September Bloom Day

Blue Lobelias in east garden.

All-whilte Lobelia.

 

A very wet August brought us respite from the heat and drought--I recorded over 11 inches of rain during the month of August this year--and my garden seems to have revived to nearly normal. Every 15th of the month is Bloomday, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden blog, so welcome to my September garden: let's take a look at what's blooming.

The deer ate back the buds of most of my Blue Lobelias, but after the rains the plants recovered enough to offer a nice array of flowers. They really set off the area of my east garden where I've been trying to create a shady woodland. I had just pruned the Japanese maple tree which I grew from a 6" seedling twelve years ago when I took this photo. I even found one all-white Lobelia in there--a sport or mutant? Lovely in any case! 

 I have two other Japanese maples in my little woodland, as well as a Carolina Silverbell tree and a Pagoda dogwood. The bed is finally starting to look somewhat as I had envisioned, but will need a few more years' growth to achieve fullness.

 

The east garden miniature woodland

 

Also on the east side of the house, my  Viburnum 'Brandywine' is making a wonderful display as its berries turn from pink to blue.

 

Viburnum 'Brandywine' berries

Moving on towards the back yard, the "Autumn Joy' Sedum is looking nice next to the wild blue Ageratum--unfortunately deer are very fond of this Sedum so it must be kept protected or there would be nothing left. I call this the "Herb bed" because my husband Herb dug the first part of it. Our hummingbirds love the red Salvia as well as the Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue.'

 

                Sedum 'Autumn Joy' with blue Ageratum and Calamagrostis 'Karl Foerster'

Red Salvia 'Windwalker Royal Red'

 

Behind this bed I have a witchhazel variety named 'Diane' flanked by two Viburnums I grew from seed collected at Brookside Gardens in Maryland--by the look of the leaves I think these may be Leatherleaf Viburnum. And one of these has developed some flower buds--unseasonably, it seems to me. I'm curious to see what the flowers and subsequent fruit will look like. It may reveal more about the particular species.

 More interesting is to note the chewed-up leaves. A number of clearwing hummingbird moths visited my garden this summer, and Viburnum is the host plant for the caterpillar of this moth, so I hope they are feeding on my Viburnums and will make my garden their home.

 

Leatherleaf Viburnum? budding.

 

I recently planted one of three Gaultherias I bought this past spring under the witchhazel tree after treating the soil with acidifier. Let's hope it survives and prospers. The alkalinity of the soil here can be a problem for many acid-loving plants.

 

Prairie sage and wild sunflowers.

A lovely color combination found in the back-most bed I call "The Badlands" was this blue sage (Salvia azurea) with some late-blooming native sunflowers. My display is still very skimpy, but hopefully will grow fuller with time if I can get the deer to stop eating it. Deer aren't supposed to eat salvias, but they will browse it if nothing else is available, and the sunflowers too.

 

Beautyberry (Callicarpa dochotoma 'Early Amethyst')

My two Beautyberry 'Early Amethyst' bushes are displaying their lovely berries and haven't been too badly chewed by the deer. And there are still some flowers on my butterfly bushes, they're finishing as other fall flowers come into bloom.

 

Butterfly bush 'Miss Molly'

I spent the past two days cleaning up a bed on the west side of the house--the crabgrass was almost up to my knees!--and while doing so, I transplanted a lovely wild purple aster that I'd found in the very back of the yard near my neighbor's fence. The aster was so tall I had to cut off the top so it wouldn't pull out of the ground, but hopefully it will recover and show even better next year. This one was a volunteer, I think it came from seeds collected in Warm Springs, VA, a few years back. Some times these volunteers can be wonderful additions to a native garden.

 

Purple aster with Caryopteris shrub in the west bed.

Also on the west garden, my Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles' has recovered from the browsing and is producing some blooms. This plant is a hybrid of the native New Jersey tea plant (Ceanothus americanus) with the California native lilac. Its flowers are fragrant.

 

Ceanothus 'Gloire de Versailles'

In the front yard on the west, my Abelia "Panoramic Color Radiance' did not get too badly eaten this year, and has some lovely blooms.

 

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance'

The dogwood tree in front of the house is starting to show its fall foliage. And the deer left me a few hardy begonias under the cherry tree to flower and re-seed themselves, only because  of timely spraying with repellent.

 

Dogwood tree and front walk.

Hardy begonias.

Some of my potted plants are looking good too--the white Heliotrope on the front walk is lovely, as are the porch hanging baskets.

 

White Heliotrope.

Fuchsia in hanging basket.

Porch hanging basket.

The tuberous Begonia in the hanging basket on the back deck is still blooming but starting to fade, while the Salvia 'Black and Blue' is holding its own. The humming birds love this plant and we've had quite a few of them visiting our deck. Most of them don't seem to be bothered by our close proximity and feed while we're there, but a few are very shy.

Tuberous Begonia on the back deck.

Salvia 'Black and Blue'

I hope you've enjoyed this stroll through my garden on a lovely September day. Can't wait to see what the Autumn Equinox will bring!

Late Summer Rains and Sightings

Viburnum 'Brandywine' with rough green snake.

 

Close-up of berries.

 

This past week we've had a couple of big storms bring a lot of wind and rain--yesterday's thunderstorm dropped 1.67" of rain on my still somewhat parched garden. These late summer rains have brought out some fascinating sights that I wanted to share.

Let's start with the Viburnum 'Brandywine' berries--this is my favorite stage as they are turning pink, with a few blues here and there. Eventually they will all ripen to dark blue and then black. I took the first photo and didn't notice that there was a little green snake crawling on the branch--it wasn't until I downloaded the photos and looked at them on my computer screen that I realized that what I'd taken for a blade of grass was actually a green snake!

As I understand it, these rough green snakes (Opheodrys aestivus) eat caterpillars and other small insects, and he might have been feasting on clearwing hummingbird moth caterpillars. Viburnum is one of the host plants for this moth, and I've seen quite a few of the moths here this summer nectaring on the Asian butterfly bush. I've seen the caterpillars on previous years, but not recently. I wonder if that could be the reason why? 

 

Clearwing hummingbird moth on Butterfly bush (photo taken by David Maza).

 

The abundant rain has stimulated my 'Natchez' crape-myrtle to produce more blooms than ever before, and my Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' has been sufficiently spared by the deer to offer a few blooms too.

 

Crape Myrtle 'Natchez'

Abelia 'Panoramic Color Radiance' is blooming.

 

The wild Petunias planted a couple of years ago keep getting eaten by the deer, but recently one of the three plants managed to offer enough flowers to appreciate its beauty. This year I grew some Mignonette (Reseda odorata) from seed. Its flowers aren't exactly showy but the scent is supposed to be wonderful. I've only detected a slight perfume, but the bees love it, so I hope it will re-seed itself for next year.

 

Wild Petunia (Ruellia humilis)

Mignonette (Reseda odorata)

Another pleasant surprise to see was that one of the two Viburnums that I grew from seed collected at Brookside Gardens had some flower buds--my Viburnums appear to be of the Leatherleaf variety or perhaps a hybrid of them--Brookside has quite a variety of Viburnums growing in that area. I'm curious to see what the flowers will be like. Let's hope the deer won't devour them--they seem to be blooming unseasonably, but some Viburnums do bloom at this time of the year.

Viburnum flower buds.

The deer left me a few buds of the bush Clematis 'True Love' to enjoy--the color is lovely!

Clematis 'True Love'

My double flowering quince has produced a few out of season blooms, and other summer flowers are re-blooming after being cut back:  Verbascum 'Southerm Charm' and a red-hot poker.

Double-flowering quince

Verbascum 'Southern Charm' rebloom.

Red-hot Pokers reblooming.

With autumn just around the corner, the Japanese Anemone 'Honorine Jobert' is developing flower buds. It lives under a protective cloche which I removed to take the photograph, but any buds that protrude from the cloche get eaten.

 

Anemone 'Honorine Jobert'

The deer overlooked a few of the blue Lobelias this year--in better years I've had a gorgeous display of these native flowers which have spread over this east bed. Maybe next year?

Blue Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica) in the east bed.

At last, my Salvia 'Black and Blue' is blooming! This hummingbird favorite is usually grown in a pot along the front walk, and I'd never known deer to nip it before, but this year they started to munch on it at the height of the drought, so I moved it to the deck to keep it out of their reach. The pruning set it back a bit, so it only started to bloom this past week, several weeks later than usual.

 

Brazilian Salvia 'Black and Blue'

 

I just love the color!

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!

July 2024 Bloom Day

Hanging basket on porch.

  

It's hot and very dry here in my corner of Virginia--USDA Zone 6B--on this July Bloom Day. We haven't seen a drop of rain in going on three weeks, and June's rains weren't exactly plentiful. Despite my attempts to keep it watered, my garden is really suffering, and the local deer are more voracious than ever. So, this Bloom Day, hosted by Carol Michel's May Dreams Garden, is going to be skimpier than usual.

 

Hanging baskets.

Fuchsia on porch.

 

Thanks to their daily watering in the scorching temperatures, the hanging baskets on the porch have about the most flowers: petunias, calibrachoas,blue and white  lobelias, coleus and a Fuchsia in one basket. There are a few flowers the deer have mostly left alone, so let's take a look.

Starting on the east side of the house, the hydrangeas 'Little Quick fire'  and 'Incrediball' have flowers that haven't been mauled--while another hydrangea, 'Endless Summer' next to Incrediball has been completely consumed.

 

Hydrangea 'Little Quick Fire'

Hydrangea 'Incrediball'

 

My Vitex usually blooms profusely at this time of the year, but despite lots of watering, the shrub (now about 10' tall) isn't nearly as showy as in other years.

 

Vitex in bloom.

Coming around to the back yard the 'Blue Nile' Agapanthus I planted last year has produced a couple of stalks, and the red Salvia next to it is also flowering.

 

Agapanthus 'Blue Nile' with red Salvia.

The deer left me only a few blossoms of Liatris, and black-eyed Susans in my flower beds, probably because they couldn't reach them easily. The Chinese iris, formerly known as Blackberry lily or Belamcanda, don't appear very appetizing to them either.

 

Liatris 'Kobold'

Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm')

Chinese iris (formerly called Belamcanda)

Towards the west side of the back yard, the bed with the Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline' are doing well, they seem to be fairly deer-proof. But my Coneflowers and Phlox have been decimated, very few flowers have survived. Just about every Daylily bud was eaten before it could open, among  dozens on plants: Stella de Oro, Purple de Oro, yellow and peach colored varieties, so sad!

 

Anise hyssop and bee balm 'Jacob Cline'

Back toward the front walk, the Agastache 'Firebird' is among the few plants that deer don't find appetizing--I must plant more Agastache in my garden, so I can have a few more summer blooms. Unfortunately, they prefer well-drained soil, which with all the clay here is just about impossible to provide, so they do better for me in pots. But the pots have to be watered on a daily basis.

 

Agastache 'Firebird' along the front walk.

Back deck potted plant  collection

 That's about it for bloom day in my garden, pray for rain in this area, plentiful rain! Then maybe I'll have more to show next month.