Name That Plant

I found this growing in the side yard garden last week and am at a loss to identify it. We have ovate leaves with a slight gray color and somewhat serrated edges, symmetrically arranged in pairs on the stem, with about 12 inches in height (30 cm), and a growth not very vertical. I do not believe weeds of this size normally grow fast in the late winter. I ponder the possibilities:

• Lobelia cardinalis.
This is what I am hoping for. In fall 2010, a local nursery went out of business. I purchased a handful of perennials including the lobelia at 50% off and planted them in various places. Although the nursery carried an incredible assortment of unique perennials, it could not compete with nearby big box stores with discount priced annuals and azaleas that homeowners craved.

I marked the plant locations since I have been known to accidentally plant things on top of bulbs and other plants that had been previously planted. Markers were set out - but without labels or names.

Spring came and the Crazy Dasies [posted 2011.07.04] popped out, but no lobelia. No acanthus. No ligularia. All that remained were the blank markers stuck in the ground like little tombstones marking burial plots.

As I raked leaves this last fall, something thick caught the rake. A more substantial plant was found poking out of the vinca. I was mashing something that was struggling and fighting back. After demolishing the pesky plant and after closer inspection, I discovered acanthus sprouts had struggled all summer and were attempting a comeback.

Now that I know where the acanthus is, I am hoping it will reemerge this year. So, the mystery plant could be the reemergence of the lobelia, too.

• Monarda
Last spring I used a gift certificate for a few new plants from High Country Gardens, among them Violet Queen monarda. Two clumps were planted. They grew all summer and died back in autumn. The mystery plant is growing next to one of the monarda clumps. Photos of monarda show leaves in a paired arrangement on the stems and with a touch of serrated edges just like the mystery plant. Maybe a root took off to establish a new clump next to mom?

• Weed
If a weed grows this well in the winter, who knows what it will look like in the spring?

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: tete-a-tete daffodils, magnolia stellata, abeliophylum, rhododendron mucronulatum

Seed Exchange Bounty

A week ago I attended the Washington Gardener Magazine Seed Exchange at Green Spring Gardens in Alexandria. This was my second year, and it was an overcast, dreary, shower-filled day, just like last year. I learned a few tricks from my previous experience that made this year more rewarding. I also briefly spoke to fellow blogger the Indoor Garden(er), recognizing him from his blog photo (and his name tag.)

Last year, I loaded up about 100 seeds of the Castor Bean [posted 2009.9.3], and the same of my Lime Green Nicotiana [posted 2007.7.17]. I did not see the fine print on the registration that requested seed packets with digestible quantities. So, someone picked up a boatload of seeds.

This year, I took my Castor Bean seeds and divided them up into about 15 seeds per packet. I even labeled the packets with the botanical name, growing conditions, height, starting information. I did the same for my four packs of pink peony poppies [posted 2008.5.28] and one packet of orange calendula. All were happy donations straight from my garden.

Upon arrival, my seeds were taken to be checked for non-native invasiveness, and a goodie bag was returned that contained several seed packets, magazine, catalogs, and information. They make great grocery bags. Next, all the seeds are classified (annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs, tropicals) and arranged on several tables to peruse before the program starts. This year, I began lurking around the tables like others, making a list of what I wanted, and where those items were on the different tables.

The program started with two excellent one-hour presentations by the arranged speakers. The first dealt with tomatoes - a lot of history, some growing info, and the speaker's favorites. The second spoke about seed starting - pitfalls of timing and scheduling. After a short snack break, the seed exchange began.

The first round allowed people who had attended a prior seed exchange to select one packet of seeds from the tables. The remaining attendees then did the same. The second round first allowed people who had brought seeds to exchange to select one packet. The third round first allowed the travel-weary to select one packet who were attending from outside the county.

The coveted San Marzano tomato seeds rocketed to the top of my list. The first speaker identified it as the best-tasting Italian sauce tomato. There was one packet, and I got it! YES! My second selection was Rudbeckia 'Irish Eyes', with only two packets displayed. Got one. The third was Cilantro, since it was the last packet left. Other wants on my list had several packets laying on the tables, so I knew some would be available at the last call mad dash.

After everyone had three seed packets, the floodgates were opened and running of the bulls commenced. Anyone was allowed to take any seeds. One observation regarding my donation of seeds was that one packet of the peony poppy seeds mysteriously vanished prior to the first call for selection. The others were gone quickly.

Seeds Picked Up
    Some of these were not selected, but came in the goodie bag -
    a good quality green grocery bag.
Asclepias tuberose
Clematis glaucophylla
Rudbeckia hirsta (Irish Eyes)
Southern Onion (Texas Grano 502)
Cilantro
Papaver somniferum (Laurens Grape - heroin)
Tomato (San Marzanao)
Radish (Cherry belle)
Nicotiana (Sensation mixed)
Tomato (Pink oxheart)
Tomato (Italian Red Cherry)
Aquilegia vulgaris (Mix)
Ocimum basilicum (Toscano basil)
Ocimum basilicum (Salad leaf basil)
Tomato (Chico III)
Digitalis (mix)
Marigold (Naughty Marietta - french)
Cucumber (Wisconsin pickling)
Beans (Bush - Contender)
Tomato (Fourth of July)
Apium graveolens (Cutting Celery)
Hungarian pepper (????)
Zinnia (Pulcino mix)
Belamcanda chinensis (Blackberry lily)
(photos taken from across the web)

Free Range Poinsettias

Do I have a green thumb or what?
How many people keep poinsettias after Christmas and try to get them to rebloom the next year? And how many people, with fungus gnats, white flies, and yellow leaf drop throw in the towel and throw the darn thing away? They may be cheap but they're not easy.

Two years ago, I planted a cheap holiday poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima) outdoors in the spring. I wanted to give it a chance to live on past its normal life expectancy so retired and moved it to a warm sunny southern climate.

The southern side yard was a perfect place, and it grew quite well. In the fall, the new leaves became smaller, grew more slowly, and had a red tinge to them and their veins, like we all do after too many merlots. The experience was encouraging and rewarding, as reported that year. [21.10.2010]

This spring, I placed two potted poinsettias from last Christmas in the side yard, hoping to decide on a placement later. Laziness set in and 'later' turned into 'never.' They stayed in their pots with their original soil. In the fall, due to cold and longer nights, they began their change again. Our frost came very late this year; so as long as they were not yet compost fodder and not in the way of the fall garden chores, they stayed.

They were moved to the deck, close to the warmer house after the first light frost, and eventually made their way indoors. I decided to keep them going to see what would happen to those reddish leaves. Every evening upon retuning home from work, I stumbled around a dark house to find my poinsettias and move them from their sunny daytime french doors and place them in the dark cellar near the outside door. Every morning, I reversed the routine (but needed not stumble) or placed them outdoors on those occasional warm days. Poinsettias need long nights to bloom and bloom they did in time for Christmas.

One plant was purchased at an inexpensive supermarket, and the other at Home Depot. (No need to spend oodles of bucks on throw away plants during the holiday shopping season.) The National Poinsettia Cultivar Trials indicates there are hundreds of varieties. My two show notable differences.

One has dark green leaves, and much larger blooms than the other lighter green leaf. But, this one with the naked legs lost more of its lower leaves. Both plants have smaller blooms than when purchased, and much stronger stems. I will attribute this to not being fed a constant junk food diet of fertilizer. I remember that whole stems on both plants easily broke off after purchased, maybe due to the soft fast growth promoted by production nursery greenhouses.

The red flowers are actually bracts (like dogwood tree 'petals') and have so far lasted a month. The yellow flowers in the centers are just now beginning to bloom. Next year I promise to take better care (larger pots, pruning, and some love) during the summer and hope to write about the larger blooms in 2013.

Alexandria Holiday Decoration

It was a busy time during the holidays, and without many plants growing, there was not much material for the blog. I thought another yearly door decoration post might be in order.

Over the past few years, a securities company across the street from my office in Old Town Alexandria decorates its front door in true colonial style. Natural fruit and greens adorn the door and transom window during the holiday season.

A few years back, I took a candlelight tour of nearby Mount Vernon. George Washington and his friends celebrated Christmas, but it was not the holiday it is today. Decorations, understated by today's standards, were usually natural greenery. Plants that magically remained green through this bleak time of year held a special significance and were thought to bring life and good luck to the household.

December 25 was the beginning of the Christmas season, culminating with the more important feast in January, twelve days (of Christmas) later. Gatherings of friends for dinner, games, and music were the important items for the holiday here in Virginia - not the trimmings and trappings. Any fruit used as interior decoration was eventually eaten.

These Old Town door decorations consist of boxwood wreaths on the door, and actual oranges, pineapple, grapefruit, and apples above. I do not know what the sprig is at the pineapple - it looks like amaranth.

Iris Rerun

This is just a quick post to keep the blog going until the next post. Winter does not have a lot going on for me that hasn't been mentioned before. One exception is yet another post about Clarence the bearded iris [2011.05.03].

As mentioned in a previous post [2011.10.23], he started showing signs of blooming in November and December after taking the summer off. I did a bit of research online, and discovered the wonderful world of re-blooming iris. Clarence apparently belongs to this group. I believe that the Tidewater Gardener mentioned in the past that 're-blooming iris' usually means one more time in the fall, and means a smaller bloom production. This was certainly true here with Clarence.

Recent frosts have not affected the buds, maybe because the plant is located in a bed on the south side of the house, but a very heavy frost does affect any flowers in full bloom. What a surprise, especially when everything else in the side slope garden is dead and gone for the season.

Neon Hostas

With three or four years of hostas under my belt, you would think I know my plants pretty well. This fall they surprised me, maybe because of the unusual weather, maybe because of they are more mature, or maybe because they are trying to impress me.

Two of the hostas have stood out. The first, True Blue, was purchased three years ago and is described as, "Large, heart-shaped gray-blue leaves with slightly wavy margins and moderate puckering, excellent substance and pest resistance, near white flowers." To date, they have proved the description correct.

This fall, however, True Blue turned mellow yellow. The leaves changed color to a neon gold. In the dull shade of the back yard, the yellow is a stand out. In previous years, the leaves may have been a little colorful, but mostly just turned brown and disappeared.

Leaves on trees seem to be holding on longer this fall. My bearded iris is blooming again. Is there a more gradual than normal change in the season this year, allowing the hosta to fade slowly rather than quickly die off? And what are those black and tan pointy thingies hanging off the hostas? For the first time, the True Blue seed pods fully matured, completely dried, and dropped seeds!

And who is in that last photo? It's Frances Willimas, the other large shade hosta. Like the True Blue, their leaves are dying off slowly, but are not changing color all at once. Instead, these are changing from the outside edges inward, producing a tri-color green, yellow, the brown pattern. The seed pods are also quite plentiful and maturing.

The other hostas are turning in this fall as usual. Only the large hostas are putting on a show this year.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, acidanthera

October 2011 Flowers In The House

Indoor flowers on the last Monday of the month.
No corn or corny-copia on the front door, so what does one do for the holiday season? Why not join the Flowers In The House gang.

There were a few zinnias and marigolds left in the garden after the cold storm this weekend. Fortunately, after last night's freeze I could still harvest something and will enjoy them for a few more days indoors. This samples the bounty of peppers and flowers that were brought in Sunday.

Along with my obviously contrived contribution, find other garden bloggers' Halloween Flowers In The House at the blog Small But Charming.

Act II - Autumn

Many of my perennials begin in the warmth of spring with a vibrant burst of life, only to slowly give up in our notoriously hot and humid Washington summers. In August, the plants are as tired of the heat as I am of trying to care for them.

The garden comes back to life for one brief final fling when the nights cool and the days shorten. The steam-heat-loving fungal diseases disappear, as do many of the crawling and chomping beasties. Several plants are now on their encore performance prior to the final act of frost, and some are surprising. I like good surprises.

The miniature rose bush [2011.05.29] succumbed to black spot while I was away for two weeks in September. I came home to a barren cluster of stems with no vegetation or buds. Now it bravely blooms again, although I don't know how with stems devoid of leaves. I think I see a few new fresh shoots with leaves erupting.

Cardoon plants (Cynara cardunculus) were given to me this spring and did nothing all summer after being planted in the hot garden where the infamous octopus hollyhocks were removed. The future colossuses (colossi?) valiantly struggled through their first summer and now look like they are loving life.

The self-reliant white nicotiana [2009.07.09] annuals bloom through spring and most of the summer. After seed pods set, the flowers stop and there is little rebloom even with deadheading. There is a slow decline until I eventually put them out (rip them out) of their misery. The seeds are scattered and come back next year. In fall, some of the roots left in the ground erupt into a huge clump of leaves. Some of these will slumber through winter and wake up in the spring with a big head start on the sprouting seeds.

Fall blooming iris? The bearded iris Clarence [2011.05.03] must have heard me complaining that he took two years to bloom, so now he's making up for lost time. There is a lonely stem of baby iris buds reaching up. I hope they can open before frost. Do bearded iris bloom in the fall in addition to the spring? I guess so.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, zinnia, salvia, marigold   • Harvested: 2 Anaheim pepper, 1 tomato

And It Goes With...

I am not known as a gardener that plans to match colors in blooms. For the first time this year, however, I began actually thinking about colors of adjacent plants. I believe it started last year when I noticed some green hostas with lime green trim ended up next to a yellow hosta, slightly greenish oak leaf hydrangea blooms, and a lime green coleus - purely accidental.

This year I planted that lime green coleus with dark maroon spots near some maroon heuchera, and planted purple zinnia mixed in with yellow zinnia. I had a vision of the results, although the visions did not quite turn out.

First, the purple zinnias did not germinate as well as the yellow. Second, the purples were a bit taller. If you are looking for pictures, you are out of luck. Third, my vision was blown away with hurricane Irene.

I do, however, have a few unplanned shows of purple - yellow combinations in the garden. First, those canary yellow zinnias were not blown over in the front garden, and ended up putting on a show. They contrast with the purple New England asters. The asters are about past their prime today, but the zinnias go on.

In the same garden, the cooler-loving purple May Night salvia has sprung back to life as it usually does after a hot summer. At its feet, the self-seeding, late maturing Mexican zinnias are now exploding in a riot of yellow. Both are coming into prime at the same time.

So even though the planted color combinations failed to materialize this year, the unplanned ones were just as spectacular as those in my vision.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, salvia, zinnia, acidanthra   • 2-week harvested: 10 Anaheim pepper, 2 tomatoes

Rain Lilies

This spring, I found, ordered online, and planted one of the gems that I discovered at the Dallas Arboretum last year. The Rain Lilies Zephyranthes candida were planted along the edge of a bed with hopes of a blooming summer. After noting them in a past blog post, I found out the name signified that they bloomed after a rain in the late summer or fall.

Zephyranthes are related to the amaryllis family, and are native to Argentina and Uruguay in South America. Those found blooming in the late summer heat of Dallas [17.10.10] were plentiful along the walking path.

My plants began growing after the spring rains with some small green sprouts resembling grass. Excitement turned to cautious optimism throughout the summer, as hot weather seemed to stop growth, but not kill them off. I soaked the area well during a two week period in Virginia's summer heat wave, hoping to trick the lilies into believing it was rain, and hoping to get them blooming.

Then in the middle of summer, one bloomed. One lonely pink flower proudly bloomed and was placed in a post for Garden Bloggers Bloom Day [15.7.11]. But wait - this was pink. I ordered several white bulbs. I was resigned to the fact that I received another mixed-up nursery order. I noticed the leaves on this particular plant were thicker and longer than the others, and held out hope that this one plant was different from the others.

After Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee dumped beaucoup buckets of rain within two weeks, the other bulbs began blooming this week. It turns out that they are all the correct white species, 10 inches high (25 cm), with 1/8 inch wide grass-like leaves (5 mm) and 1 1/2 inch white star flowers (3 cm). So, they really do come out after a rain.

Looks like only one is pink. I will move it to another location this fall, and wait for both of each to easily multiply and fill in, as they are supposed to do.

For The Record:   • Drained clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments   • Full sun   • No fertilizer Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: pink cosmos, mexican zinnia, zinnia, rain lilies, rose, rudbeckia, salvia   • Harvested: 2 small peppers, 5 chilis, 1 tomato, 1 cucumber

Zinnia-mania

In the past I viewed zinnias in the same way as marigolds and petunias. They were easy annuals that grew and flowered nonstop through the summer, became ungainly toward the end of summer, and then succumbed to fall disease or needed to be taken out because of their old age. Let's hope I don't have the same fate in my old age.

The Tall Zinnias
However, I have since appreciated one trait that zinnias have over the other two: they make a good cut flower, and come back after cutting. The flowers can also last a while on the plant like marigolds, and come in more color varieties. For the last few years I planted Violet Queen - a supposedly purple (but more pink) tall, double flowered variety (Zinnia elegans). Like most zinnias, some were double flowered and some were not.

This year with the Violet Queen [past photo] seeds running low, I ordered yellow Canary Bird zinnia to plant amongst the remaining 'purple' Violet Queen and keep them company in the side garden. Most of the purples did not germinate- (if a good photo of both together develops later this year, I will post it.) The yellows flying solo in the front garden receive more sun. The soil is also better there, having been worked on for more years. I can report that Canary Bird is a winner.

More of the blooms are double-flowered than the violet. They also began blooming a bit earlier than the violet, and have more branching with blooms than the straighter violet. The color is spectacular, I believe because the blooms are the same color as the anthers and stigma. This is one worth planting again.

The Short Zinnias
One year I purchased a mix of a few babies called Mexican Zinnias (Zinnia augustifolia) or narrow-leaf zinnias: white, yellow, and orange in the mix. Without me knowing, they reseeded themselves behind my back and came back the next year in the two places where they had been the previous summer. I was tearing out the infants as weeds since I did not recognize them. The leaves on the seedlings looked similar to a salvia growing nearby, so I let a few grow to see if they were weeds or salvia. Yellow zinnias began blooming.

I also stopped decimating the volunteers in the other bed where they had been growing the previous year. Orange flowers began to emerge there. Since then, I have kept the yellows in one bed, and the orange in another along the walk, and they reemerge every year from their own seed. I give a few away and transplant a few when starting growing in the spring. Funny, but none of the whites reseeded and came back.

This year, after about 5 years of remaining separate, a few yellows came up in the orange bed. What audacity and impudence. I will attribute this to an increase in butterfly and bee activity last fall, beginning about this time of year. Although I would prefer a uniform color, I let it happen. Zinnia augustifolia needs to grow before exposing the flower color. By then, they is too big to think about ripping out. And at this size, they do not like being transplanted.

The plants start out very, very slowly in the spring and develop for a month. Another month of growth producing leaves, a few blooms pop out. Then all of a sudden in midsummer heat, they explode and go wild, developing into the masses you see in the photos.

What I really like about these, in addition to the reseeding, is their ability to naturalize and neatly spill over the edge of the walk like the alyssum without becoming a nuisance. They do not make good cut flowers, since their habit is one of a tumbleweed. Their beauty is in numbers. I tried saving orange seed and starting indoors this spring. I had some success, but the germination rate was not good.

For The Record:   • Heavy clay soil with gypsum & organic amendments   • Full sun is best   • Small amount of fertilizer   • Tall zinnias tend to develop powdery mildew in autumn when temps cool   • No pests or disease on the dwarf zinnias Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: Mexican zinnia, zinnia, cosmos, salvia, sunflowers, rain lily, rudbeckia, daylily   • Harvested: 2 peppers, 4 tomatoes   • Removed: Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers

August 2011 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.
Mass blooms are highlighted this month. First up is the cleome that ate Alexandria. This out of control monster does a good job of scaring away the neighborhood kids. Dwarf sunflowers cower in fear at the other side of the yard. Across the walk are some Mexican zinnias continuing to spread and merge into one large clump.

The hedge of cosmos feeding the bumblebees are showing their age with fewer blossoms and thinner plants. My canary yellow zinnias are new this year and live up to their name. If I can only keep the finches from plucking off the petals to get at the seeds, they would be spectacular.

And the sweet alyssum is flowing and oozing onto the brick pavers, providing a delicious fragrance and giving some contrast to the frog - my garden bling.

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

Cleome hassleriana
Helianthus annuus "Waooh"		Zinnia agustifolia
Cosmos sulphureus		Zinnia "Canary"
Lobularia maritima

Garden Calendar:   • Harvested: 8 cherry tomatoes, 3 cucumbers, 2 chilis, 2 tomatoes