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!

Rudbeckia

Rudbeckia 'Autumn Sun'.

Rudbeckia 'Goldsturm'.
(This is a best guess, as the plant was a pass-along from Granny L.'s garden.)

Both these sunny yellows bloom in relatively late in summer, in our garden-- welcome signals of the approach of autumn.

Clematis, Celosia, Crepe Myrtles

(Continuing with the collected photos taken over the course of the summer...)

'Fireflame' Clematis.
It's supposed to be double, but so far, ours has remained single.  The color is rich and beautiful, though, and a single form clematis is elegant in its simplicity.

Celosia.
I didn't do very well, this summer, with setting out my seedlings in a timely manner, but some of them made it-- and then there are the self-sown bonus plants.

I'm a celosia fan!  It's an easy-to-grown sun-lover that adds color and interest all summer long. All sorts of pollinators like it, too.

Crepe myrtles.
This volunteer crepe myrtle (which popped up near 'Victor') is probably my best bloomer, at this point.  It started blooming pretty early in the summer, I think, and it flowered off and on for months-- longer than any of the others we grow.  Impressive!

The Black Diamond varieties have bloomed this year, too, though I failed to get any very good photos.  'Red Hot' is a bright "red-red" (very helpful description, right?) and 'Pure White' is... pure white-- which is even more striking against those dark purple leaves.

More to come!

Blackberry Lily

This summer, I've had the pleasure of seeing my first blackberry lily (Iris domestica) in bloom!

I started out with a few seeds, which came from Nan Ondra in late 2015.  I should've kept better notes, but as it is I'm not sure exactly what happened with those seeds... I think I planted them in the spring of 2016, but they must not have sprouted until this spring... Unless they did, and I just didn't ever put them into the garden last year (which is doubtful).  The seeds do need at least a month of cold stratification.  Most likely, they didn't get enough of that before I planted them, so they weren't "triggered" to sprout until after their winter spent outdoors.

In any case, they did finally sprout.  Before I planted them, a few succumbed to either rot or snails (or both)-- but two of them made it to the new Oval Bed.  One of these bloomed, and there are seed pods, so I hope to be able to harvest seeds and get more started.

Blackberry lily gets its common name from the fact that the seeds resemble blackberries, by the way.  They're also known as "leopard lily", and I think you'll see why, in the photos that follow...

They're described as short-lived perennials, so I hope I can get enough going from seed to establish a self-sustaining patch of them.  Though the flowers are fairly dainty, they are eye-catching and have an unusual look.  They make a charming addition to the flower bed!

In the Land of Milk and... Wine?

Crinum lilies are one of those plants I didn't fully appreciate until I started paying more serious attention to gardening.  Maybe it's because I grew up seeing them so often-- like the "plain" orange daylilies.  Maybe it has something to do with their tropical look-- not a positive feature, back before I had embraced the (sub)tropical nature of this area.  (And by "embraced", I mean "reluctantly gave in to the fact that life is easier if you plant mostly things that want to grow in your area".  I do not and will not relinquish the right to complain about the heat and humidity.  I don't have it in me to be consistently cheerful throughout our long summers!)

Since then, I've come to value their toughness and easy-going nature-- and their beauty, too.

Over the past couple of years, I've planted a few new crinums in our garden.  Two of them have yet to bloom-- 'Ellen Bosanquet' and Crinum x. powelli 'Album'-- but two of the "milk and wine" type (no specific ID) have bloomed this summer.

The first one to bloom was somewhat less impressive than I'd have hoped-- maybe I just didn't catch it on a good day-- but the second one was pretty.

Here's the first one looking a little limp and frail and faint.  (I suspect it did look better, at some point.)

A hefty stem and bud announce the impending arrival of crinum lilies.

The second one to bloom was right off the path to the kitchen door.  It's in a better location for viewing than the first one, which may account for some of my change in attitude.

The flowers are still a bit frail (delicate?), but these did seem to have a bit more body and verve than the first one.  

The first of our crinodonnas (a.k.a. amarcrinums) bloomed, earlier this summer!  This plant is a cross between an amaryllis and a crinum (Amaryllis belladonna x Crinum moorei).

They're relatively rare-- certainly not a common find in your nearest big box store.  I ordered ours online and though no variety was named, it may be 'Fred Howard' (based on the fact that that's supposedly the most commonly available variety-- and it has "somewhat irregular pink flowers", which I think describes ours pretty well).

The blooms are pretty enough, but weren't anything special compared to the pale pink crinum passed along from my family.  If all it had going for it was looks, it would be bested by the crinum, which are more perfectly formed.  However, the crinodonna as a trick up its sleeve: It's scented!  (If you're a regular reader, you know I have a weakness for scented plants...)

I wish I had blogged back when the fragrance was still fresh in my mind... As it is, I can't remember if it reminded me of anything in particular-- but it was a pleasant fragrance.  Soft and pleasant.  Not overpowering.

I'm pleased with this new plant and would be glad to collect another variety or two, at some point.  Since named cultivars seem to be hard to come by, I'll probably content myself with watching to see how the two (of the same type) I already have progress in the next year or two.