Autumn Approaches: Garden Blogger's Bloom Day, September, 2011

Autumn came early, first in the form of our preparations for Hurricane Irene and then with the arrival of the monarchs and dragonflies as they make their way south for winter. And living in New England, we can look forward to vividly colored foliage as the number and variety of flowers in bloom dwindles with the changing seasons.     

With the days getting shorter and cooler, we are harvesting the last of the summer herbs, squash, eggplant, and cucumbers. But autumn is also here in the form of ripening grapes, apples, and dogwood fruit.

The apple tree is an unknown variety that has been growing next to the house for decades. This is the first year that we've had an adequate amount of summer rain for the tree to produce apples that are large enough to cook with.

The dogwood fruits are ripening and I've been experimenting with them in different recipes. The fruit is creamy, the seeds are easily removed, and the flavor is mild, sweet, almost reminiscent of mango.

We had some early grapes a couple of weeks ago but the birds made quick work of them. We are eagerly awaiting these to ripen to a deep purple.

The stars of the late summer garden are the Sweet Autumn clematis, Autumn Joy sedum, tall phlox and evening primrose, and Japanese anemones.

Sweet Autumn is fragrant, late blooming clematis. It forms a delicate backdrop for the Rose of Sharon. In front, basil (blooming white in the left front) and spikes of sage add dimension to this corner of the herb garden.

Sedum Brilliant is a cooler pink than Autumn Joy and they clashed so much, I moved Autumn Joy to a different bed. . As the dogwood tree has grown and created more shade, the color of the blooms of Brilliant have gotten somewhat subdued. Growing on the berm among the boulders behind the pond, it remains a gorgeous pop of color just the same.

Sedum Autumn Joy and Frikart's Asters give a pop of fall color on the rose island. The asters are the same color as the catmint blossoms and the sedum is the same color as the columbine that blooms earlier in the summer, keeping the color palette consistent from season to season.

The low growing burgundy chrysanthemums contrast perfectly with the pearlescent pale pink anemones.

Planted en masse, the anemones float delicate blossoms across the front of the perennial bed where peonies held court in the spring.

The purple cranesbill continues to make a statement. Midsummer, when the plants became leggy and spindly, we trimmed them back by more than half.  They responded with enthusiastic growth and a cap of shiny dark green foliage is covered with rich purple blossoms that contrast perfectly with the anemones and evening primrose.

We had not planned to prune the cranesbill back so hard, but in retrospect, it was the best thing we could have done.

Yellow evening primrose and purple cranesbill.

Our roses are still blooming with enthusiasm - we're hoping to be able to bring some award winning blooms to the rose show this weekend. We stopped deadheading the rugosas and the resulting rose hips are as colorful as the flowers.

Top Row:  Pretty Lady, John F. Kennedy, Sea Foam; Middle Row: Mother of Pearl, Lady Elsie May, Grandma's Blessing; Bottom Row:  Blushing Knock-Out, Rose hip of R. rugosa "Rubra"

The second bloom of the Munstead lavender, which forms the hedges around all of the formal beds, came early and lush. We usually see a sparse second bloom in early September, but this summer, the re-bloom began in mid August and has produced nearly as much lavender as the spring bloom.

The Rose of Sharon shrubs have been blooming since mid August and remain covered with blossoms and buds. The coneflowers, hardy hibiscus and balloon flowers are winding down, but still manage to hold their own in terms of late summer color. 

Many of the coneflower blossoms are travel weary, but they still brighten the perennial beds.

This ruby throated white Rose of  Sharon has been blooming for weeks and has never been so heavily festooned with blossoms.

This double rose blooms of this Rose of Sharon have deep burgundy throats.

This rudbeckia and another that is planted in the same bed were both mislabeled as white coneflowers. I had thought the white blossoms would  work well with the deep pink hardy hibiscus as well as the astilbe that grows in front of the pagoda.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well the rudbeckia has complemented the hardy mallows and veronica that also grows nearby.

Balloon flowers, phlox, and the occasional coneflower in the right perennial bed.

The magenta of these white and magenta tall phlox is echoed in the spirea.

The lavender phlox are sweetly fragrant. This year, all of the phlox have produced thick masses of flowers on reasonably strong stems that withstood the winds and rain of the hurricane.

The caryopteris and hydrangeas are also doing their part to provide late summer color while indoors, bowls of cosmos and zinnias from the deck garden bring the gardens into every room.

The blue mist shrub "Snow Fairy",  Caryopteris dvaricata, has variegated foliage that makes a striking contrast to the dark glossy green peonies, the dark red blooms of Betty Prior, and the burgundy barberries it is planted with.

The gracefully curved stamens give the delicate amethyst blossoms remind me of  butterflies.

The blossoms of the Pee Gee hydrangea open white and then gradually take on a pinkish green and then pink hue.

 

The blooms eventually become a peachy bronze and will hold this color when dried for wreaths or dried arrangements.

A benefit of buying large shrubs and trees late in the season is that they are often heavily discounted. A drawback is that quite often, their tags have been lost and it's impossible to determine the cultivar. Such was the case of this hydrangea tree which we acquired last summer at a bargain basement price.  This unnamed hydrangea which helps shade the deck,  is covered with blooms that, like the Pee Gee, open white and then gradually turn a deep peachy bronze. The individual blooms are much larger than those of the Pee Gee.

The kitchen garden on the deck provide herbs, vegetables, and plenty of blooms for cutting. The hollyhock roots have grown into sturdy plants that will hopefully bloom against the rails next summer.

The water garden is also showing its fall colors in the form of cat tails and water mint, which attracts bees and dragonflies.

Unexpected re-bloomers, chief among them, the spirea and the hostas, continue to surprise and delight. We've never seen the hostas re-bloom.

This week, the hostas in the blueberry garden and secret garden are all blooming for the second time this summer. These had bloomed in July (see the July GBBD photos here) and we trimmed the flower spikes back, which we usually do. We were amazed to see them send up new scapes over the past two weeks.

Along the border of the blueberry garden angled under a tall pine, these hostas bloomed in July and are blooming again now.

This is the large fragrant hosta that anchors the "secret garden".  It's also blooming for the second time this summer.

Usually when plants re-bloom unexpectedly, the flowers are sparse. Not so with the hostas.

The spirea is also blooming again, and I can't even credit pruning for this. In the photo below, you can see the dried flower heads from the earlier bloom.  I decided to leave them to provide some textural interest over the fall and winter.

I don't have mich experience with spirea but we planted this shrub last spring. We had pulled out the Asiatic lilies from this corner of the perennial bed because the red lily leaf beetles were almost impossible to control. We chose this spirea for its color and to provide some height and contrast for the penstemon and tall phlox.that also grow in this part of the bed.

From a small shrub in a gallon pot, it has grown four feet wide and more than three feet high, and has proven to be the perfect choice for this corner. Since planting it, I have learned that like buddleia, heavily pruning it back in the spring should result in thicker growth and more prolific blooms (hard to imagine after the way it was covered in blooms earlier in the season).

Pruning again after the spring bloom gives a second generous bloom this time of year, although we didn't prune and are still enjoying late summer color. We'll definitely prune it back in the spring, and perhaps split the clump and transplant some of the stems to the other side of the bed as well.

One of my "weed" books lists malvas including this Zebrina (Malva sylvestris) as potentially invasive weeds. Yes, they do self sow liberally, but I've also had great luck getting them to grow in large clumps where I want them. They resemble their cousins, the hollyhocks and their height adds color in the late summer to the back borders in the perennial and cottage gardens. 

The boughs of our pine trees are weighed down with pine cones. The beauty of the telephoto lens is the ability to see the green seed pods in exquisite detail.

Young, still green pine cones of the Douglas Fir.

Young, still green pine cones of the Norway Spruce

We recently reviewed the book Weeds of the Northeast by Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal, and Joseph M. DiTomaso (you can see the post here) and I remarked then that "...one woman's wildflower is another woman's weed."  While all of the plants shown here were identified (as weeds) with the help of this wonderful book, we enjoy them in selected areas of the garden.

The dark green leaves of the Virginia Creeper camouflage an otherwise unattractive length of chain link fence and the berries, which turn dark purple this time of year,  attract many birds to the yard.

This sprawling vine is the blue Asiatic dayflower, Commelina communis. have the most vivid blue flowers of any "blue" flowering annual or perennial I've seen. It meandered in from the conservation area and grows along the fence behind the grape arbor, underneath the Virginia creeper.  We have found it in the front yard as well, where it has spread from an area of underbrush that separates our property from our neighbor's.   So far, it hasn't become invasive or a pest, and especially in the back, has confined itself to one area where it surprises us with a brilliant pop of blue whenever we are checking on the grapes or the eggplant that grows under the arbor.

Thistles have become a real thorn in my side, pun intended. They quickly develop heavy duty tap roots and spread quickly through our beds and the grass. We have a spade shovel that effectively removes them, but staying ahead of them is hard when they are growing so freely in the adjacent field.

Both wild morning glories and wild buckwheat are members of the bindweed family and we have both growing here and there in our beds. The buckwheat is more a problem in the perennial beds and we do try to stay on top of it. But the climbing bindweed is a lovely addition to the fence and relatively easy to keep in check. When we see it wandering into the beds near the fence, we trim it back, but I do enjoy watching it cover the fence and bloom with flowers that are so luck cultivated morning glories.

I hope you've enjoyed spending some time in the garden today. Do drop by and visit May Dream Gardens for links to other bloggers posting what's blooming for the monthly Garden Bloggers Bloom Day.

Book Review: Weeds of the Northeast

Weeds of the Northeast by Richard H. Uva, Joseph C. Neal, and Joseph M. DiTomaso is one of those reference books that never goes out of date. My copy, which I only purchased a few months ago, is already well-thumbed.

I have yet to find a book about weeds that is as comprehensive and as inclusive as this one.  And while it focuses on weeds that are primarily found in the northeast quadrant of the country (north to Canada, south to Virginia, and west to Wisconsin), my guess is that it would be helpful for many other areas of North America as well.

The book is designed in such a way that identification of weeds can be accomplished relatively easily.  There are identification tables that differentiate similar weeds based on characteristics and multiple pictures showing each of the plants included at multiple stages of their life cycle.

I find myself walking through the gardens with the book in hand, quickly identifying things that have eluded my efforts to properly name them for years. Of course, one woman's wildflower is another woman's weed, and so my lone cautionary note is that not everything in the book needs to be pulled up and relegated to the compost pile.

While Virginia Creeper is classified as a "weed" for the purposes of this book, we have it happily growing over a chain link fence where the dark green leaves cover the unattractive metal fencing and the berries attract wood thrushes, warblers, and woodpeckers.

Likewise, Johnny Jump-ups are a staple in many of our beds and our two trumpet vines provide late summer color where they've been trained to grow.

That said, the information about each plant's growth habits, propagation, and root system has made it easier to eradicate weeds that are not welcome in our perennial beds and has helped us to effectively control those that we've chosen to cultivate and enjoy as "wildflowers".

Mystery Plant and Garden Problem: Can You Help?

Even though we've been at this for a while, we're still very much novices and sometimes it can be next to impossible to tell the difference between perennials we've planted and well.... perennial WEEDS! And while we know most of the common garden pests and have managed to find eco-safe, totally natural ways to control them, we stumbled upon a problem this week that has us stumped.

Please check out the pictures and hopefully a savvy reader will be able to shed some light on this week's garden mysteries.

Do you recognize this plant?  We had large clumps of columbine, cranesbill, some penstemon,  phlox,  and I don't have a clue what else.We thought it was one of the perennials we had planted there until it began overtaking the entire area.

It began the season as a dense clump just like all of the other perennials in that area but now it is becoming quite large shrub that is overtaking many of the other perennials that we do recognize.

I have a sneaky suspicion it's an interloper but if it is something I chose for this bed, I need to either rein it in or perhaps move it. Ideas, anyone?

Seen here alongside some columbine, it is about 3 feet wide and high, shrubby and woody. It's taking over a section of the full sun perennial bed.

Close-up of the leaves and branches

My next problem is equally perplexing. This plant was labeled as anise hyssop, although it does not really smell like I think it should (at least not to me, anyway). In fact, if it does have a fragrance, it has managed to elude me. I believe it had purple flowers last year but honestly, that could be a figment of my imagination. 

However, what concerns me most (aside from confirming that this is truly anise hyssop) is that something has literally slit the stems! Has anyone ever seen anything like this before? It's been raining a lot and I've seen slugs in other areas of the garden but not in this bed. That doesn't mean they aren't here, of course, just that I didn't happen to spot any and I spent a lot of time weeding that bed.

Could a slug have done this? Although it didn't seem to damage the leaves, the stem was literally fileted, and sometimes just segments of it, between leaves.

 

At the first hint of sunshine, we're going to be spreading diatomaceous earth which should solve the problem if indeed it is the work of slugs, but if not, we need a back-up plan to prevent further damage.