Wednesday, August 10, 2011

I want [insert name of plant here]. Want.


Last week DH was on vacation. He spent a lot of time mowing but we also went on a couple of days trips, one to the beach and one to Chapel Hill. Every time I go to Chapel Hill I see more plants I want.

I saw this lovely anemone growing in the Arboretum on campus. The flowers looked a little wan in the hot summer sun but look at those silvery lavender buds. Exquisite. Unfortunately something like this would be breakfast, lunch and dinner for the black blister beetles in my garden. They love anemones.



Passionflower grows wild down in the floodway fields and I really should
move some up to the house, as there is nothing like a passionflower bloom.


Green-Headed Coneflower also grows in our floodway fields, and should have a place in the garden. It looks its best lurking at the woods' edge where its beauty shines to best advantage, especially with companions Joe Pye Weed and Ironweed.


This tall stand of Green-Headed Coneflowers in the full sun border looked good too! Wouldn't they also look great with some tall feathery grasses like Panicum 'Cloud Nine' and Velvet Mallow (Hibiscus grandiflorus)?


We also visited the NC Botanical Garden, a treasure trove of plants to put on the want list.


Check out this Pine Lily! Isn't it beautiful? The option
of a bathtub/bog garden is looking better every second.



And look, cranberries! I didn't think it was even possible
to grow cranberries this far south but there they are.


Even though I don't yet have a bog garden I couldn't pass up getting some
"bog cheetos", as Orange Milkwort is affectionately known by the Garden staff.


A view of the bog beds, with Pawpaw tree in the background.


The Summer Phlox looked magnificent. I have Phlox but I don't
have this much of it, and not in this variety of colors.



I had some Ironweed but DH mowed it. But I can't complain too much, at least the garden paths got mowed. :) Anyway, it might still come back next year. But, I need more. I think there's some seedlings in the jungle on the front porch. I hope so, because that color purple in August is a beautiful thing.



American Spikenard was on my want list just from reading a description of it. Isn't the color of the fruit gorgeous?



Common-as-dirt Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm' looking beautiful in dappled shade. I would love to have a full planting like this again, as the one down by the old house site is being encroached upon by summersweet and seedling sweetgums.


Few-Flowered Milkweed looks like Butterfly Weed in this picture, but trust me it doesn't. It's tall, tall, tall (to 6-7') and willowy.


Now this plant I think I already have. I used to think we had Highbush Blueberry here, but after seeing this I think we have this species instead. The fruits have that familiar dusty dark blue but darken to purple and then black as they fully ripen.


Besides the Bog Cheetos these other plants came home with me: a Culver's Root, the species Rudbeckia fulgida (which looks more like Rudbeckia triboba than 'Goldsturm'), and a beautiful Summer Phlox named 'Katherine' which is snow white suffused with lavender pink.

I haven't even covered the list of wants from our June visit yet. ;)


19 comments:

  1. I love your photos ...the Anemone is lovely. Never saw a lily like that one before. Next year I am looking to add some Green Coneflower-- had some in VA and know it needs room and gets super tall. I like the idea of pairing it with JoePye Weed and Ironweed. Great tall natives that can handle some neglect.
    I see sooooo many plants that I want, my list is enormous.

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  2. Lovely photos of what you have, newbies and what you want.

    I agree that you should move some of that wonderful passionvine up closer to your home. That one is a beauty. They are such fascinating flowers. I love the coloring of yours.

    FlowerLady

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  3. That lily is wonderful! I love the idea of Rudbeckia with Ironweed and Joe-Pye! I have a bed that needs some revamping, and you've given me some great ideas for planting here. Thanks!

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  4. A plants want list is never closed.If I bought all the plants on my list I would need to double the size of the garden.
    The orange Milkweed looks lovely - trying to imagine it being 7 feet tall :-)

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  5. It sounds like you had a great time! I love the photo of the passionvine flower with the foliage in the background, very dramatic. The close-ups of lilies are gorgeous. I love phlox too, but it doesn't love my climate unfortunately :). How do you mitigate glare when you take pictures? The sunlight always looks so gentle, no harsh shadow - sun contrasts...

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  6. An interesting roll call ofplants! I just love those bog cheetos.

    I grow the Japanese anemone you show ('Robustissima') and love it. I miss my black eyed Susans this year, but they were Goldsturm, and not at all like your picture here.... mine got a terrible foliage disease that completely blackened every leaf, and had to be removed. The stand you show here is beautiful.

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  7. Sweetbay,
    I'm assuming the anemone is a Japanese Anemone? The ones I bought last year are growing slowly, watered often too.

    Pine Lily I have seen it growing in a special pine savanna in Croatan NF, very special indeed.

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  8. I grew Japanese anemones but pulled them because they needed tons of water and were always crispy. A few hardy souls came back so I might have a few blooms this fall.

    Are you sure your rudbeckia fulgida is fulgida? I grew r. triloba earlier this summer, it grew to almost 6 ft very quickly, suffocated and killed the rest of the 'Goldsturm' that was in the bed and ended getting yanked when I was sick of its daily watering demands. It had small flowers but really big soft leaves. I replaced it with R. fulgida var. deamii and it's foliage is quite different. It's also much darker green. The flowers are similar but the foliage and growth habit are very different.

    I don't have a bog but I want a bog cheeto!!

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  9. Thanks everyone for your comments!

    Masha I have a lot of trouble with glare (the funny thing is I was wondering how you dealt with it ~ your photos are so perfect). I just have a lens hood on the camera, and end up deleting pictures..

    Laurrie 'Goldsturm' can be tempermental here too -- full sun and a lot of moisture leads to a lot of foliar disease. I've had the best luck with it in part shade.

    Randy I think that is Japanese Anemone. Wow, lucky you to see Pine Lily growing in the wild.

    Casa Mariaposa I'm not sure about the new R. fulgida. I also have triloba growing in one spot in my big perennial bed and need to compare the two more carefully. It's OK with me if it's triloba anyway. I hadn't heard of fulgida var. deamii before you mentioned it. I found some descriptions of the different subspecies here. I want all of them. And who wouldn't want bog cheetos? :)

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  10. Gode billeder. Mange smukke blomster.
    Tak for rundvisningen.

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  11. Beautiful photos! Glad you had a couple of nice day trips. Does the want list ever stop for gardeners?

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  12. Great photos! I will have to visit the gardens in Chapel Hill when I go to visit Catie! I didn't realize it was even there. Carla

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  13. Z przyjemnością bym z Tobą na taką wycieczkę wybrała. Pozdrawiam

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  14. I agree, a grassy addition such as panicum Panicum 'Cloud Nine' would be a perfect addition to that border.

    Go for it, create a bog garden.

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  15. I think that if I had been along for the ride I would have come away with one of everything! I have never see a pine lily before and it is love at first sight. I just like anemones for fall color. Though some of the flowers you have shown in this post are not hardy here, anemones are. I want to make a shopping trip of my own and get a few of these beautiful plants.

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  16. Sweetbay, I'm with you I want more _____, too! I also want a bit of cooler weather to plant and some rain. Your Pine Lily shot is gorgeous. The phlox looks like the species P paniculata~which I think is marvelous. gail

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  17. A bog garden would be a delight~!
    Last year my heart was beating fast for fig trees. We took out a pond and redid a flower bed...now I have five figs trees!
    If your heart beats fast for a bog garden I think now is the best time to plant one....
    I am thinking I need more Summer Phlox.....
    Gorgeous photographs.
    Sherry

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  18. I had started some ironweed from seeds I took from our co-op and they are stunners! You are right about the color being so gorgeous this time of year. Love Aralia Racemosa too . . . the birds devour the berries but I do get to enjoy them for awhile too. Great plant. So true there is nothing quite like a passion flower bloom. Lovely post Sweetbay. I hope you get all the plants from your want list.

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  19. I love your enthusiasm for plants, and know the feeling well of wanting to grow so many varieties. We need to be 3 or 4 people rolled into one to keep up with our 'habit' :)
    Anemones are so photogenic with those sweet buds that compliment the flowers so well. Mine are blooming beautifully at the moment.
    Oh yes, the Pine Lily is enchanting! And the color of the Spikenard fruit is gorgeous.
    Thanks for sharing these lovely gardens.

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