Yellow

Back to the garden... Everything that's not brown or red is yellow right now - shades of spring. Every time I think the balloon flowers are not worth it (they spread and I'm too weak-willed to pull them out, their beautiful flowers always face backwards, they're too tall for the place they're growing), I see them in the fall and fall in love again.

 

I should really plant some of these next to the physostegia, blooming at the same time.

The maple tree is not one of those knock-your-socks-off maples, but it shows shades from pale cream to apricot to red. Here it is being yellow.

 

The fothergilla had a brief episode of some kind of blight, but I basically ignored it and it happily went away. Now I don't know which I like more, its yellow color or its leaf shape - oval? ovoid?

 

Next is this pairing. The aucuba, which has been here since I moved in, just goes placidly on, glowing in the part shade along the fence line. At Merrifield a few weeks ago I happened upon a hypericum, which I've been thinking about since the garden tour last spring. This one is a golden variety, 'Brigadoon,' meant to echo the yellow leaf of the aucuba. If I like it - and if it likes the site - I'll get a few more and let them spread.

 

In pointed contrast to all of this is the white oak, which has dropped a ton of acorns this fall and is redder than I ever remember.

 

The hikers take a walk

Four of the five hiking girls met at the National Arboretum last month for a stroll around the grounds. It had been years and years since I was there, and it's definitely worth a trip. It starts at the water gardens by the entrance.
 

 

The Asian gardens had perhaps the best use of bamboo I've seen.


I made several Notes to Self.
 
This was a delicious combination of ginger and Hosta 'Halcyon.'

 
Kirengeshoma will get pretty big - I'm glad I have it under the oak tree instead of in the front garden.

 

I don't know Hexastylis, but it looks perfect for the shade gardens.

 
This plumleaf azalea is a native - worth looking into.
 

I loved the larkspur blooming among the balloonflower (though mine are just now coming into bud, so the timing might not work - nevertheless, get some larkspurs!)


There were a couple mysteries, too. What is this plant? The fruit left a heavy coating of orange pollen on my fingers.
 

 

And this is something ordinary, I think, but what? Elderberry??

More pix online here. Note the gorgeous lilies, poppies and larkspur by the Herb Garden. Delicious!

Colesville Nursery

For years I'd noticed it from 95, laid out on a slope right next to the highway. But not until today, at Becky's recommendation, did I make my way down to Ashland to buy plants.

I had a specific list of plants I was looking for, and they make it easy because their inventory is online. What a concept! I was in search of a second Virginia sweetspire for the back shrub border and two more Viburnum 'Shasta' by the back fence. Then, of course, I had a couple other things on the list - Hakonechloa to replace the one that died in the front; two geraniums 'Rozanne' ditto; and hostas to go in front of the trellis.

Armed with their list, my hosta book, and a firm determination to stick to the budget, I tooled down 95 and found this most wonderful place. They're primarily a wholesale outfit, but they are as nice and friendly as can be to lone shoppers like me. You tell them what you want and someone meets you in one of the "houses" where the plants are neatly laid out. (The houses at this time of year are empty hoops that span each row, but once winter comes they are covered and undoubtedly look more house-like.)

The guy who helped me with the viburnums was very friendly, and once I was done there he led me via a golf cart thing to the hosta area, where another friendly soul helped me pick out five hostas. I was leaning toward the blues, which I love, but something about this spot cries out for brighter chartreuse colors. I ended up with three Paul's Glory and two August Moons.

 

Set on three-foot centers, they should nicely fill up the twelve-foot-long expanse. I'm very pleased.

By the time I was ready to check out, the geraniums, a hakonechloe and a flat of pansies had crept into my car, and I was somewhat over budget. The nice checkout person took 10% off, "just because you're a nice person"! How soon can I return?

My favorite garden

Apart from the famous ones, I mean... My favorite garden is under the oak tree in the back yard. It's very simple: lots of bulbs and shade-loving perennials appear and bloom in spring, then subside into a wave of green leaves in early summer. Not a very original formula, but very satisfying.

It's my only garden without holes (at least, not obvious ones, though I have plans to add plants along one side). It has lots of soft colors, primarily blue, white, yellow and a touch of red. The foliage of the epimedium, Japanese roof iris and hellebore works well with the hostas that take over once the bulbs subside (though I have my eye on some chartreuse hostas to spark up the color a bit). The tulips, in bloom now, add some height (or, as designers would say, spires to complement the mounds).

In fact, I love it so much that I now have my eye on doing something similar under the maple tree in front. Maples have more shallow roots, I think, which should make it a bit more challenging to plant, but I'm sure it can be managed. I'll need to cut back the ivy a bit, too, which is a good thing anyway.

Here's a look at the oak tree garden:


In bloom now: pulmonaria "Spilt Milk," mertensia (white and blue, thanks, Mom), narcissus 'Sun Disc,' English bluebells, bleeding heart, tiarella, sweet woodruff (just coming into bloom), hellebore, and tulips (white Maureen).

The dandelions are just an added bonus, of course.


The English bluebells were inspired by a stunning, unexpected hillside in the Lake District - I came around a curve in the path, and there they were. These are not quite so magnificent, perhaps, but still beautiful.

Bleeding hearts and star of Bethlehem, which self-seeds around the garden


Clearly, this sad little patch - right by the front door, of course! - is in need of a major makeover (apart from the cat, which wanders over from next door and adds a decorative touch). One of the problems is that voles seem to have invaded this space, leaving mounds of earth around the tree. I suspect them of devouring the hostas 'August Moon' that I planted in the front garden last spring.

I've been struggling with how to define the area to turn into a garden, since it's bordered by the sidewalk and driveway, plus a clump of myrtle around the lamppost. As Dad always said, edging a garden makes it look "meant." But I could start small with some bulbs and see what develops.

"poised between the garden that was and the garden that could be"

This article in the New York Times so perfectly captures the delicious indecision some gardeners face - okay, I face, but so does the author. The Sweet Bay magnolia touted by Carroll Gardens? Or witch hazel instead? A mix of daffodils and day lilies along the pathway, or an elegant mass of cool hostas? A person can dither for months and years...

Merrifield visit

 

It might be insane because we've had no rain for weeks and there's none on the horizon, but I took the moment I had and went to Merrifield on a sunny, breezy, cool day. I got the akebia for the trellis but won't plant it until after I get the estimate for altering the trellis next week. It was a bit pricey so I will water it faithfully, even if I have to steal out at night to dump old pasta water on it.

I got a viburnum, but neither of the ones on my list (Viburnum nudum 'Winterthur' and Viburnum prunifolium) because they weren't in stock. Instead, the very knowledgeable shrub woman, who was not pushy at all, showed me a viburnum 'Shasta' that is so healthy and lush that I couldn't resist. I just hope it will get enough sun in the shrub border. Here's what it will look like:




 
and here's what it looks like now.


For the new walkway gardens, I got a hellebore "Royal Heritage" and three hostas, 'Elegans,' 'Krossa Regal' and 'Blue Cadet.' I also got three Hakonechloa 'Aureola' to brighten up the space, and to echo the ones in the front garden. Then three flats of pansies to winter over.
 

Here's the lot:

 

The hot July garden

Hot, hot, hot and no rain, not a bit. There's not a whole lot happening right now, but here's a look at what's in bloom.

A month on, here's what the pot on the steps looks like: dusty miller has vanished, wave petunia is crowded out by the purple sweet potato vine, which is covered with tiny holes because I did not drench it with Merit (though I'll do that today). Also, the coleus is a coarser variety than I had realized. Nevertheless, I still like this for the color scheme and its lushness.


Here's what it looked like in May, with lots more petunia blossoms in evidence:

The datura self-sows every season. I think my neighbors enjoy it more than I do, since it blooms around the corner in the sad side garden (see below). I think this came originally from Lee, several years ago. Notice the tiny spikes on the bloom, perhaps signalling its poisonous nature. According to Wikipedia,

Common names include jimson weed, Hell's Bells, Devil's weed, Devil's cucumber,
thorn-apple (from the spiny fruit), pricklyburr (similarly), and somewhat
paradoxically, both angel's trumpet and devil's trumpet (from their large trumpet-shaped
flowers), or as Nathaniel Hawthorne
refers to it in the the Scarlet Letter
apple-peru. The word Datura comes from Hindi dhatūrā (thorn apple);
record of this name dates back only to 1662 (OED).

And here's the sad side garden. Sad because it was meant to be a cutting garden, but then I planted the white gooseneck loosestrife (Lysimachia clethroides)and some lemon balm (Melissa officinalis). Anybody want some? They both spread like crazy. I'll get a grip on this garden some day, but not this year.

 
Here is Aunt Betsy's day lily blooming with the Russian sage (unknown Perovskia variety), which I remember falling in love with twenty years ago on a trip to California. I really need to either cut back or move the sage - it's totally crowded out by the daylilies. It does well in this hot, dry location, and I need to give it some room to grow.


The benefits of pruning - although I dissed this book a while ago, I did take her advice and cut back the foxglove just after it finished blooming. And now, six weeks or so later, a new (though small) flower stalk!

The hostas are all in bloom right now - the kind someone somewhere refers to as "the mundanes." But it's fun to watch the bees bumbling in and out of the flowers. Look really closely at the left-hand side of the right-hand flower...

Gardens in Maine (long)

On a short but wonderful trip to Camden, Maine, we saw beautiful gardens everywhere. In zone 4, they enjoy low humidity and cool nights but a shorter growing season, of course. They must be almost a month behind us - their peonies were just blooming while ours have gone by weeks ago. Most gardens featured stone either in walls or as enormous boulders (see below). Absolutely breath-taking.




The garden at our B&B in Camden was almost an acre of partial shade sloping down from the house to a small stream with a granite slab bridge. Lots of hostas, woodland phlox and ferns, but in sunny spots Juanita had tucked in bachelor's buttons (centaurea) and other sun-loving perennials. The shrub on the left is bridal wreath.
 
I think the hosta on the right is Gold Standard, which I've come to like more and more, despite my aversion to most variegated hostas (especially those dark green ones with white edges).

 
Rhododendron was in bloom everywhere, mostly the common pale purple ones (but looking 1,000 times better than mine), but Juanita had this gorgeous red one in her garden, and it sparkled in the sunlight.

 
And here's the climbing hydrangea I'm thinking of for my new trellis, growing on the side of the shed next to the rhododendron. Juanita says she feeds it twice a year and it has now bloomed after three years of this treatment. I guess it is slow, but how beautiful!

 
I think this is pink gaura and an enormous geranium.

 
A simple arrangement of pots of pink and purple on a wooden garden cart. Charming but escapes being cute, maybe because of the spiky purple and the aged pots.

 
Here's a view of the slope up to the house, with bachelor's buttons, alliums and huge clumps of alchemilla.

 
We saw other gardens to admire as we tooled around. This garden, on the way to the Mount Battie trail, featured enormous boulders, green grass, and well-manicured vegetable beds.

 Here's the upper part of the same garden, with evidence of the gardener at work.

 
We saw these peonies growing along the side of a house as we walked back to the Maine Stay from town. Could they be more outrageously gorgeous? I don't usually like these dinner-plate clematis - they look artificial to me - but they're so effective here.
 
The library had a beautifully maintained bed right by the entrance. Here's a shot at dusk, with Siberian iris glowing and the harbor in the background.

 On the way out of Camden towards Rockport, we had to stop by this garden. Poppies, lupines and daisies, with rocks and a white picket fence, of course.
 

Ferns were everywhere, growing wild in the woods and cultivated in gardens. These are ostrich ferns in Juanita's garden.