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!

Garden Bloggers Bloomday June 2023

Great Spangled Fritillary on orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa).

The 15th of the month is Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden Blog.

The severe drought continues here in my corner of northwestern Virginia (Zone 6B)--we've had only a half inch of rain since the beginning of the month, on top of the driest April and May since I've lived here. I don't know if the drought is contributing to it, but we also seem to be having the worst tick season yet--I've been bitten twice in as many months while working in the confines of my garden! That last one was a lone star tick, a recent introduction brought by deer.

Speaking of which, the local deer have been incredibly voracious: I've hardly seen a flower from any of my daylilies. The buds get eaten before they have a chance to open! They've decimated my Coneflowers and phlox too. But there are still a few blooms from plants that don't appeal as much to these beasts. The orange butterfly weed is out in force, though even the 'Hello Yellow' variety got munched back.

The chiggers, that scourge of the rural south, are also out in force and viscious--I have to douse myself in insect repellent just to go out into my garden, and even then it's likely I'll get at least a few bites!

 

Asian lilies and red-hot pokers.

Red and orange Asian lilies.

 

The Asian lilies bloomed, but this year, their glory was brief. These photos were taken four days ago, this morning the flowers were all gone, devoured by the deer. That's so unusual--I was under the impression that Asian lilies were toxic to most animals, including deer, and these flowers had never been touched before. What could be going on? Have deer suddenly developed an immunity to the toxins, or have they become suicidal?

The Red-hot pokers are still holding on, only a few spikes have been chewed off. The Diervilla 'Kodiak Black' is blooming. So are the foxglove pentstemons and blue Centaurea in the Herb bed.

 

Diervilla 'Kodiak Black'

Centaurea 'Emperor William'

Foxglove penstemon.

 

'Incrediball' and my new Oak leaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' are blooming, and it looks as if 'Little Quick Fire' will bloom later on, but I doubt that my other two hydrangeas will present much bloom this year--the old wood died back to the ground during our dry spring.

 

Oakleaf hydrangea 'Ruby Slippers' and 'Incrediball' in background.

Oakleaf hydrangea and tradescantia.

My front yard offers welcome shade at this time of the year, and a variety of blooms: Gaillardia "Arizona Sun', a pink bee balm in the shade, and two varieties of lavender. The daffodil foliage is dying back, but the annuals that were intended to hide the dying foliage are being munched by the deer!

 

My front yard on June Bloom Day--Gaillardias in front.

Pink Monardas under the cherry tree.

Lavender under yellow magnolia tree.

Lavender and yarrow by the driveway.

The bed by the front driveway sports an 'Admiration' barberry with lavender (Lavandula 'Grosso') and red yarrow.

 

Clary sage in bud.

Although not in bloom yet, the buds of the clary sage (Salvia sclarea) I grew from seed last year are developing. This is a biennial native to the Mediterranean region which I've never grown before--I can't wait to see what the flowers will look like! The leaves are somewhat fuzzy and tough, the plant is usually cultivated for its medicinal oils.

 

Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles'

This New Jersey tea plant 'Gloire de Versailles' is a hybrid between a native eastern variety and a California one. Supposed to be deer-resistant, I've had to put a tomato cage around mine to keep if from being devoured by deer, like many other plants in my garden--it's finally making some progress.

More red-hot pokers (Kniphofia) on the west side.

Hanging basket with Calibrachoas on the back deck.

I have a number of hanging baskets with plants on the porch and the back deck, but these haven't grown enough to make much of a show, except for these Calibrachoas. As the summer progresses, I hope they'll make a better showing.

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!