Pickerelweed and Other Summer Favorites

Pickerelweed doesn't sound like the name of something wonderful, does it? But it is! This is one of DH's most successful Lowe's purchases, brought home over 12 years ago when we moved to the farm. First pickerelweed lived in a now defunct pond, behind the old house site. Then, since pickerelweed spreads quickly, I transplanted it into some of the nearby ditches, where it has formed large clumps. Here it is growing in a ditch is close to the old house site. Lizard's tail grew wild there already, and the pickerelweed loves it as well. If we get enough rain, pickerelweed blooms all summer and fall; if not, it goes underground and waits until next year.

Although an enthusiastic grower, pickerelweed is not to be confused with the extremely aggressive water hyacinth, which is from South America. Pickerelweed is native to the eastern US.

Crepuscule is new to the garden this year, and I managed to get a picture of the flower before Japanese Beetles devoured it. Crepuscule is considered by many rosarians in the Southeast to be *the* perfect rose. It's disease resistant, thornless, remontant, the flowers are very fragrant and a beautiful apricot color. This rose was bred by Francis Dubrueil (grandfather of Francis Meilland) in France in 1904.

This is mountain mint, P. incana. The leaves have a lovely cool silvery color and attracts many pollinators. I got it to help colonize the area that runs along the driveway.

You can see the bed beside the driveway is mulched with hay in this picture. There is a deep drainage ditch on the other side of the hay, then a narrow strip of land, then the neighbor's electric fence. In addition to the mint, there are several shrubs planted in that area, mostly roses (R. setigera, R. rugosa, R. arkansana, and Rosa x cantabrigiensis) along with an old-fashioned Pearlbush.

The flowers are white and have a cool silvery look as well. The smell of the foliage is pure mint and wafts off of the plants on warm days.

'Raspberry Wine' -- a beautiful name for a beautiful flower.

This Stoke's aster must be a cultivar, the flowers are such a bright, crisp violet-blue, but I can't find a tag... The blue is much brighter than that of Stoke's aster I grew from seed from the NC Botanical Garden. It's probably 'Peachie's Pick', one that Niche Garden sells.

Brazilian blue sage peaking out from under the leaves of a fig that we transplanted from my husband's grandparents' yard. I have this sage with the black calyx and another with the green calyx and love both of them. The hummingbirds love them too. The sage and Buddleia 'Potter's Purple' seem to be special favorites.

This is a shot taken where the house use to stand, looking west, of a swamp cyrilla and sweet pepperbush. I didn't plant these, they grew there on their own. This cyrilla is a seedling of two older ones that grow close by. The flowers are very much like those of sourwood. I first noticed the parents of this tree when the leaves turned color in November. The leaves usually start out bright orange and may turn red before dropping in late December. The bark is much like wax myrtle, smooth and a lovely gray/brown with silvery patches. It is a picturesque little tree with a lot of beauty and character.