Peonies Rule

Itoh Peony 'Bartzella'

Peonies rule in my garden at this time of the year, but only for a short time--aside from their beauty one great thing about peonies is that deer won't touch them! This year my Itoh peony 'Bartzella' is gorgeous, particularly with that touch of blue of the catmint flowers behind.

Peony 'Bartzella'

 

'Duchesse de Nemours' looks very sloppy this year--I couldn't find the grow-through wire hoop to support the flowers at the proper time, and the plant grew so fast it was too late to use it by the time I found it-- the large flowers are bending over on the ground. 

 

Peony 'Duchesse de Nemours'

'Duchesse de Nemours'

The no-name pink peony which I planted the first year here is also gorgeous, though this year's drought has made the flowers look somewhat blighted even before the buds opened.

 

Pink peony.

Pink peony in front yard.

On the other side of the house my 'dawn and dusk' combo is in bloom, but not as showy as in other years. I'd hoped to get the huge climbing rose 'New Dawn' back up on the porch pillar, but its thorns are so formidable, that for now I'll wait until late fall after the foliage has withered to try that.

 

Clematis 'Etoile Violette' with rose 'New Dawn'.

Clematis 'Etoile Violette'

As usual, the clematis seems to precede the flush of rose bloom by about a week. My 'Petal Pushers' and other roses are lagging behind, except for the red 'Double Knock Out' which I pruned back a lot in early spring, and fertilized generously.

 

Flowers in the back bed.

 

A few surprises in the back bed--which I've been watering regularly--were these native irises, known as blue flag (Iris versicolor). I'd almost forgotten they were there since they hadn't bloomed in several years, but this year they produced some lovely blossoms.

 

Blue flag (Iris versicolor)

Pink foxglove

 

I forget where these foxgloves came from--maybe they were a gift--and they're doing well under the Kousa dogwood back here. The native foxglove Pentstemon (Pentstemon digitalis) are also blooming along with the electric blue Pentstemon and a pink Gaura I planted this year. Only one of the blazing meadow stars (Liatris ligulistylis) seemed to have survived the winter, so I bought another variety, Liatris 'Kobold' to keep it company and fill the bed.

 

Electric blue Pentstemon and pink Gaura with Liatris.

Same shot, longer view with foxglove pentstemon.

I planted my anise hyssop seedlings grown from seed a few days ago, so now the remodeled west bed is complete. I added some zinnia seedlings also grown from seed to cover the browning foliage of the daffodils, but it will take some rain to get these going so they can be seen. The Japanese maple 'Amber Ghost' and the ninebark 'Amber Jubilee" look so lovely in the evening sunlight!

 

Japanese maple 'Amber Ghost' and ninebark tree 'Amber Jubilee' in the west bed.

 

Of course, the bed will change over the course of summer when the daffodil foliage dies down and hopefully the 'Benary's Giant' zinnias take over. 

 

My left over irises blooming.

I'd abandoned these irises under the deck stairs last fall, intending to replant them somewhere or give them away, but never got around to it--it was a surprise to see them blooming even with bare roots! I guess this calls for a new iris bed to be dug sometime in the fall. I need room for more plants, as usual; the question is where?

Peonies, Roses and More

Itoh Peony 'Bartzella'

Bartzella

 

Late May is such a wonderful time of the year for flowers! Peonies, roses, clematis, azaleas, wildflowers, just about everything seems to bloom at this time of the year. After the recent rainy spell, my garden looks fabulous! That is, as long as you don't look too closely at the weedy lawn.

My peonies put on  a gorgeous show this spring: the yellow Itoh 'Bartzella'  produced seven huge, dinner-plate size blossoms. 'Duchesse de Nemours' is so heavy with blooms that even with grow-through wire supports, the recent rains broke off a few stems. The perfect excuse to cut and bring them into my house to fill a vase for sketching.

 

Peony 'Duchesse de Nemours'

'Duchesse de Nemours'

The pink peony in the front bed by the driveway was the first peony I planted in my garden, and it has been putting on a show since then. Peonies are long-lived plants, and usually bloom in greater profusion every year if they're happy in their location.

 

Pink peony in front bed.

 

Pink peony, alliums and shrub roses in bed by driveway.

Shrub rose 'Petal Pusher' with blue Fescue and yellow alliums.

 

The sunny bed by the driveway with the pink peony is fuller this year with yellow alliums, and the roses are now starting to bloom. I don't recall the tufts of blue fescue grass blooming so profusely before, they are stunning this year!

 

Red 'Double Knockout' rose by the front walk.

Ground covers by the front walk.

The red 'Double Knockout' rose by the front walk is lovely with its first flush of bloom, and will keep on blooming until the first frost, if not as profusely--I only wish it had some perfume! The rest of the ground covers and shrubs along the walk are lush too; the Persian carpet effect I wanted here is coming together nicely. The blue-green foliage of woolly thyme and Juniper contrasts nicely with the yellow-greens of the sedum 'Angelina' and a miniature golden Hinoki false cypress, and the fresh green of Greek oregano, accented with the clump of magenta pink dianthus flowers.

Clematis 'Etoile Violette'

 

My clematis 'Etoile Violette' took a beating last year when the climbing rose 'New Dawn' was blown down off the porch pillar during a storm. The rose had to be pruned back severely, which I don't think hurt it any. This year it looks as if 'New Dawn' will bloom a bit later, so the two will not coincide. I like the color combination of these three plants: the deep purple clematis with a golden Hinoki cypress and a dwarf Colorado blue spruce. 

 

East garden in the evening.

Moving along the east of the house, three Japanese maples provide shelter for shade-loving plants like the Rhododendron and two azaleas. The photo above was taken last week, the one below a few days later. The Japanese maples are a red-leaved 'Bloodgood', a full-moon maple 'Shirasawanum', and between these two, a small-leaved one I grew from a seedling found in the grounds of the office building next to the one I used to work in.

Same bed in morning light, pagoda dogwood on the left, fringe tree on the right.

'Blue Barlow' columbines with Fringe tree and Japanese maples.

 

The Virginia Fringe tree (Chionanthus virginianus) and Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) blooming at the same time with the columbines really made this area of the garden sing this year. The great blue Lobelias are spreading all over this bed, competing with the 'Blue Barlow' columbines. Later in the year the Lobelias will cover the bed with their blue spikes of flowers.

 

Dutch iris, 'Major Wheeler' honeysuckle and double flowering Quince

In the back yard, the deep blue Dutch iris sets off the honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler' while the double flowering quince continues to bloom in the long island bed. In the same bed, the elderberry 'Black Lace' and other plants bloom, waiting for the Asian lilies to make their entrance.

Clematis 'John Warren'

Elderberry (Sambucus 'Black Lace')

Pentstemon 'Electric Blue'

Foxglove Pentstemon

Last fall I transplanted one of the foxglove Pentstemons to the Herb bed and another to the back bed, where they are flourishing. Meanwhile, the Badlands shine with the same foxglove Pentstemons and the blooms of 'Coppertina,' a ninebark tree (Physocarpus opulifolium 'Coppertina).  The deer eat this shrub back every year so it doesn't seem to get any bigger, but they seem to have stopped devouring my other ninebark tree, 'Amber Jubilee' in another bed, allowing it to produce its first blooms this year.

Ninebark tree 'Coppertina'

Ninebark tree 'Amber Jubilee'

I'd forgotten to show you my 'Kousa' dogwood, which has more blooms this year, despite the ravages of the 17-year locusts last year.

 

'Kousa' dogwood in back bed.

I can't wait to see what marvelous new blooms the season will bring forth soon!

Fall Flowers

Swamp sunflowers (Helianthemum angustifolium) by the house.

 

As my birthday comes around once more, the season is marked by some of my favorite fall flowers. First to bloom are the swamp sunflowers, with their cheerful, airy scapes, then the chrysanthemums and the asters. The smooth blue aster (Symphyotrichum laeve) blooms earlier--the flower spikes tend to be tall and slender, but this year, mine were eaten back by deer, and thus pruned, they barely peek out from under the Amsonia behind them.

 

Symphyotrichum laeve with yellowing leaves of Amsonia hubrichtii.

Colchicum 'Waterlily'

The Colchicum 'Waterlily' flowers were spectacular, if short-lived--three gorgeous flowers emerged on leafless stalks. The leaves will sprout in the spring, grow, and then disappear. No signs of the saffron I planted in a wire cage in the back bed this year--Herb caught sight of a squirrel digging up the bulbs I had planted in pots and despite covering those with wire cloches, there's yet a flower to appear. Maybe the squirrels have already eaten all the blooming-size bulbs.

 

Red  'Double Knockout' rose

After a very wet September, the roses are re-blooming. The red 'Double knockout' roses in front look particularly lovely with the amber foliage of the dogwood. My Chrysanthemums were mostly a disaster this year--the plants burned so much during the summer drought, that very few buds were left intact, and the foliage all browned out. To console myself I bought a new pink mum at a garden center, and an ornamental kale. The two complement each other perfectly!

Pink mum with ornamental kale.

The aromatic asters (Symphyotrichum oblongiflolium) usually open a couple of weeks after the swamp sunflowers and last until well into November. In the two weeks since I started writing this post, the asters have opened just as the sunflowers begin to fade.

 

Aromatic aster (Symphyotrichum oblongifolium)

Close-up of the aromatic asters

October dawns on the front garden.

Despite the warm days, in the past two weeks the dogwood tree in front has gone from amber to burnished red, and most of the potted plants that I grow outside are beginning to die back. The cherry tree is turning gold. My pot-grown red Dahlia finally produced a few blooms--well worth the wait!

 

Red Dahlia

 

The weather has been so warm recently, and many of the summer-flowering plants I put in this year didn't start blooming until recently. The Calendula 'Neon', eaten back by the deer until I protected it, didn't produce many blooms until a few weeks ago; the perennial red Salvia planted this year is only now covered with blooming spikes. A shame that these will soon be cut down by the first frost, just as they're looking their best!

 

Calendula 'Neon' grown from seed.

Beautyberry 'Early Amethyst' (Callicarpa dichotoma)

 

Today the air is crisp and much cooler, it feels like the first really autumnal day. The frosts will arrive soon, and usher in the closing chapter of another season in my garden.

The Extravagance of Roses

Double Knockout rose

For gardeners, roses are the ultimate extravagance: the queen of flowers! My mother cultivated more than twenty varieties of roses in her tiny Falls Church garden, along with countless other garden standards--her aim was to have "a garden for all seasons," but roses were her favorites. In those days there weren't many deer in the suburbs so she was able to enjoy her roses without having to worry about their depredations. I'm not so lucky here in Front Royal--voracious deer roam all about, and every year I do my best to try to fend them off with repellent spray, so I can enjoy some of their lovely flowers.

Climbing rose' New Dawn' and clemtais 'Etoile Violette'

Shortly after moving here I saw this combination of a climbing rose 'New Dawn' intertwining with the lovely clematis 'Etoile Violette' advertised as "Dawn and Dusk" in a gardening catalog--such an evocative phrase! The following spring I ordered the two plants to train up one of the columns of the porch of our new home. It's been seven years since I planted them, and the display becomes more spectacular every year.

'Petal Pushers' shrub rose with red 'Simplicity

Bed on the west side of the driveway with pink peony and Allium moly

The next year I began to extend the small, linear flower bed on the west side of the driveway and planted three 'Petal Pushers' shrub roses and a pink peony. Over the years I kept expanding the flower bed to include some bearded irises, flowering onions (Allium sp.) and a few more roses: a red 'Simplicity,' the yellow 'Molineux,' and one of my favorites, the hybrid tea rose 'Peace.'

'Molineux' rose

'Peace' rose or grandiflora rootstock?

The 'Peace' rose suffered greatly one very dry winter and died back, but the next spring it eventually came back. I have no idea if the tea rose was grafted or on its own root, and it was the rootstock that sprang forth, but it has gradually been growing and flowering. This rose doesn't look like a tea rose to me, but more like some sort of grandiflora, although it has a similar coloring to 'Peace.' In any case, it's beautiful, healthy and growing. I don't find much to recommend 'Simplicity' other than its bright color and easy care, although the rose hips that form after the flowers fade are attractive.

The only disappointment for me is that so few of these lovely roses have much of the traditional rose fragrance--'New Dawn' has a light scent, and 'Molineux' too. How I long for a beautiful, easy-care rose loaded with perfume! I peruse my gardening catalogs, and am determined that the next rose I plant must be fragrant to the max!