Pinched "Asters"

Symphyotrichum laeve 'Bluebird' today

The penny has finally dropped. I noticed last year that my ex-asters, Symphyotrichum novae angliae and Symphyotrichum laeve, started blooming later than they used to and later than other ex-asters in the area. I noticed the same phenomenon this year, but now I have the answer. It is, you guessed it, that I started pinching, or cutting back, my plants last year. I hadn't intended to do so for the smooth blue ex-aster, Symphyotrichum laeve 'Bluebird', but the deer did some pruning and they made a bad job of it, which I had to fix up. The result, obvious when you think on it, is delayed blooms.

Several chomps were also taken out of the New England ex-asters, but mostly I went a little pruner-happy on them.

Symphyotrichum novae angliae 'Hella Lacey' yesterday

(The S. novae angliae out back, where the deer do not roam, started two weeks ago.) Next year, a few stems at the very back of each plant will be left unpruned. Unless the deer get there first.

Visit Gail of Clay and Limestone for all the Wildflower Wednesday posts.

Sad News for US Clematis Lovers

Clematis 'Evipo 31 ' (Bonanza)

I just learned that the American Clematis Society is disbanding as of December 31. Yes, I did just join last winter. I'm reminded of a quote from Groucho Marx, "I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member." I'd swear I was him in a past life, only he was still alive when I was born. In any event, it is a shame, as I enjoyed the newsletters and the website, which was very helpful and informative. Looks like I'll be joining the International Clematis Society. Or maybe I shouldn't. We wouldn't want it to disband too.

The Ever-changing Garden

Tricyrtis 'Gilt Edge',  Actaea 'Black Negligee' and Lobelia siphilitica - 09/22/11

The garden is like the proverbial river: it's never the same, no matter how often a person steps into it. I was looking at last year's photos from the same date, which brought this truth back sharply into focus in my mind. Each year is different, bringing plants into and out of bloom in myriad variations, making new combinations and views. This doesn't even include the changes the gardener implemented by new plantings and moving plants around.

Even if I set the camera in the same place, the image captured will never be identical with that of last year or the year before.

the same grouping - 09/20/10

If things are blooming together at the same time, the vagaries of the weather, both earlier in the season and at the moment, have altered the scene, with plants in various stages of precociousness or delay. Sometimes this change is for better, sometimes not.

Life is about change, to remain the same is contrary to its dictates. Plants get bigger, plants diminish. They age and change. Sometimes we need a reminder that we aren't creating some immutable sculpture of clay, steel or stone. This is a good thing. The gardener will never become bored with his or her garden, despite having lived with and worked in it for years.  

Another Unsung Hummingbird Plant

I've had this Heptacodium miconiodes in my garden for a long time, probably more than 15 years, yet I just learned something new about it. Hummingbirds visit it to get nectar.

At the same time, I heard the chirps of a hummingbird for the first time. I apologize for the quality of this video, but hummers are difficult to film under the best conditions.

Not much is made about the blooms of Heptacodium, it's the showy bracts that tend to be the big attraction. However, the blooms themselves have a light, pleasant scent and are attractive to many pollinators in addition to hummingbirds. It may not be native, but it's a neat little tree.

(For more about this tree, see my post The Truth about Heptacodium miconiodes.)

September 2011 Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

free trial Cosmos 'Rose Bonbon' and Nasturtiums

It's a Bloom Day of beginnings. The ex-asters

mystery species ex-aster

and the goldenrods (Solidago)

Solidago 'Dansolitlem' (Little Lemon) and Sedum/Hylotelephium 'Beka' (Autumn Delight)

are just starting their autumnal show. With the Japanese anemones also beginning to bloom,

Anemone 'Andrea Atkinson'

the only plants still left to bloom are the Actaeas (Cimicifuga), the monkshoods (Aconitum), and the Chrysanthemum; it is the beginning of the end of the gardening season. But let's not get ahead of ourselves at the expense of enjoying today. And what a day, the temperature has plummeted to highs in the 50sF/low teens C, the smoke from the Minnesota wildfire has cleared, and the sun is beaming.

It's Colchicum time.

Colchicum 'Zephyr' 'Poseidon'

Ceratostigma plumbaginoides with 'The Giant'

Colchicum 'Autumn Queen' with Caryopteris 'Janice' (Little Miss Sunshine)

Caryopteris 'Jason' (Sunshine Blue) is in full bloom now.

Also coming into full bloom and making its Bloom Day debut is Sanguisorba officinalis 'Tanna'.

It's a difficult plant to photograph well. I always thought, Sanguisorba ... yawn. Then I saw it in person and had to have it. Last year it didn't do much of anything, but this year it finally settled in enough to bloom. It was well worth the wait.

Also new this month:

Heptacodium miconiodes

Sedum 'Bertram Anderson' finally blooming with Heuchera 'Citronelle'

Several plants are getting their second wind in the cooler weather, including the rose 'Carefree Beauty'.

The threat from the Japanese beetles is gone, so now they can show to their full glory.

The hibiscus

Hibiscus syriaca 'Red Heart' also benefits from the absence of beetles

and Hosta plantaginea are winding down.

There are still enough blooms to scent the air.

Representing the Geraniums, which are mostly still in fine form is

Geranium nodosum 'Svelte Lilac'. Its blooms are the same color as a nearby Hosta lancifolia, which is also in bloom now.

The last of the blooms of Liatris spicata clash with the reddening fruit of the dogwood. It's goodbye summer, hello fall.

fruits of Cornus kousa 'Beni-fuji'

For all the Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day posts, visit Carol at May Dreams Gardens on the 15th of every month.

Also blooming:

Anemonella thalictroides/Thalictrum thalictroides

Aster species

Callirhoe involucrata

Campanula 'Samantha', 'Sarastro'

Campanula persicifolia 'Telham Blue'

Caryopteris 'Jason' (Sunshine Blue)

Clematis 'Betty Corning', 'Evisix' (Petit Faucon)

Dianthus 'Cranberry Ice'

Eurybia divaricata

Eurybia macrophyllus

Echinacea purpurea

Fuschia (various)

Geranium 'Blogold' (Blue Sunrise), 'Bob's Blunder', ' 'Gerwat' (Rozanne), 'Jolly Bee'

Heuchera 'Firechief', 'Havana', Hollywood', 'Raspberry Ice'

Hylotelephium 'Matrona', 'Purple Emperor'

Knautia 'Mars Midget'

Lavandula 'Hidcote'

Lobelia 'Sparkle DeVine'

Lobelia syphilitica

Lobularia maritima

Lonicera 'Winchester'

Malva 'Zebrinus'

Penstemon 'Pike's Peak Purple'

Phlox paniculata 'David', 'David's Lavender', 'Goldmine', 'Grenadine Dream', 'Laura',  'Nicky', 'Red Riding Hood', 'Red Super', 'Shockwave'

Ruellia humilis

Solidago 'Fireworks'

Symphyotrichum 'Honeysong Pink'

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies'

Tricyrtis 'Gilt Edge', 'Gilty Pleasure', 'Tojen'

Viola

News Flash- Hummingbirds Visit Tricyrtis

ruby-throated hummingbird visiting  Tricyrtis 'Tojen'

Who knew hummingbirds visited toadlilies (Tricyrtis)? I sure didn't, until I saw a hummingbird zipping around mine. This wasn’t a rare, freak occurrence; I witnessed this visitation several times over the course of several days. A hummingbird sipped from the other two Tricyrtis I grow, 'Gilty Pleasure'

Sorry, no hummer in this shot, the little buggers move too fast.

and 'Gilt Edge',

Tricyrtis 'Gilt Edge' growing in the midst of native Lobelia syphilitica

in addition to 'Tojen', pictured at top. I also know this isn't a freak hummingbird, as I found images on a hummingbird forum of a hummingbird visiting Tricyrtis hirta.

Tricyrtis are great shade garden plants, preferring partial to full shade in zones 4 to 9, depending on the species. According to most sources, Tricyrtis needs moist, but well-drained soil. I'm not so sure about the moist, as my soil is definitely not, tending to be a bit too well drained. I have killed T. 'Hatatogisu', so it may depend on the species or cultivar. 'Tojen' is a monster plant in my garden, reaching four feet in height and nearly that in girth, while the others top out around two feet tall and wide. Once they get growing, they are pretty much carefree plants, although a bit of slug repellent might be helpful when they start sprouting in spring. In my Midwestern zone 5 garden, they bloom from the end of July to the beginning of November.

Plant some Tricyrtis if you want to see hummingbirds in your garden. If you already grow them, keep an eye on them when you're out in the garden, and keep your camera handy.

Refreshing the Containers

After weeks of hotter than normal temperatures and inconsistent rainfall, my container plantings looked a little worse for wear. Now that meteorological summer has ended, it occurred to me that the time had come to do something about the containers. (Trust me on this one, dead pansies are not attractive.) I had taken the girl with me to the garden center to find a plant for the fairy garden. She insisted that I had to buy this yellow Zahara Zinnia, the black petunia and new, fresh black pansies. She does have any eye for color.

I moved a Diascia from a different container to complete the grouping below.

The main feature of this container is the 'Fireworks' pennisetum, which has come into its full glory with the shorter days and cooler weather. The purple Osteospermum took a blooming hiatus during the worst of the summer.

The girl chose woolly thyme for the fairy garden.

At the beginning of summer, she insisted that it should have purple sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima). Now that I've gotten it all planted up, I think I want it in a larger container. But that is a project for next spring.

Second Spring

Thalictrum thalictroides (Anemonella) reblooming

With a sudden great lurch of the gears, the season has shifted into fall. The cooler air has recharged my gardening batteries after a long summer of heat, drought, deluge, and mosquitoes. It feels so good to be able to walk unhindered to the compost bins for the first time in a month and a half. We finally got the logs from the fallen tree out of the paths and off of the plants, which have been remarkably unscathed with one notable exception. The boxwood will never be the same; half of it got flattened.

Maybe it's time to try my hand at topiary.

The return of rain and cooler temperatures has set off a wave of reblooming throughout the garden, including the confused little Anemonella (Thalictrum thalictroides) pictured at the top, which in other years has often completely disappeared by the beginning of September. The first of the asters, Symphyotrichum oblongifolium 'October Skies', has started blooming, and the Colchicums are sprouting.

Colchicum 'Zephyr' 'Poseidon' making a return appearance

Hummingbird sightings are on the upswing, the kids are back in school, and all is right with the world (at least in my little corner of it). It's time to sit out in the garden and savor these precious days. 

Days of Labor

It's sad, but true. The mulch pile is still on the driveway. This must be a new record. It must will be removed before the snow flies. Next spring, please slap me with a fish if I consider ordering 4 yards again. Not that I couldn't use it, it's just that I ended up having to do nearly all of it alone this year. (My Very Indulgent Spouse has finally had it (and understandably so) with my mulching micro-managing and will be referred to henceforth with the sobriquet "Cycling Man.") The other problem was the drought and heat, as there's no point in mulching when the ground has turned to cement. I recall from my undergraduate studies that archaeologists often find ancient brick walls of lost civilizations, and what is brick but clay and straw baked hard.

But I digress. The point is, the three-day long weekend with cooler temperatures and a possibility of rain means that gardening chores may be undertaken with gusto.  In addition to the mulching, the fallen tree must be addressed.

Becoming the Greenwoman and friends

(Dear fallen tree, please remove yourself from the premises forthwith.) Navigating a path to the compost bins remains treacherous and taking photos of Tricyrtis 'Tojen' is impossible. Cycling Man's assistance will be required to relocate the logs, as they are too big and heavy for me to maneuver alone.

At some point this fall, I hope to finish expanding the driveway beds and moving the plants in them a bit farther apart to give them breathing room. Only then will I start in on the bulb planting.

What projects do you have planned for this fall?

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Impressions of a GWA First-timer

I'm the white fish.

There I was, swimming for all I was worth during the whirlwind event that was the Garden Writers Association annual symposium in Indianapolis. I was either running late (sometimes literally) or nearly first as I tried to manage time without a watch during this tightly scheduled weekend. I had thought that four Blogger Flings and several trips to the Independent Garden Centers show made me well prepared for GWA. I was quickly disabused of this notion.

At the symposium, there was just so much more; more people (over 400), more buses, more events, more swag, and way more information. It was a bit overwhelming. I was so flaked out, I forgot that I was going to steal borrow Suzi McCoy's idea to take a cell phone shot of each person I talked with and their name tag, so I would later be able to associate a name with a face. Next time, I will make a note to do that.

The attendees were from across the country and Canada. I found myself holding up my name tag so people could read it a lå "Harriet Jones former Prime Minister" from Doctor Who. It had a special ribbon on it saying "First Timer," and everyone was so welcoming and helpful to me as a newbie. I took copious notes at the educational sessions (serious flashbacks to my days in academia) and tons of pictures at the gardens we visited. Thanks goes to Irvin at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, who was put in charge of the weather, it was nearly perfect. A bit of overcast or fog would have been ideal, but I'm not complaining.

Indianapolis Art Museum

I made the most of the light conditions available. Kudos to the entire Indianapolis planning committee, who did a splendid job and were such gracious hosts.

Contact me about being your sponsor if you wish to join GWA, it has a lot to offer. There are local regional meetings if the idea of a big symposium is too much for you.