Spiky Veronica Hybrids

I've been amassing Veronica (speedwell) hybrids lately.  Their spiky form is wonderful in bouquets with English roses and Astrantia (masterwort), which is my other favorite flower lately.  Here is a roundup of the different types I have so far, most of which are still small because they're newly planted or recently cut into pieces and replanted.  Above is 'Sunny Border Blue', which grows to 2' tall and a little over 1' wide.  The color is a little more blue than this photo shows, though not as true blue as the catalogs show.



Here is 'Royal Candles', which stays a little shorter at 1.5' tall and 16" wide.  The flowers are bluer than my photo - it's hard to get true blues or reds just right in photos, it seems.  These spikes are almost done blooming, and you can see that they started at the bottom and progressed to the top flowers opening.  I like them best when the bottom half is open and the top is still in bud.



This is bubblegum pink 'Giles Van Hees', which supposedly grows to 6" tall and 1' wide but is obviously a little taller than that.  In my garden most of these Veronicas bloom in July, which is nice because by that time the big rush of June bloomers has finished and the garden needs some color.



Above is 'Minuet', which is an icy pink with silvery foliage.  It grows to 15" tall and 1' wide.  Veronicas can handle light shade, sandy or clay soil, and they're supposed to be rabbit resistant.  They also attract hummingbirds.



'Red Fox' is the deepest pink Veronica in my garden.  It's described as red but I wouldn't call it that.  This one is also 15" tall and about 1' wide.  The color stands up well to the blazing midsummer sun. 



Here is what I think is 'Eveline' (20" tall and 1' wide).  I picked it up at Home Depot a couple of years ago without a tag, but HD is carrying Veronicas that look just like this right now and they're tagged as 'Eveline'.  In my garden this one went nuts reseeding.  It has been fun to share seedlings with friends - they seem to come true - but I'm going to be careful to deadhead this year to avoid so many babies.  I'm not sure if all my Veronicas will be so generous (annoying?) with their seedlings.  Hopefully not, since the others are V. spicata hybrids and this one is V. longifolia.



The newest Veronica in my garden is 'Icicle', which grows to 26" tall and 1' wide.  It's still very small but should be full size by next summer.  This is not the best photo, but lately I've been spending so much time watering, pulling weeds and deadheading that I haven't spent much time with my camera.



Maybe someone can help me identify this last Veronica.  It's a sweet, light true blue and blooms earlier than the other ones.  The spikes are looser and the individual flowers are larger than my other types.  I think it must be a Veronica teucrium, but the color doesn't look as dark as the photos of V. teucrium 'Crater Lake Blue' or 'Royal Blue' that I've seen online.  It has grown vigorously in sun or shade and looks really nice next to the chartreuse flowers of lady's mantle.

'Blue Moon' Wisteria macrostachya

One of my 'Blue Moon' wisterias is blooming for the first time this spring.  I planted two back in 2010, and I nearly killed the other one last month after adjusting the sprinklers and forgetting to check that it was still getting water.  Ugh.  At least one of them is doing well.



This one is planted on the southwest corner of our home to camouflage a drain pipe and provide a little more shade to this hot area.  I'm being careful to keep the stems from wrapping around the pipe since the plant will eventually get heavy enough to pull the pipe over.  If I keep wrapping the stems around each other, I think they'll grow sturdy enough to support themselves, since wisteria can be trained into a tree with enough patience.  Or I might have to get creative with other supports attached to the house.



After waiting three years to see the flowers, I was very excited to notice a bunch of buds on the plant a couple of weeks ago.  A little more patience and then . . .



 . . . aren't these flowers gorgeous?  I wish you could smell them.  I keep trying to figure out how to describe the fragrance, but it's hard.  Very sweet and strong.  There's no need to get up close, as you can definitely smell it if you're downwind.



Many wisterias are not quite hardy enough to withstand Spokane winters, but Blue Moon is hardy to zone 3.  When I decided to plant wisteria and spent time researching different varieties, this one seemed like the best for areas with cold winters.  It can rebloom several times each year, though I don't know if our growing season will be long enough for that to happen. 



Wisteria machrostachya is is native to America and is a less aggressive grower than Japanese or Chinese types, though it can reach 25 feet in height.  The flower clusters may grow up to a foot long.  The best flowering occurs in full sun, though mine is obviously blooming and it only gets afternoon sun.  Too much nitrogen fertilizer or poor pruning practices (cutting off the ends of the stems with all the flower buds) can also prevent flowering. 



I ordered my plants from ForestFarm.com, but a local nursery might be able to find it for you.  I haven't seen it at any of the big box garden centers.  If you live in a cold climate or just want a repeat blooming wisteria, this one might be perfect for you. 

Daylilies in Pink and Peach

My favorite daylily this year is 'Frances Joiner', shown above and below. The rich peach color has looked especially good nearby lavender 'Rozanne' geraniums and vivid 'Pink Double Delight' coneflowers.



Here is Frances, glowing in the sunset. Really a pretty flower.



I continue to be impressed with 'Hush Little Baby', above, and am thinking of removing the 'Apricot Sparkles' daylilies in the west bed and dividing HLB to fill up that area instead. AS has put out a disappointing number of blooms - perhaps it really needs full sun to make much of a show. Yet HLB manages to bloom despite partial shade. And you can see its color is gorgeous.



Here is 'Millie Schlumpf', which is a prolific bloomer. As I write, the last few flowers from the first flush are finishing up, and new scapes are already appearing for a second flush of bloom. The pale color looks a little washed out in the summer sun, though.



This photo doesn't do a great job of capturing the rich colors of 'Autumn Wood', but it's going to have to do for this post. I really like the way this daylily fits into the front yard color scheme.



'Elizabeth Salter' is orange sherbet on a plant. Its color of peach is a bit softer than 'Frances Joiner' but still pretty.



Above and below are shots of 'Dublin Elaine' after a day of intense sun. The color fades somewhat through the day.



So far 'Dublin Elaine' has proven to be vigorous in its growth of both leaves and flowers. It is a recent All-American Daylily winner.



I'll finish with a picture of 'Jolyene Nichole' from morning, before the color fades at all. You can see lots of buds in the background - this pink daylily was a prolific bloomer this year. I hope to be able to say that about all of daylilies as the plants mature . . . but we'll have to wait until next summer to see.

My New Favorite Cut Flower: Astrantia

This spring I've been enjoying the three types of Astrantia (Masterwort) that are growing in my garden: 'Abbey Road' (above), 'Moulin Rouge' and plain old white Astrantia majalis. No doubt floral artists have been well aware of this plant for ages, but I just realized how great it is for arrangements. It lasts a long time in the garden or vase, blends softly with many other flowers, and has long, slender yet sturdy stems that are easy to tuck into arrangements.



These first three photos show 'Abbey Road', which I bought from my local nursery in a Monrovia pot a couple of months ago. The flowers are rosy when they first open (above), then fade to a more silvery color (below). This hybrid is supposed to be especially vigorous and long blooming. Sometimes I regret my impulse plant purchases, but this one was definitely a good buy.



Did I mention how pretty the leaves are? They're glossy, elegant and great for arrangements as well. Astrantia likes full sun if it's growing in moist sun in a mild climate. It needs more shade in really hot climates and areas that don't stay as moist. I have it growing in morning sun and it seems happy.



Above is a photo of the darkest astrantia in my garden, 'Moulin Rouge'. This plant tops out at 18 inches instead of 28 inches like 'Abbey Road'. I ordered it from Heronswood last spring but didn't see any flowers until this year. Next year the floral show should be even better.



Here's a photo from a few weeks after the first picture. You can see how the flowers are a softer color, but still very pretty.



I cut a bunch of these stems and made a bouquet with 'William Shakespeare 2000' crimson English roses. I didn't get a picture of that arrangement, sorry, but the two flowers worked together beautifully.



These last couple of pictures show Astrantia majalis. It has worked well in several floral arrangments with peonies, delpinium, daisies, and salvia.



As I mentioned last week, I have been giving away some of my less favorite plants lately. But these astrantia will definitely stick around and be divided to make many more clumps in the next few years.

Crazy for Crocus

Although crocus aren't the most exciting flowers - they're small, their colors are limited, and they don't repeat bloom - they were the only thing blooming in my March garden. And that made them fabulous!



These first photos show 'Golden Bunch', which has been in bloom for nearly a month now (surely they'd expire faster if our weather was any warmer). This type is 'bunch blooming', meaning that each bulb produces numerous flowers. The photo above shows the flowers from just 5 little bulbs that were planted last fall. I'm so impressed.



The second type of crocus to start blooming in my garden was Crocus tommasinianus 'Barr's Purple', also planted last fall. Whereas the other crocus in my garden form complete flowers low down and then send them up, this one sends up half-formed flowers that gradually fill out. They look kind of ghostly at first.



Above are more of the tommies. Many crocus are great naturalizers, which means they increase in number each year. My neighbor has lots of crocus as well, including some of the pure white and lavender-and-white striped types. Since she planted them five years ago, the clumps have expanded quite a bit. Can't wait to see how much mine increase in future years.



These last couple of photos show 'Grand Maitre' crocuses, which I picked up at Costco last fall. I think the bag contained 50 or 100 bulbs for about $14, which is a great deal either way. The only drawback to Costco is their limited selection, whereas Brent & Becky's Bulbs offers 36 different types of spring-blooming crocus.



I've been marking up pages in the B&B catalog to remind me which crocus to order for fall planting this year - more of the same types that I already have, to fill in empty spots. Might as well make March as colorful as possible! The small bulbs are easy to tuck in around perennials and shrubs, and they're much less work to plant than others since they only go 4" deep. Now my other small bulbs are starting to bloom - Chionodoxa, Scilla and Galanthus. I'll post pictures of them next week.

Winter Jewels Double Hellebores

Here are some photos of the double Winter Jewels hellebores that I saw at the Northwest Garden Nursery in Oregon. I didn't stop to write down names to go with the pictures, and there's variation within each named group, so I'm giving my best guess as to the names. I believe the one above would be 'Onyx Odyssey'.



Here are flowers from the six plants that I lugged home with me on the plane. In the center is an 'Onyx Odyssey', and clockwise from the white 'Sparkling Diamond' you can also see what might be a 'Harlequin Gem', light pink 'Cotton Candy', green 'Jade Tiger', and 'Peppermint Ice'



I had imagined the plants coming in little 4" pots, but the smallest size was a 1 gallon, and most of these were in 2-gallon pots. I removed the pots and some extra soil (though the pots were mostly roots), wrapped the root balls in plastic grocery bags, and carefully packed them into a giant tote bag. Somehow they fit - mostly - under the airplane seat as my carry-on. My arms are sore today from carrying that heavy bag around!



Here are some other pictures of double-flowered types. Above is a 'Peppermint Ice'. Visiting the nursery was quite an adventure. It was out in the middle of nowhere, and by the time I arrived at 10:05 am (5 minutes after opening on the first day), there were already over a hundred people crowded into the tiny greenhouse, picking through potted hellebores.



I think the one above would be 'Berry Swirl'. I spoke briefly with Ernie O'Byrne, one of the owners, and he told me that last year they had 1300 plants out for the first day of their open house. During the two hours that they were open that day, they sold all but 40.



Here is 'Golden Lotus'. Based on my experience, I would recommend that you get there early on the first day if you ever decide to go to their open house. Otherwise there won't be much left.



Here is another 'Golden Lotus'. You can see the variation within named groups, as the first plant has a bit of burgundy around the edges of the petals (tepals), while the second plant is entirely greenish-yellow.



I'm guessing that these next two photos show 'Cotton Candy', though the online photos of CC don't show any quite like these. Many of these hellebores were growing in the gardens surrounding the nursery, so I imagine that not all of them fit into the named groups.



I also took photos of single-flowered hellebores and wider views of the gardens. I'll do two more posts to show all those pictures.



Here is a lovely 'Berry Swirl' plant. I think it might be more sophisticated to admire simple, single-flowered hellebores, roses, peonies, etc. But I can't help but fall for the frilly doubles.



Here is another 'Onyx Odyssey' plant, this one more black than the maroon one at the top of the post. Honestly, I don't think there were any double-flowered plants that I didn't want to take home with me - plus plenty of the singles, too! But I'll have to be happy with my half-dozen . . . and look forward to interesting seedlings in the years to come.

Oriental Lilies From Late July

These pictures of Oriental lilies are from late July of this year. Lilies are a nice way to perk up the garden after the big burst of blooms in June. They are one of a very few things blooming in my garden by midsummer.



The first four photos are of 'Stargazer', which is the most famous Oriental lily. I posted about lilies last year (here), but these photos are better. In this photo you can also see white Physostegia 'Miss Manners', otherwise known as obedient plant.



Unlike many types of lilies with downward-facing flowers, all of the lilies in this post face out or upward. They grow 2-4 feet tall, bloom for a few weeks in midsummer, are hardy in zones 4-10, and gradually increase in number.



Maybe the coolest trait of lilies is that they have contractile roots. This means that the roots can pull the bulb down to the correct depth.



Here is a shot of 'Casa Blanca', the classic white Oriental lily. Oriental lilies are known for their strong fragrance. I love to catch a whiff of it outside, but inside it's too strong for me.



These last two photos show 'Brasilia'. You can see the interesting variation in color between the different flowers. All of these plants were added a few years ago, and they're still going strong.



Perhaps the only con of lilies is the mess their anthers make if you brush up against them. I have been unable to remove their stains in a few shirts. But if you're careful to avoid that problem, then lilies are pure joy for the midsummer garden.