Summer Medley

I think this will be the last of the catch-up photo posts.

Lantana:

Bog sage with Curcuma 'Scarlet Fever' in back:

Bat-face cuphea:

Caladium:

The night-blooming jasmine was crazy this year.  Super strong.  For a while, I'd get a powerful whiff of it on the west-facing back porch at night.  Keep in mind that this plant is on the north side of the house, well away from the back porch.  While it's still not one of my favorite scents, it's better wafting over a distance than it is sniffed up close, in my opinion.

The white butterfly ginger lily is a far more pleasing fragrance, though, and unlike night-blooming jasmine, it can be enjoyed during daylight hours.

Pincushion ginger.
Not much for smell, but an exotic-looking plant.

Bronze fennel.
It flowered this year, so maybe I'll be able to gather seeds.

Forsythia sage and bog sage.

You may remember that this year the forsythia sage began blooming much earlier than it's "supposed" to, in this area.  It's been blooming ever since.  It'll be interesting to see what happens next spring/summer.  If we have another mild winter, it might do an all-summer bloom again.

Dragonfly near Duranta 'Sapphire Showers'.

Purple coneflower.
They've been "done" for a while, now.

Canna.
I think this flower was on the 'Russian Red', which is grown more for its foliage than its flowers, which are relatively small for a canna lily.  Still, the orangey-red of the flower against that purple stem is eye-catching and tropical.

Tropical milkweed seeds.
The tropical milkweed set seed.  They have such soft, fluffy, feathery seeds!  Very pretty.

After a while, the milkweed started to look "done".  I probably waited too long to address the situation-- definitely the story of my summer in the garden!  By the time I cut it back, it was looking positively dreadful, but I cut it into portions and stuck them in pots of soil, just in case.  Amazingly, many of the pieces with absolutely no leaves sprouted new growth.  I'm not sure how well they'll survive the winter after such a late start, but we'll give it a try!

Tuberose 'Mexican Single'.
This year, I saw my first tuberose bloom in the garden-- first 'The Pearl', then 'Mexican Single' (a.k.a. 'Single Mexican').  I gave them each a sniff or two, and I have to say... I don't see what the fuss is all about!

I was disappointed, in fact.  Maybe I just haven't smelled them under the right circumstances; many flowers smell the best/strongest under just the right atmospheric conditions, and maybe I happened not to be outside when those happened. Whatever the reason, they weren't very strong-smelling, despite their reputation.

When I did lean in to take a close whiff, I'm not sure they were worth the effort.  I'd read many people's description of the fragrance and been puzzled by some of them.  Well, I now know just what they meant when certain people described the perfume as smelling like rubber.  There's definitely a rubbery note in there-- which (unsurprisingly) is not really a selling point for me!

Now, it wasn't overtly horrible-- somewhat like a gardenia, maybe, but with a slight note of... tires or something.  Hm.  I'll be interested to see what they smell like next summer.  Maybe it's one of those fragrances that are better from a distance than up close.

Roses of Sharon.

We've had an early taste of fall, the past week or so.  It's been cool and dry enough to have the windows open at night and part of the day.  You may not understand how wonderful this is, but trust me-- it's of monumental importance!

I love autumn weather.  There's nothing else like it.  The challenge now will be to do some work outside instead of just sitting and enjoying.  Summer may not be completely done with us.  Warmer weather may creep back in, but this breath of fresh air has proven that summer will soon be on its way out.  I'm ready!

Random Photos

A little this, a whole lot of that.
In no particular order!

- - - - - - -

The 'Golden Goddess' bamboo has really taken off!  I'd tell you how tall the trellis is, for a reference point, but I'm not sure... It's taller than I am, at least...

The perennial lantana is blooming amongst a bevy of weeds.  (Areas outside of the fenced yarn get the short end of the stick when it comes to weeding-- and pretty much everything else, too.)

A couple of lantanas (maybe 'Bandana Pink'?) that Mom gave me last summer have come back, as well.  I thought they were annuals in this zone, but maybe they are cold-hardy in 8b.

I'll probably try to move them outside the yard.  There are many (many, many) plants in the garden that are toxic to dogs, but for whatever reason, I'm more "scared" of lantana than most others.  Maybe because the berries they make seem so appealing.  Both our dogs have been known to forage for blackberries (and blueberries, pineapple guava, and cherry tomatoes), so it doesn't seem too far-fetched that they might sample lantana berries, too.  When I thought the plants were annuals, it was easy to just keep an eye on them, but if they might come back year after year, I'd feel safer with them growing elsewhere... It sounds like this variety doesn't set seed as much as the species, but still...

My biggest, happiest blanket flower flopped over after some violent wind and rain.  I propped it back up and am hoping it will recover.  They are prone to flopping...  Here it is in happier days.

Tropical milkweed, right next to the blanket flower, was still standing tall, the morning after the storm.  I guess that, being tropical, it's used to rough weather.  ;o)  (Blanket flower seems like more of a semi-desert plant.)

Not all of the (new-this-year) Triteleia 'Queen Fabiola' has bloomed, but some have.  Though the flowers are significantly taller than Ipheion (spring starflower), there's a fair degree of resemblance between the two.

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' (false indigo) has more flower stalks than ever, this year, as far as I can recall.  It's still shorter than I expected it would be, though, so the place I planted it (behind a rose bush) keeps it a bit more hidden than I'd like.  Short of moving the rose, though, there's not much I can do.  False indigo has a taproot and doesn't like being transplanted!  Maybe it will grow taller in years to come.

Lots of marigolds volunteered in one of the vegetable beds.  I've left as many as possible, but some of them really should be moved.  They're crowding the squash plants.

We have some tomatoes coming along nicely, though one was toppled by the storm and is still recovering-- and at least one more is suffering from a mystery ailment.  Tomatoes do seem prone to a lot of problems.

I have some seedlings of the 'Dark Opal' basil which need hardening off and planting out.  (Hardening off is my very least favorite part of starting things from seed.)

Raindrops on roses...

The blooms of Curcuma elata (giant plume ginger) have been gracing their corner of the garden for a while, now.  When I moved the clump over to make way for a new elephant ear, I planted divisions in a few other places.  One is way down at the back of the garden, and I've been surprised at how visible the flowers are over a significant distance.  They certainly stand out!

Lunaria 'Corfu Blue' continues to flower.  Well, one of them does.  The other has yet to begin.

Red, white, and blue.  (And green.  Lots and lots of green.)

Mexican bush sage, assorted orange-y daylilies, and a purple coneflower on the cusp of blooming:

In the Oval Bed:  Daylilies, a couple of grasses, crocosmia, gladioli, and more.

The unknown pink shrub roses, when they began to bloom, almost couldn't support the weight of all those flowers!

If you recall, I pruned these roses in late winter/early spring.  All this is very new growth, and the tender "branches" (is that the correct technical term?  canes?) haven't had a chance to harden. They're struggling under the burden of so many blooms-- especially when the flowers are wet with rain or heavy dew-- but I'm sure they'll strengthen with time.

I still haven't processed the photos from the last garden survey, and it's already time to think of taking photos for the next one!  Soon!

Happy Easter!

Easter greetings!
It's been a beautiful (albeit warm) holiday weekend in coastal Alabama.

{'Peggy Martin'}

When I woke up (early) this morning, it was still cool, with just a touch of eerily beautiful fog.  As I let the dogs out and stood on the back patio, a cardinal sang his first songs of the day-- one of those rare, perfect moments...

{Mrs. Cardinal's abandoned nest in the rose arbor}

It wasn't long before the last of the fog burned away, the sun giving us just a taste of what it will be like in another couple of months.

{'Joseph's Coat'}

I took the camera out a couple of times over the weekend, trying to get photographic evidence of these fleeting days of spring, before we slip (without warning) into the singed and sweltering summer months...

Luna always jumps up when I pick up the camera, because it usually means I'm going outside.  She likes to come along for the walk.  I ask Trixie if she wants to come along, too, and she usually does.

{green anole}

I snagged a couple photos of the flowers of the newly passed-along weigela.  I also looked up the pronunciation of "weigela", which I then promptly forgot.  Let's see... Does it start with a "why" or a "whee"?

{weigela}

It seems to be "why-GEE-la".

{weigela}

I noticed that the semi-shade garden is still a mess.  It needs more mulch and more "plumping up".  More "filling out".  More "plants", if you will.  Some of the existing plants will take up more space as they grow, of course, but if I could think of some promising semi-shade perennials (or possibly annuals) to fill in a few spots, that would be good, too.  The sandy soil (not to mention the greedy roots of the large loropetalum) is detrimental to the success of many plants that might otherwise be satisfied with the part sun, so I'll continue working on building that with compost and mulch.  

{semi-shade garden}

One day last week, I moved the succulents slightly to the south.  I don't know how they'll react to the increased sun.  They're not in tip-top condition, as it is, though.  A change might do them good.

{Succulents}

Otherwise, if they seem to be scorching, I can relocate them yet again.

{succulents}

This unknown clematis is doing its best to outshine the others on the rose arbor.

{no-ID clematis}

{Louisiana iris 'Jeri' with wasp}

The salvia cuttings I mentioned last week seem to be doing ok, so far.  (Salvia usually are pretty simple to start from cuttings, it seems.  It does help to remove the flowers from the cuttings, though, so I pinched off the flower bud on the cutting to the left, once I noticed it.  All that energy that would go to developing the flowers would be better spent on growing roots.)

I'm less confident of the success of some rose cuttings I also took in the past several days, but it was worth a try.  There was a piece of 'Peggy Martin' that was growing on the ground, right where it would eventually interfere with the main gate, so I cut that off and got several pieces from it to try rooting.  Then, since I was already in rose-rooting mode, I took a few cuttings from the unknown climbing pink rose on the west side of the house.  Fingers crossed!

{salvia cuttings}

And to close, here are the latest daylily photos.  (Wouldn't want to miss out on those, now, would you?)