And Into Adulthood

From season to season, year to year, I wish some of my garden inhabitants would pick up the pace and grow a little faster. I often imagine what they would look like when fully grown after initially placing them in their 'permanent' new homes. In reality, I only imagine the feeling or ambience each would create, and not the actual visual.


Some of those plants are now in their adulthood. Consider the phlox divaricata or woodland phlox. This was a plant sale purchase at a local botanic garden. It is now in its year five and as vibrant as ever. I wrote about its three-year birthday in 2016. [posted 29.04.2016] In fact, it is now getting to a point where I don't want it to spread any more. Some pieces have ended up in neighbor's yards and at the local plant swap.

As another example, take my 'dwarf' Snow azaleas. Please. They are beautiful, but I cannot label them dwarf any longer. They are part of the first attempt at landscaping after purchasing my abode in late 1980s. I killed one trying to move it. It was too close to the magnolia tree, and extracting its roots intertwined with the tree roots was like pulling a tooth - I dare not repeat with the other four plants so I left them and they seem to be happy for it.


Oh that red one - the one that looks like something from your LSD trip? That was in the yard when I bought this place. I just moved it down to the end of the yard with the new white azaleas so they all had some company and could get to know each other. Red has remained somewhat dwarf because I trim it back every so often. I hate those unnatural sickening colors.

Now I wait for the bearded iris and the daylilies that I have bred to bloom some year. I thought one or two of the seven iris would flower out this year, but looks like another year's wait.

Solomon's Gold

This is the second autumn for the Solomon's Seal, polygonatum. I believe there is only one variegated leaf type, P. odoratum var. pluriflorum, and I got it. I write about it because of the color. I did not remember this intense yellow color last fall.
This is a native of Europe and Asia, but pluriforum is native to East Asia and China. My Solomon was picked up on the cheap at an annual spring plant sale held by a local church. It is growing happily in its mostly light shade and is very well behaved. I was blessed with blossoms last spring and this past spring, although I notice no fragrance with them.

The white margins on the leaves are even more unique when paired with the yellow leaves. I am thinking the autumn color might vary year to year just as it does for deciduous trees.

I always make this mistake: plant on top of others already planted. Last summer I noticed some acanthus leaves poking through around the soil level of the Solomons Seal. That acanthus planted years before apparently did not die. This summer the acanthus came back. I need to extract it from the Solomon Seal and plant it in a more appropriate sunnier spot. Unfortunately there isn't one that is vacant.

For The Record:   • Clay soil with organic amendments being added yearly   • Fairly moist site at bottom of slope   • Mostly light shade   • No fertilizer   • No serious pests/disease

Wood Phlox Comes To Life

This is the newest rookie perennial in the garden. There was this plant sale at a local historic house museum last spring; who can resist a tent full of plants for sale, especially if they are for a good cause. (I don't remember the cause, but did purchase a plant.)

The wood phlox (Phlox divaricata) came in a 2-inch pot (5 cm) and was planted in a mostly shady spot. It was sold to me as a shade variety of the creeping phlox without as many blooms, and as a native.

The phlox did not do much all of last year after I assured it that I will care for it. But this spring it sprung forth a burst of new growth and is blooming. Note, it is not similar to the creeping phlox.

Flowers are larger, and more dispersed. The plant produces stems that are much more upright at about 10-inches in height (25 cm). These will probably turn into runners and spread. To me, wood phlox more accurately resembles an upright vinca minor. After reading that the flowers are fragrant, I had to shove my nose down to the ground and test this out. There is a slight fragrance.

The most impressive characteristic is its robust growth after being planted in heavy clay soil and after surviving Hell Winter. Although not covered with blossoms as thickly as the garden catalogs (what plant ever is,) it begins to fill in the front of a wide barren shady spot. And someone might even try some cuttings or divisions for another barren spot further down the yard that needs something to compliment the white dogwood, white azaleas, and white viburnum.

For The Record:   • New bed with heavy clay soil with some organic amendments   • Mostly light shade   • Small amount of fertilizer   • No serious pests/disease Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: Dogwood, midseason tulips, wood phlox, poet     daffodils, leucojum, muscari

Hydrangea Gratitude

Plants can evoke memories of a personal event or a person. A gift plant is permanent - marking an event or symbolizing thanks long after a gift basket is eaten or a floral arrangement has dried out. I have a few such plants in the yard and will write about others at a later time.

My miniature rose bush [28.5.2011] was one such thank you gift, and the Oak Leaf Hydrangea (Hydrangea quercifolia) was another. This plant was given to me by an artist friend for helping her with a web site of her work. She heard me mention in passing that I was going to eventually get a hydrangea, because other friends previously promised a piece from their yard but never delivered.

The hydrangea came in a medium sized pot with extremely thick stems resembling tree trunks, but was otherwise healthy. It had been cut back severely in the past, probably because it was outgrowing its home. I was afraid the roots were too shackled to pull through the transplant, but it grew and bloomed for the past three years.

The friends that promised a piece of their plant keep warning me of the monsters these can become. I have been carefully watching it and strategically trimming in the fall. It still has more space to grow into.

It is a native to southeastern deciduous U.S. forests, and is at home in my partially shaded back yard. An added bonus from this plant is the ruby red leaves in the fall. The hydrangea is also available in white or light pink blossoms now, and also in double blossoms. The one I received came with no other name on its tag.

The 10-inch long (25 cm) ice cream cone flowers (as a neighbor's child calls them) were more numerous this year, but not as vibrant white. I attribute this to the dry weather. I am recovering from surgery last week and could not tend the gardens for a while. The plant wilted as blooms started. Water saved it, but the flowers still exhibit a brown tinge. I have read that it does not like heavy clay soil, but so far is happy and healthy in my partially-amended Virginia clay.

For The Record:   • Heavy clay soil with mulch and organic amendments   • Partial shade   • No bother from pests or diseases Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: hydrangea, larkspur, geranium, nicotiana, orange daylily, marigold, cleome, coneflower, hosta,      asian lily, salvia, poppy   • Vegetables: tomato and Pepper blooming & setting fruit   • Harvested: 1 onion, lettuce

Concrete Hostas

The green hostas are finished blooming, but at least they are not growing in concrete the way they were found. While visiting some friends in May two years ago, the entire foundation along their summer home on Staten Island (they live in Manhattan, so their Staten Island house is considered a summer vacation home) was thick with plain green-leaf hostas. Hostas are known for being a tough plant, but concrete? I was given permission to dig up a few and haul them back to Virginia on the train. After clearing away some leaves to begin digging them up, no soil could be found. Moving away large chunks of concrete yielded smaller and smaller concrete pieces until eventually roots were found thriving in sandy gravel. These were growing in construction debris. Needless to say, if plants survived concrete soil, they survived the train ride a day later and summer transplanting.

Two plants were placed in shade, and one in partial shade. The sunnier location yielded lighter colored green leaves that tended to dry out and burn a little around the edges. But this plant also grew larger than the shady two, and produced twice as many flower stalks this summer. And, it also formed seed pods pictured here, whereas the shady siblings did not. One gardener offered an explanation that being in so much sun, the plant was stressed and through it was doomed, so it rushed to reproduce, growing more flowers and seed pods.

There are three other hosta varieties growing in the backyard garden, but only this no-name variety is doing well. The others are 'Gold Standard' and two unknown varieties obtained in our local plant swap brunch. All hostas are relative newcomers to the garden, and their sun and soil requirements still need some tweaking (and a year or two more to really fill in.)

Some Online Hosta Resources
  • Growing Hostas Fact Sheet
  • The Hosta Patch Store
  • New Hampshire Hostas Store
  • Green Mountain Hosta Nursery
  • Hosta Library
  • Bridgewood Gardens Hosta Store
  • American Hosta Society

For The Record:   • Heavy clay soil   • Partial shade / full shade   • Peat and humus manure fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: silver salvia, nicotiana, cosmos, sunflowers, canna, zinnias, castor, basil   • Harvested: 12 tomatoes

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

Noose Neck, Loose Life

Of course, when you want a plant to spread, it will not. Some neighbors had an unidentified low-growing ground cover lurking in the shadows of their backyard. It was only described as 'easily spreadable'. Sounds like butter. It had no pests, it got no sun, it received no care, and it grew in clay soil. It required an annual aggressive extraction to keep the spreading in check, since its underground runners were marathon winners.

After some research, they discovered it was gooesneck loosestrife (lysimachia clethroides). Their sleuthing was very impressive, as this is not a common plant found in may places. Yet the bizzare multi-syllable name was impossible to remember. Noose neck moose life? Loose leaf goose mite? Loosey-goosey light? Yes, goose strife exists on Google.

The landscape architect friends also warned me of its evil spreading ways. Internet sites claim that its cousin the purple loosestrife is an invasive noxious weed wrecking havoc across the country. With a bit of apprehension, the neighbors offered up some cuttings (actually some handfuls yanked out of the ground) for the black hole under my tree where nothing grows. The 1-foot high (30 cm) loosestrife was planted last year, and provided some light green in a dark corner of the yard. Although preferring moist conditions, it is happily growing and blooming this summer, but with no spreading. Could there please be a little spreading?

For The Record:   • Heavy dry, clay soil   • Shade, some afternoon sun   • No fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: calendula, salvias, nicotiana, monarda, cosmos, coneflower, asiatic liliy, daylily, first tomato blooms

Plant Swap Iris

This is the first plant received from a neighborhood Plant Swap Brunch that has performed well. Last spring a few bearded iris rhizomes were received and planted in the spring. They were tended to all summer, and this year are blooming well. Not knowing the variety, a search of the internet iris culture turned up a lot of similar varieties, but nothing matched perfectly. There was always something that did not match - a ruffled petal, a light blue stripe, an orange fall.

The size is surprising- leaves up to 24 inches (61 cm) tall, and flower stalks up to 5 feet (1.5 m) - clearly the tallest thing in the garden. The location receives a small anount of shade, although iris love full sun.

The spring Plant Swap Brunch for the neighborhood took place on Saturday. My garden gave up some purple asters, white dragonflower, numerous calendula and green nicotiana seedlings (sprouting from last year's plants.) In return, a white-tipped hosta and white shasta daisy plants were received.

For The Record:   • Growing in heavy soil, mostly full sun, some shade   • Slow release organic granular fertilizer applied   • Somewhat taller flower stalks that expected Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: dutch & bearded iris, allium, columbine, perennial geranium   • Early tulip bulbs lifted

Are You Blue

Happiness is a plant meeting or exceeding expectations. When the 'Discovery' Dutch Iris (Iris hollandica) bulbs arrived last fall, there were too many to plant in one location, so they were planted in three groups throughout the property. The sunny location is now in full bloom, and I realize that they could have been planted a bit closer together into 2 groups. They are as blue as the photo suggests, and are striking in their height and intense color- a little over 2 feet (60 cm). Here's hoping that the catalog description is correct in that they easily multiply. The shadier locations where these were planted are just now beginning to bloom.

For The Record:   • Growing in moderate drained soil, mostly full sun, some shade   • Bone meal fertilizer applied in the fall   • Great form and color - gets ooo's & aah's Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: Dutch & bearded iris, allium, columbine, perennial geranium   • Canna planted

Last One Standing

Currently, only the rose colored columbine is blooming in the front display garden. Tulips and daffodils have gone, and the newest spring additions are still in buds. Seeds for this plant were mixed in with the pink Binghamton, NY poppy seeds from years ago, both growing in the same general location in New York. They grew here, and after a few years have developed into a healthy columbine plant. The flowers are a dull rose, and are not as large as the newer introduced varieties generally available. Still, they are a somewhat unique color from the blues, white and purples found in the seed catalogs. They grow in full sun here, but columbine likes partial shade.

For The Record:   • Grows in moderate drained soil, full sun   • No fertilizer   • Dull rose color blooms get lost in a large garden Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: columbine   • Begin bloom: calendula overwintered

A Fall Dud

I tried some crocosmia bulbs from Michigan Bulb, the variety Emily McKenzie. I saw some crocosmia growing and flowering at a nursery a year or two ago, and thought it would provide a unusual look with its thin leaves resembling daffodils, and its foot-long stems of fire red blossoms. The 'Emily McKenzie' description sounded even better.

The bulbs were planted in the spring and were nursed and tended to all summer with anticipation of a summer bloom. The result was that only about 3 of the 6 bulbs had blossoms. Contrary to the description, they did not bloom until early fall, did not all bloom at the same time, and the long arching stems I had seen in the nursery ended up being short stalks about 6 inches tall with one flower opening at a time on each plant.

Was it Michigan Bulb, or the conditions in full sun, or the exaggerated description? Emily McKenzie turned into small little insignificant nothings in the garden. They will be gone from the garden after this season. I am considering a different crocosmia variety from another grower in the future. Lessons learned.

For The Record:   • Grows in well drained soil, full sun   • Slow release organic granular fertilizer applied   • Normal watering

Fall Fire

The firey yellow-orange calendula thrives in cooler weather that starts coming around September. It does well in spring and fall and blooms well past the first frost. During summers it all but shuts down flower production, producing few flowers that are quite small with a dull yellow color. Once the weather starts to turn cool, it perks up and starts to thrive again. Photos do not accurately show the true vibrant color of flowers, good for cutting.

Leaves have an unusual spicy fregrance. The plant is self-seeding and profusely comes back each year. A few plants will survive the winter here, and exhibit lots of flowers in late spring right after the tulips stop.

Summer or Fall?

The purple asters were received from the landscape architects many years ago. They grow about 3 to 4 feet tall (1 to 1.2 m), and form a large clump that needs support when reaching full height. The flowers are dime-sized in clusters along the top of the plant, and attract a certain orange & brown butterfly in late summer. The plant grows stalks with leaves during the summer, and begins blooming in late summer, continuing into fall. This aster overwinters and multiplies easily, forming what looks like a bush. I divide it in the spring and fall, and always take pieces to the neighborhood Plant Swap Brunch. It had white fuzzy 'cotton' bugs one year, but otherwise has been pest free.

As recommended, the stems were always pinched off at about 6 inches (15 cm), and then again at 12 inches (30 cm) in height during their growth to produce more side shoots and thus more flowers. As an experiment, last year I decided to let them grow without pinching off. The results: the plant bloomed earlier and was through earlier, was taller, had fewer flowers, and because there were fewer stalks for fellow support and was taller, it more easily fell over. Lessons learned.

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.