Wednesday, September 16, 2009

GBBD September 2009

I couldn't take pictures on the 15th for Garden Blogger Bloom Day, hosted at May Dream Gardens, as I was at work all while the sun was out. And today, well, it might finally rain, yay! But not such good weather for taking pictures :( So forgive me for the far less than average quality.

Repeat bloomers:
Blue Ravine clematis
I planted these with Comtesse de Bouchard because Blue Ravine blooms in spring and fall and CdB blooms in summer.

Hairbell
It is a native to this area and I was surprised to see it repeat after blooming in early summer. But not as surprised as I was to see this next flower repeat...

Oriental poppy
I do not remember ever having one of these repeat bloom. It must have been the cool summer.


Non repeat bloomers:
Desdemona Ligularia
As always this one is great, for the foliage and the flowers. I grow this one in full sun and it LOVES it! It is usually one of the last plants I have to water too. I don't know if it dug a well or it is just not as thirsty as other ligularias, but I'm not asking if it keeps performing like this.

Plum Crazy hibiscus
I am "plum crazy" for this, the queen of my garden. It is my longest lived hibiscus (all others have perished long ago) and I would like to expand its area, or get other hibiscus. There are a few that I've had my eye on.

Main Garden
Again, sorry about the fuzzy shot, but you can see that I have a lot more blooming: Autumn Joy sedum, sunflowers, Purple Prince and mixed zinnias, sweet allysum, White Swan and purple echinacea, alpine strawberries, feverfew, Stella de Oro, catchfly, Red Prince weigela, Picote cosmos, two kinds of heliopsis, garlic chives, two kinds of rudbeckia, gailardia, and lots of different kinds of asters. Fall has never looked so good out in my garden!

36 comments:

Muum said...

love that plum crazy, too. Never heard of poppies reblooming like that, either. weird.

Marie said...

The plum crazy is spectacular. GBBD always gives me new plants to lust over.

Sylvana said...

Muum, I usually don't cut them back when they start to look brown, but for some reason I did this year. I don't know if that was one of the reasons that they got a second wind.

Marie, I saw Plum Crazy in a catalog and had to have it -- but I have not had good luck with mailed hibiscus. Luckily a nursery in town had them! I'm hoping that they still have them -- it's been a few years now. I would like to get some more.

Chloe m said...

So your main garden picture is what my fantasy garden is! How long have you been at it? It looks so fabulous, and I am not saying this just because I want to butter you up. I really love your style of garden and I am going to be back, you can be sure! Love the hibiscus, wish I could grow them but high altitude, no way!
Rosey

Sylvana said...

Rosey Pollen, that's so sweet! This garden was all flat and grass when I moved here in 1997. I started with a small garden in a round cement bed left from decades ago. Every year I added a little more until one year I just went for it and covered all the grass with compost. This is only one of my gardens. I built an Asian themed garden in the shade for my husband, a rain garden because I got free money to do it :), a semi formal style garden in the front -- for the neighbors, and an ever growing raised-bed veggie garden. This main garden is the one that has taken the longest and I consider my experimental garden. I move things all the time and let Nature add in her two cents as well.

I really enjoyed your blog. You have a good sense of humor which I greatly appreciate in a person :)

littlewing said...

I love this Main Garden! The Ligularia is awesome. Wonder if I could grow it here?...

Thanks for your kind comments on my newbie blog:)

Sylvana said...

LittleWing, considering that they are supposed to be a shade plant that loves water and mine are growing in NOT THAT, I would say, who knows?
Loved your plant choices, very elegant.

Nell Jean Seedscatterer said...

Looks like Fall is coming fast to your garden. Love the colors of autumn. That sedum is beautiful.

Of course then I had to go back and see what spring looked like, and found the post about vanilla flavoring repelling gnats. Gnats are the bane of my gardening days; I'll try vanilla. I wear a bandana so they can't get into my ears, can't abide a gnat in my ear.

Rosemary Waigh said...

Your garden is so beautiful! I love the hibiscus especially.

You commented on the heliotrope on my blog. It doesn't really grow here in Toronto, I just treat it as an annual. The fragrance is delicious!

Sylvana said...

Nell Jean, that vanilla has worked against gnats almost every time I have used it. There was one day when nothing worked - but it was only the one day.

Rosemary, ah, I see. It is so expensive as an annual that I pass. But if I could grow it from seed...

Dreamybee said...

Clematis is one of those that I've always admired from afar but never owned. I don't think they are available here. Wow, that pink on your hibiscus is gorgeous!

Kiyi Kiyi said...

Beautiful flowers AND garden!
Thanks for the tour!

Sylvana said...

DreammyBee, I've heard that they do not do well in hot areas. That hibiscus always gets a lot of attention when people visit my garden. I like the frilliness :)

Catalina, thank you, and you're welcome!

teresa said...

I can't believe you had an oriental poppy rebloom. That is so great. Mine sure didn't although I had some other poppies (not sure what they are) rebloom. Your hibiscus is sensational! I have planted some that are soposed to be hardy here. I have my doubts though. We will see. I enjoyed reading your posts.

Frances said...

Hi Sylvana, your garden is lovely and the shots are beautiful, low light or no! I have always wanted to grow Ligularia but felt it was too dry on our slope. You have given me hope and it might now be attempted. Maybe someone forgot to tell Desi that it needed constantly moist soil. :-)
Frances

Chloe m said...

Hi Sylvana,
I came back to see what you are up to.
Thanks for the response to my earlier comment. You are gardener extraordinaire! Do you have photos of the Asian themed garden on your blog? I would love to see that one too.
Happy gardening and have a fabulous weekend!
Rosey

Sylvana said...

Teresa, there are only a few poppies that I've grown: Icelandic (perennial), Californian (annual), breadseed (annual), and Oriental. My parents in zone3 have the hardy hibiscus growing, so I think you will be fine.

Frances, this ligularia has been without water for over two weeks and the temps have regularly been hitting 80s and it is only now looking like it might like some water soon. And did I mention that it is in FULL SUN.

Rosey Pollen, there are pictures somewhere in my blog. It is a relatively new garden, you can find the start of it here.

donna said...

Our neighbors have Desdemona Ligularia blooming in front of their house and I've been drooling over it. I never see them water it. It's so pretty this time of year. I enlarged the main garden photo and the beauty of it all is incredible.

Barbara E said...

Love your garden. All the pictures are great, but the whole garden looks like a place I'd love to be!

Sylvana said...

Donna, I highly recommend Desdemona. The leaves on mine get over a foot wide and are a beautiful shimmery purple underneath. And thanks about my garden. I've been working on getting it more interesting in the fall.

Barbara, ah, you are so nice! Glad you enjoy my garden.

dinzie said...

Hi

Thanks for the Note :O) Yes it is a waste (re the bark) but I guess it rots down for the next lot of trees ....

You have a wonderful garden :O)

Dave

Sylvana said...

Dave, thanks. That makes sense.

ryan said...

A great fall bloom. You have so much blooming.

Sylvana said...

Ryan, I was really surprised at how much I had blooming this late in the season. This is usually when I am plotting where to plant all my new bulbs in all the bare spots left from the sleepy perennials.

Debbie said...

Sylvana,

What a lovely garden you have. The poppy looks right at home next to the black-eyed susan and russian sage. Those unexpected surprises, like a poppy blooming in mid-September, are the rewards of all your hard work (and mother nature giving you a bonus!).

Anonymous said...

Very nice! I love all the pretty flowers and the whole garden is beautiful. It must be so nice to have enough sun for all the wonderful plants. :)

Sylvana said...

Debbie, it certainly was a bonus. It broke up all that purple you'd see when looking from the other side!

Evolutionofagardener, thank you! I do appreciate my sun!

Kerri said...

Sylvana, I do need to garden full time to keep up with it all...but there are other things that must be done too. Downsizing would be sensible :)
Your Plum Crazy is such a glorious color! I've never tried to grow hibiscus here, but if you can do it in Wisconsin, maybe I can here.
Love the wide shot. Your garden is beautiful.
I have the harebells too, and they have a few blooms all summer.
I had a poppy rebloom too for the first time, but it turned out to be a bust... withered up very quickly.
That Clematis is glorious!
Thanks for visiting :)

Kylee Baumle said...

Sylvana, what a beautiful garden you have! Love the sedum en masse like that. I'm impressed with the Ligularia. Mine is the gauge for the garden, telling me when to water.

Sylvana said...

Kerri, this is one of the few ruffly hibiscus that I have found. And the color just makes it that much better :)
So far my poppies aren't as nice as when they bloom in the spring, but they still look pretty good.

Kylee, Autumn Joy sedum is so easy to propagate that it is easy to get them "en masse"!
I've had this ligularia for several years now and it only gets wilty when the temps near 100F or we haven't had rain for about a month. It really is amazing.

Mary Delle LeBeau said...

I love the shot of your main garden. Your garden is really beautiful. The close-ups of the flowers are also great. In some I can see the rain drops.

Sylvana said...

Mary Delle, I was so surprised to see the reaction to the shot of my main garden. It is the best that it has ever looked at this time of year, but I still think it looks a little wild. I like to include a wide shot so that people can see the flowers in context. I wish more garden bloggers would do that because close-ups don't always give you an idea of it's behavior or over-all look in a garden.
If you are seeing water, it is most likely condensation as it has not rained here in almost three weeks. The hairbell always looks wet; it has a beautiful pearly shimmer. It is a delicate plant that is easily lost in a garden, but I highly recommend it!

Frugilegus said...

Glorious hibiscus. I can't help admiring it even though I normally try to reserve my admiration for the potentially edible.

(Then, I checked and learned that one can eat some varieties of hibiscus - or do other things with them apart from admire them - so it scores double-points. Though I think that one's too beautiful to harvest!

Sylvana said...

Frugilegus, I have heard of eating hibiscus or making tea out of it. I heard it was tangy and delicious, but I haven't tried it with my own. I think the best ones are supposed to be the tropicals. But as you said, I don't think I could bring myself to pluck these flowers for either. They are just too pretty.

Unknown said...

Your 'Desdemona' is gorgeous! My 'Othello' has similar coloring, but is not so happy here in my dry garden... I deal with its wilting dramatics just because of the large, dark leaves. But sometimes I wonder why I don't put it out of its misery, when I see what the properly grown, happy ligularias (like yours!) look like!

Sylvana said...

Blackswamp Girl, I have tried Othello; killed it twice and have to constantly water the current. I also have Ligularia prezwalskii which also struggles due to it's water needs. I also tried an snuffed out two other varieties (Britt Marie and some unknown). Desdemona has never given me troubles. I'm not sure if I got a mutant or they are naturally like this, but I highly recommend them. Go here to see even better picts of it.