloomed after the rains despite the deer eating back most of the buds, ditto for the Coneflowers in the back bed. The Seven Son Flower tree is starting to bloom too.

Purple Coneflowers reblooming.

Seven Son Flower tree (Heptacodium miconoides)

A few other blooms typical for this time of the year: white 'Natchez' crapemyrtle, and Russian sage (Perovskia).

Crape myrtle 'Natchez' with Abelia 'Panoramic' and Japanese maple.

Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia)

 

Most of my potted plants had to be moved to the porch or the back deck to be safe from the deer--they were bold enough to nibble the black cotton plants I had in pots on the front steps of the house! They ate back the 'Black and Blue' Brazilian Salvia too, which is only now starting to put out a few budding spikes.

 

Irish moss (Sagina subulata)

 

This Irish moss plant has survived for several years in a pot that used to hold a blueberry plant, 'Top Hat'. The blueberry died out this summer, but the Irish moss has persisted. My hanging baskets on the porch haven't filled out as I hoped, but they are colorful. The problem with these Pamela Crawford side planters is they use up so much water! They dry out quickly too, and a few plants never make it, leaving large areas of the coir baskets exposed--not very attractive.

 

Porch baskets.

Front porch basket

Potted plants on the deck.

Tuberous begonia on deck.

 

 

We'll finish up with my two recent watercolors: Ice Mountain Suite #1 has been accepted into Art at the Mill's fall 2024 show. I'm working on completing Ice Mountain suite #2

Ice Mountain Suite #1, watercolor.

 

Ice Mountain Suite #2.

 

Bloom Day on the 15 on every month is brought to you by to Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog, Happy August Bloom Day!

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!

Painting the Lotus at Mattawoman Creek

Wild Lotus, watercolor, 10" x 5", $100.

After lunch at Mattawoman Creek park, Linda and I put the kayak in the water, loaded our gear and started paddling upstream. In this tidal area the waters are so calm it was difficult to detect much of a current but according to a fisherman we passed, the tide was going out . We paddled lazily past marshy banks of pickerelweed and spatterdock with some grassy plants that might be wild rice. We went round a bend and behold--here were expanses of the creamy yellow blossoms of the native American lotus at the height of their glory!

We continued upstream to a tiny island where Linda had gone swimming other times, but the water weeds were so thick near the shore it wasn't very appealing, so we gave up on swimming and explored on foot instead. We found several spikes of bright red cardinal flowers, pink butterfly weed and hog-peanut vines in flower. A bald eagle soared overhead, its white head majestic in the sunlight. A couple of fishing boats trolled past. With the sun at a lower angle now, it was just the right time to paddle back to paint the lotus.

We pulled into the lotus stand and parked the kayak near one blossom starting to open among several emerging leaves, their curious folds forming half moons sticking out of the water. I looked behind me and was amused to see Linda floating her small watercolor set on top of a lotus leaf (I'm used to holding mine in my left hand like a palette because it has a thumb-hole). I snapped a shot with her camera.

A splash behind us proved to be an osprey diving for fish. The osprey missed its prey and circled around for several passes but eventually gave up and flew away. We finished our sketches around six and paddled back in the evening light at the end of a marvelous day. I felt exhausted but my spirit overflowed with joy at the sight of so many lovely lotus flowers. It had been a perfect lotus day!