In the Heat of July

Herb with a common Mullein.

The common Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) is a native plant that grows wild in open fields in many places throughout the world. I've seen them on our roadsides and local pastures often enough while driving around, but never had a chance to observe them close-up, so when several plants sprang up in my yard last year, I left them alone so that I could watch them closely. The plants are biennial, with a rosette of silvery leaves growing the first year, developing the flowering stalk on their second year. It has been used medicinally for hundreds of years--I think the flowers are very attractive.

Close-up of Mullein flowers

One of the Mulleins came up right by the front steps to the house. The structure the flowering stem is fascinating--the veins form flanges that support the incredible height of the flowering stalk. The one in the back bed reached an impressive height--my husband Herb is 6'-4" and as you can see in the photo, the flower stalk towers at least a foot above him!

Mullein by the front steps

Our area tends to be quite hot and dry during summers that are punctuated by the occasional thunderstorm and accompanying gully-washers. This environment is hard on many plants, particularly some garden favorites, but there are others that can resist these conditions, and I've slowly been learning which will survive and even thrive.

Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea) are among these, and I'd planted a nice group of them in the back bed. Two winters ago most of them disappeared--I learned that voles (a type of small field mouse) like to eat the roots, and they attacked mine mercilessly. When I replaced the plants last summer, I wrapped the root balls in wire mesh before putting them in the ground so that the voles couldn't get to the roots, and this year, I'm happy to see that my Coneflowers are starting to prosper.  There are several varieties here: orange 'Sombrero', 'Cheyenne Spirit', white 'Avalanche,' as well as an ordinary light pink--I have no idea where the yellow ones came from, perhaps natural cross-pollination.

I spotted a family of goldfinches scouting the flowers earlier--they love to eat the seeds--so I'm hoping to see lots of goldfinches feeding on them after the flowers have set seed. Hopefully, these will eventually fill in the whole bed, although I may put some other plants among them to discourage voles, just to make sure.

Coneflowers ( in assorted colors.

Deer found the Diervilla 'Kodiak Black' (Diervilla lonicera) I planted last summer very tasty, so I took the precaution of caging it so that I could see some flowers this year. This plant, known as bush honeysuckle, is native to the eastern half of North America from Canada to North Carolina. My cultivar is supposed to have dark purplish leaves, but since it prefers cool summers, I'm guessing the heat may be causing the leaves to turn green.

Diervilla 'Kodiak Black'

 Peach color Daylily

The mid-season daylilies are putting on a show now--I forget the names of these varieties, some of which I planted during my first couple of summers here. When I expanded another bed later on I planted another grouping in assorted colors. These varieties that were being discontinued by Gilbert Wild & Son were on sale, and the plants have taken a couple of years to reach this size.

Daylily bed

Daylilies in summery pastel colors

What summer garden could be without Hydrangeas? The white 'Incrediball' is outstanding, but the other two hydrangeas, 'Endless Summer' and a blue lacecap variety that I brought as cuttings from my garden in Columbia seem to die back to the ground every winter, despite deep mulching. These bloom on old wood as well as new, but lag behind and wilt frequently in this climate. With a lot of watering, I hope to get a few blooms eventually, but these will be pink, despite all the aluminum sulfate I add every year. Hard to believe these were a lovely blue in my garden in Columbia!

Hydrangeas on the east side.

Farther back towards the woods.

The orange butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) in back is now well established, but the 'Hello Yellow' variety I planted last year barely made it--one tiny plant has put out a puny flower. Oh well, it may yet gather some strength for next year. The hot-pink phlox was added this year--the butterfly bush (Buddleia) in back should start blooming soon.

Herb's old sunflower bed was replanted with perennials such as lavender, ornamental grasses, annuals and chrysanthemums that will bloom in the fall. I'm still working on expanding this bed, wondering if I should try to create a small bog garden towards the front. This would require digging up a patch about 12" deep, putting a plastic barrier to retain water, and filling it in with peat moss and sand to make the soil really acidic, since bog plants dislike alkaline soils. It seems like a lot of work, and I wonder if it would be worth the effort. Considering the alkalinity of this soil, it might be wiser to select other more suitable native plants for this spot.

Korean fir 'Silverhorst' and purple basil with calibrachoas.

I couldn't resist buying this lovely Korean fir 'Horstman's Silberlocke' (Abies koreana 'Horstman's Silberlocke') when it went on sale at Wayside Gardens, but that was very late in the spring. Rather than risk losing it to our scorching summers, I decided to re-pot it into a larger pot where I can keep it well-watered, and then plant in the fall, when it stands a better chance. Next to it is a pot with purple basil and some Calibrachoas--I love the contrasting colors against the blue-green of the woolly thyme ground cover.

Two other shrubs I purchased are also awaiting in pots for fall planting, you can see a bit of the variegated Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' to the right. My collection of potted plants on the back deck keeps growing too. It takes so much time to water these days, I think I need to buy more self-watering pots. Here is this year's most colorful combination: red annual Vinca (Catharanthus roseus) with Heliotrope, blue Lobelia, Coleus, and creeping Jenny.

Potted plants on the deck.

Heliotrope, annual Vinca, Coleus and blue Lobelia.

Beautiful But Deadly Angel Trumpet II

Angel Trumpet (Brugmansia hybrid), watercolor on vintage paper, 19"h x 15"w.

This is the second version of the Angel Trumpet flower that I painted for an entry to the "Beautiful But Deadly" show that the Botanical Artists Society of the National Capital Region (BASNCR) will be presenting at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA, opening on July 30 of this year. The first painting, created last fall as another entry for the same show, didn't seem to me to have captured the flowers of this plant with as much detail as I wanted, so I decided to try again.

This version was painted on a sheet of vintage hand-made paper that I purchased at the ASBA Conference in Pittsburgh last year. The owner of the Vintage Paper Company located in the Orkney Islands (off the coast of Scotland) in the U.K. came to the conference and did a fascinating presentation about the vintage, handmade papers he deals in. He described the historic process and then showed us a copy of very old film from the early 20th Century shot at the Whatman Co. paper making mill, demonstrating every step of the process used to make paper by hand before the large industrial paper making machines used today came into use. In those days, the Whatman Co. made over 100 different kinds of paper, from fine stationery to artist quality, in batches of about 1000 sheets at a time.

I asked this gentleman how he happened to find his vintage papers, since paper is rarely made by hand these days. He told me that he'd started his company buying up papers from the estates of deceased artists--the artist's relatives would call and ask him to evaluate what they had found in the artist's studios, to see if there was anything of value there.

The papers I bought were this one large sheet made in the 1920's and several smaller sheets made in the mid 1940's which I haven't tried out yet. This paper has the waffle-weave surface of the mesh from the mold it was made in, and is lighter in weight than the standard 140# paper I normally use, but it's stronger than the papers we use today because the cotton fibers are longer. It's also a cream color rather than white, due to the yellowing of age, so I used a little bit of gouache on parts of my flower to make the white of the flower stand out more from the background.

The surface of this paper is also more absorbent than modern hot-pressed papers, so it was difficult to use my usual technique of layered washes. The paper curled quite a bit every time I applied a wash, and had to be re-stretched after the painting was completed. Keeping the edges clean and sharp was another challenge, but it was easy to lift off the paint. In fact, the surface stood up to scrubbing much better than any other paper I've tried.

I drew this from a plant I grew last summer and brought indoors in the fall. The plant requires a lot of sunlight so only the buds that had formed while it was outside bloomed once it was indoors, but these were enough for me to develop the painting before the flowers dropped off. I'd forgotten how large the flowers were--one I measured was 17.5" long from the end of the petiole to the tip of the trumpet.

This is an unusual composition--bold and directly at eye level, unlike anything else I've done before, but I think it suits the scale of the plant and its deadly poisonous properties. I ended up entering both of my Angel Trumpets for the show, and amazingly, both were accepted by the jurors!

The Lilies in My Field

Stella de Oro daylilies.

As May elides into June, the lilies in my garden come into their own with the border of Stella de Oro daylilies in the "Little Indians" bed leading the way. This long border bed was started seven years ago by removing some two feet of skimpy sod in front of a row of ten small Arbor Vitae. I planted a row of boxwoods in front of the Arbor Vitae to maintain the backdrop of evergreens, and gradually began to establish other perennials in front to add color. Over the years as the arbor vitae sprang upwards, the border was widened. I planted the iris my mother grew in her garden, catmint, Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica 'Little Henry'), bluestar (Amsonia hubrichtii), asters (Symphyotrichum laevis), butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), and 'Autumn Joy' sedums. A butterfly bush (Buddleia hybrid), garden phlox, and ten tiny cuttings of  Stella de Oro daylilies I got at a bargain price went in next.

Little Indians bed seen from the other end.

As my collection of plants has grown, the bed has been reworked to what you see here. Last fall, the front part of the bed was becoming so crowded, that I dug up and moved the row of Stella de Oro daylilies out another couple of feet and divided some of the largest ones to obtain a few more plants. Other plants were added: an Itoh peony, 'Bartzella,' lavender grown from seeds of my lavender plants in the front yard, as well as other varieties bought at a local lavender farm--Lavender Hill--and swamp sunflowers from another bed.

The Little Indians bed from the deck

Asian lilies in the long island bed below the deck

Asian lilies.

The Asian lilies in the long island bed below the deck put on a great display each year, despite the voles eating some of the bulbs every winter. This spring I bought another pack of the same bulbs in assorted colors to put in at the other end of the bed. They don't look like much right now, but eventually I hope they'll catch up with the more established patch.

The long island bed

Orange lilies

I'd hoped to expand the bed below my 'Autumn Blaze' maple by buying more of the same variety of yellow daylilies last fall, but but couldn't find any--as with many plants, some varieties don't seem to last very long in commercial trade, so I subdivided a couple of the larger plants. Unfortunately, the divisions are too small to offer much bloom this summer, but I hope they'll become large enough to fill out by next year.

Yellow daylilies.

Yellow daylilies under maple tree.

Remembering how bare this side of the house was when we moved in, I love how the trees and shrubs have now grown large enough to cast some shade. The other daylilies in this bed and the one next to it will bloom later, and should extend the daylily season well into fall.

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!

After the Rain

Back yard beds.

After a good rainstorm night before last, I got up this morning to see everything in my garden glistening with dew. My backyard beds are getting ready to put on their annual display of flowers. The Asian lilies are in bud, and way in the back, a native common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) with silvery leaves is sending up a flowering spike. I have another mullein growing in the front yard--these biennials are volunteers that seeded themselves and since the flowers are attractive, I left them alone. Later on, the Cone flowers and Phlox will fill the rear bed with color.

Bed with blue starflower (Amsonia tabernaemontana) and white salvia behind.

Close-up of Amsonia

My veggie raised bed

I like to have lots of plant variety in my garden so that there will always be something to enjoy--flowers or seed pods, or foliage of different colors, in every season. Even in winter, plants can display something of beauty and interest, though spring is, of course, the most spectacular.

Looking down from the deck, catmint and Coreopsis.

Ninebark tree (Physocarpus opulifolium)

It took several years before this Ninebark tree offered its first blooms, and the dark foliage makes a lovely backdrop for them. I liked this genus so much I planted another ninebark last fall, a different variety with lovely red-gold leaves called 'Coppertina.' It will take another few years for this new one to bloom.

Foxglove beardtongue (Pentstemon digitalis)

Next to the Ninebark I planted some native flower seeds which have yielded a curious plant I'm unfamiliar with--I think it may be a Foxglove Beardtongue, but I'm not 100% certain. I'll have to check with my friends at VNPS. The plant has attractive pale lilac flowers that pollinators seem to like.

Manna Ash tree (Ptelea trifoliata) in bud.

The Manna Ash tree planted a few years ago is going to bloom soon for the first time! Above are the flower buds. This native under-story tree had a rocky start (pardon the pun) in my garden since the deer kept eating it back every winter, until I put up a barrier last winter. I think this year it will finally grow tall enough to be out of their reach. It will be fascinating to see the flowers and seeds as they develop.

The east bed.

The three Japanese maples and the fringe tree (Chionanthus virginianum) in the bed on the east side were damaged by a hard frost in mid-April, along with many of my other trees. It was heart-breaking to see this happen just as the young leaves were emerging; they are now recovering slowly, but this year's growth will likely be much less than normal.

Pink foamflower (Tiarella hybrid)

I bought the pink foam flower above last year on a whim (it was on sale), not having any idea of where to put it--this woodland native plant prefers shade. I tried it out in one spot, but it didn't do well there, so I dug it up and tried it under the fringe tree on the east side of the house, and with much watering (last summer was a dry one) it managed to survive. It seems to be flourishing now, so I hope it will prosper and begin to spread.

Plants and weather vary so much from year to year, season to season... you win some and you lose some, that's the gardeners lot!

Iris Season

Iris on front walk

I love this time of the year when the irises bloom--there isn't a more regal flower than the much hybridized bearded or German iris! This year my irises started blooming much earlier than usual, the buds were up in the last weeks of April, and the flowers began to open the first days of May.

The colorful clump of bearded irises by the front walk was planted right after we moved here, and last spring I expanded the bed, which was becoming overcrowded. Odd how this year I seem to have only one flowering spike of the white variety, but since the yellow and the purple bi-color bloom earlier than the other varieties, a few more white flowers may yet emerge. Plants are notoriously capricious that way: producing record blooms one year, then sparsely or not at all on other years.

White bearded iris.

The bed by the driveway

On the other side of the driveway there are more yellow and pink irises, and some Dutch iris. I transplanted the Dutch iris a few years ago after noticing that they weren't flowering much--the more vigorous lavender was crowding them out--and they've taken a couple of years to settle in their new locations before starting to bloom again.

Pale lavender Dutch iris.

Dutch iris in the back bed.

The old-fashioned irises from my mother's garden in Falls Church continue to grow more lush in the "Little Indians" bed in back. My sister Bea, who had grown these in her Maryland garden, gave me a few rhizomes about six years ago when I was starting to expand the bed that runs along the property line with my neighbor. Although smaller and not as showy as the current spectacular hybrids, this variety has a wonderful scent that permeates this corner of my garden.

Irises in the Little Indians bed.

The long island bed in the back yard includes a few more irises. The dwarf iris 'Bluebeard' bloomed very early, around mid-April, and is now done for the year. One of the other two varieties, 'Blatant', was attacked by a large rodent that tunneled underground and ate some of the rhizomes, and has not bloomed this spring--a real shame, but since it's a re-blooming type, I'm hoping it will recover enough to bloom in the fall. The other variety, the stunningly tall 'Victoria Falls' is particularly lovely this year.

Iris 'Victoria Falls'

The backyard island bed.

The red honeysuckle 'Major Wheeler' is laden with blossoms--we sighted the first hummingbird on May 1st, and the hummers have been visiting regularly since then. The double-flowering quince has been displaying blooms since early April and it's still going--the coral color complements 'Major Wheeler' beautifully.

Pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) in bloom.

Newer plants in my garden are the Pagoda dogwood blooming above, and a hybrid Tall Meadow Rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium 'White Nimbus') planted two years ago which bloomed for the first time this year. The hybrid bugle ground cover (Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop') planted last fall is just starting to spread among the variegated Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium 'Brise d'Anjou') planted last year, but both are growing slowly--it'll take a few more years before this bed begins to fill out.

Meadow rue (Thalictrum aquilegifolium 'Nimbus White')

Ajuga reptans 'Black Scallop' with variegated Jacob's Ladder (Polemonium 'Brise d'Anjou')

I've grown flowering onions (Alliums) for some years now, the large-flowered purple 'Globemaster' and the yellow Allium moly. Last fall I planted another dozen Alliums 'Persian Blue' (Allium caeruleum) in one of my new beds, and the flowers are lovely, but not the deep blue color I'd hoped for. Perhaps it's the PH of the soil, but mine are a deep magenta; still, it composes beautifully with the blue-green foliage of the daffodils under the Japanese maple 'Amber Ghost'.

Allium 'Globemaster'

Allium moly

Allium caeruleum.

Next up will be the roses and other late spring bloomers, can't wait to see what they'll be like this year!