sweetbay

Changes in the Gimghoul Road neighborhood

2012-01-29T13:28:00.005-05:00

I started this post with the intention of publishing it for last week's Blooming Friday theme of "Metamorphasis", but obviously I am late. I have been visiting the Gimghoul Road neighborhood over the last 30 years and it's my favorite place in Chapel Hill.

Like all neighborhoods, the Gimghoul Road neighborhood is changing and evolving. Gimghoul Road is home to the garden of twin sisters Bernice Wade and Barbara Stiles, which itself has undergone a lot of changes in the 57 years that Bernice Wade has lived there. A children's book has been written about the garden, but I wish there was a book for grown-ups documenting the changes in the property, with photographs and interviews with the sisters.

Originally the Gimghoul Road neighborhood housed many faculty members from UNC. Now it looks as though many of the houses have changed hands and work is being done on several of the houses which had started to look a little run-down.

The plaque on this freshly landscaped and manicured yard reads: "The last residence of Frank Porter Graham, February 16, 1972" (the date of his death). Graham was a graduate, professor, and 19-year President of UNC.

This new house was built where St. Thomas More Church used to stand.

Some of the houses maintain their patina and compactness of use

while others have been extensively but tastefully renovated and expanded. This house was always in beautiful shape but must be twice as big as it was originally. The expansion was almost seamlessly executed though

starting I believe with the breezeway-type room and 2nd storey addition and extending to the right.

Over the years more azaleas have been added too. :)

All of the lawns in this neighborhood are like green velvet.

Chapel Hill is famous for its stone walls, both mortar and dry stacked

and along with house remodeling there has been a lot of new stonework, brickwork and landscaping.

In addition to the house expansions and other construction, there has been in a change in the yards of this neighborhood. Inspired by the twin sisters, more people in the neighborhood now have gardens than they did several years ago.

Who wouldn't be inspired by this?

Front border in the garden of Bernice Wade and Barbara Stiles

back garden

to be continued...

Fanciful Part II The Winter Version

2012-01-22T08:12:00.007-05:00

We've had a mild dry winter so far. The rugosa leaves were still golden at Christmas.

The garden in December

Which is a good thing because gray wet chilly days make me want to stay inside and curl up on the couch with the cats.

Instead, we've had lots of sunny days which are a real godsend in winter. Such winter days are an an invitation to do whatever strikes the gardener's fancy.

Weeding, planting, clearing the ditch behind the big bed of woody plants and briars

or just hanging out in the sunshine for a bit.

(Prince sucks on his tongue when he's happy.)

Winter is a time to appreciate the fine details in the garden.

Some years the Japanese Flowering Apricot comes into flowering-all-at-once spectacular bloom, and other years it stays in a half to third bloom over 2 months. This year is one of the latter years.

Warm winter days bring out the Honeybees

and even a native Hoverfly.

All of the winter bloomers are following the same pattern as the Apricot trees; Winter Honeysuckle and a Witch Hazel (a child of 'Jelena', and holding on tight to those leaves! but beautifully fragrant) have been in bloom for over a month now.

Blooming Friday ~ Fanciful

2012-01-20T08:19:00.003-05:00

In a truly fanciful garden May roses would bloom year round.

Cl. Old Blush

Renae

Alchymist

Foxi Pavement with Knockout and R. palustris scandens in background

Rosa palustris scandens

with Alberbic Barbier and possibly Dorothy Perkins in background.

Veilchenblau

Caldwell Pink

This picture was taken in 2010; currently Sombrueil is leaning against a Wax Myrtle next to the driveway while it awaits a home next to a new trellis that we don't have yet. Since Sombreuil has such stiff thorny canes I'm thinking perhaps some sort of rustic cedar structure where Sombreuil could be loosely draped or tied since it's very difficult to weave through anything.

Hippolyte

Rosa arkansana

One of my very favorites, Hansa, on the left

Hybrid China

with Sir Thomas Lipton in background and Foxi Pavement on the right.

However the wait makes their presence that much more sweet. Join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays from all over the world.

Blooming Friday ~ In Remembrance

2012-01-06T22:36:00.003-05:00

This post is in remembrance of last year's summer and fall wildflowers, and a continuation of my very late Wildflower Wednesday contribution.

Spiderworts start blooming in April and continue on and off until cold cuts them down.

A few years ago I put a tiny start of primrose next to the vegetable garden. It didn't bloom and I forgot about it until they bloomed in a drift in late spring and early summer. It's a native of the bread basket of our country but likes it very well here too, a little too well some might say, but it may be just the thing for the Zone of Death next to the front sidewalk.

Is it possible to have too many Purple Coneflowers? They look splendid

in each other's company

and with Phlox paniculata 'Robert Poore'.

Another native of our prairie states is Prairie Rose, Rosa setigera.
It makes a gorgeous show of pink in June.

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'

Bidens create oceans of sunshiny golden yellow in September.

In fall it's time for the asters.

Aromatic Aster blooms in October

while Willow leaved aster 'Miss Bessie' is the last one to bloom during the month of November.

Join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays from all over the world.

Wildflowers, The Year in Review ~ Spring

2012-01-03T00:18:00.012-05:00

I wanted to participate in the last Wildflower Wednesday, to pay homage to the role of natives in my garden throughout the year, but have been too busy/scattered to put a post together until now. So here it is ~ my late late late post for WW!

Natives start to wake up here in March.

Chokecherry (Aronia arbutifolia)

and Serviceberry have an understated loveliness that stands out in the still bare
early spring landscape. The white ribbon-like flowers of the Serviceberry
are fleeting but the new fuzzy silver leaves are beautiful too.

Then in April everything seems to burst into bloom at once,
and the spring extravaganza continues through May.

Toothwort

Piedmont Azaleas

In the distance is the one sizeable Dogwood that we have here, although I'd like to have
several one day. The biggest dogwood seedling planted at the wood's edge is about 5 feet tall.

Marsh Phlox

This Phlox really was this brilliantly colored in the late afternoon sun!

Woodland Phlox and Ozark Phlox

Indian Strawberry has volunteered as an excellent thick ground cover in part of the vegetable garden border. It has not done this anywhere else; conditions must be just right for it there. Elsewhere it's much more sparse.

Alabama Azalea ~ smells like lemon, yum

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'

Baptisia alba

Iris virginica

Gulf Coast Beardtongue

Calico Beardtongue (Penstemon calycosus)

Carolina Rose

Next ~ wildflowers in spring, summer and fall!

PS My New Year's Resolution for this year is to try to post for Wildflower Wednesday on time!

Blooming Friday ~ Christmas

2011-12-23T12:02:00.001-05:00

It's time once again to join Katerina at roses and stuff for Blooming Friday.

May your holidays be filled with contentment

lots of warm fuzzies

and sweet treats.

I made about a thousand cookies (literally) to give as gifts this year. Gingersnaps are DH's favorite Christmas cookie and a favorite among the people who work in his office too.

Gingersnaps

Mix 1 cup packed light brown sugar, 3/4 cup shortening, 1/4 cup molasses, and 1 egg. Add 2 1/4 cups flour, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp cloves, and 1/4 tsp salt. Cover and put in fridge at least 1 hour.

Roll tsp sized portions of dough into balls, dip in powdered sugar. Bake at 325 for 9 minutes on nonstick baking sheets, allow cookies to set before removing from sheets to cool. I like for the cookies to have a crisp outside and chewy inside, so they are still quite soft when I take them from the oven.

Wishing you and yours a Merry Christmas!

Blooming Friday ~ Delights in December

2011-12-16T21:58:00.010-05:00

Delights in December are all in the details.

The beauty of frost forming a dipped-sugar pattern on rose leaves

and sunlight glinting off the ice like diamonds.

The creek on our farm's boundary is a scene of light browns, taupes and grays

with some green here and there from mature Loblolly Pines and American Hollies
such as this one, leaning over the creek as though to see its own reflection.

The lacy design of the bark of these young sycamores, which would probably go unnoticed in the lushness of spring and summer, commands admiration in winter when it glows in the late afternoon sun.

Indeed the most delightful thing in December have been the warm golden days we have experienced ~ today was warm enough for a short sleeve shirt. The sunlight transforms what would be rather drab

(as you can see I have been mulching some of the beds with hay for winter, and I'm not yet done cutting some things back)

into something enchantingly beautiful. What could be more delightful?

The sun lights up the leaves of the rugosas, making them glow bright green gold and pink

and sets the bright scarlet foliage of Rosa arkansana

and Rosa virginiana on fire.

The Oakleaf Hydrangea east of the house is still covered in burgundy and crimson leaves. The ones north of the house are still mostly green and will change even later unless they freeze first, which they often do.

The Japanese Apricot tree is blooming, the flowers and their perfume drawn out by the sun's warmth.

It is so sweet.

Wishing you a delightful weekend. Join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays.

Blooming Friday~ Upside Down

2011-12-09T09:37:00.001-05:00

Bees find drinking nectar and gathering pollen just as easy upside down as right side up.

The picture below looks like it was turned upside down, but it wasn't. lol

The flowers of the Hybrid Musk 'Felicia' are just as lovely nodding as they would be facing upwards..

Happy Friday, and join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays!

Side Garden Additions

2011-12-05T12:01:00.016-05:00

The side garden in late April, 2011

I liked the side garden in the spring, but summer and fall was another story. The daylilies didn't bloom as much as the year before, because, being greedy, I divided them into tiny little pieces and heeled them in late in the year.

There were more daylily blooms in 2010

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' formed a large brilliant patch of color, then burst out of the frame and fell over into the path. DH complained about the bees that ended up on his hands and sleeves when he brushed past it. (Neither DH or any bees were harmed as a result.)

The Bee Balm was better behaved in 2010 than this year,
with Buddleia 'Black Knight, since sadly deceased.

Once the Bee Balm was done blooming in September I cut back the fallen over stalks. This left a big raggedy hole, or more like a garden black hole. One's attention gets sucked into it even though there's nothing to see. Attempts to add late season interest looked like pitiful props. Even Mexican Petunia, a great fall show-off, refused to be coaxed into taking over the limelight.

I had a similar issue with the north side of the bed, next to where the cars are parked, except that was more of a void than a black hole in the sense that I kept looking for something instead of being sucked in.

late April 2011

See all of that space filled with violets? Now I love violets, but even love has its limits. They choked out even some of the daylilies and then they look pitiful when it's hot and dry. It's a little too wet in winter there even for rugosas ~ there seems to be an invisible line across which they won't sucker.

Even summer-flowering perennials couldn't quite fill the void.

During the growing season this year I weeded and added a lot of Iris virginiana seedlings for next spring

spring 2011

and Spiderwort divisions all around the edges of the garden
where the water runs after a rain. More daylilies too.

I added Pink Pop Agastache and Azure Sage seedlings to the dry spots. But no matter how much I worked on the garden and added plants and moved things around, the garden just bugged me. Too many spiky plants, too much strappy foliage, not enough bones, and spaces that were empty for too long.

This fall a solution finally fell into place. Many of the roses were blooming again, and the soft colors and romantic swirls of petals against a backdrop of bright fall colors made it obvious what the garden needed more of: roses.

Crepuscule

Aloha

late April, 2011

After RRD made a brief appearance 1 1/2 years ago, I determined not to buy any more roses, not for a long time. 5 years seemed like a good interval. 1 1/2 years is almost 5 isn't it? I ordered 8 new roses from Antique Roses Emporium. 4 Marie Pavie, 2 Clotilde Soupert (I have those both of those already but wanted more of them, and didn't want to wait to start cuttings), 1 Basye's Blueberry, and 1 La Marne. All pretty much thornless and all repeat.

RRD may very well show up again, but I have let plants grow up next to the neighbor's fenceline, and ruthlessly cut down any muliflora I find. (Roundup is next to useless for this purpose, the only purpose that I bought it for. It kills the plant but not the roots most of the time.) I have no idea if letting a plant barrier grow up really helps, but at least the garden looks less open to windborne mites that carry the virus.

The Bee Balm will stay ~ it'd be insanity to try to dig all of it out! and less feeding will keep it more in bounds ~ but I wanted to put a rose there too.

I thought about adding another 'Sir Thomas Lipton', or moving some suckers of 'Foxi Pavement' there. But Sir Thomas gets SO big, and although there's some rebloom he puts most of his energy into a big spring show.

'Foxi Pavement' won out because it does well no matter where I put it and it will have wet feet there during a rainy winter. So today I potted up some suckers to put back in the garden in a few weeks.

There's also a spot right of the Marie Pavie rose in the below picture that calls for another rose, either La Marne or another Marie Pavie.

The gap is even more obvious in this picture, especially since I went nuts with the clippers and ended up cutting the Japanese Beautyberries down to about 18". I didn't start out with that intention, it just happened. lol Anyway they rebounded to their former height in one year. I also want to add a couple of Marie Pavies to the right side of this bed.

Marie Pavie is a real charmer: old-fashioned, fragrant, disease-resistant, and a good repeater.

The place next to Marie Pavie really needed filling after Blush Noisette (right foreground) had to be moved.

A vision in full bloom, Blush Noisette was quickly becoming a monster, reaching out to ensnare anyone who came too close in her thorny grasp. Besides, it was only plopped there temporarily because I didn't have a better place to put it at the time.

For the sometimes wet place next to the parking with all of the violet,
I put in two Rosa palustris scandens started from cuttings this spring.
I hemmed and hawed about it, as they will get big (as seen
below by the vegetable garden)

but that place really needs something woody and I love this rose. It has a rounded shape, it's graceful, very disease resistant, and has lovely willowy leaves.

All of my roses are independent except for mulching and pruning of deadwood, so RRD is really my only concern. If the roses don't work out I have rooted cuttings of Southern Black Blueberries going all of the time. I take them in March and they are ready to go into the ground the following fall, an eighteen month process. More St. John's Wort, Sweetshrub (Calycanthus floridus) and Alabama Snow-wreath (Neviusia alabamamensis, kindly given to me by Phillip) are also possibilities. And I have always wanted to try Fothergilla as it's a beautiful four season plant.

Thankful for Wildflower Wednesday

2011-11-23T23:20:00.002-05:00

Prairie Rose gave me the idea for my Wildflower Wednesday post this month. What better way to celebrate Wildflower Wednesday than to contemplate the possibilites for the coming year? I've been collecting seeds for a couple of months and the crisper drawer in the fridge is full again.

Almost all of my Blue Flags have been grown from seed. Most are from a plant I got from Niche Gardens,

and some are from seeds purchased from Prairie Moon Nursery.

Carolina Bush Pea is easy to grow from seed and is a beautiful companion for roses.

I've grown dozens of Seashore Mallow from seed (both the pink and the white). In rich soil they even volunteer for themselves!

Bidens is also a great one to volunteer itself but I still collect seed and broadcast it in places where I want more of them.

I am not the biggest fan of red in the garden, except for a true red leaning toward the blue side, but there are many exceptions to this general rule and Hibiscus coccineus is one of them. Not only does it have elegant tropical-looking flowers over a very long time span, it is very, very tough. I moved several out of a ditch and after two years plants appeared from the remnants of the roots left in the mud to thrive and flower again.

Velvet Mallow has large silvery velvety soft leaves and pink flowers that are shy about opening all of the way. Late in the season however they did open fully and although a little chewed up they are lovely.

Gerardia is a wildflower that like Cardinal Flower and Blue Lobelia refuses to be cultivated in my garden; I just have to enjoy it wherever it pops up.

I've also grown dozens of Baptisias from seed although much patience is required; they don't bloom until they are at least 3 years old. The one below is an alba/ australis hybrid and the biggest seedling to date.

Baptisia australis

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' (which is sterile and does not set seed) and Baptisia alba

Looking at these pictures makes me wish that spring was just around the corner again. Wishing you and yours the happiest of Thanksgivings, and please visit gail at clay and limestone for wonderful Wildflower Week.

Blooming Friday ~ On my wish list

2011-11-18T10:35:00.003-05:00

I covet one of these native crabapples to edge the woods that are the backdrop to my garden.

Several in fact!

Two of these beauties grow wild on our farm, in the fields near the creek. One of them gets a lot of sunlight and is especially lovely. I've posted about it before.

I've been trying to grow them from seed, without success so far. Time to try cuttings, or perhaps I even need to learn how to graft onto rootstock.

The flowers are not only exquisite, they are fragrant too.

The native crabapples are suspectible to rust and will suffer some leaf loss in summer, but if planted at the edge of the woods just blend in with the other trees.

Happy Friday, and join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays!

A Day Late Bloom Day

2011-11-16T22:45:00.013-05:00

The garden is paring down to its essentials now. Recent winds have stripped the trees of nearly all of their leaves and most of the bloomers have closed up shop. Today felt nothing like approaching winter, however: the high got up to a balmy, even muggy 82 degrees today. Tomorrow the temps will be a more season-appropriate upper '50s.

All that's left now is the very very late-blooming Aster 'Miss Bessie' and
a few roses. 'Old Blush' and 'Duchesse de Brabant' are shown here.

The insects very much appreciate the late blooms of Willow-leaf Aster.
The plants buzz like a busy hive all day long on fine days.

A few trees still have their leaves, such as this golden Red Maple

and the blueberries often keep their leaves until December.

Thanks Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Indian Summer

2011-11-11T09:59:00.004-05:00

Indian Summer -- just the name itself sounds wonderful.

Like almost every den in America in the 1970's, our bookcase had a shelf filled with a set of the World Book Encyclopedia. From all those tomes I remember one article in particular, about Indian Summer.

"A short period of especially fair weather and mild days. It comes in late October or early November when the leaves are turning color and falling from the trees. Indian Summer has no definite dates to begin or end. It is not a separate season, but a part of autumn.

The mild pleasant weather of Indian Summer follows the autumn's first period of cold, wintry days. The days become noticeably warmer, but the nights remain chilly. Throughout Indian Summer, the sun shines dimly and softly. The sky turns a rich blue and always appears gentle and hazy near the horizon. The air remains smoky and still, with almost no wind. An Indian Summer moon often has a yellow or orange hue. Indian Summer lasts from a week to ten days, and sometimes for two weeks. Then winter begins."

The article also included a cartoon by John McCutcheon first published in the Chicago Tribune in 1907

in which an old man conjures a scene of Indian spirits dancing around ceremonial fires and the corn shocks are transformed into teepees.

I always found the article to be wonderfully evocative of the magic of Indian Summer.

Indian Summer is a part of autumn, yet different. Lucky for us in central North Carolina this fall has mostly been one long Indian Summer. Mild golden weather, gentle sunlight filtering through colorful trees, silence broken only by leaves fluttering to the earth. The beautiful days make me wish that time could freeze or that Indian Summer could last until spring.

Aromatic Aster in the warm light of the rising sun

In the cooler light of mid morning

Chrysanthemum 'Venus'

Sassafras

Swamp Sunflower

Red Maples, which will later show more vivid colors of orange and red

Clotilde Soupert

Felicia

American Beautyberry

Willowleaf Aster 'Miss Bessie'

Join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays.

Blooming Friday

2011-11-04T13:00:00.007-04:00

Roses. They look so sweet and innocent don't they?

Alchymist with Hansa in background. All of the following pictures were taken in spring of this year.

But their beauty is a snare. Like chocolate candy or doughnuts, you can't just have one. A rose is one of those addictive plants.

The multiflora hybrid Violette

Archduke Charles with Iris virginica and Phlox pilosa ozarkana

Blush Noisette

Rosa palustris scandens from Antique Roses Emporium with the polyantha climber Renae on the trellis

spilling over the paddock fence

Renae up close. Those flowers are not only beautiful, they are fragrant.

Basye's Purple and Prissy are on the right.

I love love love R. palustris scandens. I started with 2 and have over 20 now. A few I ordered, most I propagated from cuttings and are still young.

Beside the vegetable garden

and in front of the big perennial bed

All types of roses have their own appeal, from the sweet simplicity of Ballerina

To the sumputious fullness and rich color of Hippolyte

The neon bright ever blooming Knockout

The lovely single Carolina rose with its scent of damask and lemon.

And roses can play so well with others. Rosa virginiana and the rugosa Foxi Pavement with Carolina Bush Pea. These roses are very low maintenance; the only care they receive is compost and pruning of dead wood.

It can be very rewarding to be trapped by a plant's charms. :) Happy Friday, and join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays.

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T20:39:00.005-04:00

I had planned to take some photos for Halloween -- there are many spooky old buildings and shots to be had along nearby Crantock Road -- but I didn't get around to it. I love Halloween although since we live in a somewhat isolated locale we don't do much for it anymore. When I was a kid and lived in a suburb filled with other kids I used to decorate the yard with ghosts and carved pumpkins. We had a garden with trees in the front yard that lights from the house could not penetrate, so that the pumpkins set on stands looked like they were floating in the darkness. In addition to decorating and pumpkin carving I loved ghost stories. A local AM station had wonderful ghost stories that they played hourly. To this day I still re-read Ghosts of the Carolinas and This Haunted Land by Nancy and Bruce Roberts, both compilations of short stories. "The Demon of Wizard Clip", "The Talking Corpse" (set in Old Salem Tavern), and "The Surrency Ghost" are among my favorites. There's something about those stories that really captures the history and essence of the Southeast and North Carolina. In the garden I am often reminded of this passage from "Room for One More": "It was dusk and for a few minutes there was that intense light in which everything takes on a glow all its own. The fragile, spider-like cleome flowers in front of the dark gray unpainted little shacks were a vibrant pink. The cotton fields could not have looked more green."

Currently it's cold and raining, too gloomy even for Halloween! These days we decorate for fall mostly in black and gold

Texas Sunflowers

pumpkin orange

leaves of rugosa rose

Tommy the cat

hints of ghostly white

Dog Fennel

Crinum 'Royal White'

Rose 'Blush Noisette'

with dashes of blood red thrown in, and let the spiders decorate the garden with webs.

rugosa hip

Rosa arkansana

American Holly

Black Highbush Blueberry

Granted these pictures are not at all spooky but Happy Halloween anyway!

Blooming Friday ~ Mouth-watering

2011-10-21T09:00:00.006-04:00

We visited the State Fair this past weekend to see the farm animals, garden exhibits, and watch people ride those crazy rides. I'd love to ride some of the rides but I'm afraid of heights and would feel like a wimp riding the tamer rides with the 5-8 year olds. We also go there to eat evil but delicious carnival food. The cinammon roll with a frappacino was the best. The roll had a luscious cream cheese icing that was like cake frosting whipped with extra air.

Candied apples are very popular at the fair and I might even make them at home, but the lovely blossoms on our two little apple trees have unfortunately not resulted in any mouth-watering fruit for three years running.

Despite being pruned and hung with baits for moths and other pests they have remained unproductive.

They are ornamental, with beautiful bark

and sweetly fragrant pink-tinged flowers.

But we'd like some apples! So I think we're going to replace those two trees with heirloom varieties and get a pear tree as well. I found this article about a man in our state who has 300 heirloom varieties, and two nurseries that will ship. Appropriately enough, since I have two horses, I'm thinking of getting a variety called 'Horse' which was developed in North Carolina before 1800 and was the most commonly grown apple in our state. It has soft yellow fruit with a tart tang and the tree is healthy and produces large crops of apples that are good for cider and cooking. DH said his grandparents had an apple tree that they said was a Horse apple tree but it may have been a seedling, as its fruit was green, or perhaps another cultivar altogether such as 'Roxbury Russett'.

Another old apple tree that sounds intriguing is 'Sops of Wine', an 1832 apple with a taste similar to the famous 'Esopus Spitzenberg' (Thomas Jefferson's favorite apple), but much more disease resistant. The fruit is firm, sweet and acidic, my favorite kind of eating apple.

Apples are not the only food crop we've attempted to grow.

We've had success with broccoli and cabbage,

pole beans, lettuce and kale.

I've always thought the name 'Buttercrunch' sounded delicious, and the lettuce lives up to its name.

The Southern staples of okra (pictured here is the flower, which shows its relation to Hibiscus)

squash and even 'Silver Queen' corn (truly mouth-watering) grow well here.

Crops like eggplant, peppers and Marabar Spinach love even the hottest weather. I have not actually tasted Marabar Spinach but it smells wonderful sauteed with onions and garlic.

But tomatoes? Not so much. :( We lovingly planted these tomatoes in our vegetable garden last spring

and practically got nada for our troubles.

So this spring we tried them in a new bed in the back yard, in front of the very young Baptisias, Narcissus, daylilies and Siberian Iris. We prepped the soil

and staked the tomatoes well. This didn't stop them from falling over from wilt, even the varieties that are supposed to be resistant. One Roma survived and we got about half a dozen of the most wonderful tomatoes ever, but that was it.

Next year I'm going to try some of the tomatoes in pots. I really really want homegrown Black Russian and Roma tomatoes and more than just half a dozen!

On a more positive note, there were plenty of strawberry runners to spread around this year. I have of course lost the cultivar names but they are everbearing varieties that produce a lot of berries in spring and some during summer and fall if the weather isn't too dry. They're so sweet and delicious they go down before getting their picture taken.

Happy Friday, and join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays.

Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day

2011-10-16T10:21:00.007-04:00

We are enjoying beautiful weather here this weekend ~ clear blue skies, cool air, warm sun ~ the beginning of fall color, the fireworks of Purple Muhly Grass, asters and sunflowers, and a sprinkling of nearly perfect late season roses. Later today we're off to the State Fair to see the garden exhibits and farm animals and eat carnival food.

A young Blackgum

Purple Muhly Grass with Mexican Petunia and Four o'clocks

Aromatic Aster

Swamp Sunflower (Helianthus angustifolius)

along with Azalea 'Autumn Amethyst' and Northern River Oats, with another young Blackgum in the background.

The petals of Clotilde Soupert are so sheer like some beautiful cotton fabric

and many and layered.

I wish you could breathe in the fragrance ~ it's divine!

Just as the planet Venus is gaining ascendency in the sky as the year matures, a brilliant jewel set low in the sky, the mum that shares her name also becomes a star in the October garden.

Thanks Carol at May Dreams Gardens for hosting Garden Bloggers' Bloom Day.

Blooming Friday ~ Poisonous

2011-10-14T11:00:00.002-04:00

Foxglove: poisonous but so lovely

These summer and fall blooming lovelies are sweet to smell but not to eat. Supposedly they are even poisonous to Japanese Beetles, according to P. Allen Smith.

Azaleas are not poisonous to dear but they are to horses, so I don't plant them anywhere near the pastures. Horses do generally avoid poisonous plants but there's no reason to tempt a bored or curious horse. (btw when it comes to curiosity, cats don't have anything on horses!) ;)

Our native Coast Azalea, Rhododendron atlaticum

I can't write a post with the subject of poison without including everyone's least favorite native vine in the US, Poison Ivy!

It may have glorious fall color in rich shades of crimson and burgundy ~ in fact I've heard it's been imported to Europe, Australia and New Zealand because of its fall beauty ~ but it's to be avoided at all costs because of the itchy rash it produces if you're sensitive to it, and most people are.

Happy Friday, and join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays!

Wildflower Wednesday

2011-09-29T15:02:00.013-04:00

The Bidens are fading and going to seed now, but this is what they looked like at their peak one week ago ~ a vast sea of golden yellow.

So such yellow needs a counterpoint of something else, blue, pink
or purple. The lavender berries of Japanese Beautyberry are nice

but the rich royal purple of American Beautyberries are even more striking. The
color of the fruit is so beautiful the shrub can be forgiven its graceful gawkiness.

The delicate sprays of Muhly Grass blooms

Spiderwort 'Zwanenberg Blue'

The Bidens display extends for over a thousand feet behind the garden, in the ditches next to the pasture. I always wish there was more.

Insects of all sorts love them.

Pearl Crescent

Gray Hairstreak

Female Cloudless Sulfur

Buckeye

I don't know what this little guy is but he's cute.

Eupatorums other than Joe Pye Weed and Blue Mist Flower grow wild here.
Here is an elegant-looking wasp on Hyssop-Leaved Thoroughwort.

Today I am joining Gail at clay and limestone for wonderful Wildflower Wednesday. Better late than never!

Blooming Friday ~ Diamonds are not forever

2011-09-23T12:28:00.006-04:00

Riches abound in the garden. These sweet Prairie Phlox from this spring and Spiderwort 'Zwanenburg Blue' are graced with a delicate coating of diamond dust

while Purple Muhly Grass sports a fortune's worth of sparkle.

While these diamonds are ephemereal their worth is priceless. Join Katerina at roses and stuff for more Blooming Fridays.

A Big Bowl of Sunshine and What's in the box?

2011-09-18T11:56:00.010-04:00

The farm is literally a big bowl of
sunshine right now, even on cloudy days.

The show started with a few hundred flowers

and quickly progressed to thousands. There are the brilliant
yellow flowers of Bidens polylepis everywhere

all abuzz with insect life.

I wish there were more along the upper part of the driveway

but there are tons in the new beds in front of the house

at the front of the big perennial bed

and in the bed beside the neighbor's pasture.

Not only are the Bidens themselves
brilliant, they combine brilliantly with other colors.

The Bidens-less parts of the garden provides a rest for the eyes. lol

Look what I found in a box intended for recycling. Penny doesn't usually do cat-like things like this so I was surprised to see her in there. She is slow, deliberate, without the usual balance and athleticism that cats possess. We used to think that she was perhaps drain-bramaged from being dropped on her head as a kitten (before we had her) ;), but after watching a program on Animal Plant I think she's just a throwback to her Persian ancestry. lol

At Twilight

2011-09-12T09:43:00.011-04:00

I have been too busy working in the garden to blog, weeding and putting out many of the starts from seed that had turned the front porch into a jungle, only leaving a cleared path to the door and for me to reach the plants with a hose.

The weather is so, so much nicer than it was a month ago, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it stays that way. Still a little hot ~ upper 80's and I'm waiting anxiously for 70's so there's no "I'm in an oven" feeling in the middle of the afternoon.

The late afternoon light is fleeting and before you know it it's gone and it's twilight, time for the white flowers and evening bloomers to shine.

Garlic Chives

The Four o'clocks don't open until after six anyway.

Indigofera

The longer I have this Knockout the more I appreciate it. I like the hot pink color of the flowers with the Bidens.

Cardinal Flower is blooming in the ditches. This is a wildflower
that I don't attempt to cultivate anymore ~ Cardinal Flower
grows wild here and I just let it do its own thing.

I do love the glimpses through the trees of the sun-bathed pastures
at the end of the day ~ ours

and the neighbor's.

The Japanese Beetles were gone by August this year and so we have roses again. I think I have the neighbor's guineas to thank for that; there are more than a dozen of them and they cover great distances every day in search of food.

'Pink Pillar'

Rugosa

I've been seeing Viceroys around for the last month and obviously the
Monarchs are here too. These cats are munching on Mexican Butterfly Weed.

Next year I'm going to put out more of this milkweed, as well as more parley for the Black Swallowtails. The Black Swallowtail cats really enjoyed the parsley! Now poor DH doesn't have any. lol So next year I'm going to put out rows of it, rather than one plant. It did better than the tomatoes, which were a miserable bust. The Black Swallowtails are gorgeous and I've enjoyed seeing them dancing and twirling about in the garden.

A Garden Update

2011-08-30T22:54:00.009-04:00

Irene blew in here around midnight on Friday night and didn't leave until 6 pm on Saturday. She huffed and puffed and threw buckets of rain at us but thankfully we didn't even lose our electricity. We're 2 hours from the coast and were at the westermost edge of this particular storm. My father-in-law one county over got almost no rain at all.

Except for some imploded basils, vertically challenged Seashore Mallows and wind shipped morning glories, the plants were happy with the rain. DH has already staked the fallen down pepper plants and Candletrees (Senna alata).

See the cute little gray pony? She was still a little bit off at the last vet visit so they're still in the paddock out back. Better to keep an eye on them during the hurricane anyway.

The late summer jungle held up to the storm, saving the need to get out there with a machete and start hacking. As you can see the area in the front of the beautyberries needs more. The Summer Phlox has long since fallen over. I've already added the Culver's Root and Rudbeckia that I brought home from the Botanical Garden, and I'm going to move some Mexican and native Petunia there as well as some Sweet Black-Eyed Susans started from seed. I plan to start Rudbeckia 'Prairie Sun', 'Cherry Brandy','Indian Summer', and Solar Eclipse from seed next spring and add them too. And daylilies. Iris fever has been seasonally replaced by daylily fever. Maybe some compact Cosmos too. Think it'll all fit? ;)

I love Mexican Petunia for its height and its lovely shade
of purple and it'll be a good companion for the Rudbeckias.

This is the first year I've grown Snow-on-the-Mountain and I like it.

Next year I want to try out Euphorbia 'Diamond Frost' too.

A glamour shot of 'Venice Blue' Morning Glory. From a distance the flowers look small and ghostly white since the blue fades quickly. I plan on cutting it back since it got so beat up by the tropical force winds.

The flower part of the vegetable garden looks like it's taking over the vegetable garden. Survival of the fittest. Some of the stuff will be transplated out if it gets too much in the way though. Next year I want to grow sweet potatoes rather than regular potatoes. I like sweet potatoes better and they do very well in this area. Tobacco (less so than it used to be), soybeans, sweet potatoes and cotton are the main crops around here. I still haven't tasted the Marabar spinach but Gene has, sauteed, with olive oil and vinegar, and he likes it. (btw this picture was taken pre-Irene; the seashore mallows are lying down now.)

The Black Swallowtails have discovered the parsley and
the caterpillars have been munching it down happily.

Until the Bidens kick in the Brazilian Blue Sage and Four o'Clocks continue to dominate the big perennial bed. Brazilian Blue Sage makes the hummingbirds very happy. I have not even attempted to get any pictures of them they whiz about so quickly. The sage is their favorite even though I see them sampling all sorts of things, including the Blush Noisette that's sitting in a pot on the porch waiting to be planted out. One morning a female was either checking out her reflection in one of the porch windows or watching me at the computer. lol Not sure which but she sure was cute.

In the evenings the 4 o'clocks provide an ocean of fragrance as well as color. They are very sweet.

I love these glowing pink ones.

Here's hoping for a peaceful September.

Wildflower Wednesday

2011-08-24T15:18:00.004-04:00

August is Seashore Mallow time. A native of coastal marshes from New York to Cuba, Seashore Mallow is just as happy in a normal garden setting as a marsh as long as it gets plenty of food and water. Otherwise it pouts and presents itself as an 18" flowering stick. Feed and water it well and it becomes a 5' x 5' giant covered in flowers that are reminiscent of pink tropical butterflies.

Real butterflies like it too.

There are still a few 'Rapsberry Wine' Bee Balm flowers around. The Bidens in the background will be a sea of yellow next month.

It seems like the Joe Pye Weed has been blooming for a long time too.

It's always a butterfly favorite. It's often covered in Swallowtails but today this little butterfly was enjoying it too.

Red-Banded Hairstreak (Thanks Randy for the ID!)

This Joe Pye, growing wild in the ditch behind the big perennial bed, is the last to bloom. I prefer the wild type to the supergiant cultivars, because even the paler wild type has more color than something like 'Gateway', although I will allow that 'Gateway' has a magnificent presence.

Today I am joining Gail at clay and limestone for wonderful Wildflower Wednesday.

It's a jungle out there

2011-08-14T11:04:00.004-04:00

Not only does the late summer garden resemble a jungle, the humidity today is so thick that it's almost like walking through water. It'd be lovely if it created a bouyant sensation but it creates more of a bogging down sensation.

A view from the upstairs bedroom, showing one of our pastures in the left corner

and our neighbor's pasture to the right. The Bidens have really sized up and will start strutting their stuff in another couple of weeks.

I am really glad that I have Kiss Me Over The Garden Gate this year, and I love how it looks with Texas Sunflowers.

Still haven't tasted the Marabar Spinach, but it's worth growing for its looks alone.

The corn is finished but the pole beans have started blooming again and will soon be producing a second crop.

I love the frosty mauve pink of the wild type Joe Pye Weed. There's a darker version too but it didn't come back in that place this year. A mildew or fungus has been attacking some of the plants, mostly the Summer Phlox and JPW; I can see where it has encircled the stem at the soil line when I pull up dead stalks. I think the extreme heat and general dryness has been making the plants more vulnerable than usual. The Bidens in front of the big perennial bed are a good 4-5' tall. As much as I love these plants one day I hope to have most of them outside of the garden beds, where I can just mow them with the tractor in March. Cleaning up the old stalks by hand is a bear.

The garden is full of insect and bird life; there's currently a Cardinal pair fluttering about the big perennial bed in a state of worry over newly fledged youngsters, and there's always sparrows, warblers, Tanagers and Blue Grosbeaks about. A constant twittering of Hummingbirds as they dive bomb each other and squabble over the flowers. Butterflies, bees, and Hummingbird Moths by day and Sphinx Moths by night. The Sphinx Moths make up for their annoying youth as Tobacco Hornworms by transforming into entrancing fairy-like creatures with big doey eyes and a flight pattern that looks like they are attached to a magical yo-yo.

The Indigofera has formed a small picturesque tree this year. I love those lacy pink flowers.

If I want Iris flowers along this path I need to be ruthless about taking down the old Bidens stalks before February. It's not laziness that keeps me from doing this but the fact that the overwintering birds *love* them for cover. The more Bidens growing elsewhere the better for everybody. That way the bees and wasps can have their flowers, the birds can have their cover and I can have more iris flowers.

And I need a place to put the iris that just got shipped here. ;) Iris really seem to like it on that bank next to the neighbor's pasture, and our new beds full of compost would likely be a disaster for them.

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

2011-08-10T09:21:00.004-04:00

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 lush 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 that one wants to add or wants more of in the garden.

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. Not all together.

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 encrouched upon by Summersweet and seedling Sweet Gums.

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. ;)

Early August Garden

2011-08-04T01:07:00.006-04:00

Tonight when I let one of the cats out onto the back porch, I heard the lovely sound of gushing rain. However brief any shower is welcome. One more day of intense heat and then we are "cooling back down" to the lower and mid-90's.

Until yesterday we were a little behind on the mowing ~ Gene has been working a ton of hours, and by the time I got done with weeding, watering and horse chores it was simply too hot to mow.

The goldfinch wasn't hating it though. :)

Meanwhile, with some supplemental water, some plants are just loving the heat.

Mexican Petunia

The polyantha 'Caldwell Pink'

Rugosa rubra

'Basye's Purple'

'Nasturana'

Seashore Mallow and Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'

Buddleia 'Petit Indigo' and a seedling Hibiscus

Spiderwort 'Zwanenburg Blue'

Now that the daylilies have finished their first
round Basil will take the stage in some of the beds.

Kiss-Me-Over-The-Garden-Gate is a sweet old-fashioned annual.

Texas Sunflower

When the temperature is still (relatively) cool in the morning sometimes our indoor cat Penny accompanies me in my garden rounds.

"...that grass looks good..."

She looks good for seventeen doesn't she?

This week I am joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday.

Into the fire

2011-08-02T08:46:00.004-04:00

We got a couple days' reprieve and almost a half inch of rain before temperatures go roaring back up to nearly 100 degrees today. The term reprieve is relative though; on Sunday the clouds mercifully shielded us from the sun, but the humidity was so thick that after being outside 2 or 3 hours I looked like the brunt of a practical joke involving a barrel of water or Gatorade.

I have been spot-watering the young Baptisias in the big perennial bed for the last two months. 8 that sprouted from seed this spring and more than 2 dozen from the previous 1 or 2 years. I actually counted them to see if my efforts were paying off. :) For a plant that's iron tough at maturity it sure does take a long time to get established and likes to die before then.

On superhot days I've been running the sprinkler some in the evening too, or the Brazilian Blue Sage, 4 o'clocks and Bee Balm will turn to toast. (Most of the sage and the 4 o'clocks are behind the rugosas and to the left of the Buddleia in the above pictures.) The idea is to eventually have the Baptisias and woody plants take over this bed and have all of the coloful summer thirsty plants closer to the house, where somehow placing a sprinkler in one place will water everything.

A motley blend of Baptisia, suckering rugosa 'Foxi Pavement', phlox 'Robert Poore', 4 o'clocks, Bidens, Muhlenbergia, and Spiderwort. A garden in flux. :)

Those woods in the background look cool don't they? :) Trust me they're not.

The neighbor's horses in the early morning steaminess.

Carolina Wild Petunia is a wildflower that I transplanted into the garden. I like how it seeds itself around and I love its soft purple color.

I am getting impatient with this extreme hot weather. I have a bunch of hibiscus and seashore mallow seedlings that need to go into the ground before the weather cools off for the season but it's too hot to be watering new things just now! If I can't get everything in the ground in time I'll just have to see how they overwinter on the porch.

If you're in this hotpot too you have my sympathy and try not to get too hot.

Garden Overspill

2011-07-28T00:28:00.000-04:00

This time of year the garden is filled to overflowing.

I have been watering a lot the last few weeks and am grateful for the rain we've gotten the weekend. Highs are expected to go back up to 100 this week.

That little dot at the end of the drive is Prissy.

In high summer plants lean out into paths.

Plants take over paths, as the strawberries and Lemon Balm have done in the vegetable garden. The corn we have harvested from the garden has been delicious, very sweet.

'Ellen Bosquanet' is blooming
at the end of the vegetable garden.

I planted Marabar spinach next to the tripod and hope it has time to get going before the season ends. It's supposed to like hot weather.

Even the new plantings by the drive above the house ~ American Beautyberries, Prairie Roses, rugosas, mints, and Blue Mist Shrubs ~ are filling in.

It's a little scruffy up there but too far from the house to keep pristine in this heat, and I like the variety of colors and texture and overall effect.

Meadow Beauties are in bloom in unmown places beside the drive and next to the woods, looking as they were strewn there by some magical hand.

I finally have good stands of Phlox 'David' growing by the house again since the move.

The horses' view of the very full side
garden from the paddock. I see it a lot too.

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'

The daylilies are finishing up. This is a Bachman seedling, not sure of the parentage. I love the ribbony kinetic look of the petals.

'Lavender Stardust'

'Prissy Frills'

I do not want to be without these Rudbeckias again. I love their warmth of color.

This week I am joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursday.

Hot Animal Kingdom

2011-07-24T22:54:00.001-04:00

Like almost everywhere it seems, it's been hot here. Official highs of over 100 at the airport for the last several days with heat indeces of 110 and higher.

The result: hot sweaty horses.

We have been blessed the last couple of days by rainstorms though, a welcome small break in the searing soupy heat.

As always, cats know how to be comfortable. And they can create cute Hallmark moments with their tails.

A mockingbird pair just raised a second brood in the fig tree next to the house and the young fledged Friday. DH said one of them was hopping on the ground in front of him and he could have caught it. Since then parents have been on hyper alert and while remain so until the young can fly, even though the babies managed to get to deep cover in one of the front garden beds. A couple of days ago I witnessed one of the parents opening a can of whoop a$$ on the Gray Fox in the front yard; he or she was scurrying as fast as possible with tail tucked with the Mockingbird in hot pursuit. I think the Fox is living in the woods between our house and our neighbors', as I've been seeing it near the horse trailer almost every day.

A male Bobwhite Quail has been calling nearby for the last week. Yesterday I happened to see him perched low in this tree next to the neighbor's pasture.

Wish I could have gotten a better picture but he was over 200' away. Bobwhites are so cute.

Speaking of cute, Saturday morning I was watering near a patch of Brazilian Blue Sage next to the driveway when a female Ruby-Throated Hummingbird flew up to feed and then settled on a twig to watch me, perhaps hoping for a bath. However when I raised the nozzle she elongated her neck in alarm and then whizzed off down the hill to the sage in the big perennnial bed. I could almost hear the tiny screams trailing after her. lol She will probably learn about hoses before the summer is out.

The temps will remain in the mid to upper '90s this next week, so I am extra grateful for the rain we got this weekend. I have been doing a lot of watering to keep plants from shriveling to crisps.

Animal Kingdom

2011-07-16T23:38:00.002-04:00

The last couple of days have been a reprieve from the 100+ heat indeces and high humidity, which in the middle of the day felt a lot like slogging through hot soup under a broiler. No rain with the weather change, unfortunately. Also unfortunately the cooler weather has brought on a flare-up of fibromyalgia, which has kept me down and out for the last day and a half.

The puddle next to the water trough is now home to 4 frogs. (The water is murky because I just emptied the trough, causing the frogs to leap from the fence and the puddle margins into the water and stirring up the silt.) I'm not surprised to see these frogs in the puddle, as there are what sounds like hundreds in the spring pools between the paddock and the woods. What's funny is that before now, I've actually seen one of those frogs only a few times, maybe two or three times, as they always fall silent if you get near them and they're very good at hiding.

Chorus frog? Leopard Frog?

Juvenile?

To see how small this tiny frog kingdom is, here is Tommy next to the trough,
with the puddle to the right. The little bumblebees that feed on the Bee Balm
come here in droves to drink during the day.
Tommy will venture into the paddock as long as one of the horses isn't too close by.

Prince's coat has faded under the fierce summer sun. He and the pony spend some time under the shelter of the stalls during the day, but most of the time they stay outside. We will probably move them back down to the pastures tomorrow.

View to the neighbor's horses, regular sized and minis.

The deer family that was sampling my daylilies, down near the old house site.

Mom

Yearling buck

A couple of nights ago I saw a Gray Fox in the driveway near the horse trailer. At first I thought it was Prissy, then I realized that it didn't have a white chest and was too tall. Foxes are so graceful and cat-like. I've seen Gray Foxes many times over the years here on the farm, at times surprisingly close up. I've seen a Barred Owl in the woods behind the paddock at twilight recently as well. Gene has seen him or her a few times when he came home after dark (usually on Thursdays, when he works evenings), hunting at the wood's edge next to the driveway.

Bog Plants at the NC Botanical Garden

2011-07-12T09:01:00.000-04:00

When we visited the NC Botanical Garden
in June the bog garden was in full bloom.

There was lots of Plymouth Rose-Gentian,
whose fragrance is as exquisite as its beauty.

And lots of Pitcher Plants. Pitcher Plants live in bogs that are very low in
nitrogen, and they have evolved to digest insects as their nitrogen source.

They have unusual-looking rounded flowers, and the plants themselves
come in so many different colors and patterns because they hybridize freely.

Insects lured by the promise of nectar find that they cannot crawl back
out and eventually fall into a liquid-filled cavity at the base of the plant.

These Common Grass Pink Orchids are exquisite too.

The Sundews are elegant in a surprising sort of way, and even have
beautiful little pink flowers covered in fuzzy down that are in bud
in the picture. Like the Pitcher Plants Sundews are carnivorous.

Whereas the Pitcher Plants utilize a "pitfall trap" to catch their prey, the fine sticky hairs on the stems of this Tracy's Sundew attract insects and then capture them, even physically curling around their prey, although at much slower speeds than a Venus Flytrap.

Venus Flytraps are native only to an area within a 100 mile radius of Wilmington, NC. Historically Pitcher Plants had a much wider range than that of Venus Flytraps,
with the range of the Purple Pitcher Plant extending even to the mountains.

An artist's representation of some of what Pitcher Plants and Sundew Plants enjoy eating.

Looking for more vitamin C?

Those Orange Milkworts do look yummy.

Last but not least, Few-Flowered Milkweed. Besides liking wet conditions,
this is a much taller and more airy plant than Butterfly Weed.

The display almost makes you want to build raised peat beds and water them 3 times a day doesn't it? Perhaps a nice-sized pot or tub would be doable..

Plants in space

2011-07-08T23:11:00.007-04:00

Buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis) grows wild on the farm in at least 2 wet half-shaded spots. I never thought about it much before until I saw it last month in bloom at the NC Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. It was limbed up as a small tree and looked charming and unusual covered with round balls of flowers and bees.

(Sorry but I could not get a good picture of the entire tree; the blazing sun was right behind it.)

The little tree was as busy as a bee hive.

The flowers do have a faint sweet fragrance. I had read that they smell like
honey and it's true ~ I just checked our bottle of honey to be sure ;)

The flowers and buds remind me of a sun being orbited by planets, or a planet by its moons.

Or one could say the flowers resemble Spaceship Earth at the Epcot Center

picture from Wikipedia

although I think they look more like the cake version
(made by Jen and John, authors of the famous blog
Cake Wrecks) than the real thing.

picture from Cake Wrecks

Not only are these flowers remind me of outer space, they remind me of inner space too, specifically models of atoms. Anyway, now that I've seen what a limbed-up Buttonbush that gets enough sun looks like, I have to get one. It makes for an unique and in its own way beautiful specimen and the bees love it. I will have to see if ours are still flowering ~ they may have been overtaken by shade by now ~ and take cuttings this month. If that fails I know that the NC Botanical Garden has offered the seeds in the past, and that Niche Gardens sells it.

I am glad that the Botanical Garden brought this native into my orbit and allowed me to see it in a different light than I had before.

Fourth of July Barbeque

2011-07-05T13:12:00.005-04:00

This past weekend felt as though we were the ones on the bbq. The heat like being on blazing hot coals during the day, then thick smoke Saturday night. I don't know if the smoke was from the fire in Bladen County or is something more local. Just to err on the side of caution I walked down to the pastures at 11 pm to make sure our woods weren't on fire. Thankfully on Sunday morning the wind came up and the smoke dissipated.

The peppermint spray is deterring the deer so far. The culprits were the doe and yearlings twins that have been living here for over a year; my guess is that the doe lost this year's fawn and rejoined her youngsters from last year. The yearling buck looks so grown up already; he's much bigger than his mom and sister and has a sizeable rack of antlers. His mother is still the boss, however. She will nip him if he gets in her way.

I never thought I'd be such a daylily fan, but each one has their own individual loveliness. And unlike orange ditch lilies, most have the good grace not to have very much foliage.

'Beautiful Edgings'

'Hudson Valley' has huge fragrant flowers.

'Ada May Musick'

'Jedi Blue Note'

'Always Baroque' and 'Ruby Spider'

'Hyperion'

'Pandora's Box'

'Chocolate Splash'

Typical, but I'm surprised there was a tag at all, since I wanted to know what it was. There were enough letters that a Google search turned up the name right away.

'Trahlyta'

I like the combination of moody plum and raspberry colors.

'Easy Ned'

'Shady Lady'

'Lavender Deal'

Those water droplets are from the hose, not from rain. I hope we get some rain this week. All of the little bumblebees working so hard in the garden are drinking from the puddle next to the water trough. They land on the surface of the water with legs outstretched like a water bug, drink, and then fly off again. Much of the day there are half a dozen bees quenching their thirst at any given time. There's even a couple of water frogs living in the puddle too.

Painting with bright colors

2011-06-28T10:43:00.003-04:00

Spring is a time of delicate colors and shimmering palettes of spring green, like a watercolor painting. The summer garden in a warm climate like central NC doesn't have that look of eternal spring seen in more northern climes; it's like a work in oils or pastels, bold colors thrown at the canvas and swirled together.

Monarda 'Raspberry Wine' with Buddleia 'Potter's Purple'

The Monarda creates a bold current of color in the sea of green that's the big perennial bed.

Its deep raspberry pink just glows

and it's a-buzz with activity all day long. The Carpenter Bees in particular love it.

There are swirls and eddies of 'Claire Grace' too, which from a distance looks a little dull without something bright like Phlox 'Robert Poore' to punch it up.

Up close is a different story.

I had forgotten about the Rubeckia since it was just fuzzy leaves last year; now of course, like the Phlox, I think I need more of it! I love the warm golden color, like the glow of a late summer afternoon captured in a flower.

Good news on the pony front! We jogged her yesterday and she looks to be doing much better.

This week I am joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays .

It's a parade!

2011-06-22T10:27:00.009-04:00

of daylilies, stars in the June garden.

I believe this one to be 'Gentle Shepherd', as lovely in daylight

as it is as dusk, when it takes on a luminescent quality.

'Pandora's Box'

'Beautiful Edgings'

'Siloam David Kirchhoff'

'Jedi Blue Note'

Sun faded but still lovely

Love this noid

'Bleu Celeste', which of course isn't sky blue at all, with Commuter Daylilies.

Also still lovely when faded

Also love this noid, so graceful and fragrant too

Mokan Butterfly/ Mask of Eternity seedling

Another mystery daylily, with a beautiful rich pink color.

Screech of needle on record ~ wait, what is this doing here?

I love the rich warm colors but they don't go with the delicate pastels that have gone before, not the creams and cool pinks and plum and raspberry tones.

Adding some 'Chocolate Splash' and 'Buttered Popcorn' will make everybody happy. Sounds delicious doesn't it? Unfortunately deer are finding my daylilies to be delicious too. I can't believe this hasn't happened before, whether I'm surrounded by undeveloped floodplain and hunters or not. I have been mixing a solution of water and peppermint extract (approx 1 fluid ounce of extract to 3 cups of water) to spray on the daylilies and that has helped.

Some warm pinks will help ease the transition between cool and warm too.

'My Melinda'

I am planning to move 'Sparkling Orange', 'Spellbinder', and 'Paper Butterfly' to the "warm" spot in the garden as well.

I think the culprit eating the daylilies is a doe with a fawn stashed near the garden. Funny thing is there was a buck with a broken leg who practically lived in the garden for a year (every once in a while he'd scare the he!! out of me but leaping up out of the ditch and splashing his way out) and he didn't eat anything; he knocked over a young Hansa polishing his antlers but that was it. (btw the Hansa survived.) Ah well these things happen. Can't expect to plant daylilies and never have any eaten by deer.

Unfortunately during the storm last weekend the horses got out and the pony sprained her ankle. We think lightening struck the rods on the shelter, or a tree behind the shelter; nothing else would cause them to run through the fence in a blind panic like that. btw you DON'T want a fence a horse can't run through, as they can get caught in it and fatally injured. The flight instinct of a horse is very strong. Their getting out had nothing to do with our earlier fence problems either. We replaced 80 fence posts last year, and I've been checking them every 6 months. They chested the boards, which are hot-wired, but a hot fence will not deter a panicked horse.

The pony doesn't have any swelling, so the problem is likely one of the ligament that support the ankle. The reason this injury doesn't usually manifest in swelling (unless it's severe), is that those supporting ligaments are overlaid by the deep and superficial flexor tendors and the suspensory ligament in back and the extensor tendon in front. The vet was out last week and prescribed paddock rest, sweating the leg at night, and two doses of Adequan a week apart. So the horses are up here in the paddock behind the house keeping me company.

Summer Color for GBBD and Cottage Flora Thursday

2011-06-16T00:09:00.031-04:00

There is lots of summer flowers for both Garden Bloggers Bloom Day at May Dreams Gardens and Cottage Flora Thursday's at Fishtail Cottage.

Commuter daylily, Purple Coneflower, rugosa with hips, and Monarda 'Raspberry Wine'

'Always Baroque'

'Beautiful Edgings' is perhaps my favorite daylily, with its delicate shadings of pink and yellow on cream.

The crests of the waves of the sea of green are now many different colors.

Mockingbirds are nesting in the Foxi Pavement rose bush.

It's good for the nestlings that the heat wave has broken. I was watering the seedling Baptisias last week I looked in on the nest and all three babies were panting and leaning over the edge of the nest like wilted flowers. Thankfully mama showed up just then and got back on the nest to shield them from the hot sun that was shining through the branches. When I looked back in on them later one still had its head out and was gaping. "I'm hungry!"

A delicious-looking flower with a delicious-sounding name: Raspberry Wine.

Especially good with a side of (daylily) Buttered Popcorn.

A favorite of both bees and hummingbirds, Brazilian Blue Sage, accompanied by Four o' Clocks and Buddleia 'Potter's Purple'.

I started with solid yellow and fushcia pink Four o' Clocks, and now there is a broken color blend of yellow and pink on the same flower

and a solid color blend of coral pink.

Indigofera is finally something in addition to Carolina Rose that grows well at the back of the big bed. It will send out its dainty sprigs of pink pea-like flowers until frost.

In the bed next to the neighbor's pasture, the Knockout has been covered in flowers for many weeks, and the seedling Witch Hazel has gotten quite big. I wish the neighbor's guineas would come back and eat some more of the Japanese Beetles. I've missed them the past few days. A pair has been hanging out here a lot; a dark guinea and a pearl guinea.

The Pickerelweed is in full bloom, surrounded by Northern River Oats, Joe Pye Weed, Hibiscus coccineus and hybrids of various sorts.

I love the delicate swaying seedheads of Northern River Oats; so graceful.

I planted the Pickerelweed but the Lizard's Tail grew there by itself, and will soon be blooming in wide swaths along with the Pickerelweed.

Good news ~ the Prothotary Warblers are not confining themselves to the slough by the creek this year! I heard the "squeaky wheel" song behind the horse shelter, and after walking back there and calling "pst, pst, pst" a few times ~ a siren call to a curious and fearless bird like the Prothonotary Warbler ~ I saw him. I hope to get a picture, but here is what these gorgeous little birds look like.

Prairie Roses

2011-06-14T10:19:00.004-04:00

Two of my prairie roses (Rosa setigera) that I started from seed a few years ago have grown together to form a solid hedge over 25 feet long. I lurve it! The smaller silvery plant is front is our native Mountain Mint (Pycnanthemum incana). The foliage does indeed have a wonderfully minty fragrance, and I wanted something that could take competition, was tough, and attracted a lot of pollinators. Both Niche Gardens and the NC Botanical Garden have written about how mints attract many different types of insects, so I wanted to try it. As a bonus, I love how the silvery foliage looks with the pink roses.

May 30, 2011

The pollinators love Prairie Rose and I mean love it!

Native bee on left, honeybee on right.

I think this bee must be about maxed out on the pollen that she can carry.

I've started several other R. setigera from seed; this one is about 3 years old. All are next to the driveway above the house, mixed in with American Beautyberries, Elderberries, (Pokeberries ~ in parentheses because I'm not sure I want them to be there... love the look of the berries but not the rest of the plant), rugosas, mints, Monarda, Blue Mist Shrub, a Vitex tree, and a couple of Baptisia, the dryland B. tinctoria and B. sphaerocarpa if memory serves (which often it doesn't).

And, this beautiful Soapwort that I got from raingardener.

The flowers are lovely in all stages of aging, appearing a bright clear pink in sunlight and lilac-pink at dusk. They lack only fragrance.

I also grow another Prairie Rose (Rosa arkansana) that I started from seed from Prairie Moon Nursery. A much smaller rose and sweetly fragrant, this rose will repeat while R. setigera is a once bloomer. The flower color ranges from pale to deep pink.

We got almost 2" of rain over the weekend, much needed, and a lot of lightening too. All of our buildings have lightening rods on them, to ground any lightening strikes, but close strikes are still scary. We are expecting cooler temps this week, also much needed, and will be a nice change from the roasting pan of the last two weeks!

Blogger is still apparently having problems; if you don't have a pop-up window for comments or the option for anonymous posters to leave their name and url, I can't leave a comment on your blog. *update* Rose told me that a way around the problem is not to check the box to stay signed in when logging in to comment ~ worked like a charm. Thank you Rose!

Flowers and a sea of green

2011-06-11T11:06:00.005-04:00

Currently the big bed is a sea of green, with a few spots of color here and there: late roses, Brazilian Blue Sage starting up, and Meadow Rue that I found growing in one of the floodway fields. It looks wonderful with Rosa palustris scandens but bloomed later than the rose this year. That little patch of orange behind the Hubricht's Amsonia is a Butterfly Weed, one of the few that has come back faithfully year after year. The grass in the foreground is Panicum virgatum. (Not a weed. ;) )

Soon the Bee Balm and four o'clocks will be blooming, transforming a sea of green to a sea of bright raspberry pink and golden yellows. I like both the greens and the colors (after all, green is a color too!).

There is color up top next to the house, with the spiderwort still going strong and the daylilies coming into bloom. Both are holding back a little bit, as we are two weeks into one of those typical hot dry spells. The grass in the yard is extra crispy.

Iris brevicaulis and Iris japonica are always the last iris to bloom here, in June.

Rose 'Pink Pillar' with a rugosa in the background.

Amaryllis (Hippeastrum x johnsonii), also commonly known as St. Joseph's Lily

Perennial Sweet Pea
(alas, not fragrant)

Transylvanian Sage

A wild sedge that I found growing next to the vegetable garden. I don't know what it is, but the flowers look very sweet. It reminds me a little of Baby's Breath.

I didn't get many Larkspur this year but I treasure each and every one.

I can see why Gail loves St. John's Wort so much. This year is has bloomed and bloomed and bloomed and the bees just go crazy over it.

A passalong pink yarrow

Caldwell Pink, a polyantha with no fragrance that I can detect, but which makes up for it by its extreme sweetness of appearance and workhorse capacity.

In this heat morning is the only time this cat is allowed outside, and even then she stays in the shade. In summer long black fur is not an advantage and she has a lot of it, especially since she's an indoor cat most of the time.

It may be hot in NC, but we don't experience heat bursts as happened in Kansas this week. Imagine the temperature going up to over 100 in the middle of the night!

On the other side of the country the weather forecast for The Belmont in NY is much cooler: lower 70's and rainy. I am pulling for Animal Kingdom.

Oakleaf hydrangeas

2011-06-06T22:53:00.011-04:00

The bees are going absolutely mad over the Oakleaf Hydrangeas now. Everytime we walk by the hydrangeas clouds of bees come billowing up ~ bees of every sort although mostly Sweat Bees (Halictus rubicundus). The front of the house smells like a florist's shop. I can't remember if there was this much bee activity around the hydrangeas in past years, but there certainly is this year! Still not enough to disturb the lazy orange cat. :)

Sweat bee ~ these bees are fast as lightening.

A psychadelic fly basking in the beauty

Carpenter Bee

The bees are after the flowers beneath the sterile florets.

While many of the flowers on the 'Pee Wee' hydrangeas on the north side of the house are still a dazzling ivory

some are splashed with pink and the flowers of the 'Dayspring' hydrangea on the east side of the house have turned rose pink the last couple of days. Since the one on the east side gets more sun it always flowers. Masha asked if the hydrangeas turn color here and they do. I love the fall color; like many of the blueberry bushes, it starts out a deep burgundy which eventually lightens to crimson. The color of the hydrangeas on the north side is not as consistent. Some years they freeze before they can change color because they change so late.

'Pee Wee' is supposed to top out at 4' but after just four years it's nearly there already; however, it'd have to get to double that size before it was up over the porch railing and starting to be too big. 'Dayspring' will probably easily get to 8' one day.

Summer is here!

2011-06-02T09:44:00.001-04:00

Whatever the calendar date, summer has arrived
(with an explanation point), although there are
still some spring distance horses in the race.

The bees are really enjoying the foxgloves this year, as they have lasted forever.

I don't know the name of the blue-violet Geranium or if it even came with a tag, but in any case it's a good one. The pink flower is Ozark Phlox and the purple Penstemon 'Midnight'.

The foxglove near the paddock has long since toppled but is still blooming, with bees going in and out constantly.

I don't think the spiderworts have ever performed as well as they have this year. They have been a sea of white, pink, blue and purple. However, we're in the middle of a hot spell and things are going to dry up fast. The last two days have been 97+ degrees. Hot would be an understatement. Time for the early summer flowers to take over. The daylilies have begun to bloom

as well as the Oakleaf Hydrangea. For such a big strong plant Oakleaf Hydrangea has a very lacy appearance.

I love how it looks with Penstemon 'Midnight'.

The birds are really enjoying the water hollow in the paddock out back. I keep it filled and many kinds of birds have visited it: Brown-Headed Cowbirds, Grackles, Mockingbirds, Blue Grosbeaks, Indigo Buntings, Cardinals (who are currently feeding young in a nest in 'Sir Thomas Lipton'), Chipping Sparrows, Bluebirds, flocks of Goldfinches... The Chipping Sparrows really go to town bathing. Gene told me one evening he heard all of this splashing and thought a big bird was taking a bath, but it was just a tiny little Chipping Sparrow.

Today I am joining Tracie of Fishtail Cottage for Cottage Flora Thursdays.

Happy Belated Wildflower Wednesday

2011-05-26T17:53:00.002-04:00

The Penstemons are in bloom now and they are bee magnets.

Aren't they lovely? The fine fuzz on the flowers and buds add to their vibrancy. I don't know if this is Smooth or Foxglove Beardtongue.

I also don't know if this is a species or a hybrid, but I love the delicate coloring.

Carolina Bush Pea is finishing up now but I wanted to include it anyway, as its tall yellow spires make such a statement in the garden. It grows wild on mountain balds in the Appalachians but is just as much at home in the piedmont. It looks especially beautiful with the bright pink flowers of Rosa palustris scandens.

I grew this Purple Milkweed from seed that I bought from Prairie Moon Nursery. It's more of a rosey magenta than purple, but I really wanted to grow it since it's so different in color from the other milkweeds I've seen: white Common Milkweed, orange Butterfly Weed, red-orange Few-Flowered Milkweed, and pink Swamp Milkweed. It's in a bed with Rosa palustris scandens, Spiderwort 'Zwanenburg Blue' and 'Concord Grape', St. John's Wort and the rose 'Basye's Purple'. It would look great with Butterfly Weed too.

I seem to have a hard time getting my act together for Wildflower Wednesday. One month I wrote it down on the calendar, only to realize that I wrote it down on the 5th Wednesday of that month. lol But better late than never, right? Thank you Gail for hosting this wonderful meme.

Turning the corner to summer

2011-05-24T09:08:00.002-04:00

The big bed is getting ready to turn the corner for summer; the foxglove is just beginning to seed out and the Brazilian Blue Sage is taking on size. The hummingbirds will be happy when the sage starts blooming. It's their very favorite. They spend all summer bickering over it.

The chickadee babies that were in the nestbox at the back of the garden fledged over a week ago; I hear them as they move about, as they never stop talking, a sped-up constant version of the chickadee call. They sound sort of like maniacal elves. A pair of Chipping Sparrows built a nest on a lower branch of one of the pines at the back of the garden and judging from how noisy the young are they will fledge some too. I see the parents foraging on the ground around the garden all of the time, looking very dapper.

There are Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks, Summer Tanagers, Bluebirds, Kingbirds, Great Crested Flycatchers, Peewees, Ovenbirds and Wood Thrushes all around. Vireos, Indigo Buntings and Summer Tanagers sing all day no matter how hot the weather. I even heard a Yellow-Breasted Chat near the house the other day, and the past couple of years they have stayed down in the floodway fields. An understory border, including a lot of blackberries, has grown up around the edge of the woods and I think that's why the Indigo Buntings nest so close to the house now. Just yesterday one was singing in a tree opposite the kitchen window. The hollow created by dumping the water trough in the paddock back of the house is a very poplar spot for bird bathing. It's been kind of dry lately so I've been keeping the hollow filled with the house. Last summer when we had a very hot dry spell even the bees drank from it.

Bobwhites call back and forth in distant fields. A pair spent the summer on our farm last year, foraging in the gardens and occasionally going up the driveway to the field up top. Once or twice a week we would flush them out from the garden as we walked to and from the horse pastures. I think they liked the gardens because there's a lot to eat in there, both seeds and bugs, there are short mowed paths they can walk on, and good cover.

The predominant color in the garden just now is green, with the exception of the spiderworts, late roses, and Carolina Bush Pea.

This Rosa palustris scandens got so big that it sort of fell over on itself, but it's still beautiful. The truck happens to be in the picture because I was moving the last of some fill dirt up the house in buckets. Later on I switched to using a wheelbarrow, which was actually easier.

Rosa carolina, Rosa virginiana, and Carolina Bush Pea.

Rosa carolina, growing together over what used to be the path through the back part of the garden. The path goes around the back of the Carolina roses now. I plan to fill the rest of the old path with more Carolina Bush Pea and Baptisias. No doubt the roses and Brazilian Blue Sage will find their own way in there too as they all spread by runners.

I have read some gardeners' complaints about the short bloom time of Carolina Bush Pea; I have not noticed the bloom time being that short, and love it for the beauty of its stately clear yellow spires. That shade of yellow seems to go with everything.

The Wax Myrtles next to the ditch that runs behind the garden have gotten big the last couple of years. I hope to remember to scatter larkspur seeds on the top part of the garden this fall; in the shallow ditch that runs in front of the garden I have added more Rosa palustris scandens, Amsonia hubrichtii, and Spiderwort.

In this low spot there's already Monarda 'Claire Grace', Crinum 'Royal White', Iris virginica, Iris japonica, Swamp Milkweed, and lots of Bidens seedlings.

Yesterday we had our warmest day so far, at least 93 degrees, and it will probably reach 95 today. We're due a warm spell with May being so advanced. I will probably be hiding in the shade or the air conditioning from the afternoon sun but the butterflies will love it.

Oxeye Daisies and the Irritated Gardener

2011-05-22T13:53:00.001-04:00

I love the rustic simplicity of Oxeye Daisies. A clump comes up near the big bed every year and in a few other scattered locations. One year one of my MIL's neighbors converted her acre lot to an Oxeye Daisy meadow. It looked marvelous. My MIL disapproved however when the Oxeye started to go to seed. Oh the horror! A lawn that wasn't mowed to within an inch of its life! Sorry, and I will not mince words here, but I really HATE that attitude.

One day I may go into more depth as to why I do hate that outlook so much, and the story behind the sign we bought (as a joke) for the vegetable garden.

Last week a seemingly innocuous event occurred that unfortunately got under my skin. The mail lady drove to the house to deliver a package and said to me "It looks nice here now that everything's blooming." Sounds fine, right? Yet it irritated me. I relayed the message to DH and asked if I was being morbidly sensitive. Even he said, "Well, that could have been phrased better."

Don't get me wrong. In case you might think I have a swelled head, I don't think my garden looks good all of the time, or is even anywhere in the ballpark of perfect. Heck, it's not even close to being finished. There are times in summer in between mowing and during drought when it looks like a mess. Places in the garden that I have yet to bend to my will, or discovered what can grow there that I like. Still, I don't really need for someone else to tell me that.

But if I told you some of the things that people have said (and with such surety of themselves), would you believe it? Or have a similar tale of your own? I hope not.

The Vegetable Garden

2011-05-16T09:27:00.012-04:00

The vegetable garden is going to be all over the yard this year, although the vegetable garden proper will still have lots going on. I took down the wires strung between the 2 posts, which supported a black raspberry and a Sombreuil rose that have been moved elsewhere. The black raspberry needs to go entirely since it's thorny and the berries basically have no taste. Corn and squash have been planted in their place. We've never tried corn before but the squash is sure to produce.

Next to the corn are Chinese cabbage, a lettuce mixture, and broccoli. Sugar Snap Peas are growing up the wood pole teepee and there is a stand of fingerling potatoes beyond those.

The lettuce and cabbage are as beautiful as any ornamental.

The strawberries next to the driveway have had ripening berries for a few weeks now and are they ever sweet. I've been eating the lettuce, strawberries and broccoli and they're all about a 1000 times better than what's available at the grocery store. Since they don't have to travel anywhere they can just be grown for taste!

I have been pleased with the border next to the vegetable garden. The Rosa palustris scandens has gotten huge in the last four years.

The 2 Veilchenblaus have gotten pretty big too. There's another one on the other side of the Rosa palustris. Smells so sweet too, when all of the flowers are open! Not rose-like though. The spot of blue beneath the Rosa palustris is the Louisiana Iris 'Sinfonietta'.

The flowers of Veilchenblau open purple-pink but darken
to purple once they've been open a few days.

Belinda's Dream is blooming for the first time in 2 years.

Worth the wait as it's such a romantic-looking rose. The flowers smell like tea.

It's been a lovely spring

2011-05-11T10:41:00.007-04:00

here so far. Not too much rain, nor too little. We were not hit by horrible life-altering storms. Mostly beautiful sunny weather in the 70's. It's not uncommon in April for someone to turn the faucets off and turn the thermostat up but that didn't happen this year, not yet anyway. ;) The Iris virginica, which hardly bloomed in 2010, has responded by putting on a beautiful display that has lasted a long time, longer than the Siberian Iris. I have both Northern and Southern Blue Flags, ranging in color from palest blue-violet to deep purple.

The Mockorange blossoms have lasted a long time too.

The Spiderworts have been blooming with abandon.

I will add more Spiderworts and Iris virginica in front of the roses as soon as the divisions are ready. I have at least one other year-old Amsonia seedling going (to go with the 3-year-old one on the left). I planted 3 and need to look for the other two. There are already lots of daylilies in this bed.

I'm not sure I've ever seen an iris bloom for as long as this Jesse's Song has.

The foxglove, which looked sickly last year after a very wet winter, look good this year. I always wish I had more.

Peony flowers don't last very long but are so worth it for their intricate beauty.

The roses never disappoint, no matter the weather. These are tough roses though. Not mamby-pamby roses. I never spray them and only prune deadwood.

Clotilde Soupert is the perfect little romantic package in a rose. The only time the flowers have balled over a 4 year period was during a very wet spell late last summer or fall.

The cultivars are my most beautiful roses, but I love my rugosa seedlings too. They are such workhorses and very fragrant.

Nasturana by the driveway is covered with blooms. No wonder this was J.C. Raulston's favorite rose. (He was a well-known local horticulturalist and professor at NC State University.)

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year ~ Part II

2011-05-08T22:02:00.014-04:00

Looking southeast, toward the neighbor's pastures.

The hedge in the background is two Prairie Roses (Rosa serigera) that have grown together. The big white rose in the foreground is Sir Thomas Lipton, shown below at its peak 2 weeks ago. It will continue to bloom on and off throughout the season.

The perfect stand of foxglove, which the horses could not reach even if they were still spending the night up here. These pictures are deceptive, as the flowers are actually at least 4 feet away from the fence, which has hot wire running inside of all 3 panels. In any case the horses have not been in this paddock for over 6 months, as they have another paddock that's much larger, with a 12 x 24' shelter.

To prove it, since the pictures make it look as though the foxglove is right up against the fence:

A little less perfect after the rain and wind this morning but so what?

Gotta love those freckles. :)

Prairie Phlox (Phlox pilosa var ozarkansa) is just as lovely recumbant as standing, and very sweetly fragrant, like candy with complex notes.

Rugosa rubra

Aloha with Alchymist

HF Young

with Alchymist buds

Hansa

Standing at paddock fence looking north toward the vegetable garden, with Blush Noisette in the foreground.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-05-05T07:53:00.002-04:00

Springtime: it's Christmas for gardeners.

Baptisia alba, australis, and rugosa Foxi Pavement

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke'

with Hansa

Celebrating Wildflowers Part II

2011-04-30T22:52:00.009-04:00

Like the Atamaco Lilies, Sweetbay has been in bloom for a month. If we get much rain this year it will bloom on and off all summer.

The silver-backed leaves are as beautiful as the lemon-scented flowers.

I am enamoured of the tiny flowers of Blue Toadflax, now covering fields in Johnston County with a fine lavender haze.

I planted Green and Gold 'Eco Laquered Spider' 14 years ago, and two plants now cover a semi-area of approximately 20' by 35' near the old house site. Neither drought nor flooding bothers it, and it would seem the more it's ignored the happier it is. Its only drawback is that the leaves mildew during the humid heat of summer.

Spiderworts are a treasure for their bunches of low-blooming flowers this time of year. Given enough moisture Tradescentia virginiana will bloom on and off for the rest of the year. I don't know if it's because I'm too far north for them to be ranbuntious, but they are not spreaders in my garden, giving only enough seedlings to spread around where needed.

Spiderwort 'Zwanenburg Blue' with the rugosa 'Foxi Pavement'

Phlox pilosa var. okzarkana
quickly makes good-sized drifts.

Phlox 'Minnie Pearl' has filled out nicely this year, creating a big bouquet of perfectly snow-white flowers.

The native star of the show currently are the Baptisias. They've been beautiful already for a month in their bud and early flower stages. They are both elegant and cottagey at the same time, and look great with irises, roses and foxglove.

In my garden Baptisia australis
ranges in color from soft lavender

to blue-violet.

Baptisia alba is so striking with its charcoal gray stems, shown here with Cl. Old Blush.

'Purple Smoke', an offspring of Baptisia alba and B. minor

Baptisia alba and 'Purple Smoke' with rugosa rubra, rugosa alba, Foxi Pavement and white iris.

Thank you Gail for hosting Wildflower Week!

Celebrating Wildflowers ~ Part One

2011-04-30T05:15:00.006-04:00

All week I have been thinking of posting to Wildflower Week, hosted by the delightful Gail of clay and limestone but have had a hard time getting my act together. I am "suffering" from an excess of garden photos and indecision about what to do with them. An excess of weeds too.

Earlier this month most of what was blooming in my garden was native, both hardwoods and perennials.

Pink Piedmont Azalea

White Piedmont azalea

Florida Azalea

Those azaleas finished up last week while Woodland Phlox (shown below in mid-April) is still in full bloom in some places in the garden.

Coast Azalea is a little later than the Florida and Piedmont Azaleas. I love the pink fuzzy buds and blue-green leaves. I think it could stand more sun than those azaleas too, as it's the only one that leans toward the light.

The fragrance is just like inhaling the fragrance of cotton candy.

This azalea, just arrived in the garden last year, is labelled 'Choice Cream', which I've read is a R. austrium x atlanticum hybrid. However, it looks so me from the yellow blotch that it could be an Alabama Azalea hybrid.

Also new to the garden last fall, Alabama Azalea. The fragrance has strong delicious lemony notes.

Geranium maculatum, a beautiful find from the farm.

Atamasco Lilies have been blooming in various places ~ in the garden and in the fields and woods ~ for a month now.

Commonly known as Easter Lily, this lily actually bloomed on Easter this year!