Late fall blooms

I had waited 3 years to see it in full bloom. My Tricyrtis hirts Miyazaki. It has not filled in yet, but blooms are nice, and I might get seeds too if the frost forecast is wrong. I'd love to get other seeds to try.

This one I bought 2 weeks ago. It's Purple Beauty. I have a little yellow hokone grass start that I am thinking to be a good companion plant for it. Any other companion plants that you have to your toads?

hakone grass is a good one. Astilbes are nice too and don't overpower the toad lilies. I grow begonias here but they would be an annual for you. And of course, smaller ferns like the hart's tongue fern. Oops, don't know if that one is hardy in your region. Brunnera is lovely with them and again won't overpower them. Creeping Jenny is good if it doesn't make a pest of itself in your region, and of course lamium is always a good flat plant. You can plant taller ferns and astilbe in back of it.

doss,
Thank you for suggestions. It never occured to me to think about "opposite" seaon interest in a companion. I do have a couple of Brunneras - wonderful combination! I have Jack Frost (seems slow to me) and a plain one, both would work. Hart's tongue is hardy to my zone, but I have not seen it around here. I do have Japanese painted fern that is about a foot. I'll try the combination at least with photos :) Lamium is another winner all around, I just need to get one with white varigation. Here you go - my trade/wish list for the next season already satarted :)

Dicentra is another one that I forgot. Very pretty.
Big Dipper Farm has hart's tongue fern but says that it's only hardy to zone 6. Fancy fronds has them too and also says that they are hardy down to Zone 6. If you use the database search engine on Fancy Fronds you can find a lot of fun ferns that are hardy to your zone.
http://www.fancyfronds.com/

doss,
Thank you for the link. What a great way to search for fern! I do have Japanese painted fern, but did not know it was a colonizing fern :)

You're welcome. Just thought of ginger - the Hexastylis kind not the flowering kind. They are very pretty ground covers. Here they hate the sun though and have to be in full shade.

enya, Thanks for bringing up the toad lily companion question. It reminded me I wanted to add more gilt edge toad lily among my heuchera, tiarella,and Japanese painted fern.
edited to say: the darker closed flowers are the gilt edge. The lighter flowers are another variety leaning forward.


This message was edited Oct 16, 2007 7:15 AM

Unfortuantely, Hexastylis are out of my zone, but some Asarums grow here. I have a good patch of Asarum Canadense going and this year got in an amazing trade some Asarum Europaeum. I have to keep native ginger in the shade here too, maybe because I don't water it at all. I love the way the leaves look in the morning dew - iridescent. Interesting combination for me try :) Thank you for bringing this up, doss.

sempervirens, beautiful flowers, something for me to look forward to. I have a tiny start of Gilt Edge but have not seen the blooms yet. Thank you for the idea. I will see if my Palace Purple would work with Purple Beauty. It may turn out to be a nice combination where folliage of one plant would echo the bloom of the other. I am glad the folliage is not gone yet :)

enya, I realized the photo of the toad lily with the heuchera is a little misleading. The darker purple "toads" that are closed are the gilt edge. They start blooming in the late summer for me and continue to the fall. The lighter ones are another variety leaning forward a bit . They grew 4ft. tall this year in my neighbors fence garden I planted and tend. They never got this tall in my garden.

So the fence worked like a great trellis :) Very pretty with white accent of the fence and anemone. I got a start of Japanese anemone at this summer RU and am looking forward to the blooms next year. I planted it a bit to the side and am intimidated by the size of the plant. I have nothing comparable growing in my garden. But I adore the flowers.

enya, I don't see your zone but if it grows for you Heuchera villosa "Autumn Bride is a wonderful fall bloomer.
The Japanese anemone is no longer in my garden (well that is not entirely true, one bunch of leaves come back every year and every year I dig it out) because it is a little too aggressive for my smaller spring ephemerals. Site it wisely because it does spread. In my neighbors garden it has a lot of tree root competition so I feel lucky to keep anything going.

Wow I like the "toads" and the white flowers, are they shade tolerant? I know the toads are I have several of those. And really enjoy them alot. Anemone? Is that shade tolerant? They are very lovely.

sempervirens, I wish I had your problem with Japanese anemone :) I lost them in two consecutive years and am trying again this year. Will see if it survives. I am in zone 5a or 5b as there's no agreement on that. I have tried growing it in full shade under an oak and half-shade, but nothing worked. This time it's a much lighter half-shade. I see that yours is single bloom and quite tall. I had pink and double variations.

What ephemerals do you grow? I have white shooting stars, quite a few, but am puzzled as to what to plant with them. So at this point it's a rather sad looking patch :(

In a shade patch under a maple tree I started planting Asarum canadense. Both the plants and the idea I got from my neighbor across the street. It's a full shade on a slope under maples and it looks lovely in her garden. Mine is spreading, but I made a mistake of planting it too densely. Now I need to divide it and spread to cover more of the area.

gardenlady, The Japanese Anemone,( Anemone x hybrida or A. Japonica), likes moist, well drained humus rich soil in sun or partial shade, hardy zone 5 south. That information is from the book "The Essential Gardener "by Derek Fell. But for me it grows well without the moist soil, in partial shade.

enya, Tracy Di-Sabato-Austs' book "The Well-Tended Perennial Garden" says the J. anemone can be slow to establish but once it takes hold it can be invasive. Fall transplanting is fatal as are wet overwintering conditions.

enya, Lucky you to have a whole patch of shooting stars "Dodecatheon meadia". I've tried those 2 or 3 times and they either don't come back or come back and never flower. I always place them at the front edge among the "littles" in the garden so you can see them. I checked my favorite book (aimed at the north or southeastern gardens) "Wildflowers in your Garden A Gardeners Guide" by Viki Ferreniea for placement and she suggests primroses,dwarf ginseng, little wood anemone?, oconee bells(Shortia galacifolia, patridgeberry (Mitchella repens)and Bloodroot (sanguinaria canadensis).



I use the patridgeberry throughout the shade garden as a low ground cover. The bloodroot is very pretty when it blooms, if brief, but the leaves last for most of the summer looking like a land waterlily. I grow the previous 2 with Jack-in-the -Pulpit, purple leaved Labrador violet and dicentra.
My favorite spring ephemerals are(Anemonella thalictroides) rue anemone and hepatica.
The photo is of the bloodroot in bloom in the spring.

My Japanese Anemones grow in full deep shade.