Category Archives: What’s Blooming

Plant Profile: One Thoroughly Amazing Honeysuckle( and a few runners-up)

I grow a number of honeysuckle ,or lonicera ,species in my garden and each has at least one attribute that makes it a must-have for me , and I would hope for you too.

Lonicera periclymenum ‘Harlequin’ has beautifully shaped variegated leaves with yellow/white margins that turn a deep rose color in the fall. It sports dark pink buds that open to pastel pink and cram colored blooms that have a slight sweet fragrance. The foliage alone makes this a great choice for an arbor or against a fence as it is so beautiful. I grow 2 here, one behind and working its way into two large azeleas and one recently planted to climb on my new arbor tunnel out back.

Lonicera fragrantissima (above) is often called winter or fragrant honeysuckle because it has flowers that emerge very early in the year that can scent the whole garden. It is worth its’ weight in gold because there few other plants that do much of anything in February and March, let alone give you a heavenly fragrance to enjoy. This honeysuckle is a shrub and well behaved especially given the family it belongs to. A few of its’ unruly cousins are out to conquer the world and difficult to manage in any garden. Not this guy! I wish I had room to have a whole hedge of them.

Lonicera periclmenum ‘Peaches and Cream’ (above) is a delightful new addition for me this year. It has lovely dark green foliage and grows to only 6 feet ,tops. White Flower Farm’s catalogue calls it “civilized” and I agree. It is compact and well mannered. This honeysuckle has large dark purple buds that open to dark pink and creamy white, fading to a peachy cream , hence the name. It has already cycled through two long bloom sessions here with a short break in between. It is touted as resistant to mildew on the leaves but I have read reviews that beg to differ. Only time will tell, but the blossoms are just lovely and sweetly scented too.

My favorite of all of them is Lonicera sempervirens “Major Wheeler” . I planted two of these bines* several years ago having ordered them from High Country Gardens on a whim.

Well, that was one great whim! The dark green foliage is clean of mildew all year and the plants begin to bloom very soon after the leaves emerge in the very early spring. I planted one on an obelisk right outside my kitchen window and it has turned out to be one of my happiest garden decisions as hummingbirds flock to the red tubular nectar filled flowers all summer long. Standing in front of the window with my first cup of coffee watching their antics is just about the best way to welcome the day I can think of.

Major Wheeler is never ever for one millisecond out of bloom from spring until at least into December. I have cut flowers that are on the bines even after all the leaves have dropped an there is snow on the ground.

The second plant I bought was poorly sited in an area where the corgi dogs trampled it daily so I moved it last fall to the front fence. Now it can be enjoyed all season by the many walkers that take their daily constitutional around the mile loop that is my road. I hope they enjoy it as much as I do.

FYI , always use caution when picking and planting honeysuckle varieties. One in particular , Lonicera japonica, is a noxious weed that will cover any real estate it can reach and seed everywhere to boot. Many others are very large and can collapse a structure with their weight. Of course, you have some great choices here, so why look any further 😉

Also, honeysuckles like full sun and will perform poorly in shade. The ones listed here are all hardy to US zone 4 .

*bine is the word for climbing plants that twine around things when they grow. Wisteria, some honeysuckles, and hops are a few.

Rose love

I adore roses. Let’s be clear, that statement is meant to include ALL roses, I am in no way a rose “snob” demanding a certain petal count, specific color, intense ( or even any) fragrance , or a pretty French name.

I like single roses, I like double roses, I like tea roses, florists roses, old fashioned ramblers, shrub roses, landscape roses, rose hips, gosh I even like rose potpourri.

I could do without the thorns that puncture my always gloveless hands, the blackspot that although it has yet to affect the bloom or life span of any rose here, looks messy, and the rabbit damage that still has me confused because they always chew the thorniest of the bunch and I just don’t get how they do not leave a blood trail from their evil little mouths when they do.

In September and October the roses here are one of the joys of my gardening year. They standout in full bloom taking up the slack from their perennial bed mates that have gone past . The list of who is in bloom is always a long one , yet varies year to year . Right now all of the Drift Roses are in bloom filling up their corner of the world with sweet little blossoms clustered tightly hovering over the ground ( they are in order ‘Coral’, ‘Peach’ ‘Sweet’ and ‘Pink’)

The Knockouts, yellow ‘Sunny’ the double pink, and red are all positively smothered in flowers and buds.

Three climbers, an unknown red and Captain Sam Holland, and ‘New Dawn’ are still trucking along and ‘Sea foam’ is covered in fat buds ( picture is of its first flush of bloom earlier in the summer).

I cut the last bloom off the very fragrant ‘Sharifa Asma’ last week and kept in on my desk to inhale while I worked. ( I forgot to snap a photo, sorry, but really what you missed is it’s incredible fragrance and I can’t give you that anyway )

‘The Fairy has been in bloom since June non-stop, as has ‘Carefree Spirit’.

Back for their late summer show after a short mid-summer break are the Magic carpet roses ‘Alba’ and ‘Coral’ as well as two shrubs, ‘Julia Child’ and ‘All the Rage’ ( no photo)

and the hips on Rosa glauca are incredible as always.

Stars Of the Late Summer Garden

Each week of gardening season brings with it a unique combination of flower and foliage, fruit , berries, bark and seed pods to enjoy. Late summer is no exception, and personally I find it much easier to take the time to literally smell the flowers, (and cut them and arrange them and plan new combinations for next year) at this time more than any other.

Early September in the garden has such a relaxed mood as there is no rush to plant , the weeds are minimal , there is no urgency to get anything staked , sprayed or thinned, all the mistakes of this year have been made and the successes counted and noted to be repeated next year. Now on my morning walks I can spend far more time admiring the garden than making lists chores that need doing and there are certainly some stars worth admiring out there now.

Every year I buy any dahlias I see when I am out and about in the spring , I don’t care if I am at Wal-Mart, Lowes, Home Depot, or my favorite nursery as the tubers are generally bagged and healthy from anywhere and especially the ones from the big box stores are dirt cheap. I have never successfully overwintered a dahlia and used to replace my Bishop of Landoff variety via an online catalogue every year at great expense , but now don’t bother as any I find around here are usually quite pretty and some are actually unbelievably gorgeous. Check out this example that looks like the earths’ very core is glowing within it.

Its blooms are quite large and it is a taller variety so it stands out nicely when looking at the garden from the street, not bad for $4.98.For late season color, dahlias are definitely the biggest bang for your buck.

I also buy several packages of cosmos seeds and various sunflowers seeds, no great expense here either, and sow them any where there is open ground then forget about them. Germination rate ends to be poor when you take that approach, but those that do germinate and then survive the bunny vs. seedling battle are more than appreciated in September. This cool cosmos has tubular petals that look almost as if they are made of two layers with the top one being placed on inside out. It speaks to my careless attitude toward dressing like a girl and I l-o-v-e it.

I was never interested in growing helenium autumnale , or sneezeweed, until a few years ago, I can’t tell you why, it was an undefined dislike, but after adding a few here and there, and being continually WOWED by their sheer numbers of flowers and ability to make ever pollinator we have dizzy with delight, now I can’t get enough of them. They will grow to about 5 feet and need staking unless you cut them back (like you do with mums) before July 4th to keep them more compact. Then stand back and watch the fireworks, this plants rocks ! The yellow is the straight species, the red is ‘Helena Red Shades’.

And last ,but certainly not least, is this annual salvia called ‘Wendy’s Wish’. The plant has me almost at a loss for superlatives to describe it. I bought several on a whim at Lowes when we went one day to look at kitchen stuff. It was early May and they were in quart pots and in full bloom. I planted them in a whiskey barrel container out back and in an area I struggle to fill every year near a birdbath located in the most visible of all my gardens from the house .Nothing I have ever planted there looks good enough season long for my liking, so it gets ripped out and replaced often. Not this year. This salvia is gorgeous, its’ long bloom stalks packed with dark pink flowers that hang from even darker bracts that are stunning enough to be the center of attention themselves.

Through a very wet and cold spring , through a long hot dry July, and into these lovely first weeks of cooler weather, this plant has not even for one second flagged, looked ratty or even been out of bloom. I have not touched it at all. Not once. Not to prune, water, or take a bug off. I have instead stared open mouthed at it as it surpassed all of my expectations AND proven to be the biggest hummingbird magnet in the garden ( which is saying a lot given its’ competition). It’s only downfall? It is the single most un-photogenic flower I have ever come across. No shot I have attempted does it justice it even remotely captures the delicate nature of the flower stalk dancing in every teeny tiny breeze, and those deep colored flowers are not only perfect but are usually adorned with a hummingbird or two for effect

I would be remiss if I left out the backbones of the garden .The shrubbery planted here all get best supporting actor nods in late summer with so many hydrangeas in full blousy bloom and the Rose of Sharons, drift roses, caryopteris, potentillas, all doing their thing, and berries starting to appear on many viburnums,the red osier dogwoods, callicarpas, snowberries, and hollies, the stage is beautifully set to let the garden stars shine.

Who are the stars in your late summer garden?

Pretty in Pink

Funny how the garden goes through color phases. They are not always intentional due to the vagaries of weather and bloom cycles, but a often a quick morning walk through the garden will reveal the dominant color of the moment. Today, it is decidedly pink! If you would like to see many more photos and occasional garden tips and info be sure to LIKE my Facebook and FOLLOW my Pinterest pages. There are handy buttons to do so in the toolbar on the right as well .

Plant Profile: Clematis ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon’

Although clematis ‘Mrs Robert Brydon’ does not make my “Top 10 Clematis” list, it does, in fact, place pretty high up on my “Must Have Plant” list. Let’s go over the reasons, shall we?

-It is a superb non twining ground cover plant that will quickly cover the space under the shrubs in your border with it’s lovely disease free leaves

-It can also be tied up onto a trellis, bird netting, a pole, or any other vertical object you have handy

-It will scramble happily down a berm, hill, or even better cascade over a rock wall

-It is definitely on the “Top 10 Easiest to Grow” clematis list

–It will grow in many light conditions and is fairly drough tolerant once established

-It is a breeze to propagate via cuttings , your gardening friends will love you if you give them this plant

-It blooms late in the season ( late July to Sept) when so many other things in the garden are winding down

The only reason it does not place among my top ten clematis is generally plants earn their space there because they have a very long bloom time and sadly this one does not. I may reconsider that though as the foliage on this one never browns or gets any foliar disease which more than makes up for a shorter flowering time.

For years I have struggled with the correct name of this clematis. It has dubious parentage and I have seen it for sale under many names including clematis heracleifolia x jouiniana , clematis x jouiniana ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon’, clematis jouiniana var. davidiana ‘Mrs Robert Brydon’ but thankfully the International Clematis Registry at Hull University has it now listed as plainly clematis ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon. Whew.

I love that the name conjures up the old fashioned practice of calling a married woman by her husbands name, not because I am a believer in the oppression of the fairer sex , I did not even legally take Wil’s name I just sort of added it on to mine to avoid confusion for the kids when they were in school and may ditch it when they are done. I just like the thought , however imagined it may be, of a graceful and charming world with proper manners , polite conversation where you are adressed as such, and maybe a white glove or two thrown in for good measure. Actually my garden club has only recently disbanded the practice of having our members listed as “Mrs. Husbands Name and Surname” making me Mrs. William Monroe which is funny and maybe just a bit ironic.

Back to the clematis, ‘Mrs. Robert Brydon ‘ is a dream to take care of. It will get pruned to 8-12 inches in the springtime, but since, as its various names all suggest, it is herbaceous , it may have already pruned itself for you by dying back to the ground over the winter. It will grow pretty slowly at first eventually getting large leaves on stems that are 6-8 feet long. When it flowers, which is happening right now here in The Burrow, it is spectacular. The flowers are the loveliest shade of white-ish blue, a color I find dreamy in the garden and are massed along the top third of the plant.

I have seen this plant frothing over a stone wall, tied up at the base so it looked like a hydrangea bush, trained onto fences and poles and here I created a berm for it to sprawl down( bottom photo)) in the Dogs Garden and it romps all through shrubs and other plants like this variegated weigela in the rock garden ( below ) and in all instances it looked phenomenal.

The Almost But Not Quite Self-Sufficient Garden

If you had stopped by for a quick visit in the last few weeks and after ringing the bell and getting no answer ,read this cute little sign that sits on my porch and went to look for me in the garden you would have been left wandering around for no reason , as I have not set foot out there for a long time.

This past month was full of all sorts of fun activities that included day trips, visits from out of state relatives, reading on the beach, a family wedding ,cookouts, fireworks, a trip away with Wil to Boston for a few days, and driving Erin back and forth to camp. Also, the kitchen reno is finally (mostly) done and I had the herculean task of putting the house back in order and reassigning all the kitchen stuff to the new space and, oh, and I forgot to mention I did the painting which took FOREVER! There was no time for the garden at all.

Here in the Burrow and our surrounding area we were also suffering through a very long heat wave ,and days with temps in the 90’s and approaching 100 are no fun to garden in at all. On the nights we were home a quick dip in the pool at sunset to cool off before bed was all I saw of the yard. During this time it was also very dry. Long hot days were accompanied by a dessicating wind that felt like it was originating in Hades, and promised thunderstorms never materialized.

Well, my fun is now over for a bit and the weather has cooled and there has been much needed rainfall, so I headed out to see what was going on out there.

There are some obvious signs of neglect starting right at back door . I always plant pansies in the early spring in the window box and containers there and replace them in early summer with plants that tolerate the heat better, but it appears I overlooked this chore (oops). The window box pansies had started to look leggy and brown, and when I would walk by I would occasionally yank out any particularly offending plant , and I guess I did this until they were empty. And empty they remain. The pansies under the roof of the small porch get a break from scorching sun so they are still alive, but barely.

The front walkway has been invaded by the digger wasps who show up annually and make it impassable and unweedable. They dig out those large holes and although they are not aggressive will sting if you threaten their nest. They feed their larvae grasshoppers so I try to leave them if I can, but there are about a dozen holes…YIKES!

A walk through the gardens revealed several places that were not getting water from the sprinkler system. I had an irrigation tech walk the system with me before I left on Friday and our inspection revealed an entire zone that spans the long backside of the gardens near our neighbors property line had the master valve off . That valve would have been turned off in the fall , so no irrigation had been getting here since. Another very big OOPS! That would explain why all the turf there is brown and the strawberry plants are crinkled and the blueberry bushed dry brown sticks. It would also explain why the cherry tomatoes ,beans and squash that should have engulfed the fence by now are either dead and gone or barely 12 inches tall. The valve was promptly turned on and fingers crossed I may get some tomatoes by summers end. One of the things I have concentrated on over the past few summers is getting our watering needs down to a minimum , and grouping the thirsty things ( like veggies) that will need the most water together. Now I have learned another valuable lesson, and that is to make sure the system we so carefully designed to water said thirsty plants is up and running properly before we have dead things. Gardening is ever the humbling experience.

The greatest truth that was revealed to me as I walked around though was that this garden is a success. I set out to take this large, empty, dry ,sandy piece of land and transform it into a beautiful garden space that after spring cleanup needs little , if any, of my attention to thrive.

TA-DA! I did it. I am always talking about choosing the right plants so the garden works for you and not vice-versa, and the state of mine right now shows that careful thought before planting is the way to ensure your time will be spent in the hammock with cold frosty drinks, not slaving away in heat pruning, primping, and perspiring.

Click on the photo below then scroll through the slide show below to see how lovely things look right now. And yeah, there certainly is some deadheading and weeding to do ,(don’t be a nit-picker lol) but overall the garden has just flourished , even if I wasn’t around to see it.

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Plant Profile: Peach Drift Rose

Although I am familiar with the Drift roses, the first time I saw the one called Peach Drift I was in L_O_V_E. Drift roses are bred and brought to you by the same people who gave us the KnockOut! family of roses.

Let me just interject an opinion here ;), I have heard many many gardeners knock the knockouts. Just as recently as last week I overheard someone in a nursery saying with disgust “Don’t even show me any of those knockouts, I HATE them.” Ahem, why???? They bloom their heads off, they are disease resistant, they tolerate all forms of neglect, they tolerate all types of soil and even do ok in shadier conditions, and the double pink and Sunny are fragrant, so what’s the problem? Don’t plant them if you don’t want to, but don’t knock a perfectly useful and beautiful garden plant without a good reason.

Back to the Peach Drift……..Any way, I was touring the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden when I spied Peach Drift absolutely foaming flowers all around a set of benches in the garden. I drifted over (couldn’t resist) and was immediately taken by the clusters of bloom that open from dark peach buds to adorable little yellow tinged mini roses and fade off to a more delicate shade of peach, and guess what? they are ever so sweetly fragrant. I took tons of photos and added” Peach Drift” to my “must-have” list, then promptly left my camera on the train. Sigh

Here in the Burrow I was already growing the Coral Drift, Sweet Drift, and Pink Drift and was continually struck by their long bloom time ( spring to hard freeze) and disease resistance. I was trying to figure out where I could squish in the Peach Drift when I came across the very plant being grown as a standard! Woo-Hoo!! Perfect! ( for those who are confused by the term, a standard is when a rose or other plant has been pruned into a sort of tree form, like topiary,) Not only does that make them easy to fit in ( I grow other roses on standards nestled in between boxwood hedges) but it also lifts up the plant to the perfect level for enjoying the fragrance.

The two Peach Drifts I bought now grace the landing at the foot of my porch where we eat breakfast every day in good weather and are a constant source of delight.

Some basic info: Peach Drift or Rosa Meiggili is a cross between a groundcover and a miniature rose. It is hardy in zones 4-11 and disease resistant. It flowers in cycles that last 5-6 weeks from spring until a really hard freeze ( not frost, it scoffs at frost). It is the most floriferous of the roses in the Drift series, and that is saying a lot! It will grow to about 1 1/2 feet tall to 2 feet wide .

You can deadhead the spent flowers to tidy it up and speed up the bloom cycle , but if you don’t it will shed them on its own and re-bloom without your help. Since my Peach Drifts are being grown in containers, I will have to water and probably fertilize them, but in the ground they would not need such coddling.

Garden Tour

We had a little garden tour here last weekend and welcomed some members of the Chartley garden Club ( thanks to Patricia for organizing), the Natick Garden Club , the Norton Garden Club and a few of my Master Gardener friends. the weather was spectacular, the promised rain showers fizzled into glorious sunshine by late morning and the temperatures stayed warm but never uncomfortable. Usually garden tours here end up on days that are in the 90’s with opresive humidity making a garden walk in the sun unbearable, but we lucked out and I am grateful.

In June there is so much in bloom , the butterflies , birds and other pollinators are busy busy busy and the gardens are so alive and vibrant it is a joy to show people around. Thanks to all who came to share the day!

Here is a slideshow of photos from the garden this weekend

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If you are local and you or your garden club are interested in getting notifications of tours and open days here, contact me via the contact link above and I will add your email to the list.

Clematis for GBBD

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is always so dfficult from May through September, there is sooo very much in bloom and it is hard to focus with a riot of color screaming at you from all angles. So Instead of a garden overview today I will zoom in on one plant genus….clematis ( big surprise there,huh?)

There are clematis blooming here from late April through Ooctober, even though I keep bloom charts so I have a general idea of who blooms when, the plants have their own ideas based on weather, rabbit pruning and lord knows what else so it is always an adventure to go out and see who is blooming.

I also have a speaking engagement this week so I went out to cut some flowers to bring as” show and tell “,and the variety is kind of surprising.

For the large flowered hybrids that bloom early and then bloom again later in the summer, this is the end (ish) of their first bloom.

Elsa Spath, always a beauty with flowers up to 8 inches across, is looking beautiful in the several locations she is planted. I adore the way this clematis goes through so many color changes from bloom open to shatter, starting dark purple, then sporting red streaks opening to a lovely purple with darker bars which then fade to silver as the bloom ages. Spectacular!

Some of my clematis that bloom early and then again late in the season ( those labeled pruning group 2) have missed their first bloom, suffering from rabbit damage, but now look full and will hopefully put on a great show come Aug/Sept.

Snow Queen (in top photo the first one on the left) , Dr. Ruppel (below), and Ville de Lyon (below), all are in full bloom, as are c.’Rosemoor’ ‘Niobe’ and ‘Ruutel’ ( although I did not venture out today to take their photo, they are all in the group shot above 🙂 )

Josephine will bloom as a double for some time, then the outer peatals will drop and the little puff at the center will remain This bloom is starting to do just that. It is a very cool clematis.

A surprise bloomer is Jan Pawel II who should not even start to bloom until late summer but has been going for 3 weeks now.Look at the size of that flower!

The biggest surprise is that Bill McKenzie, ( orientalis group) and one of the very last to bloom in fall, was sporting this singular bloom yesterday. Mother Nature gives us no absolutes kids!

Many small flowered clematis always add great interest to the garden in June.

C. vitacella Betty Corning with its little lilac nodding bells,blooms here for 16+ weeks and adorns a number of shrubs ( viburnums, willows, and roses) . The other nodding bell in the group photo is an herbaceaous clematis c.integrifolia “Rosa’ that grows in front of Dr. Ruppel in the garden.

C. vitacella ‘Kermesina’ sports red recurved bell shaped blooms and grows into a pussy willow bush that would otherwise be dull and boring right now

and C. texensis ‘Gravetye Beauty’ grows up an arbor on both sides through a similarly colored rose to great effect.

With all this bloom going on, it would be a sin not to cut lots and lots of flowers for arrangements for both the house and to give away when we attend summer parties. Clematis makes as suberb cut flower, outlasting just about any other bloom you put in the vase with it. Some have longer stems than others making it easier to use them in floral arrangements, but the ones that either have short stems or twist and turn alot can be displayed very effectively floating in a shallow bowl.

Here is c.’Huldine’ which holds its flowers aloft and away from the leaves .

Because of that attribute it looks great with the rose it grows through in the garden and is easy to use in arrangements.

Head over to May Dreams Gardens and our host Carol to see what she has going on and then visit the other Garden Bloogers links to see what is going on all over our country and a few others besides!

Happy Garden Bloggers Bloom Day!