Bronze Beauty

From the title, I would expect to get a lot of hits on searches for this post, just like I did on my post titled, "Maximum Maggie," the star magnolia [posted 23.03.2009]. I could not figure out why my blog analytics showed that the number of searches for "Maximum Maggie" was off the charts. With a test search of my own, I found the top result on Google for Maximum Maggie was to a busty porn star's web site. I was disappointed to think people were looking for her site instead of my magnolia.

Bronze Beauty is what I think my Aguja (Ajuga reptans) cultivar is after comparing online photos of different cultivars to my plant. This ajuga is two years old, and was picked up at our annual neighborhood plant swap. I think someone was trying to rid themselves of the devil plant because of its spreading characteristics. I wanted something that would grow in the death valley dry brickyard clay otherwise known as soil under my ligustrum shrubs. I also planted some in the rear yard bed where it receives two hours of sun daily.

The plant that gets more sun, more water, and better soil is phenomenal. The other plant is sparse but growing. The 'good' plant does not behave itself in the summer and fall, spreading runners into the lawn area. (I like the emerging hostas in the left of the photo, as if they are saying, "Stay away!")

Ajuga, commonly called Bugleweed, is a member of the mint family, native to Europe and Asia. (We know about mint spreading.) It is an herb, although several sources have differing uses mentioned. It smothers the ground with a thick mat of leaves and is used in Europe as a ground cover for erosion control, although I don't see how with the shallow root system. I am guessing one could walk on this without much damage, (except to your feet.)

Leaves start out green in spring, and turn chocolate purple bronze in the summer. It is grown for its leaves and ground cover abilities, but the iridescent blue spring flowers on 6-inch high (15 cm) stalks scream, especially in large tight clusters.

For The Record:   • Heavy clay soil with organic amendments   • Light shade with 2 hours of sun   • Small amount of fertilizer   • Easily propagated and spreads   • No major pests or diseases, although some overwatering rot Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: bearded iris, california poppy, salvia, dutch iris, ajuga, geranium

April 2012 Bloom Day

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

There are a few blooms in the garden this time, between spring and summer. Did I mean spring and summer? What season is it really, with frost the past few nights, and temperatures in the 80's (upper 20's C) tomorrow. Outstanding at the moment are the California poppies that overwintered. Their performance earns them a future post.

You can find other garden bloggers' April bloom days at the blog May Dreams Gardens.

California poppies (Eschscholzia californica)		Salvia 'May Night' (Salvia x sylvestris)
Geranium 'Bevan's Variety' (Geranium macrorrhizum)		Ajuga (Ajuga reptans)

Color Me Happy

In the past few years I have become more aware of planning and consideration of color combinations. It probably stems from those dreamy magazine landscapes that grow the same plants that I have but don't look like a patchwork quit.

I used to gaze out the window at this time of year and see a yard full of several different shades of purple, with no other color. Only height, width, and season were really considered in any planning attempt. Although not yet adept at color planning, at least now colors are considered when deciding where to place the latest acquisition.

This spring I was able to see some results of my color strategy (or at least of my thinking about color). Firey Red Emperor tulips bloomed along side blue muscari at the same time. The blue sets off the red tulips more so than if red tulips were stuck by themselves. Imagine that.

Another color consideration was given to the Salome daffodils. Notice how they start out with lemon yellow cups, and a week later turn to peachy pink. These photos are of the same blossom.
Of course, sometimes we imagine great color combinations only to find that blooms come out at different times, or that (like the daffodils) change color over time, or that there are different shades of the same color. I planted a 'red' phlox once only to find that it was more mixed with magenta: in the purple family. (oops, wrong shade of red.) It was not attractive next to the yellow zinnias. I now pay closer attention to descriptions of 'carmine red' versus 'scarlet red.'

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: California poppies, poet & salome daffodils, dogwood, viburnum, azaleas, muscari, coreopsis, ajuga

March 2012 Flowers In The House

Indoor flowers on the last Monday of the month
There are not a lot of flowers around the house yet, so I like to keep them outdoors until more come along. Then, when I bring a few indoors, the yard will not miss the picked ones. Today I have a simple elegant pair of the Poet Daffodils (Narcissus poeticus) staring out the kitchen window.

I hope my vases do not bring back bad memories of your high school chemistry class. These were cast-aways from one of my projects - a renovation of science labs at a Washington DC high school. The bottles stored who-knows-what chemicals, but now have a new purpose in life. I like them because of the narrow necks perfectly suited at the right support height for holding one or two stems.

These daffodils are also tied to chemistry. As noted in a previous post [posted 18.04.2011] the flowers are commercially grown for their oil used by perfume labs in many modern French fragrances. So there's a connection, n'est-ce pas?

Find other garden bloggers' Flowers In The House at Jane's blog Small But Charming.

You Know It's Been A Warm Winter When...

• The nicotiana did not die in the fall
The white nicotiana (Nicotiana alata) is a reliable annual that reseeds itself year after year. Seeds usually begin sprouting near the end of frost, taking about a month to reach happy bloom time. So, early summer in June is when I expect to see and smell the night blossoms. This is great timing for the first outdoor barbecue of the season.

Last fall, the plants died back as usual, but apparently only from the ground up. Last year's plants are now sprouting again, and I expect to see blooms in April. With all those plants still growing from last year, and all the new ones that will be germinating, does anyone need white nicotiana?

• Cardoon looks like a tropical plant
The great source of botanical materials, my landscape architect friends gave me two cardoon (Cynara cardunculus ) plants last fall. I planted them on the south side of the house, where they not only stayed healthy, but grew over winter. The leaves have changed shape with the seasons but they remained large and green. I am expecting to climb them this summer to a giant's castle in the clouds.

• California poppies think they're in California
According to the internet sources, my mini California poppies (Eschscholzia californica) "...grow in warm, dry climates, but withstand some frost. They grow in poor soils with good water drainage." This is what happens with a mild Alexandria winter. They were started from seed last spring [posted 08.07.2011], grown on the south side of the house, and seem to thrive the more they are neglected. I even spied a few flower buds on them today.

• Dogwoods and cherry blossoms bloom at the same time
Well, they are not exactly at the same time. The cherry blossoms are pretty much done with, 2 weeks before the official cherry blossom festival. Didn't they know? The dogwoods are now beginning the show, 3 weeks early according to my past blog post [posted 04.14.2010].

• Weeds weeds weeds
Got Weeds? No, I will not post photos of the weeds. As one blogger wrote last summer, "My weeds are having a party." I have a stand of thick Henbit growing among the bearded iris that have never looked so healthy. Hairy bittercress calls my yard its happy home. The annual ryegrass in the flower beds choking any possible flower seed germination begs for Roundup.

Add your own signs of a warm winter.

Garden Calendar:   • Blooming: Beauty of apeldoorn & Red emperor tulips, Poet & Salome daffodils, muscari

March 2012 Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day
What's blooming in the garden on the 15th of the month.
Yawn. These spring pretties have starred in past blog posts, so this time I tried to get as close as my limited camera allows. And, in order to avoid featuring the newest blooming weeds in this bloom day, I present a few words on the one new plant: the blue hyacinth.

A year ago, I forced some hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis) bulbs indoors as I had in the past. This time, I tried Sky Jacket, a light blue color. They bloomed nicely during the winter. Last spring, I saved the bulbs, let the foliage die down, and planted them next to the white hyacinth without much expectation. Much to my surprise, they are now blooming, albeit with few actual blossoms.

Note one: the color is more deep blue than they are supposed to be, but they may hit their light blue color as they mature. Note two: yes, you can force hyacinths to bloom, and after letting the foliage die back, plant them outdoors for blooms the following year.

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

Vinca minor		Rhododendron mucronulatum "Cornell Pink'
Narcissus 'Ice Follies'		Narcissus 'Tete-a-tete'

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