FIRST FLOWERS OF LATE SUMMER 2015

Yeah my monkshood flopped all over the garden. One stalk died but the rest are all laying down. I wonder if it's not getting enough sun. Maybe I'll move it to a sunnier location. This salvia is pretty cool. I discovered that it lays down but then it roots itself at the nodes. Should be interesting as a ground cover. Fingers crossed that it comes back next year. The montauk daisy gets full sun. This was from a start that Jill gave me at last fall's bulb pick up.

I love my montauk daisies! I didn't know they existed until Sally wrote about them. They flopped after the deluge, but they still look so clean and bright. I got a lot of starts from them last year... I didn't cut back the "dead" tops, and they started leafing out in spring. I knew they'd be way too leggy, so I went ahead and cut them back, but I stuck any pieces with leaves starting. I got a couple dozen new plants! I'll try to do that again next spring...

How did you root the pieces, Critter? Did the stems branch out where you cut them?
My Montauk Daisies always flop even though I cut them to the ground every winter.

Yes, the stems branched out with vigorous new growth after the old growth was cut. I rooted the pieces by sticking them into moist potting mix, no rooting hormone, no dome or special care, just kept them outside with other starter plants and watered them so they didn't dry out. Some were put in quart pots, 3 cuttings to a pot, and other cuttings went 1 by 1 into deep 6-packs.

Thanks, Critter.

A few random photos I took today...

Symphyotrichum oblongifolium (Aromatic Aster), New England Aster, Solidago caesia (Blue Stem Goldenrod), re-blooming Coneflower and a crazy Rhododendron Roseum elegans that thinks it's spring!

At the top of the middle photo you can see one of my Elderberries which, even though they're very large (e.g., 6-8 feet tall) did not bloom at all this year. I mean not even one stinking flower!!!

My Montauk daisy has woody stems. I could never imagine that thing flopping.

What's up with that Rhodie?!?! My 'Blue Boy' rhodie has been blooming two. I've never had that happen before. So weird.

"Flopping" isn't quite the right word; the Montauk Daisy stems splay outwards from the center.

That Rhodie is very stressed from the last several winters and it didn't bloom well this spring; I think it's catching up!

This message was edited Oct 12, 2015 9:01 PM

You can put peony rings on them earlier in the growth cycle then you can contain the "outward growth" LOL. If you forget just tie them up, I don't like floppy oops, outward growing plants. LOL

My parents Montauk Daisy is just beautiful. It came from one of the swaps. Funny I have it planted at their house and don't have any here.

I planted mine in a scrub location so it can do whatever it pleases.

Montauk daisy seemed to be 'asiatic garden beetle' candy a few years ago. So many leaves got eaten, then they had little bunches of leaves on top with the flowers. THis year I don't even have the flowers. (Do you hear the ticking clock?)

Sounds as though they looked like poodle daisies. Ticking clock indeed. I have low tolerance for poor performance in the garden.

Mine needed support for sure; the ones in front are splayed across the stepping stone path. I have a number of partly broken tomato cages (lost lower rings) to shorten and use on perennials...

I pinched my montauks back in June and this year they haven't flopped. Sometimes I haven't and they have flopped.

We still have a lot of color in our garden. I was heading out to take some pics and got side tracked and it started to rain. So I took the camera out anyway but the pics aren't very good.
Ric cut a bouquet for me to take to Moms house. A nice selection of Zinna and Dahlia, the Bougie in the GH and a colorful paddle plant. Oh and the Beauty Berry is just filled with berries and this fav Begonia blooming (little white flower is coming from other plant nearby).

I walked around yesterday--camera in hand--to see what all is still blooming.

1--Baby "David" phlox. Must be from a seed from last year.
2--Endless Sumner Hydrangea--putting out new blooms right now.
3--Lantana with B&B Salvia I planted earlier this summer.
4--Self-seeded "Lady-in-Red" Salvia. I had so many last year--
I was pulling them out! This is the only one that grew this year.
5--Marigolds! There's ALWAYS the marigolds. They love the cooler weather..

A few more:

1--The Mandevilla!--The always gorgeous Mandevilla!
2--Osteospermum daisies--these really thrive in the fall weather.
3--One of the NG Impatiens..these always loom way into fall..
4--The "Black Pearl" ornamental peppers. It has outdone itself this summer!
It is one of the plants in my clay W-Box by the side steps. Easily 2' tall--
loaded with red pearls now--as they are all ripening.
5--This is a bit earlier in the year--love the shiny black look.

My three Mandevillas are still going strong too, Gita. We have some mornings coming up the end of this week where the low temps are to be around 30 degrees. Time to start bringing in some of the potted plants around here !

Some more---

1--The "weirdo" Petunia with the soft, velvery leaves and pretty blooms...
I still don't know what it is. This started out growin near the edge of the bed--
then, unbeknownst sto me--climbed into the big Phlox bush and meandered through there.
The blooms sit right on top...

2--Purple Cone Flower I planted just a few weeks ago. Hoping it will make it through
the winter and come back. I planted 3 of them..
3--Begonias on my front steps.
4--The only loom that just popped up on my KK Hibiscus. I had it all cut back!

5--I call this shot of the BES vine........"End of Summer" ...................

That's it,Folks!!!

Gita, that hibiscus bloom in the last photo set is very pretty. Lots still going on at your house for sure.

Here's a pic from tonight of Impatiens pritzelii 'Sichuan Gold'.

cool pic!

Yeah I was gobsmacked that it came back from the winter. It had a tough season last year as a few of it's sprouts died off and I thought for sure it was a gonner.

Edit: Thanks to Seq, now I know #1 is a dahlia, not an anemone! It's 'Kelgai Ann,' blooming for the first time this year. That explains its floppiness. It really needs to be staked.

Native aster noid.

Fall color on oak leaf hydrangea.

Another dahlia reblooming. This one survived last winter in the ground.

My neighbor's hydrangea draping over my fence. She was away all summer so this peegee hydrangea didn't get any supplemental watering.

This message was edited Oct 17, 2015 10:06 PM

Beautiful! !
No color on my Oakleaf yet.

SSG run over to the neighbors and cut some of those hydrangeas they are beautiful and will make beautiful dried flowers. What a lovely color.

SSG, that first pic is a dahlia and a very pretty one.

I agree, SSG! I like the look of hydrangea blooms on the tree, too, but there are definitely ones that wouldn't be missed... also, I think you need to cut hydrangeas back in order to get new growth for blooms next year, right? Or is it too late for next year's blooms?

Seq, that makes so much sense! I think that's a Cafe au Lait dahlia that I forgot about because I thought it had died this summer.

Critter, that's a panicle hydrangea that blooms on old wood. I'll definitely take a few blooms to dry. They do well when you cut them back in late winter.

trying to figure out hydrangeas... but you can't cut back *every* branch in late winter, right, because then you won't have any "old wood" for blooms that year? Will the same "old wood" branch bloom again next year if you do nothing to it?

Jill, panicle hydrangea blooms on new wood. You can cut them back lightly or drastically down to a foot and they still bloom profusely.

I cut my panicle hydrangeas back to about 2 feet in early spring, around the time I cut back the roses.

Well that sure is a nice surprise then SSG!

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, Seq! I just looked at my plant list, and this dahlia is 'Kelgai Ann,' not 'Cafe au Lait,' which didn't bloom this year.

Edit:

Hm... That also means none of my Japanese anemone have returned this year. Does anyone have any anemone blooming right now?

Also, I'm only now seeing buds on my pineapple sage, which means I probably won't get to see the blooms this year. :/

This message was edited Oct 17, 2015 10:20 PM

We do. I can't read the tag, though, for an ID.

Dianthus also and cleome.

Nice blooms there Pat.

SSG, this is the third season for me planting Japanese anemones in the garden - I've been adding at least 5 - 10 a year. I've noticed that some have come back and others have not. I've been trying different cultivars, but it does not seem to be cultivar related. Maybe they are hard to get going, but if they are in a spot that they like, maybe they take off? I like them because the deer don't seem to eat them and they bloom in the fall, extending the blooming season of the garden.

That's interesting, aspenhill. I saw the picture posted by the Washington Post garden writer and wondered what the heck had happened to by Japanese anemone! Mine would never look like this. :D

https://twitter.com/adrian_higgins/status/655497270612402176

SSG I think your native aster might be tatarian aster.
As for Japanese Anemone, I've given up on them They die back as soon as I put them in the ground.

Loretta, I think you're right about the aster! A local gardener gave me a start and told me it was a native. She must have been mistaken because from what I've read, tartarian asters are from Asia.

I really like Japanese anemone but I may need to say goodbye.

Aspen, I think you're right on about your JA assessment. I planted 3 anemones in the sweet woodruff patch of the Honeylocust garden late summer '13. All came back in '14 but were stunted from rot as the woodruff kept them too moist. I clipped the woodruff back and they did better. This year all came back and had no trouble with the woodruff. I didn't clip it back either but the woodruff went dormant as the summer progressed due to lack of water. Another plant I have is in the front yard garden and it came back this year too. It bloomed and was very pretty. I also planted a bunch of Donner's anemones on the other side of the Honeylocust garden a couple weeks ago.

My Japanese Anemone Hadspen Abundance was my fav plant this year. It put on such a wonderful show. First year for it, pretty sure it came from the Fall 2014 DG Swap. Not sure who gave it to me, I am terrible about keeping track.