Two totally different variations on a Caryopteris theme today:
First 2 are Caryopteris incana Sunshine Blue.
Bright chartreuse foliage is a nice foil to the bluish flowers.
#'s 3&4 are Caryopteris divaricate Snow Fairy.
The overall white effect of Snow Fairy is quite astonishing.
Despite the intensity of white variegation, it's remarkably vigorous.
They share their late season of bloom, but otherwise so different.
Both are astonishing bee magnets.
Weerobin - That last bloom is for sure a show stopper. All those blooms are such a delicate shade of blue and such bee magnets. The chartreuse is quite the contrast. I have the more standard version of bluebeard - not near as pretty as these. Beautiful!
I had a beautiful Sunshine Blue but it didn't make a transplant. I haven't seen it since but I do intend to replace it. I also have the regular blue leaf variety but it has been out competed. I'm reluctant to move it. I moved it once and it took a few years to come back.
I still love your Snow Fairy! I have the regular species and it is doing very well, reseeding around so I can't get myself to replace it with your beautiful version.
Wee, You are quite the photographer! Beautiful pictures! Beautiful shrubs.!
I don't have Caryopteris of any kind. My gardens are so full, I have to be very selective. I have a variegated Rose of Sharon that was given to me in which I planted in late July. It is doing pretty well.
Interesting variegation of the buds. Are the flowers variegated?
That is a beautiful Rose of Sharon, Birder. It's like having a rose without the thorns.
1. Angelica Gigas is blooming now.
2. Helenium, Fuego
3. Another small helenium but I forgot the name.
4. Ligularia seedling - every year or so a Giant Swallowtail visits the ligularia.
5. Caryopteris divaricata - hard to capture. The bees love it.
1. Boehmeria platanifolia - the last boehmeria didn't overwinter. I was hoping it might replace boehmeria cylindrica as a butterfly host. Haven't noticed anything yet.
2. Chelone glabra - also hoping it will be a host to Baltimore Checkerspot.
3. Kirengeshoma palmata starting to show color. I figured I better get a picture because they usually get nibbled on.
4. Giant Yellow hyssop - loved by the bumble bees even more than Angelica gigas. Originally got the seed in a trade. It would take over if I let it.
5. Geranium 'Roxanne' with some 'Globe' gomphrena in the background.
Wow, this is quite an education. I haven't heard of most of the stuff you guys are posting. Loretta that Boehmeria really grabs my attention. Only bloom I can compare it to is goat's beard but I get the impression it is very dainty .
I had a variegated boehmeria which survived just a few minutes at my place.
Haven't tried one since.
I've tried kirengeshoma a couple times - thought it would be perfect in the wooded garden. But can't seem to get it established. Deer eat everything else around here, maybe they've been eaten, not sure.
Keith, now you know what I do all winter, browse plant catalogs where every plant sounds perfect and your energy level seems boundless.
Reality arrives when postman delivers the boxes in the spring.
Flowers are not variegated but a nice soft orchid.
"survived just a few minutes". I chuckled out loud.
Birder, that was a tease! No picture of the orchid?
Wee, OMG that is my winter! Everything looks so empty and you forget what's there. It's worse when you start seeds too. On top of that, doesn't it seem that when you do plant up a spot, the old plants that never did nothin' decide to really take off and hog up the whole spot?
Did Boehmeria 'Kogane Mushi'. It lived for the season but never came back. I hope this one does better. The flowers, aren't really showy at this point, Keith. Maybe if the plant matures? The leaves have a nice texture though.
I grow the Kirengeshoma in a shady, dry spot, but it is not ideal. Because it isn't moist, it goes dormant early, just when the flowers start.
1. My new toy - butterfly cube. We got a bumper crop of monarch cats this year. Last year, I did too but they were killed. This year I caught a soldier bug in the act. So I went on Amazon and voila. So far, so good. I think I have about 30 in all different phases. Plus two black swallowtails and a white cabbage butterfly cocoon (?) that just sort of showed up at the bottom of the tent. And even some ladybugs that was on the fennel - hard to tell. Fortunately, I had some aphids on the Heliopsis. They are the dark blob in the center that were orange eggs the day before.
Wow, Loretta - I'm super impressed with your entomologic cred!
Lol! That's funny! If I think about it, I am the go-to on pests at the community garden. Plus my younger son is doing an apiary for his eagle project so I guess maybe so! At least more than average.
Now is the time for fall sales and even though I can't catch up to my existing plants, I can't resist a good deal.
1. Begonia hanging baskets only $5, my old ones were dead and they are a nice fall color.
2,3. The nurseries have a lot of coleus left. I was going to stay away from them because I always end up bringing them in, etc but...$2 each.
4. Some more finds with one I had.
5. Wondering if this Silver Sage will overwinter outside (in the ground).
Ahh...the really nice thing about zones 5 and 6 is the late summer blooms! I am sorry that I have little to contribute at the moment. Sedum 'Autumn Joy' is about to turn pink, as it is in "bloom" but still green, so almost in bloom. I'll be back when I have something to share. Thanks everyone for the lovely photos! 😀
An unusual shrub I grow mainly for it's lustrous fine foliage, Adina rubella. I can't get a good picture of the foliage - you'll have to take my word for it that it always looks freshly shellacked (sp?). Cute sputnik-like flowers.
I found a wayward thalictrum completely buried under a bunch of other stuff. Blooming it's head off, despite the neglect.
Finally a sure sign that fall is coming ...
This message was edited Sep 4, 2017 11:51 AM
Pretty soft color on that thalictrum! Adina is interesting. I love the foliage.
Interesting plants Wee.
I still have blooms and lots of them to share, though it is getting pretty dry - we could use rain one of these days soon. The grass is still growing and just came in from mowing. I think I have enough grass seed in my ears (from mowing in the wind) to prevent erosion - ha!
That orange zinnia is as pretty as a rose! Beautiful blooms as usual, Brenda. That celosia is a perfect foil for the zinnias.
Thanks Loretta. I'm partial to my zinnia that really resemble roses.
They are some of my favorites on the zinnia threads.
I've been paying more attention to my butterflies of late but here are a few things in the yard.
1,2 Campanula 'Pink Octopus' makes a nice ground cover if you keep the stems cut back after blooming. I know a couple of posters pulled it out when they saw it spread but it doesn't produce seed for me and it is very low and shallow rooted.
3 Spigelia marilandica blooms again. Another one that never produces seeds.
4. Toadlily, I guess 'Gilt Edge'
5. A lacecap hydrangea that I'm considering removing from the garden.
Speaking of hydrangea, Margaret Roach interviewed Dan Hinkley on a few new hydrangea some of you might find interesting. You can just read it too.
https://awaytogarden.com/best-hydrangeas-now-tomorrow-dan-hinkley/
Loretta - Your yard is full of the most interesting of plants. As for the lacecap - I have one that has a varigated leaf that I - like you say - should be considering removing. It just sits there and takes up space.
Keith - How bad was your frost?
Thanks for the link, Loretta. I enjoyed that Dan Hinkley piece. I have fond memories of the old Heronswood catalog. I know the pink nursery labels well - still run across them in the yard.
Edited to add: I also have trouble w/ most macrophylla hydrangeas. But the serrata's perform better for me. The ones closest to the house seem to do better, so though more hardy than macrophylla, I presume they still favor a protected site.
This message was edited Sep 6, 2017 7:24 PM
Your welcome. The serratas do better for me too and even self sow. But on a whole, they have more bad years than good years. It comes down to space in the end.
Fall is for sedums in Oxdrift
Great looking sedums. So you did have plants that survived the frost - yeah!
Lots of visitors on my flowers. Hoping for lots of Monarch's around the equinox.
Gorgeous blooms and visitors Brenda.
Love the pics of the pollinators.
We were out of town this past weekend but returned just at dusk Sunday.
My trees are still mostly green, but some are flaunting their fall colors already.
Sorry some are pretty dark - it was getting late. And focus suffered a little, too.
For my efforts, I suffered mightily from the mosquitos, sad to say.
#1 Stewartia pseudocamellia
#2 Zelkova serrata Goshiki
#3 Hamamelis x intermedia Jelena
#4 Sassafras albidum
#5 Gordlinia grandiflora
Just a taste of what's to come ...
Earlier I posted a picture of a really nice spread of spontaneous rudbeckias, which were about as successful anything I've ever planted 'on purpose'. So now, here is this beautiful stand of goldenrod, which again showed up spontaneously. I usually pull solidago seedlings, contemptuously presuming that they're just 'weeds'. But I left this clump as a 'disguise' for a poor dwarf hemlock which has been repeatedly eaten by deer. Remarkably enough, the solidago are taller than the hemlock, so you can barely see the hemlock nestled in the midst of the goldenrod. It has worked well - the hemlock hasn't been browsed this year and the goldenrod burst into beautiful bloom this week. You can just barely see the hemlock foliage at the bottom of the picture. It's embarrassing to note that my best summer floral displays both arrived courtesy of some passing birdie.
Sorry about the mosquitoes! They can make you miserable. Chiggers are my nemesis.
That's is a nice Solidago. The Monarchs like it so it would be nice for them to enjoy on their way south.
These were all found recently in western NC. I'm posting them here, at least in part, in the hopes that an administrator will see this. I have left 3 or 4 D mails for the administrator since July without a response. The original was sent because I was unable to post a response to a newsletter article in July to which others were posting. Recently I was asked to subscribe for another year and my D mail regarding that has also been unanswered. I'm not taking it personally, but just wondering about how the site is being administered.
The pics are, I'm pretty sure
1 Lobelia siphilitica
2 closed Gentian
3 and 4 Heuchera
5 Cheloni
I don't think it is being administered by anyone. I have been told via Dave's Garden that if you go to some facebook page you can get a response which I personally, think is ridiculous.
Nice shade garden, back40bean. Yup, I read on another post to try Facebook for a response.
Well, I looked at Facebook and there is a Dave's Garden page. It is strange to me that the contact link at the bottom of this very page links me to D mail and that this is not being monitored. Of course it bothers me that I am being asked to send more money and yet my questions are not being answered, maybe not even being seen.
Thank you both for responding.
So, who the heck is getting our membership money?
I stay because there is so much good information on this website. Most have gone to another website: many good, knowledgeable members. It's sad. I don't remember the name of the website.
For the forums I watch there is much less posting these days. I've looked around for another gardening discussion site but didn't find anything interesting, certainly nothing to compare with this site at a time when a lot of folks join in. There have been a lot of knowledgeable members here from whom I've learned a lot. I don't mind paying the money but I would like to know that more than 2 or 3 people will be in the group.
Some of my latest bloomers. This was taken before this eve's storm. It will be interesting to see what they look like tomorrow. Some pictures are the same flowers, but at different angles.
What a nice border, Brenda! Your plants look so healthy. Are those single plants or groupings?
Stunning Brenda.
Really nice, especially this time of year. My garden & I are both tired!
