Peonies

'Sarah Bernhardt' is in full bloom right now, and looks beautiful in a vase with the Love-in-a-mist (nigella) and white campanula from Margaret, who snuck them into the vase on my desk while I was at lunch. What a nice surprise!

 

The Susan Hepler peony turned out to be a semi-double creamy white with yellow stamens. Not sure of its name, but it seems to be a Japanese type. Isn't it beautiful? Two blooms this year. The other Hepler peony is modestly holding out till next year.

Now I'm longing for one of the dark reds. Perhaps the side cutting garden is the place for a few peonies. Nelda was telling me that she's had good luck with Gilbert Wild's grab bag of unnamed peonies for a good price. 'Raspberry' Sundae,' 'Sword Dance,' and 'Red Charm' look pretty swell.

Margaret Roach reports on her peonies this year, including more details about Molly the Witch. Apparently the species peonies are a bit touchy to get going, and may even bloom in different colors, but they like shady conditions. I feel sure one would be happy under the oak tree.

Signs of spring

I know, winter has just barely arrived, with its 60 degree days, but doing a spot of garden cleanup, I found these signs of spring.

 
Surprisingly robust leaves of oregano springing up from the ground below the dried stalks


 

Pink buds of the unnamed peonies Susan Hepler passed on to me, though no signs of life from the 'Sarah Bernhardt' that was so floriferous this spring; I'm hopeful that next spring the Hepler peonies will finally bloom and I can discover what they are.


 

But just to show that it's not spring yet, here is the harvest of stalks from the front garden: black-eyed Susans, oregano, lilies...

Catching up

June is just a blur, which is too bad because so much happened in the garden. Here's an attempt to catch up just a bit.

Lots of rain and mostly cool temperatures made for a beautiful spring. Favorites include allium triquetrum, which lasted and lasted along the walkway;
the seedpods of the baptisia;

the always-reliable clematis that Betsy gave me twenty years ago as a housewarming present;
and the absolutely gorgeous peonies that threw bloom after bloom this year. The clump's gotten quite big, it might be time to move some of the daylilies, as I keep threatening to do.

This year the rhododendron was incredibly floriferous and was really beautiful for the first time ever (this is an inherited plant that fills up some space quite nicely though I might not have sought it out myself). No pix, just imagine it. Then I finally caught up to Adrian Higgins' article in the Post that notes this is the "best spring ever" for azaleas and rhododendrons, thanks to last year's drought. Apparently, too much moisture promotes leaf growth over flowers - who knew?

May in the garden

So much has been happening over the last few weeks. Lots of rain and very cool weather has made flowers last. The Delaware Valley azalea bloomed early for some reason - it's usually a welcome surprise in June but it's been in bloom for about a week already. The clematis that Betsy gave me when I moved in is blooming by the mailbox. Several kinds of iris - I think they're Japanese iris but maybe they're Siberian? - are in bloom or even just gone by. A pale creamy white one, and a striking yellow are just going by.

Best of all is the Sarah Bernhardt peony. This is probably its fourth year, and it's just going to town. Big flowers with hundreds of petals, pale pink streaked with darker pink, a pungent scent, and when the flowers start to fade, you can cup them in your hands and feel the silky soft petals fall into your palm.

And then there's the foxglove, and the tiarella is still in bloom, and the sunny garden is a sea of blue with catmint, amsonia, sage, the ends of columbine... Never go away in May again, it's too wonderful to leave!

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.

Updates

It doesn't take long - I was away from the garden for just three days, and lots happened. The unnamed daylily I bought from that nice man in Charlottesville (he was a hobby breeder with a place on Route 29 that I think has been turned into housing or a shopping center or something) is in bloom:

The Siberian iris are in bloom, a little less abundant after division but that's okay:

The peonies are in full glorious bloom. This is the third or fourth year for Sarah Bernhardt and the first year I have enough to cut flowers for the house (note: wait till they're fully in bloom before cutting):