Fuzzy Punk Rocker

Without a lot of room in the garden to spare, dwarf sunflowers are becoming more and more intriguing. They grow fairly large blooms for such little guys, and after blooming, end up leaving goodies for the birds. This year, two new shorties were given a chance, and the second of the two is now blooming.

Starburst Lemon Aura sunflower (Helianthus annuus) ended up not resembling the catalog description very much. (Imagine that - bet this never happens to any other gardener's plans . . .) Surprise number 1 - can it really be considered a dwarf after it grows to six feet (1.8 m) tall? It used to be listed in the short sunflower section of Park Seeds online catalog. This is a good thing, since the taller height actually looks better in its present location after all.

Surprise number 2 - No brown centers. All the plants produced large, fuzzy, lemon yellow blossoms. This is also a good thing since they don't have any of the brown 'rotting center look' found in the catalog photo. Does the marketing department think their photo is attractive and will sell more seeds?

Surprise number 3 - the multiple side blossoms (although not numerous) are almost as big as the original main blossoms, and with stems long enough for cutting. The only drawback is that the leaves look dried and diseased this late in the summer, and I don't know why. If they remained healthy, the plants might have grown taller.

All things considered, the punk-rock, 'needs a shave' appearance of this variety did not approximate the catalog, but that was a good thing. They will be invited back next year.

For The Record:   • Heavy clay soil   • Full sun   • Peat and hummus manure fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: silver salvia, nicotiana, cosmos, sunflowers, canna, zinnias, castor, basil   • Harvested: 14 tomatoes

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

Disobedient Plant

The tag on the pot at the nursery read Obedient Plant. As she was handed the payment, the cashier warned, "don't believe the name - it ought to be called the disobedient plant because it spreads like crazy." After four years, the obedient plant (or dragon flower as it is sometimes called) has been behaving itself.

The Obedient Plant (physostegia virginiana) does like to spread, but it is easy to keep under control. It's all in the wrist. Pulling out the new shoots in the spring where they step over the line is all that it needs.

It's probably a good guess that the plant growing in my front display garden is not the best cultivar when compared to the photos found around the internet. Photos of someone else's plants show several blossoms open at the same time, as opposed to my experience of only a few.

The plant should prefer its native wet swampy soil, but it seems to be happy in full sun and the well-drained bed. It starts growing in early spring as a dense clump, providing deep green foliage for months before producing flowers at the height of summer. Heavy summer rains tend to push them over after the 2-foot high (60 cm) stalks have reached their full height at flowering time. This is a plant that doesn't shout, and can be trained despite its reputation as a bad boy.

For The Record:   • Well-drained drained organic soil   • Full sun   • No fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: silver salvia, nicotiana, cosmos, sunflowers, canna, zinnias, basil, castor   • Harvested: 5 tomatoes

Bombed Bumblebees

Sunflowers are one of the plants that I had little interest in. Not any more. While visiting a garden at dusk four years ago, the sunflowers growing around the vegetables contained motionless bumblebees on the seed clusters. The gardener concluded that the bees were probably intoxicated on the pollen. One could pet the fuzzy gluttonous critters who moved just enough to acknowledge the touch without being able to fly away.

Over that past four years, I found that the world of sunflowers was more than tall and yellow - so many different sizes, colors, shapes, textures for the garden. Dwarf varieties are best suited for the garden here, although there is a cautious aspiration to try a tall variety next year.

The newest sunflower smiling these days is Sunny Smile (helianthus annuus). Two new dwarf varieties were planted this spring, and Sunny Smile was first to win the race to bloom. Over the past few years, the dwarf 'Sunspot' was planted, and comparing the two, Sunny Smile's 18-inch height (50 cm) is a little shorter, and its petals better proportioned to its central seed cluster. Sunspot grew normal-sized blossoms (normal for tall varieties) with oversized centers containing lots of seeds for the birds. On the downside, all varieties tend to attract night-loving, leaf-eating pests; probably slugs.

It's funny that these new flowers are always facing east, and do not follow the sun throughout the day. Sun in this location comes from the south and west. This is not a complaint since the east is toward the house, where they can be admired from inside. Bumblebees have not tried my garden for Happy Hour.

For The Record:   • Medium drained organic soil   • Full sun   • Little granular organic fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: silver salvia, nicotiana, cosmos, sunflowers, canna, zinnias, liatris, dragon flower, crocosmia, castor   • Harvested: 1 tomato

New Blood

A year ago, crocosmia Emily McKenzie bulbs were ordered and planted, but were ripped up and thrown out in act of frustration after blooming. Emily was a dud that didn't earn her keep. It was sad to throw out a plant. The story is conveyed in an older post. This year, Crocosmia Lucifer was purchased from a local nursery and planted in mid spring. There were actually two plants in the pot. How often does that happen when purchasing the last one? After just three months, one plant is rewarding the garden with two stems of red flowers.

The plants and flowers are larger than the crocosmia plant of last year, and the deep red color cannot be accurately shown in a photo. It is a rich, pure, blood red. The flowers are not large or numerous, but command attention because of their color - especially when contrasted with the white dragonflowers nearby. The sturdy flower stems are arching about 24 inches (60 cm) above the ground, with a row of 1-inch (3 cm) flowers on each. Both are doing well in the humid mid-summer heat. Based on information about crocosmia, I have high expectations for this plant in years to come.

For The Record:   • Medium drained soil   • Full sun   • No fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: purple & silver salvia, nicotiana, monarda, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, loosestrife,    crocosmia, phlox, dragon flower, coneflower, hosta

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

The Infinite Cosmos

The Cosmos. Infinite. Who knew that when the 'Sunny Red' cosmos (cosmos sulphreus) were planted from seed over ten years ago, this annual would effortlessly seed itself into infinity and still maintain its fiery red color. Each spring brings a hundred offspring, taking over a front bed that has now become their own and giving new meaning to the word overpopulation. They are given away. They are pulled up and tossed out. And throughout the summer, they grow into their own 4 foot high (1.2 m) shrub. Bumble bees love them almost as much as the neighbors.

I never considered the cosmos a jewel in the garden, but they have drawn more compliments than any other flowering plant. I believe it is their height, easily seen along the front sidewalk and creating a small enclosure on one side, and their numerous red and yellow blossoms that neighbors find appealing. Flowers held above the foliage also help them get noticed.

They start out with lush fern-like leaves and small red flowers containing yellow centers. After a few weeks, the flowers become more numerous. A few more weeks, and the flowers start to become smaller. At this time, it becomes impossible to keep up with beheading the spent dead blossoms and seeds start to form. In the fall, the leaves begin to slowly turn duller green and eventually brown, and fewer and smaller flowers appear. Cutting them back at this time will produce a short burst of fresh new greenery and flowers, but this doesn't last long.

They seldom stray from their bright red color. Once in a while, a hint of yellow or light orange shows up, but the red is fairly consistent. Stems are sturdy and support each other, especially when they are crowded. They are mentioned as cut flowers, but be warned that petals begin falling off after three days. They are not house-broken and love to drop pollen, too.

For The Record:   • Well-drained soil   • Full sun   • Light granular organic fertilizer in spring   • Color & number of flowers get ooo's & aah's Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: calendula, purple & silver salvia, nicotiana, monarda, cosmos,     daylillies, hostas, liatris   • Tomatoes - golf ball size

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

Bloom Free or Die

Three Monarda or bee balm plants were purchased from a catalog mail order supplier about two years ago. Last year, their first, they bloomed in early summer, but after blooming, two immediately died off. Not wanting the third to disappear, it was spoiled and cared for throughout the summer like an only-child.

First, a slight mildew appeared in the summer. After heavy summer thunderstorms knocked over most of the stalks, a plant support was purchased. When trying to upright them, the stalks easily broke since they were not pliable. At the end of summer, there were no stalks, no flowers, and only a small pile of sprouts.

Either bloom or end up on the compost heap. This year, the plant came back well and is proudly blooming and standing tall. With stalks about 3 feet high (1 m), this variety does not have the petals splayed out of a center, but instead resembles a pincushion or ball. It is obediently utilizing the metal support grid purchased last year, new stalks are growing out of the base, and the universe is once again in balance.

The Monarda plant has some interesting history and uses such as tea for native Americans, floral potpourri, salad garnish, and herb for meats.

For The Record:   • Medium soil   • Full sun   • Humus manure and peat added to soil   • Bone meal added in the fall Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: Iceland poppy, calendula, purple salvia, geranium, nicotiana, monarda, daisy, coneflower

Colors and Memory Fading

The garden is now beginning to show its summer color. The extremely oppressive heat of the past two days and bountiful rains of May have forced a lot of plants to get with the program. Lollipop lilies are now blooming, but appear to be different this year. The intense pink color of the petals merges to creamy yellow close to the centers, but memory seems to be void of the yellow color in them. Maybe they would be better looking without so much yellow, so the mind remembers them as such. Or, could changing growing conditions every year produce variations in the color? The pink looks lighter this year, too.

These Asiatic lilies are sturdy and the 3 foot high (1 m) stalks do not require supports, thank heaven. The three bulbs were purchased about three years ago, and during their first growing season, were small and produced few flowers. This year, being well established, they happily delivered about ten buds per stem. The only complaint is that they are not multiplying, so maybe this plant was a devious introduction, specially bred for retail supply company sales.

A search of internet suppliers shows them to be abundant. This makes my initial selection three years ago slightly disappointing, although not because of their performance or visual display. There is a bit of suppressed desire to be different; to want the rare, unique, hard to find plants, as if the 'common' ones makes a garden 'common.'

For The Record:   • Growing in medium soil, enriched with peat and organic material   • Full sun, some shade   • Very little organic granular fertilizer   • Intense color and large blossoms get ooo's and ah's Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: poppies, calendula, purple salvia, geranium, nicotiana, lilies

Poppies Pooped Out

Two years ago I joined the National Home Gardening Club and received a packet of poppy seeds. (The packet showed a bunch of red flowers.) They were planted in the fall, and springtime brought only two plants - one with pink flowers and one with red. Seeds were saved from both and planted in fall again, and this year produced - voila - only one plant with red blossoms. Did these seeds ever hear the phrase 'field of poppies?' Maybe they do better if planted in the spring.

This one is a Shirley Poppy, (papever rhoaes). From one base stem, the plant produces dozens of branching stems each with a hairy flower bud. Flowers are carmine red with four petals, two tend to turn up and two turn down after hot sun hits them. As with the peony poppies, the blossoms do not last long. The branching stems are falling all over like a giant spider, selfishly hogging too much space in the bed for one plant. This poppy would probably look better if it had several of its friends together in one group.

For The Record:   • Growing in somewhat heavy soil, full sun   • Light liquid fertilizer   • Very low germination rate with fall planting   • Non-compact, branching habit

Woodsy Stinker

The Ligustrum shrub (ligustrum japonicum) or evergreen privet is now in full bloom. There were four found around the property when purchased, and all were relocated to one area. After recently being trimmed and trained into small multi-trunk trees, they are now about 10 feet tall (3 m). Since they are located just outside windows, the smell of the late-spring flowers has filtered throughout the house. The very strong odor is not objectionable, but not pleasant either. One person identified it as 'woodsy.'

Research indicates that many types of Ligustrum are invasive, but none of the fallen berries have ever produced plants in this yard. Birds do not touch the black berries in the fall or winter, but will take them in the spring. Early one spring, a commotion was heard in the shrubs. After investigation, 16 robins were found in the shrubs, fighting over the berries. Maybe this is why they never fell and grew here with robins picking them off like M&M's. I thought Robins were ethnic - into the bugs and grubs type of food - not seeds.

The flowers last about a week or two, and eventually turn an unattractive brown before dropping. This, along with the tendency of some leaves to die and drop throughout the summer does not make them a favorite in the garden. They are kept around for their form and rich, lush, deep evergreen leaves. Maybe they would make great greens at Christmas?

For The Record:   • Growing in heavy clay soil, full sun   • No fertilizer   • Drops dead blooms and leaves in summer   • Have not found to be invasive Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: poppies, calendula, purple salvia, geranium,     nicotiana, foxglove   • Tomatoes staked   • Lifted alliums to relocate in the fall