The Fruits of Garden Maintenance

My 'Woodside Rhapsody' daylily did not bloom yesterday. Nor today either. The plant still looks exactly like the photo I took of it two days ago.

Today was a good day for gardening (except for the rain around lunchtime) and I got a lot of maintenance done. Trimming and pruning, mostly, especially in the somewhat neglected northeast corner of the garden. I gave the arctic willows a much needed trim, the second trim for the one by the maple. By the time I gave the one by the fence its first trim of the season, I had halved its size.



Things are more neat and tidy now. And I found out that my 'Sweet Kate' spiderwort hidden under the elm is blooming. I had written it off, since the last time I checked all buds were brown and dried up, probably hit by cold or drought at just the wrong time. But luckily, Sweet Kate is a constant bloomer, so it has recovered from that setback.

I took a few photos of heuchera today, such as 'Snow Angel'. This time I took the foliage. I've read that the foliage is not always guaranteed to be variegated. I got lucky, I guess.



By the way, here is that 'Palace Purple' that has a little flower scape on it.



Just so you can see the flowers for 'Gypsy Dancer', I took a photo.



And finally, an edible garden fruit is always exciting (to eat, certainly, if not to look at). Here is one of our mulberry trees, with plenty of fruit for us.


All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Still Waiting

So far, Moonglow are still the only daylilies blooming.



I am hoping that Woodside Rhapsody will bloom tomorrow.


I installed the new trellises today.



When you look at them from the other side, you can see the new basket hook we put up recently. (Look for it at the top of the post, between the two upstairs windows.) I still haven't found the right basket for it, though.



I've heard it said that the sempervivum plant itself looks like a flower, but they actually do flower.



Now there are two little yellow flowers on my variegated coreopsis.



I found this hosta blooming just recently hidden under the elm tree.


All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Shopping

It was a humid day today, but we survived.

I had a closer look at my 'Palace Purple' heuchera, the one I mentioned in the last post that looked like it was wilting from the heat. I found out that an animal must have been digging at it, because the part of the plant that was looking wilted was actually not attached to any roots. There is a tiny bit of the plant still left in the ground. Maybe that will recover.

Gratuitous Garden View



We made some purchases for the garden today. It was hard to shop outdoors in the humidity, but I made a great find. A patio planter that would cost twice what I paid if I bought it at a nursery. Instead I bought it at the Canadian Tire garden centre, where the end of season sell-off has begun.

New Patio Planter



While there I found some trellises, but needed a second opinion, so I asked Mr. Wonderful to pick them up on the way home from work (and, wonderful as he is, he did).

New Trellises



The garden centre also had some large pots of 'Rozanne' hardy geranium. And they were in bloom! Ever since my 'Johnson's Blue' finished blooming, I've been missing it. And I've been meaning to put in more hardy geraniums, since they are so nice through the spring. Anyway, this plant was tailor-made for me.

New Plant: Hardy Geranium 'Rozanne'



I don't know where I'm going to put it. I have a couple of ideas.

So, while we're on the topic of hardy geranium, I thought I would take the opportunity to compare 'Rozanne' with 'Johnson's Blue' photographically.

Rozanne



Johnson's Blue



I know I am biased. I like Johnson's Blue better.

And finally, after setting up the sprinkler yesterday evening for an hour because we'd had no rain all day, there was rain overnight (hence the humid weather while I was at the garden centre). The ground soaked it all up happily, though, with no ill effects other than some flattened stachys.

Rain-flattened Stachys


All photos belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Watering and Waiting for Daylilies

We are under a watering ban in our city. There are only certain days when it's okay to use the sprinkler. That's why my garden is well mulched, receives partial shade in most areas, and is full of drought-tolerant plants. Back from a week away (and no rain) the garden was still in pretty good shape. I did have to water the pesky blue poppy, but once I did that it perked up considerably. Oh, and one of my 'Palace Purple' heuchera is looking very wilted and did not respond to watering. I will have to see if it recovers or gets worse over time.

There is nothing much happening in the garden right now. I'm just waiting for the next daylilies to bloom. There are now too many to mention by name that will be blooming over the next couple of weeks. I am excited at the thought of seeing the flowers on new varieties that I planted late last year and early this year. I am also hoping 'Scatterbrain' will bloom for me this year, since it didn't in 2005.

There is not much new to photograph right now. Just a variegated coreopsis bloom, which makes an appearance in the photos below. Everything else is just repetition.


Heuchera, Blue Bowl, and Stachys



'Velvet Night' Heuchera and Silene 'Richard Moore' Campion



Echeveria



Colourful 'Wizard Mix' Coleus



Lamb's Ears (Stachys), Blooming



Variegated Coreopsis (single yellow bloom) and Hemerocallis 'Lavender Rainbow' (waiting to bloom)



Hollywood and Vine
(that's 'Hollywood' Heuchera and a Honeysuckle vine)



Garden View with Birdbath


All photographs belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

They Bloomed While I Was Away

As I predicted, my 'Moonglow' daylilies bloomed while I was away. Possibly yesterday or the day before, as there is one dried-out spent bloom on the plant.


Other plants that bloomed while I was away included a different Lewisia Cotyledon (bitterroot) that I planted a bit later in the season than my first one.


And finally, my "strange plant" that I don't know what it is or where I got it. The leaves are like rhubarb leaves, only brittle and covered with silvery fuzz. The flowers grow on long stalks and bloom about the same time as stachys (lamb's ear).


The little flowers are so pretty, but the entire effect of the plant is difficult to find pleasing. The stalks are multi-branched and cannot really support themselves once they reach a certain height.


Below is a picture from a week and a half ago, before it really took off. (This photo was actually meant to show the leaves, though apparently some people missed it.) My "strange plant" is sandwiched between two hostas.

I am now wondering if this plant might be a form of Clary Sage (Salvia sclarea).


All photographs belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.
Obviously, I need to rethink this space now that the mature plants are crowding each other, but when they were first planted, it all seemed fine. (That is the story of most of my garden, it seems.)

Last Year's Daylilies

I'll be taking a break from the gardening blog for a little over a week, since we are going on a short trip to a place not known for its lush greenery.

When I return I hope to post pictures of 'Moonglow' and other actual blooms in the garden. I don't know exactly how the containers will fare (my mom will come by and water them a couple of times for me). So long as we don't get a long hot spell, they should be okay.

Just to have something to post, here are some more pictures of daylilies from last year.

'Bonanza'
(a very late bloomer in my garden, August 2005)



'Lavender Rainbow'
(one of my personal favourites, July 2005)



'My Hope'
(scented, yellowish pink flowers all summer long, July 2005)



'Snowy Eyes'
(very showy, smaller flowers, lots of blooms, July 2005)



'Sweet Hot Chocolate'
(my first dark daylily, planted June 2004; photo taken July 2005)


All photographs belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Of Daylilies and Containers

As I've said, I'm just waiting for the daylilies to bloom. In our area, some of the 'Stella d'Oro' have started already.

If Mr. Wonderful wants to bug me at the garden centre, he will pretend he has forgotten that I won't plant 'Stella d'Oro' in my garden. He will, just for laughs, "suggest" we buy some. He also likes to watch my reaction when the helpful staff point me to 'Stella d'Oro' when I ask them what kind of daylilies they have. (I usually smile and tell them that I have lots of 'Moonglow' already, which are like 'Stella d'Oro', only more of a lemon-yellow than orange-yellow.)

'Moonglow' in 2004

'Moonglow' will be blooming soon, as will the new 'Woodside Rhapsody' that I just planted. 'My Hope' also has buds, as does 'Always Afternoon', which is one of the ones I planted last year at the front of the house.

'Always Afternoon' in 2005

I still have a couple of weeks to wait before any daylilies bloom in my garden. In the meantime, here are some current photos of containers, or plants awaiting a place in a container.

Teapot Pansies



Pelargonium 'Rocky Mountain Light Pink'



Container with Hot Colours



Pansies and Snapdragons



Echeveria First Bloom



Concentric Pots with Coleus Awaiting Planting



Pelargonium 'Graffiti Salmon Rose'


All photographs belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.

Following Up and Filling In

Well, when I get a windfall of more space in the garden, chances are it will be used for another daylily. (I have 46 different ones now. Throughout July and much of August, this blog will be on permanent daylily watch.) So of course I planted my new 'Woodside Rhapsody' in the loose soil left behind by the removal of the Caragana.


Woodside Rhapsody is described as "a pure purple melody with green-white throat". Looks like it will bloom early, at least this year (straight from the garden centre). This might be a silly thing to add, but the tag was only there for the benefit of the photograph. I removed it immediately afterward.

I've been doing some tidying of plants that have finished blooming. I cut the dried-out spikes off the ajuga and tried to tame the sprawl of my hardy geranium. I cut back some of the flowers in planters. I know I said I wasn't going to remove the blooms from my heuchera this year, but I couldn't stand it any longer. 'Obsidian' just looks better without those silly stalks. On most of the other heuchera though I only trimmed a few stalks, just to give them a neater appearance.


I haven't had much luck with my project of identifying all my heuchera. (I think the one above is 'Pewter Veil'.) The same named variety just looks so different from one year to the next, and in different parts of North America (so relying on photos from the web is next to impossible, taking into account different cameras and lighting conditions on top of everything else).


One that has me particularly stumped is a lovely rich purple one I planted to try to offset the strong yellow of 'Saybrook Gold' juniper.


I wish I knew what type it was, if only so I could recommend it for the wonderful plant it is. A deep rich colour, uniform on the top and bottom of the leaves. It does well in almost full sun (it gets a little bit of sparse shade in the morning).

Another heuchera I can't identify has ordinary green leaves, but the flowers are so distinctive they are the best bet at identification. Can anyone tell me what type of heuchera these flowers belong to? [And the prize -- my heartfelt thanks -- goes to Blackswamp_Girl. This heuchera is definitely 'Shamrock'.]


And speaking of heuchera flowers, I have to give you a little dose of 'Hollywood' (so named because its flowers are so glamourous, perhaps?).


If you're not much of a heuchera fan, but you're looking for something with great leaves and great flowers, go for one of 'Hollywood' or 'Snow Angel'. 'Gypsy Dancer' is not bad either.

I'm a bit short of blooms in the garden right now. I don't have anything showy for mid- to late June. Once the poppies are gone, there's nothing till the daylilies in July. I do, however, have a couple of honeysuckle that are doing pretty well, so I will leave you with that.



All photographs belong to kbgardenblog.blogspot.com and may not be used without attribution.