Living On and On

This nicotiana was planted in the clay of a sewer line replacement bed last spring. This is one of my plants that self-seed every year; there are hundreds that come up annually in the front garden. I moved some of these seedlings last year to the sewer line bed, and topped with a lot of organic mulch to start multi-year process of amending the soil.

With a new wood fence that reflects sunlight and heat and help protect the bed over winter, some of these nicotiana decided to stay over winter and bounce to life in early spring. A sunny warm spot, along with a layer of leaf mulch helped to protect it from winter.

This one plant came out of hibernation and started blooming a month ago when other nicotiana seeds were germinating. Now, many new nicotiana seedlings are sprouting around the base of this plant, and some of those are blooming now. The mother plant can use the company. And yes, I end up ripping the seedlings out all over the front yard like weeds.

Year after year, these blooms coming from the self-seeding are turning more and more cream-colored, losing their lime color. No problem. They bloom at evenings, so color is not that visible.

Come another month, these plants will be reseeding and all bloomed out. Cutting them back will produce more blooms, but they will not be as prolific as they are now.

Head Start

The lime green nicoitana (nicotiana alata) is one of those self-seeders that reliably comes back year after year with no help from me. This year, however, it joins a handful of others in my Zone 7b garden that never went away. Tucked on the south side of the ivy-coverd fence, these plants survived our mild winter. As a result, the seeds from last year in the main garden bed are forming silver-dollar sized rosettes while these are blooming. Welcome to head start 2020.

As the sun was going down tonight, I grabbed my camera to snap a few images since these only open during the late afternoon and evening, closing up at morning. Also, sun going down = more saturated colors the camera sees.

First to bloom means first to poop out too. Now at their height, I expect them to begin flopping over, forming seed heads, and reducing blooms. The white nicotiana that survived the winter in the backyard garden are also at peak bloom. In the past I have tried deadheading, but the plant seems to just stop growing.

I keep the whites in the back and the greens in the front to keep the colors from mixing in future generations. The have done that in the past, although I do not believe the pollinators are fond of this plant.

I also had a few other other holdovers from the mild winter besides the snapdragon and nicotiana -- spider plant, canna, and cabbage. I can explore them in a later post.

For The Record:   • Rich fertile wellp-draioned soil   • Full sun, front garden   • No fertilizer - natural leaf mulch during winter   • No serious pests/disease

May 2020 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month

Not too much variety in the garden at this date, but lots of iris. A nip of cold weather showed up earier this week, and then bam! 85 degrees (30 degrees C) today.

Siberian Iris seems to multiply more and more each year.

Unknown bearded iris but believe it may be 'Fantasyland'.

White nicotiana comes back every year from self-seeding.

Geranium sanguineum makes a nice ground cover.

Kalmia latifolia 'Sarah' was listed as the 'reddest of the reds' mountain laurel in the catalog.

One of my favorite iris, 'Clarence'.

Finally, another result of my bearded iris cross-breeding [posted 2019.05.14] that bloomed for the first time this year. A cross between the Fantasyland and Frank Adams. When the sun hits it, the golden yellow in the base of the petals light up the bright yellow fuzz.

For other garden bloggers' bloom day photos, spring over to the blog May Dreams Gardens

The Fallen

With some heavy rain and a touch of laziness from the owner for not staking again this year, the hydrangea has once again succumbed to its own success. The large blooms of what I believe is 'Incrediball' have fallen down and cannot get up. I now support the peony before it also goes down, and keep thinking that I will do the same for the hydrangea when it starts to peek out of the ground. But since I cannot find any support system large enough, I need to make my own, and that involves some involved work. Maybe next year.

These rudbeckia mentioned in Bloggers Bloom Day love the location against the masonry house. Nice and warm in the winter, and beautiful non-clay soil thanks to years of fallen leaves where ivy once roamed. They are taller and more robust than in any other of my gardens. Taller means easier to bend over.

Another reseeder is the nicotiana: white in the back, and green in the front yards. The white species grow taller and always flop over, and I always let them. The green nicotiana don't do this to the same extent maybe because they do not grow as tall. Maybe because they get full sun and the whites don't, or because they are just a different shorter variety.

Native Loosestrife (Lysimachia quadrifolia) is now blooming and down it goes. The plants tend to support each other in the center of the cluster, while those along the perimeter take a bow like in this photo. The dark leaves turn green when the yellow blooms appear in summer.

Not yet down is the yellow-flowered plant I picked up at a plant swap. I think it is a type of helianthus or coreopsis. It bloomed in late summer when about 3-feet high (90 cm) and proceeded to bend down. This year it is about 4-feet (120 cm) tall at the moment, with some buds appearing. And so far it is standing tall.

When the weak fall, it is difficult to get them back up permanently, so I usually let them lay.

June 2011 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day (After)
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.

There is so much going on in the gardens, I needed an extra day to document it all, and ended up leaving some things out. The peony poppies are about pooped out while the yellow daylilies are coming on. A maroon daylily was handed out at a master gardener tour last year. Coneflowers are all over - purple, coconut lime, and a sundown series. Cleome is robust. Bachelor buttons are new for me this year and so are the yellow oriental lilies. Get a load of the production on the rudbeckia, nicotiana and cactus!

The Find other garden bloggers' bloom days at the blog May Dreams Gardens.

unknown poppy		unknown daylily
unknown daylily		unknown asiatic lily
Echinacea 'Sundown' Big Sky Series		unknown asiatic lily
Astilbe 'Radius' (Astilbe x arendsii)		Spiderwort (Tradescantia virginiana)
Cactus Opuntia		Echinacea 'Coconut Lime'
Bachelor Button (Centaurea cyanus )		Cleome (Cleome hassleriana )
Rudbeckia hirta		Nicotiana sylvestris

July 2009 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of each month

Green Nicotiana		Echinacea purpurea (coneflower)

Cosmos sulphureus		Physostgia virginiana (obedient plant)

Tropaeolum majus (nasturtium)

Cleome hassleriana

Drunken Nicotians

About five years ago, the landscape architect friends volunteered some white nicotiana plants they started from seed early in the season. It was a variety called Only The Lonely (Nicotiana sylvestris). Unique and appreciated, this nicotiana attracted the rare (to Virginia) sphinx moth to their garden. The plants grew to about 5 feet tall (1.5 m) and the long drooping white flowers looked sad, or... lonely I guess. And they could never stand up on their own. The following year, the bed sprouted numerous seedlings from the previous year's seed drop, starting an annual tradition.

Now, like a few other annuals, the white nicotiana are anticipated year after year with their fragrant nocturnal flowers that give some delight to the oppressively hot summer nights in Virginia. The plants that result, however, are not true Only The Lonely. These descendants produce flowers with a normal nicotiana shape and size, not the elongated tubular shape of the hybrid. They do, however, inherit most the hybrid's height and eventually topple over, too. Trimming fallen stalks after the seed pods begin forming causes new uprights and new flowers in a week or two.

These respond well to fertilizer and water - too well. Abundant nicotiana growing to 6 feet (1.8 m) seem to hasten the need for support, and overwhelm everything around, so I don't encourage super-sizing. In the past, they were left to fall and ramble along the ground, appearing somewhat natural. This year I tried disciplining them into a plant support ring, but the support wasn't tall enough and today they are up to their old habit. Next year, more discipline.

For The Record:   • Medium to heavy soil with clay   • Full sun, some shade   • No fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: cosmos, daylily, liatris, calendula, hosta, zinnia, coneflower, nicotiana, phlox   • First bell peppers form   • First full size tomatoes

Summer Heat

Hot summer brings out the lime green nicotiana. This plant came from the landscape architects years ago and was one of the first contributions to the front display flower garden. It is an annual, but easily reseeds itself year after year with the same light green flowers. Last year its usual bed was disturbed in the spring when daffodils were dug out to be divided, resulting in fewer nicotiana plants germinating. Lesson learned.

The flowers stay closed during the day and open at dusk, releasing a sweet fragrance. Each plant produces several stems, and keeps bloming throughout the summer as long as spent flower stems are broken off. Usually this is a hassle because of the large number of stems produced in the many plants that grow. The plants do need some support after reaching a certain height. I let them lean on each other and flop over if they want to - giving a cascading natural look.