FIRST FLOWERS ALMOST SUMMER 2015

Thank you both. Muddy, I'm not sure how great of a job I did, more of luck than anything..LOL. I did try to space the trees though so they weren't terribly close together. The only exception being the Katsura, which is sort of wedged in the back of the yard. I also regret not thinking my trees out a bit more and getting some 'cooler' ones. Darcy has talked about getting another tree if/when we put in a new deck. If that's the case, I'm pretty sure it'll be a nyssa sylvatica. I LOVE our Sekkan Sugi's but I should have spaced them both farther from the house, especially the one on the left. I do have to spray the left one with Wiltpruf each winter and I try to spray the top tips of the right one too. Every now and again I'll get a volunteer. One I gave to my in-laws and it's about 2-3' tall now. I had a couple others but they got overtaken by some Lamium. There is a seedling I saw that just sprouted so we'll see how that one goes. I am really glad though I got a blank slate to start. All I have from before we moved in is the spruce in the back, which I really like, and a small rhodi.

Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit. So easy to start from seed!

First daylily bloom of the year. I'm pretty sure thus is a noid from a local hybridizer that I visited.

Veronica Royal Candles. The ones I see online seem to bloom so much better.

Blue mouse ears from Holly. I love the blooms!

Balloon flower. I know they hate root disturbance but this one has been moved twice already.

SS--
I think I have the Echinacea Cheyenne Spirit. growing from seed ...somewhere...
I started a few different Echinaceas. So far--everything is just leaves.

1--Your DL looks a lot like "Red Volunteer'--except color on yours is not a pure red.
may be the camera?

2--Your "Veronica Royal Candles"--is it not called "Speedwell" as well?
I have one growing and that is what was on the tag.

3--The "Mouse ears" Hosta from Holly--it looks very similar to one I have, except
my leaves are more rounded. The blooms look the same. Is it the same?

My only daylilies so far are Stella D'oro and Happy Returns rebloomers, ditch lilies (H. fulva), and some other clear yellows. DD helped hostess a bridal shower today. She made lovely decor from several of my white glass vintage bud vases, ditch daylilies, yellow daylilies, fleabane, white yarrow, and rose campion. That's about all I have blooming suitable for a vase.The non gardeners raved. Fleabane ROFL. I named the flowers except fleabane.

Tropical milkweed is starting to bloom along the driveway, with Black and blue salvia. The intense colors will look great!

Speedwell is indeed a common name applied to members of the genus Veronica.

Thanks, David.

Funny--but the other day when i was watering at the HD, the Bell Nursery
Head-honcho Lady called it Salvia. I had to correct her. Told her it was Speedwell.
Then she looked at the tag and said--"You're right!".......:o)

Photos today

1 - Nigella damascens 'Miss Jeckyl Blue' - Love-In-A-Mist

2 - Agastache 'Honey Bee Blue'

3 - Snapdragon 'Twinny Appleblossom' variant

4 - NoID Asiatic Lily

5 - Asclepias perennis - White Milkweed

That Love-in-a-Mist is pretty. I have a few plants that self-seeded from last year, but they haven't bloomed yet.

1- Scutellaria incana (Downy Skullcap), 3 plants which have just grown taller than the Azalea behind them.

2 - Echinacea purpurea (Purple coneflower) (thanks GT!), Shasta Daisy 'Becky' (thanks Sequoia!) and Coreopsis 'Zagreb'

Hm, mine does look a lot like 'Red Volunteer' but I have no record or memory of getting this specific daylily...

Gita threw it in your car when you weren't looking...

Very pretty flowers, everyone!

LOL!

Gita, great shot of those red daylily blooms!

David, that Nigella photo should be framed... but I say that about at least one of your photos every time you post!

Wow that skullcap looks awesome Muddy! Dibs if you ever want to give some away. I love that 'love in a mist' flower GT. Nice pics too SSG :-)

Coleup, what is the name of this hydrangea I got from you?

Storm fried our router Saturday evening, just now back online.

Squoia - we can give you some S. incana at the swap.

In a few more days i will have some spectacular Oriental Lilies to show you.
They are already in the coloring on the bud stage.

And--YEAH! My Crocosmia is starting to bloom. The stems are about 3' tall.
Planted one of the 3 bulbs I was given in the fall of 2013.
They never even germinated last summer. I had no idea where they were.
I knew --kind of--center back of my kitchen side bed. Somewhere under all the
Begonia Grandis and between my two big ferns.

Another example--that "patience is a virtue!".

Wow, that's great Gita!

SSG et al,
before I forget, wanted to pass on a tip from this thread on Coneflowers from Pippi
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1329028/

She plants the entire seed head in a pot or the ground with the stem sticking up and has great results.

Love the colors of the Cheyenne Spirit

Great pics of coneflower Coleup! Very beautiful.

How would one find, or get to, Mr. Brown Thumb's" Blog?

http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com/

Great pics, Coleup ! Thanks for sharing.

With a nod to non natives and potential invasives

Verbena bonaires
Malva Zebrina purple
Malva Zebrina pink
Wine berries should be ripe by the 4th!

Looks like Cheyenne Spirit is a must! I only read good things about it.
Muddy, how do you like that skullcap? I have S. altissima and it reseeds like crazy but does well in very dry shade.

1 Lychnis
2,3 Verbascum - sometimes the plants are massive like #2. Sometimes they are singular like #3.
4.&5. Betony - I could never start these from seed but finally found it in the herb aisle and now I see there are plenty of seedlings coming up this year.

What are wineberries? I love the malva. I use to grow it and lavatera too but the malva got rust all the time like hollyhocks and the lavatera flowers were always munched on.

From Wikipedia:

"Rubus phoenicolasius (Japanese Wineberry, Wineberry, or Wine Raspberry) is a species of raspberry (Rubus subgenus Idaeobatus) native to northern China, Japan, and Korea."

"The species was introduced to Europe and North America as an ornamental plant and for its potential in breeding hybrid raspberries. It has subsequently escaped from cultivation and become naturalised and sometimes invasive in parts of Europe and eastern North America."

"The wineberry is an invasive species in North America and Europe. The non-native wineberry displaces native plants and alters habitat structure."

Red glandular hairs cover the canes and give them their diagnostic appearance seen in Coleup's photo.

OK!

1--Here is a picture of my amazing Trumpet Lily--"Pink Perfection". I only have one.
It only had 2 blooms this year.....Bummer!

2--Here is another Lily called "Forever Susan". It was given to me by a co-worker
at HD named Susan. Nothing spectacular--but I like it...

3--Goldenrod blooming in my YUK bed

4--First DL to bloom--"Red Volunteer". I just divided the clump my DD dug up
beginning of May. I have about 6 divisions of this DL. If anyone is really interested--
speak upNOW! I will be taking the divisions to work and giving them away.
Not sure how I will keep them alive and well until our Swap. Because of the
time gone since they were dug up--there will be NO blooms next year.
It will spend the time growing leaves and re-generating itself to bloom the following year.

5--Did I post these yet to show you? Hmmmm......
The Chinese trumpet Lily--"Regale"---very fragrant in the short life it is open.

A few more things...

1--Asiatic Lily--"Dimension"

2--Beginnings of my BIG pot on the stump in my WS bed.
Will have to watch the Sw. Pot. Vine--it will take over....

3--Yellow DL. Not sure where i got it from....

4--Heliopsis faithfully blooming away in the YUK bed--IF I can keep
the B.E. Susans out of this clump!

5--Such huge blooms on my Endless Summer Hydrangea. Must like
all the rain--but---BUT--there is a price to pay for it. They are all laying on
the walkway.....the blooms too heavy from the rain.

To: Sequoiadendron

From: Druids at Stonehenge

Re: Summer has arrived, time for a new thread.

hahahaha
Very pretty Loretta
GIta, I didn't realize you had so many lilies

AHHH----Summer HAS arrived!!! Midsummer Magic!

The month of insanity!
Lets all build the bon-fires and leap over them--into the "New Thread"--
for those sober enough to do so....Just hold on to those beer mugs..

Look out for those Druids in white robes...
OH! We don't have them in this neck of the woods....lucky us!


I wrote a paper in college on "Midsummer Magic."...The Prof. required
a minimum of 2 pages. My paper turned out to be 22 pages.
A good read! A++ grade. Gita

Those lilies are beautiful!

Sally--I only have one or two of each! Makes it look more spectacular
than it is--but many of these Lilies have been growing in their places for years!

Couple more "knock-outs" left to go. G.

Loretta, I love Scutellaria incana. It blooms for a long period, deer don't touch it and it is pretty much care-free.
The only minor issue I've had with them is that, during the past 2 summers, after they reached a certain height they "flopped" from the base outward as if something (I blamed deer) had stepped in the middle of them. Some of the stems broke. I don't know what caused them to do that - it wasn't deer - but I solved the problem by staking them.

This message was edited Jun 24, 2015 8:51 PM

I'm wondering if wineberries are those colorful red prickly stems I see in the winter everywhere. The prickles are like rugosa roses. I think I've seen them but not sure I've seen any fruit ever.

Thanks Muddy. So it doesn't take over like my skullcap then and the flowers look larger too. I wouldn't mind my species so much if the seedlings were easy to pull but I have to dig them out.

David---I just checked---WHY is it time for a new Thread?????????

It is ONLY at 154 Posts! Even the title still fits.
FIRST FLOWERS ALMOST SUMMER 2015

You been flying around with the faeries and lost track of time????
You know--they can abduct you and faerie you away--and years and
years can pass till you get back and wonder "What happened????"

Neither Pat or You will recognize each other when you return. You will be THAT old!

Read up on this Mid-Summer Celebration and insanity. It is eye-opening!
It is practiced the World over--and since antiquity--and in every culture.
All the way back to the Aztecs, the Incas and all the primitive peoples.

http://www.nytimes.com/1989/03/12/magazine/midsummer-magic-in-the-lands-of-the-midnight-sun.html

Isn't the summer solstice Jun 21, and hence the start of summer? I can't believe I haven't been paying attention to the dates, because I usually love to be outside on the 21st to experience the longest daylight of the year. In Leesburg, the longest day begins at 05:44 am and ends at 20:39 (8:39 pm) - 14 hours 55 minutes of daylight!!!

I found a nice little calculator for any place in the world:
http://jan.moesen.nu/daylight-calculator/?location=Leesburg+VA&latitude=&longitude=

That was his reason, Gita -- that it isn't ALMOST summer now, it IS summer.

And Terri, have you noticed how the days are starting to get shorter again now?

Gita,
Current title is "First Flowers ALMOST SUMMER 2015", so current title technically no longer applies. Just being playful, suggesting obliquely that Sequoia start a new thread, something like "First Summer Flowers".

Lovely Verbascum Loretta, do you grow them as annuals or are they perennial for you?

Coleup, I wouldn't mind getting some seeds from your purple Malva. I have the pink one and it faithfully reseeds and grows each year since I've had it even though the mother plant always dies.

I am way past due it taking a bunch of pics in our yard so hopefully I'll get to it tonight and post a new 'Summer' thread. Hopefully the druids of Stonehenge will be able to wait until later ;-)