Colchicum ‘lilac wonder’ coming up through a groundcover of leadwort (Ceratostigma Plumbaginoides) with yucca ‘color guard in the background.
Wordless Wednesday: ok, it’s fall….
Monthly Archives: September 2015
September GBFD: beauty in the details
It sounds a bit noble and refined to study the intricate details but in reality the big picture is just a little too ugly to show. Autumn rains have yet to pan out and the bulk of the garden has that end of summer- waiting to die- air to it, so with a garden full of drought stricken, end-of-their-rope plants, close-ups are clearly the way to go.
A wider view of the watered deck plantings. With only a few weeks left before frost I’m happy to see my newest banana nearly doubling in size since its August planting. I love watching those new leaves unfurl!
The closeups will hopefully be a celebration of the late summer contributions foliage makes to the garden. Yes, I know we’re into autumn now but Christina over at Creating my own garden of the Hesperides celebrates foliage day on the 22nd of each month, and since that date is still a summer number I’m going to use that excuse to hold onto summer for just a few days past the autumn equinox…. well maybe just until next week when the temperatures look as if they’ll drop.
Caladium ‘pink splash’ enjoying the unusually warm September weather. Just foliage color here and although my choice might be suspect it really is an easy plant. Best of all no dropped blossoms on the porch to clean up.
Most of the focus right now is on the tropical plants and annuals which are blissfully putting out new leaves regardless of the impending frost-doom. Let me give them their five minutes of fame before they get thrown in the dark garage for the winter again. I think I’ve shown the scented geranium ‘Lady Plymouth’ before, but with a pleasant scent and fine variegation it really doesn’t hurt to show it again. Plus, I am one of THOSE people who think variegation makes everything better, so here she is again 🙂
‘Lady Plymouth’ perlargonium brightening up the front entry with its finely cut, outlined foliage.
Matt over at Railway Parade House and Garden might give a little chuckle to see such a small specimen of eucalyptus, but here in Pennsylvania I’ve struggled to get it this far. Last year it was a small floppy mess, this year it’s a bigger floppy mess. Assuming I can bring it through another winter, my hope is it will show a little backbone and put on some height. The reddish highlights on the silvery coin shaped leaves are completely unique here and I love it for that… even if the color disappears against the gray decking and white railing.
Eucalyptus cinerea, the silver dollar gum. It has a nice eucalyptus scent when you get close enough.
Something else which is starting to grow on me are the cane begonias. They always look good, the foliage is cool, and for me they are completely foolproof to overwinter (in an above freezing spot with no water). All the leaves fall off and they look terrible but come springtime and April showers they leaf out as if only a week has passed. When I was younger and growing up on Long Island I couldn’t understand why the Coe’s of Planting Fields (now an arboretum) would devote an entire greenhouse to these boring plants. Twenty five years later I’ve finally figured it out.
‘Limon blush’ coleus with a silver splattered cane begonia. The silvering may be faded due to too much sun and the lateness of the season, but the flowers still keep coming on this tall (4+ feet) specimen.
I’ll finish up with a few more begonias. September is a few days away from becoming the area’s hottest September on record and practically rainless at just over 1/4 inch for the month, so again the potted plants are helping me keep my sanity.
Someday I hope to rediscover the tags which came with this plant, but for now the finely silvered foliage and discrete blooms earn it a home -even if I don’t have a name.
If I had more shade around here I would surely put these begonias to more use, but siting them is always an issue. This pink speckled one never even made it out of the pot ghetto this year. Every week it was another round of where-to-put-it and now I’ll just have to enjoy it as it is.
Another unfussy cane begonia. Most of it’s winter was spent bare root on a saucer in the back of the garage… which is not exactly what you’ll read in Fine Gardening but I like to test limits 🙂
Well that’s my take on September’s GBFD. It may not be the perfect illustration of the contributions of foliage in the garden but it does show the contributions foliage has made to my sanity lately. Give Christina’s blog a visit and see what others are doing in their own gardens with foliage this month. It’s always a good show!
Stop it with the autumn talk
Many people enjoy and claim they welcome the coming of autumn. I want to make it clear that I do not, and although the last few days have been a little too hot and dry for my taste, I would much prefer the relief of a summertime cloudburst rather than any farewell to summer eulogy. So I guess what I want is just a few more days of denial before I’m forced to admit the season is breaking down.
The tomatoes of summer are still going strong even with their new neighbors the fall chrysanthemums.
After a promising start to the summer August went dry and for the past forty days we’ve barely cracked the 1/4 inch mark for rainfall. With high temperatures, thin soil, drying winds, and full sun the life was sucked out of a garden which had been almost carefree at the start of the summer. With a nice rain today we’ll see how fast things bounce back. My guess is it will be a much faster turnaround than the last two summers when things REALLY dried out to a crisp.
One patch of watered soil ready for fall planting. Hopefully cool weather will soon allow for a few broccoli and cauliflower transplants.
In spite of the heat a few things still look nice. The tropical garden got a few minutes with the hose, and that seems to have been enough to keep it from death. I love the colors right now with the purple verbena bonariensis, dark red dahlias, and peach colored salvia splendens filling the bed.
A little orange from ‘Tropicanna’ canna goes a long way in brightening up the late summer salvia, verbena and dahlias.
With the grass dried up to a crispy beige the stronger reds, oranges, and purples really stand out. I don’t think a bed full of lavenders, whites, and pale pinks would be as eye catching…. which I’m going to say is a good thing, since in this world of gray and tan I can use as much eye catching and hold-on-to-life color as I can get!
End of summer color from dahlia ‘Mathew Alan’. As usual the dahlias could use some dead heading.
Even up front a little bold color is a nice thing. The border along the house foundation has a few spots of color from the ‘Masquerade’ peppers I planted out this spring. The true type has purple peppers changing to yellow, orange, and red while a few oddball plants started right off with pale yellow and are now going through the same sunset effect.
‘Masquerade’ peppers from seed with all the fescue clumps I divided up this spring. I finally like this bed… but we’ll see how I can mess it up next year 🙂
Along the street is another story. Even with a few emergency waterings things look end of summer tired.
To water or not to water, that is the question. Obviously I chose the latter, but the ‘Karl Forster’ feather reed grass, sedums, and perovskia are still holding on.
I did give the ‘Limelight’ hydrangea a little soaking, but a few water lovers such as the ‘Golden sunshine’ willow will need a good bit of water before they look anything close to happy again.
I think this border will need a little trimming out of dead things once the rains soak in. No big deal though, a little fall cleanup will carry it on through the next few months.
There are still a few bright spots. Even in the harsh midday sun kniphofia ‘Ember Glow’ looks nice. It could be a little taller but the size actually works well with the peppers and coleus (please ignore the dead rudbeckias and dying zinnias).
Red hot poker (Kniphofia) with peppers and a surprisingly sun and drought resistant coleus. I wasn’t sure if the poker would ever bloom this year but I guess it’s a later cultivar.
Until the garden bounces back the best thing to do is spend more time in the shade, seated with cold beverage in hand. I can ignore the weeds and dead lawn quite successfully on the back deck.
This is a late summer view, not autumn. I’ll keep that delusion up until the first frosts threaten!
Even with a good soaking the lawnmower will still likely be on vacation for another week or two. I’m ok with that. I hope the soil takes in the rain, the plants come back, and I can finally use something other than a pickaxe to dig a hole. Maybe then I’ll start thinking about things like fall while I’m taking care of a little late summer transplanting and bulb planting 🙂
A hot day in Philly
The calendar is beginning to insist that all things summer will soon come to an end, so when a free day presented itself I made my best to take advantage of the last weeks of warmth. A quick call to a friend near Phillidelphia and I was on my way to one of my favorite gardens, Chanticleer. As usual the visit did not disappoint, and despite a mental note to just enjoy the visit I did break down at the end and went a little camera happy. Hopefully I can show some restraint with the length of this post even if I couldn’t with the camera.
Red and purple as you come around the house. Coleus ‘redhead’ and the awesome canna x ehemanii… rounded out with a few random bananas.
I like to stroll around pretending this is my own estate, and if by chance if I do win millions (I’ve given up on earning them through hard work, marriage, or genius) I feel like this is the kind of garden I’d create.
Many exotic and unusual container plants are scattered around the house and terraces. All appear perfectly grown and cared for.
The tropical plantings around the house are some of my favorite plantings, although even away from the house a random banana or elephant ear may turn up (Chanticleer refers to itself as a ‘pleasure garden’… so I guess anything goes!)
This year’s teacup garden plantings. Fiddlehead figs and canna ‘Ermine?’, plus many others.
I’m guessing on almost all the IDs since the gardens are for enjoyment and inspirations and not so much for the down to earth realities of botanical labeling, but there are plant lists available both in the gardens and online. I apologize for being too distracted to look while there and far too lazy now to look them up online.
Potted dwarf giant papyrus. I love the pot in pot planting with a ‘groundcover’ of duckweed, and I’d love to imitate, but… no pot and no dwarf giant papyrus. Maybe the plain old giant papyrus will work, at least that’s finally become easy to find in the spring.
I can feel the banana itch coming back. I was given one and bought another this summer….
Canna x ehemanii, various bananas, red and purple dahlias, and a few tall salvia splendens varieties.
…and how can you not like dahlias at this time of year.
A respectable boxwood border holding back a wave of visitors from the south.
On a hot day the dry, full sun, gravel garden was not the place to linger… but we did, and while sweat beaded we enjoyed the waterwise plantings and the mix of dryland perennials and tropical cactus and succulents.
I think the yucca rostrada (hardiest of the trunk forming yuccas) stays here year round, but I’m not sure of the agave. I do know I wouldn’t want to be the one to lift it come autumn.
All the rain earlier in the year probably helped most things, but some I’m sure didn’t appreciate the reminder they were in Pennsylvania and not Southern California.
Artichoke blooms? Not the best leaf-wise, but the color of the flowers almost glowed in the heat.
Or South Africa…
Kniphofia (a species I’m guessing) along the dry slope. I love this plant family, but never get decent flowers on the ones I’m growing.
The bulk of the grounds around the house are open grass and trees, and this was the beginning of the colchicum season.
Some of the colchicums just beginning to bloom in the lawn at Chanticleer. Form what I’ve heard there are many more to come.
And then there were the pond gardens…
Chanticleer koi
With lotus and water lilies.
One of many lotus flowers. My photos never do the blooms justice.
And then there was the cutting garden. My favorite canna ‘Bengal Tiger’ (Pretoria) was the star, and in my opinion everything looks better when it’s next to this beauty.
The cutting garden. Summer annuals, dahlias and cannas were at their peak.
It’s just pictures from here on.
Cosmos and dahlias with canna leaves.
The beds threaten to swamp you in a tsunami of plants. Still to come were all the hardy sunflowers and other native prairie plants which filled the inner portions of the bed.
Dahlia with gomphrena ‘fireworks’ (I think)
Dahlias again (it’s the season!) plus more awesome canna leaves. I think the ferny foliage belongs to the SE native dog fennel (Eupatorium capillifolium).
Nice right?
Summer zinnas and cosmos. Who says fall is near?
I didn’t realize it’s been two years since I last visited (click here to see that very pintrest-popular post), and I’m glad to have had the chance to do it again. The gardens are on a scale that really seems approachable, yet aren’t filled with how-to beds or dull bedding. It’s really a place where you can enjoy the art of gardening, and if you get the chance I would absolutely recommend a visit, but for those further afield there’s also hope. September 23rd marks the release date for a new Timber Press book on the gardens and I for one am looking forward to it. It has an excellent pedigree across publisher, author, and photographer and what I’m most looking forward to are the interviews with each area gardener. I saw them at work during our visit but was a little too shy to bother them with an endless gushing of praise or question after question. Hopefully the new book will pacify me. 🙂
Thanks for meeting me there Paula, and I wish everyone a great week!
sorta like suburbia 