The Dog Days that Weren't

Great Blue Lobelia (Lobelia syphillitica) in white.

 

August began with a couple of severe thunderstorms which brought a lot of rain to our region. After the second storm, the weather cooled down, as the jet stream dipped way down into the south. As a result, the usual Dog Days of summer have been considerably cooler than normal, almost autumn-like. My garden is loving it!

 

East bed with great blue Lobelias

Great blue Lobelias in the east bed.

The Great Blue Lobelia planted many years ago has multiplied amazingly in the intervening years, seeding itself throughout the entire bed to the east of the house. This year I noticed there are a couple of plants with white flowers among the throng--I presume they are either sports or albinos of the parent plant--in any case, they are lovely!

 

Hybrid lobelia 'Starship Rose'

 

The hummingbirds like the lobelias so much that this spring I ordered a new one, a hybrid called 'Starship Rose' which has turned out to be a winner. Now that I know it will do well here, I'll probably buy a few more plants next year. I want a huge clump of this one!

 

The back yard viewed from Herb's bed

The Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is getting ready for its September show--soon the Muhly grass nearby will put forth its airy plumes, and the swamp sunflowers blossoms for a gorgeous display. This year the deer haven't eaten the flowers of my wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) growing around my veggie patch and in the badlands, for some unfathomable reason.

 

Wild sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) in the Badlands

 

I've been spraying the black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckias) and the Clematis 'True Love' with garlic spray so the deer wouldn't eat them. But they took their revenge by devouring some pink Portulaca I'd planted in front. In the photo below the Portulaca was starting to cover the bed, a week later it looked gorgeous, and then the deer ate it down to nothing! Such is the heartbreak of gardening...

Pink Portulaca with Clematis 'True Love'

The long bed from the back with a Beautyberry shrub in front.

The long island bed.

Black-eyed Susans and Boutelouia 'Blonde Ambition' grass.

The long island bed is more colorful this year with the black-eyed Susans protected. The Lambs' ears is spreading nicely. This year I planted some balsam seeds  (Impatiens balsamina) in the bare spots. It took a while for them to sprout and get established, but they're finally starting to bloom. Hopefully they will re-seed themselves for next year. I used to have this plant in my garden in Columbia before we moved here, and it made a wonderful display.

Balsam (Impatiens balsamina)

One cool morning walking in the back near the woods, I spotted a tiny bunny under my witchhazel tree. He was so cute, I ran back to the house to call Herb to come see it, but by the time we got back to the spot, he was gone! Mama rabbit had probably parked him there while she fed, and she came back shortly to fetch her baby. Good thing I got a couple of photos of him before he vanished!

Micro-bunny.

Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar.

Another interesting sighting were some green and black caterpillars on my fennel plants--these are the larva of the black swallowtail butterflies. I was hoping to see some of the pupae, but I think the birds may have eaten the caterpillars before they had a chance to pupate. There doesn't seem to be a lack of black swallowtails in my yard, so a few must have made it. I see more and more butterflies here every year--my garden is definitely attracting more pollinators.

 

The front walk

Yellow Hibiscus

This summer my hanging baskets on the porch haven't been as successful as I hoped for, but the front walk, lined with potted plants, is as colorful as ever. Those scented white Petunias are a great new addition!

My potted plant collection on the back deck continues to increase, as you can see.

 

Plants on the back deck.

Back deck on the other side of the door.

I can't complain about this growing season, the weather has been very kind to my garden thus far. Yet oddly enough, the southern slender ladies tresses orchids that bloomed so profusely last summer, haven't made an appearance at all. Who knows why, these native orchids are so quirky!

Mid-Summer Garden Ho-hums

Hydrangeas in the east garden.

 

My garden was sadly neglected during my absence while I was at the Red House in June. It was very dry and so hot that despite Herb's tender ministrations, the weather and creatures have taken their toll on many plants this summer. The deer ate just about everything in sight: my roses, daylilies, the shrub Clematis, the Calendula seedlings. Even plants they'd not bothered with previously were chomped down, like my Rudbeckias and even the black cotton growing in pots on the front walk!

Hydrangea 'Tiny Tough Stuff' and gladiolus

Fortunately, deer don't eat hydrangeas or they would have gone after these too. This year my hydrangeas have bloomed better than ever before, despite the drought. I've been watering them whenever they showed signs of wilting, but I attribute the blooms to not cutting back the stems in early spring. I learned that both the lace cap and the Macrophylla types bloom on old wood, so I didn't prune them at all this spring. Not having any late frosts also helped, I'm sure. In any case, this is the first year that the lacecap hydrangea has produced more than one or two flowers. The flowers of both of the formerly blue hydrangeas are pink, indicating the soil is still alkaline, despite yearly treatments of soil acidifier. The new hydrangea 'Tiny Tought Stuff' is proving to be very floriferous.

Lacecap hydrangea.

The Asian lilies have finished blooming, and the daylilies' buds were eaten so quickly I didn't get a chance to see many flowers this year. Right now the Little Indians bed has very little in the way of color--a scattering of phlox flowers and towards the back, the white hibiscus and the butterfly bush.

The Little Indians bed.

Hibiscus and butterfly bush in the Little Indians bed.

 

Herb's bed has a little bit of color, and hopefully will have more as we get closer to fall. At the moment only the red Crocosmia 'Lucifer' are accented by the blue Centaureas. The perennial red salvia I planted this spring (on the right) finally produced its first spike of blossoms, and more should follow.

Herb's bed.

The cone flowers in the back bed continue to multiply; they blossomed well this year, although the flowers are now a bit past it. The goldfinches are starting to come around to check out the flower heads--I expect to see them gorging on the seeds in a week or two. I've been looking for some good companion plantings for this bed--I think it needs more variety and texture. 

I put in a plant of a red bee balm and one of a baby's breath, but thus far neither has prospered much (the deer ate back the bee balm). The dry soil here may be one problem, but deer are the biggest one. I must find some truly deer-resistant plants for this spot that is so prone to their depredations. So many of the plants advertised as being deer-resistant are anything but--there's nothing else but to try out some new plants here and see how they perform.

Coneflowers.

The current star of the garden is the bed of zinnias I planted this spring. The zinnias haven't filled out completely yet, but there's a nice variety of colors in the Benary's Giant mix I purchased. The deer don't seem to go for zinnias at all, so they've been spared, while the four o'clocks right next to them have been so badly chewed back I don't know if I'll get any blossoms out of them before the first frost comes this fall..

Benary's Giant zinnias

Pink zinnias

Orange zinnias

I'd forgotten how lovely these zinnias are, how easy and fun to grow. The bright colors of  these flowers are hard to beat!

Mid-Summer Harvest

Blueberries and Strawberries

This year my 'Top Hat' Blueberry bush has done well, thanks to a self-watering pot. I fed it lots of Holly Tone in the spring and it rewarded me with ample blossoms and later, fruit. As the berries started to ripen I noticed that the mockingbirds were circling around more frequently. In years past, I've lost most of the berries to them and squirrels; this year I was determined they wouldn't get the best of my harvest, and I covered the bush with bird netting. One mockingbird perched on the porch roof and scolded me for an hour after I did that, but I've been able to enjoy my home-grown blueberries at last!

The ever-bearing strawberry 'Mara de Bois' continues to produce too, though not in the profusion of the first flush in June. Tonight's fruit salad will be all home-grown.

 Blueberry 'Top Hat' bush.

We're now in the middle of the summer doldrums--so hot and dry that all my plants are suffering. I spend my evenings watering, trying to keep everything alive. Below are a couple of yellow roses I cut before they got blasted by the heat. If only it would rain, lots and lots of plentiful water we desperately need!

Yellow roses: 'Molineux' on the right, rootstock or 'Peace' on the left.

Still, many plants offer their blooms at this time of the year, such as the Butterfly bush (Buddleia hybrids), and this white hibiscus with a deep red eye.  The hibiscus wilts frequently, but with a bit of watering, perks up right away. The Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) is still displaying some flowers, as well as the lavender.

Butterfly bush (Buddleia) and white hibiscus.

The flower spikes of Vitex, also known as Chaste-tree (Vitex agnus-castus) appear at this time of the year--its blue spikes give the illusion of coolness in the blistering heat.

Vitex shrub (Vitex agnus-castus)

I planted this Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora) as a small sapling some five years ago; it's now over my head and covered with flower spikes that are starting to open. It will eventually reach some 12 to 15 feet high and wider, since it tends to spread out by suckers.

Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aseculus parviflora)

The Meadow Blazing Star (Liatris ligulistylis) that I added to Herb's bed this spring is starting to bloom--I wish I'd ordered more plants--there were only two bulbs in the order of three I was sent, and I planted the other bulb in the Lil' Indians bed, where it promptly disappeared--overshadowed by other plants. Oh well, I'll move the other bulb here in the fall and hope they'll form a nice clump eventually. The flowers are unusual in that they open from the top down--most flower spikes tend to open from the bottom upward.

Herb's bed

The black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm') in the long bed is starting to bloom, and the ornamental blue grama grasses (Boutelua gracilis 'Blonde Ambition') thankfully don't need a lot of water.

Black-eyed Susan and ornamental grasses.

My white-flowered Crape myrtle 'Natchez' is finally reaching tree height, though it tends to lose some top growth during the winter. The bark peels in attractive layers of brown and gray, giving it added interest during the winter season.

Crepe myrtle 'Natchez' in front.

The drift roses are holding their own with some watering--I'm thinking of expanding this bed all the way across toward the crape myrtle and putting in more drift roses, maybe white ones? I like the way the blue fescue grasses look with the roses, but the bed needs a touch more of blue--maybe add more of the same variety of blue Veronica growing below the crepe myrtle, or some blue lupines?

I'm counting the days until fall planting season now.

Winter Blooms

Orchid 'Scent of a Woman'

The mid-winter doldrums are upon us, a prolonged cold snap has brought unusually low temperatures recently. Evidence of the snow flurries that came down on the last days of the old year is still on the ground in my back yard; there is very little else to see out there. What better time to enjoy the blossoms of my house plants indoors?

Brassidium in bloom

The orchids in my bathroom are at it again--this lovely Brassidium hybrid  has bloomed faithfully around this time for the past four years. Some years there are more flowers than others; this year one spike opened before Christmas, and two others are still developing. The flowers should last till about mid-February or perhaps later.

Another hybrid, the Oncidium Ruffles 'Scent of a Woman' put out one flowering spike. This orchid is more unpredictable, it usually flowers in early spring, but this year it started to bloom much earlier, and is flowering at the same time as the Brassidium.

Bearss lime tree

My lime tree was laden with fruit when I brought it inside this fall--I counted nine limes. Two have been harvested so far, and there are about seven or eight more, with more blossoms setting fruit. It seems the frequent feedings are paying off. I don't recall ever having a lime tree as prolific as this one, despite the constant attacks of ants and accompanying scale insects.

Tabernaemontana divaricata

Other exotic plants are also blooming--I've been growing this small tree known as Butterfly Gardenia (Tabernaemontana divaricata) for a couple of years, and it bloomed last summer, but this is the first winter it has bloomed. The flowers are lightly scented, but relatively short-lived, lasting about 3-4 days before fading.

Yellow hibiscus

I almost left the large yellow hibiscus tree with a braided trunk that my sister Silvia gave me a couple of years ago, outside to perish with the first frost, because the huge plant seems to attract mealybugs like a lightning rod. It's a constant battle with them both indoors and out, and the bugs tend to spread to other plants. But the flowers are so beautiful, I decided it was worth keeping. Spring seems so far away at this time... a little indoor cheer is welcome.