Fall Change Is In the Air....

Well folks, at this point, I think I've just about navigated to the end of denial river, and am beginning to bargain reluctantly with Fall, trying my best to enjoy the unique pleasures it does afford the melancholy gardener at this time of year. After all, we have enjoyed a fairly decent harvest of garden goodness from the tomatoes, corn, onions, leeks to the inadvertently planted pumpkins. As you can see, preparations for the grand Halloween season have begun (thanks to Fernymoss for picking up the slack while I was sick this past weekend) with the arrival of the Punkin Dude! Even though he's usually a harbinger of colder times to come, so far this year we've avoided a hard frost, though it's just a matter of time before it happens and all the remaining color in this part of the garden will be a mere memory until next year.... Still, we'll enjoy it until the bitter end, and I'd just like to point out a few flowers that can provide you with some late fall firepower until that moment comes.
I know I've sung the praises of Calendula officinalis previously, and here's yet another reason why I value this humble 'Pot Marigold' so highly ... just check out those fresh, cheery yellow and orange flowers blooming late into October! Just think ... this particular patch of Calendula has been blooming since June! What more could one ask of an easy self-seeding annual ... over five months of bloom time? If you want more, then you're a more demanding gardener than I am! They've been putting on seeds for a few months now, and though that usually means the end of most annuals, these lovelies just keep on blooming! And only a very hard frost will kill them and stop their show....
Here's a nice close up of an appropriately colored (for the season) Calendula cascading over the edge of one of the front boulders near the steps approaching our house. I'll repeat (ad nauseum) just one more time that I haven't replanted these Calendulas for about five years, and just scatter their seed after frost to ensure their reappearance next spring. If you're interested in growing these no fuss beauties, now (or very soon) is the time to plant them, once the ground has cooled (generally after a killing frost) and they're unlikely to germinate until the ground warms up next spring. Your only other option is to get them out very early in the spring, when, honestly, few gardeners are thinking about digging around in the dirt while it's still cold and lifeless (at least I don't care much for that activity). Sow them liberally where you want them to grow, perhaps raking up the dirt a bit just to cover them and let them winter in place, where they'll pop up in early spring and start to bloom in late May to early June through frost. As Ina Garten would say, How easy is that? Then just either let them fall in place after frost or break up the seedheads and fling them around an area where you'd like them to colonize and your work is done!
On a quick visit today, I saw that Gail is still enjoying her Celosia 'Caracas' down in Nashville, and I suspect that ours will succumb to the cold before hers, but now is a great time to be gathering seed, as the color recedes from the blooms (I'd better get busy doing this myself soon!). But they also provide some great colorful fall accents when everything else is looking pretty ratty, worn out and drab in the garden, and I've noticed that as the weather has inevitably cooled lately, the foliage is taking on an even deeper shade of red, changing along with the leaves on the trees as the season progresses, until they are soon snuffed out by a killing frost and their seeds will go dormant until early summer next year when we'll hopefully have many more popping up in this area....
This is a wider view of the area where 'Caracas' was planted near our stand of 'Porcupine Grass' (Miscanthus sinensis), and as you can see, both have been beaten down a bit by some of the heavy rains and windy storms we've had over the past few weeks. Normally, my inclination would be to stake up the Celosia a bit, but at this point in the season, we tend to just let Nature take her course and let things fall where they may ... besides, Halloween is nearly here and it just seems to add to the generalized spookiness the front garden takes on for the holiday, with its scattered bones and tombstones....
As I wandered around to the Woodland Garden after work today (when I took these photos in the late afternoon), I saw that the Daturas are still hanging in there and blooming away, so I had to pause and get a few shots ... Fernymoss remarked --for a reason that escapes me-- that this one was very 'Georgia O'Keefe.' Ok, I'll go against the grain here (bring out the pitchforks and torches) and say that I've never quite "gotten" the whole enthusiasm for her work. Yes, she did some pretty paintings of flowers, but honestly, her paintings usually just leave me cold. It's not that I don't like women painters (au contraire!), but give me some Remedios Varo or Frida Kahlo any day, because I find their work infinitely more fascinating than O'Keefe's. But I digress ... this is a lovely Datura bloom, isn't it?
Ah yes, the ever present, now weed status Zebrina Mallow, which became quite the pest in the corner boulder bed this year ... despite my aggressive hacking away at it a few months ago, I did allow a few well behaved plants remain (they are really pretty after all), and as you can see here, the cooler weather also has its effect on the late season blooms ... they become darker, bordering more on the magenta hue than their pure purple and white of the warmer months, and what's more, they often bloom past the 'bitter end' of a hard frost and only a hard freeze finally sends them packing for the year, after they've dropped their multitudes of seeds. But as you all know, I'm a really mallow kind of guy, so it's difficult for me to try to eradicate them completely, but then again, check back with me next spring as I labor plucking out all the unwanted ones....
Finally, believe it or not, the Castor ricinus 'Carmencita Rose' plants we grew in a big pot this year are actually setting on some seeds! Though these plants haven't reached full size (7-8 ft) because we grew them in a container, they have been blooming profusely lately, and we may just be able to collect some viable seed to save (are you interested, Marnie?) for next year. These seed pods are very strange, as you can see, and they remind me of some kind of sea anemone or sea cucumber, or one of those weird denizens of the deep. Of all the Castors one can grow, this is by far my favorite (although Zanzibariensis comes close), due to its striking architectural look and the brilliant bronzy foliage that positively glows in the late afternoon sun (of which we are sorely lacking these days). It's well worth planting as a specimen plant in the garden where you have an area you want to accent a striking plant (in full sun) that you won't see in just any garden. Then again, we kind of pride ourselves on being 'not just any garden,' for better or worse!

Yes, there are more Toad Lilies to come, but I'm still behind a bit in posting of late, but there will be more soon!

That Seedy Time of Year ...

Fall has fully descended upon us at this point, with crisp, generally clear days and even crisper nights, and normally, this means a severe lack of firepower in the garden (except for the Toad Lilies now gloriously in bloom ... more on them soon). Not so with our friendly volunteer Celsosia sports depicted in this first shot! Wow, orange, red and yellow all rolled into one place where they decided to grow this year ... I just couldn't resist posting this particular shot to demonstrate the sheer variety of their various incarnations this year. I'll refrain from my usual sales pitch (you've heard it before!), just to say that I am really glad these little guys come back for us every year ... though they may be slow to get going in mid-summer, by fall they're really into their true glory and add some sorely needed punches of color to the front boulder bed. Farewell Coneflowers and Hibiscus, buh bye Bee Balm, you've long since given up the ghost of blooming and are looking, well, pretty seedy, which ties nicely into what I'd like to discuss briefly here tonight ... seed collection.
This shot shows one of the yellow sports out front in full seed production mode ... and if you grow Celosia, you're probably aware of this stage, when they lose their brilliant colors and become rather non-descript while they put on the tiny promises of flowers to come in the following year. If you're interested in collecting (or merely broadcasting) seed, this is the time to pay close attention to them as they gradually take on that sort of dirty white and fluffy aspect, because they're producing literally hundreds (if not thousands) of tiny shiny black seeds in those puffy white little pods. At this point, the gardener has a couple of options: let them go at frost and do nothing other than pull the dead plants and shake them around the garden a bit, or if one decides to take the industrious route (which I often avoid, I must admit), and collect the seeds to either broadcast around sunny areas of the garden or save to sow in early spring the following year. In either case, some seeds are bound to get inadvertently broadcast in the garden because collection is imprecise to say the least. I usually put a plastic grocery bag over the seed heads when they are fully dried (usually after frost), and just shake the seeds out or just cut the stalk, hang it upside down with a bag around it. If you choose the latter method, make sure to keep them in a dry place and ensure that there is air circulation around the seed heads, because otherwise they may mold (I know this from experience). Personally, I prefer the 'shake into the bag' method once they are dried as they give up their seeds much more readily. Once collected, unless you plan to broadcast them in situ, store them as you would any other seeds, in a dry, dark place over winter and start them in the early spring either in starter pots or sown directly outside when the ground has started to warm up.
If you choose to broadcast seed around the garden, you should be aware that Celosia seeds need warmth to germinate and you won't see them emerge until late May, June or even July in cooler years (as this one was). We usually just take what we get when they come up on their own, but this year, we plan on being more aggressive about spreading seed around in various spots so we have a few everywhere. We also plan on starting some inside in pots, particularly the Cristata cultivar we've not grown in several years, as well as some of these marvelous 'Caracas' we discovered this year. I suspect that we'll have plenty of 'Caracas' coming up where they are this year, because due to the immense numbers of flower stalks, we won't be able to collect all of the seed produced. I'm just fine with that, because we won't have to go looking for this variety to buy in the spring! We'll have plenty of them, I suspect....
Think, for a moment, how these fascinating flowers really do their thing ... and 'Caracas' provides a great example ... what we perceive as 'the flower' is really just a bloom stalk with hundreds of densely packed individual flowers who each produce at least one seed. If you look closely at the enlarged version of this shot, you can even identify some of the "inner bits" extended to attract the bees and other pollinating insects. Note how seed production in these shots starts at the bottom of the stalk and then proceeds upwards ... that's how you can determine the maturity of a particular bloom stalk. Wait until the color is almost gone from the flowers and you can see the seeds in the opened "pods" and you're in business to collect!

Just a few other observations from around the garden ... the Calendulas are still going strong (they started blooming in May!), the Purple Morning Glories are blooming profusely, and in addition to the Celosias seen here, I planted some late Zinnias that are just now blooming away to provide a bit more color to the Fall garden ... add in the Moss Rose and other annuals, and we've got a few nice spots of stubborn summer color still hanging in there on the first day of October!

I should say that I've been a bit lazy on the Toad Lily spectacular to come, but we've got so many really good shots that we've not yet pored through them completely to choose the best ones. I do hope to get a post up on their current bloomfest by this weekend if not sooner ... posting may be sporadic due to work demands, but if I can put aside the time, I'll try to keep up with what I'd prefer to be my 'normal' schedule! Whether I can keep up remains to be seen ... but October's shaping up to be an exciting time around Casa IVG with Halloween coming and pumpkins ripening in the back garden ... the corn is now drying up rapidly and will soon be making its transition to the front Halloween display. Lots of change in the offing during the next month, so stay tuned....

More Freaks of Nature!

I did manage last Saturday to get out in the late afternoon (when it was actually somewhat sunny!) and meander around the muddy front garden a bit ... so here are a few of this year's "Celosia Sports" that are starting to bloom. They're smaller than they ought to be at this time of the year (they were late coming up this year, so we'll only have these for maybe a month or so), but they've definitely got the odd shapes and vibrant color bravely going full bore into the fickle days of early Fall ... though some of these shapes are familiar from last year, they do exhibit some minor variations on what they have been in the past, and in this first shot, you can see the brilliant red (blooms and foliage) of what obviously started out as a Celosia plumosa 'New Look' at some point a few years ago. 'New Look' has always been one of my very favorites due to its striking foliage and the depth of red that the whole plant conveys throughout the season. Compare this to Celosia plumosa 'Caracas,' and you can see that they share a common ancestor. Usually these smaller varieties top out at about 10-12 inches at maturity, but we have had some in the past who got even a bit larger, but nowhere near the height of 'Caracas' (which is currently over 5 ft tall).
I never quite know what to expect from the yellow ones from season to season, but this year they seem to have opted for a form somewhere in between a 'normal' yellow plumosa and that odd sport from last year that I named "Pineapple." And then there's that real oddball (I posted it a while back) that seems to have *gasp* reverted back to its original 'Castle Yellow' form after having morphed into several incarnations over the past 5-6 years (I really can't remember when I last planted the yellow ones!) and looks strangely normal amongst the other freaks. But have I mentioned how much fun it is to see these return every year, wondering what costume they'll have on each time?

Now, I know that some Celosia purists would probably turn up their noses at having them sport so freely in the garden, so to those folks, I say, fine ... pull your dead plants after frost and only buy new stock each spring so the freaks don't start populating your sunny bed. As for us, (as you surely now know), we love the adventure of seeing Nature frolic profligately (thank you, dear friends the bees!) in the garden and look forward to what new surprises we'll have in successive years.

Remember, remember, the waning days of September ... and if you still want brilliant color that will literally last until frost, include some Celosia in your garden next year! There are a lot of really nice varieties and mixes available (Park Seed has some spectacular ones) and they're really pretty easy to grow. They start easily indoors in starter pots in late Winter, but don't set them out until you are sure there will be no further frosts or you'll lose them. They can also be fall sown as well (as they do naturally), but a mild warning: you won't usually see them coming up until the ground is really warm (say late June or July here), and though they grow rapidly, your best bet is probably to either buy nursery grown plants or start them from seeds inside. Just give them lots of sun and they'll be quite happy. They're fairly impervious to dry conditions (or soils) once they've been established, so you can pretty much just get them going and come back to admire them when they catch your eye ... they don't mind a little neglect and still will reward you with their bright spires of fiery colors!

--end of sales pitch, I'm ready for my commission now--

House-Garden Keeping Note

I'd like to apologize for the sudden absence of posts the last few days (as well as lack of responses to comments and/or emails) ... I truly enjoy and value my regular readers/commenters, so I do feel a certain responsibility to keep up my end of things here at the Oasis. Anyway, the thing is I've been pretty sick since last Friday, when some weird gastrointestinal disturbance hit me with a sledgehammer, and has put me out of action since then. It started with a horrid headache, progressed into severe stomach cramps, and on to what Woody Allen might refer to as the "full complement of nasties" throughout the weekend. I was laid low, so to speak, so low that I didn't sleep at all Friday night and spent most of Saturday in much the same state, from which I eventually emerged enough to take up position in my recliner downstairs for part of the day. So I took it very easy, snuggled in a blanket, and caught up with some of the programs and movies I had recorded on the DVR, most notably Transamerica, which I had been wanting to see for quite some time. Maybe it was the story (I think it likely was) or just the vulnerable state I was in, but that film really touched me in all the teary-eyed places. I was really glad I finally got to see it, and Felicity Huffmann certainly did deliver an Oscar caliber performance ... too bad she didn't win! (Reese Witherspoon beat her out for it.) Anyway ... I'm on the mend now, and though it may take me a day or two more to get back up to regular posting speed, I'm feeling much better and am almost up to solid food again, finally. I've just been left very dehydrated, exhausted and feeling weak, so I'm taking small steps back....
So, given the recent interest here in Celosia, these are a couple of shots from the 2007 archives that should give you some more tantalizing ideas of just what these versatile plants can get up to when left to their own devices. I've often mentioned Celosia's propensity to "sport" freely in the garden when planted with other varieties nearby and these are just two of the examples we had show up in last year's garden. I called the first one "Pineapple" (for obvious reasons!), which was apparently a cross between some 'Cristata' (cockscomb type) variety and a yellow 'Plumosa,' both of which we've had over the years in the front boulder bed. I wish I had collected seed from this one, because after appearing for a couple of years it has vanished this year and perhaps reverted to its original from, as I posited in an earlier post here. If you click through to the full view, you can see where the seeds form and emerge once the bloom has dried ... this is how all the 'Plumosa' varieties seed, so it's easy to see how they lend themselves nicely to profligate cross-pollination.

And who could quibble with the sheer, bizarre brilliance of this second sport? Again, an example of some 'Plumosa x Cristata' definitely, and wow, I should have tried to replicate this one, but as we are both often wont to do, we let them go back to ground to re-emerge in a different form the next year.... But then there's our new crush, Caracas, which we will definitely be collecting this year, as well as any of the odder ones that may still show up...

Monarch Chrysalis Update and Other Treats

Here's Thursday's update on our developing Monarch Chrysalis ... Fernymoss took this shot a little after 6:30 tonight when the light wasn't the greatest (it's been cloudy and rainy again today). We can detect a little more progress (you can begin to see the coloring in the wings), though the chrysalis still seems a bit on the cloudy side, but at least we didn't miss the emergence yet! I'm wondering if this sudden cool down has slowed its development a bit (care to weigh in on that, Shady?). We're supposed to get back into the sunnier 70s this weekend, so maybe that will make things move along more quickly ... No matter, we'll keep watching and posting on its progress...
Ok, this is an evil teaser shot of an upcoming post on the Toad Lilies who are starting to burst into bloom in the Woodland Garden, and there are going to be a lot of them! This particular cultivar, 'Amethystina,' was really slow to get going at first (it was a tiny mail order plant about 4 years ago), but this year it has really come into its own, and this the most it has ever bloomed thus far. What we really liked about this particular shot is that it shows the flowers at all stages of blooming ... from the bulbous buds, to the half open, fully open and even spent blooms. It's part of an ever expanding Toad Lily colony very close to the house, just outside our dining room windows, so every morning when I put up the blinds, I can get a good look at them. All 3 of the ones in this location in the Woodland Garden are spreading quite nicely, and our original one (which goes back about 7 years or more) is positively huge this year ... almost 4 ft tall! It's currently putting on a lot of buds, but has yet to start blooming in earnest.

Can you see now why I'm always proselytizing Toad Liles for the late summer/fall garden? They thrive in moist conditions in part to full shade, are virtually maintenance free (unless it's dry when, of course, they must be watered regularly), prolific bloomers, and produce downright fantastical flowers. Fernymoss likes to refer to them as 'Dr. Seuss Flowers' because of their whimsical forms ... they inevitably evoke comparisons to Orchids, but are in fact members of the Liliaceae family. One warning though: once you get hooked on Toad Lilies, it can quickly become addictive! I did refrain from buying any new ones this year, but that was only because the ones I saw for sale we already have! Stay tuned for an entire post on them coming soon....
Obviously there's a lot going on in this shot, so a little explanation is in order ... I think I've already whined and moaned about how the volunteer morning glories are threatening to take over again this year, but this is a kind of fun shot nonetheless. Believe it or not, that pole in the foreground is the support for a Blue Wisteria that Fernymoss is training into a tree form ... he had tied it earlier this summer and then these morning glories came in and picked up the task, so when we figured out that most were the purple ones (Grandpa Ott) we'd just let them do the tying for us. Since it was so cloudy today, these were still open in the early evening when he took this shot.

No worries though, the Wisteria is doing fine and is nicely supported, but the morning glories are going to have to go either before or after frost. To the left, and in the background, you can see our Castor Zanzibariensis in the back yard where it continues to grow ... seemingly by the minute! It's at least 7 ft tall now, and provided we don't get an early frost, it should put on at least a few more feet before all is said and done. Personally, if it doesn't get a chance to bloom, I'll be ok with that, because we have so many seeds from last year's plants we're in good shape for a couple of years (and have plenty to share). Castor seed viability is remarkable in that it will last at least 2-3 years, though when planting older seeds, we always plant several just to make sure at least a couple germinate. They're such an exotic, easy and fun plant to grow that we just have to have a few each year. I keep dreaming of an entire row of them lining the back garden space ... though if we did that, Fernymoss would have a lot to saw down after the killing freeze ... still, I think it would be a fun experiment!
Ok, this one's for Gail ... Here's a quick update on the new Celosia 'Caracas' plants that we have out in the front boulder bed ... this one is leaning over a bit (got top heavy!), but it shows how well they branch and bloom without any prodding. I continue to be impressed with this new variety, and look forward to seeing more of it next year (we'll be spreading a lot of seed around!) ... with its bronzy red foliage and stems --not to mention the blooms!-- so if you're already a fan of Celosia in any form, this is definitely one to look for in garden centers next year! Oh, and it's grown to over 4 ft so far ... what more could you ask of a Celosia?

Saturday in the Weedorium ....

This first shot is a close up of a Tricyrtis formosana Toad Lily called 'Gilt Edge,' (so graciously IDed for me by Mr. McGregor's Daughter). I have been really pleased with how well this Toad Lily has done since I plated last year ... it has increased at least threefold from the original plant I put in, and today I discovered one of its ruses to increase the colony ... it is putting out two thick, long runners at the base which should grab hold and potentially give us even more plant next year, definitely an exciting development given just how pretty this variety is. In this photo to its left, you can spot something that looks very similar... the variegated Solomon's Seal I just planted. I thought it would be fun to put both shade plants close to each other since they almost seem to mimic each other, though one will bloom for us in the Spring and the other Late Summer ... what you do you think of the combination? Too much of a good thing or a potentially pleasing combination?

We've been so lucky the past two weekends, in that we've had tolerable, cooler weather, so we're still tackling the various stations of the Weedorium (yep, I made that one up) in the garden. It's grueling work as always, though we made a few fun discoveries (such as a Praying Mantis and some volunteer sweet potato vine!) while we furiously pulled or dug up weed after weed.

I took the small primrose bed by the steps, which was badly in need of a thorough weeding, while Fernymoss worked the other side of the steps in the main front boulder bed. On my side of the steps, I just concentrated on clearing all the crabgrass and various weeds (including some renegade morning glories) away from the Primroses, Salvia nemorosa, Toad Lilies, Lavender, and the other plants in this bed. Once that job was finally done, I planted 2 Silver Mound Artemisias (they'd been waiting in pots and a bit worse for wear) and a variegated Solomon's Seal (Polygonatum) that one of Fernymoss' co-workers gave him a while back (it too had been waiting more than patiently in its pot).

Fernymoss had by far the more exciting experience, especially since he discovered (and photographed) one of the elusive Mantises we've seen lurking around the garden. He also uncovered a spot where lo and behold, he found a couple of Purple Sweet potato vine (Ipomoea battata) seedlings that are about 5 inches tall! They're not far from a big pot where we had them growing last year, and since they bloomed frequently (which most don't do), they must have left some seed behind. We've never known them to do this before, but are delighted with the find, and it's going to be fed tomorrow, just to see how big it can get before frost gets it. Not far from these welcome volunteers, he also found a good number of a purple ornamental pepper we had growing in the area last year. We thought it would probably seed, since it did fruit heavily, but up until now we've not seen them. Like the volunteer Celosias, they just took their time showing up!
Now I know some may be thinking that seeing a Petunia in a garden is a pretty prosaic sight, but in ours, it's somewhat of an occasion, since this is the first year ever we've planted them. This year, we both finally resolved our Petunia Issues (which I discussed a few months back here) and we're glad to have them. Our intention was to provide another food source for Hummingbirds and Butterflies, and now we're very pleased with how good they look planted among the Moss Rose (Portulaca grandiflorum). We both were quite taken with this veiny purple one that looks like it's spent much of its time revving up to take off during the last month or two of summer. We haven't seen the hummingbirds visiting yet, but oddly, they still are coming around to work the Monarda from time to time. I also saw a sure sign of Fall's approach ... a pair of Goldfinches who were interested in feeding on the Purple Coneflower seeds, but we were too close for comfort and they took off. I'm sure they'll be back, because they visit faithfully every year and we leave them throughout the winter to provide them (and other birds) a quick snack if they need it.
Here's another variety of Petunia that caught our eye, also planted among Moss Rose and the unidentified Artemisia I talked about earlier in the spring, and to the left in back, you can see a Kniphofia still struggling in a less than optimal spot. I put this one in about 3 years ago and it has yet to bloom because it tends to get swallowed up by the Artemisia, but it's been putting on some size this year, and I may just move it in the Spring (or yet this fall) and put it with its fellow 'Poker Plants' in the back of the Hibiscus bed where they are flourishing. This is one plant I really wish would rebloom, but alas its show is brief and doesn't happen more than once a Summer. Pity, because its blooms are truly a unique event (which I unfortunately didn't capture this year).
Here we have our newest member of the Celosia family, 'Caracas,' which I talked about a bit in a post from last week ... In the comments to that post, Gail asked if she should prune it a bit to encourage more branching, and I strongly counseled against doing that, which a close look at this photo should explain why. Ours is already over 4 feet tall and it's branching at practically every node all along the central stem, where you can see new blooms developing. I love just about everything about this plant, from its electric pinkish red stems and bronzy foliage to the truly whimsical poker shaped blooms abounding from it. More ...many ... please! We'll be collecting these seeds when they set on and want to make sure it stakes out territory not only here, but in other sunny spaces in the various beds as well. We'll see what we get come fall, but if we have enough to share I may be able to pass some along to other interested gardeners.
Finally! The oft attempted, yet more often failed, effort to get a sharp close up of one of the blooms has succeeded! Now this is one bizarre bloom that reminds me at once of a fantastical caterpillar and some sort of floral fuzzy tongue reaching out to tickle observers who just get a little too close.... No matter what, we think the backdrop of the Porcupine grass and its proximity to Finger Rock really show this newcomer off to his best advantage in the front border. Folks, if you spot this variety next Spring, give it a try... we're just loving it!

As for the rest of the Weedorium, we didn't get to those profligate Zebrina Mallows due to lack of time (we were invited out for dinner tonight) and the fact that there were a few too many bees working over there for comfort when we were at work. We're going to head over there for at least a while tomorrow, but the veggie garden is also overrun with all sorts of nastiness. Though I inspected it today and discovered that we have quite a few ears of corn developing (at least 20-30 or so!) and tons of tomatoes set on and gradually beginning to ripen. I picked one to add to the three I recently got from behind the house, so they're finally getting their act together.

Such is the state of the garden on this cool August night, as we skate inevitably toward Labor Day.

Kopper King Gives An Encore

Given yesterday's enthusiastic reception for the Kopper King, he's graciously granted us another brief audience ... I took these shots on August 16, late in the afternoon when he was starting to close up shop for the day, so that accounts for some of the petal ruffles, though others just never fully opened during the day because they were crowded together so closely. In this first shot, you can see how densely the buds pack themselves together, and on truly lucky days you can get 3-4 blooms all open at the same time on one stalk of the plant.

And, to address a point that Annie in Austin brought up in the previous post's comments, somehow I neglected to mention how big Kopper King actually grows! I can't recall (in his 7-8 years here) that he has ever gotten any bigger than 4 ft, which is right about where he is this year as well. As perennial hibiscus go, he's got a very neat growing habit, compared to say, a 'Lord Baltimore' or 'Blue River' who can get pretty tall and ungainly at times, which puts them at significant risk for damage from wind. There's nothing quite as discouraging as seeing a 5-6 ft tall stalk loaded with buds and blooms toppled after a violent thunderstorm. Often, such stalks can be saved if carefully re-staked immediately, but sometimes they just snap, and that it's for that part of the plant for the year.
I was also trying in these shots to capture the fantastic veining in the foliage as well, since that's the feature that most attracted me to it when I got this plant. This shot also shows that he has sustained some minor foliage damage, most likely during one of those thunderstorms we had last week when we got the first hail of the summer (that did a number on the pumpkin leaves). Fortunately we haven't had much in the way of insects bothering this plant (unlike poor Shady Gardener does this year), which might be due in part to the Praying Mantises that have taken up residence in the garden. We haven't been able to get close to any this year, but we have had fleeting glimpses of them around the back yard, so are keeping an eye out for them so we can capture them (with the camera of course)! If you're interested in seeing some up close and personal, click on the Praying Mantis label below to see last year's posts on them.
As for this third shot, I wasn't sure that I'd manage to get the textural look I was aiming for, but I was pleased with how this turned out. I even knew at the time I took this what I'd call it (I rarely give photos a title other than a descriptive one): Shybiscus. Usually the blooms have their inner bits proudly displayed to the world, but not this discreet bloom, thus the name.... This shot also demonstrates the depth of the red and veining these flowers have ... they're truly among the deepest reds I think you can find in a perennial hibiscus, though I suspect the Fleming Brothers have also developed other varieties with this color trait. I can see that I need to spend more time on the Fleming Flowers website, though I know full well I'll be way too tempted to pull out the credit card and go crazy snapping things up. And worse yet, I'll have Fernymoss wagging his finger at me asking the usual question: And where do you think you are going put this one? I do have an answer where next year's acquisition is going though ... in the spot where I yanked all that Coreopsis out last weekend. It doesn't have to be filled this year, and some of the Coreopsis is likely to reappear anyway, at which point I can either transplant it or yank it out. So I'll just use that site as a 'wish list' for now, then order for spring delivery, so I don't make too many spur of the moment plant purchases, something I'm well known for doing when it comes to plants!
Last weekend, when we were doing some end of the day weeding out front, I just had to get a few more shots of this new variety of Celosia called 'Caracas.' It was a new discovery for us this year, and since we got it at a end of season discount, we had to give it a try. When we got them, they were already about 2 ft tall, and have since grown to between 3 and 4 ft at present. It's obviously a cultivar of the Plumosa type Celosias, with a bit of the bronzy red foliage that you find in other varieties such as 'New Look,' though the latter never reach this height. We used to always plant the big Argentea cristata or 'Cockscomb' form, those old fashiony types with the huge "brain clusters" of flower heads, but the past few years we've been too occupied to get them planted in time. I'm thinking now that we could really save a lot of money on annuals if we just started them indoors under lighting, so maybe this winter we'll actually get motivated enough to set that up and avoid having to buy them.

Anyway, Gail also discovered this one as well and has it in her garden, so she's the only other gardener I know who has this particular variety. I'm definitely going to collect and sow seeds from this one this fall, because it looks like it's going to be a real performer for the rest of the season. I've at times mentioned on this blog that Celosia is particularly susceptible to "sporting" and producing odd mutants, so I'm curious if this one will cross with others in our garden and produce something different next year. You never know with Celosia volunteers, and I've found a few recently that are part 'New Look' and who knows what else. They're not blooming just yet, but I'll be curious to see what those look like.

If you've never grown Celosia, it's worth a try, if for no other reason than they bloom right up till frost, snort at heat, dry and humidity (once established, of course), and bring great splashes of colors to the garden when everything else is tending to look a bit past spent. And if you're really lucky, they may cross and give you some real oddballs in the garden the next year! One word of caution: when buying Celosia from garden centers, make sure you don't mistakenly buy the 'Jewel Box Mix' varieties, because they are dwarf cultivars that barely reach 5 inches high! I did that one year, and cursed myself all summer for that mistake as they got swallowed up by their bigger neighbors. The ones often called the 'Castle' varieties get taller and produce a lot more flowers as well ... and they come in a nice array of colors from pink to yellow and brilliant reds (my favorites). Under optimal conditions we've had those get over a foot tall and loaded with bloom spikes bursting with color. They're well worth a spot in your sunny garden, and make great front of the border annuals ... oh, and bees love them! Need I say more?

Belated Bloom Day ... August, 2008

Ok, some of my favorite garden bloggers faithfully observe a "Bloom Day" each month to showcase what's going on in their gardens. Dolt that I am, I never seem to know when it is until I read their posts! So forgive me a few days' tardiness (and my natural tendency to generally be late to the proverbial party!), and I hope you enjoy this belated contribution.

This post is organized as a sort of an ad hoc garden tour, startng from my front door, down along the edges of the front boulder bed, through the Woodland Garden, the small herb bed behind the house, and on back to the hibiscus bed in the parking. This first shot is a volunteer Celosia that I noticed a month or so ago nestled between the rocks by the steps that lead up to the entry of the house. When it first appeared, I wondered if it would be a mutant (one of those weird "Pineapple" ones like we've had the past couple of years. Click on the label "Sports" down below to see what I'm talking about.), but as it turns out, it's pretty much faithful to the original plant we set out years ago. Funny ... I wonder if, after mutating a few years, such sports start reverting back to their original forms after a period of time? Something to research more about in my many moments of free time, LOL. Anyway, I'm glad it popped up where it did and think it's quite pretty!
Here we have a Calendula in bloom, about two steps away from the previously mentioned Celosia. I found this one especially attractive, so had to pause to snap a few shots of it as I continued down the walk in front. I know I'm always plugging these, but honestly, there's hardly an easier flower (ok, maybe Zinnias) to get established as a returning annual in the garden. Just keep them happy and watered in a sunny place their first year, pull off the seed heads, separate them and scatter them about, and you'll have more the following year, and successive years after ... They're edible, have great herbal properties (skin care) and so darn pretty, how could any lover of fire colors do without it?
Regular readers will recognize the frequent "Bee Butt" shots I post when I get a good one, and since I know that some of you are fans of them, I present the August, 2008 Bee Butt of the Month. I got several of this bee working on Zebrina Mallow flowers at the corner of the boulder bed, and thought this was the best one to share. It was unbelievable how many bees were working in this area, which, frankly, has gotten out of control this year, with so many Zebrina Mallows up everywhere, that we are going to have start controlling them more. I did pull a few tonight where they were shading out more important plants, but while we were weeding this evening, there were just too many buzzing around that we just didn't want to risk ticking them off, so we worked some in the Woodland Garden instead. And to think a few months ago (June) I was prematurely lamenting the disappearance of our wonderful Bumblebees! Though we may both inconvenience each other from time to time. I got loudly "Buzzed" by one when I was pulling the Zebrina Mallows, but it was only a friendly warning. Of course, I then backed off quickly....
I had to include a few examples of the various Zinnias I have planted among the veggies and herbs right behind the house, because they are just now starting to come into bloom in the various places we have them planted around the garden. I really like this happenstance combination of the red and orange, but as you probably know, I'm really big on the fire colors so I'm always delighted to have them wherever I can on whatever I can! These haven't reached their mature height yet, but I've noticed that around the neighborhood where people have Zinnias planted, they seem to be blooming at a much smaller height than usual. I'm not sure what's up with that, but given the downright bizarre Spring-Summer we've had this year, it could well be an effect of the weather....
Again, we're in pretty much the same spot, different flower ... I just really loved the how the orange came through in this shot, as well as the amount of detail the camera captured at the center of the flower. (Have I raved enough about how much I love the Fuji S700? LOL) I think that every gardener who uses annuals and has a sunny spot should have to answer this question affirmatively: Got Zinnias? Such a cheap investment to plant seeds and you get back so much from them when you pamper them just a bit as they get going, and from then on, heat, humidity and drought barely touch them! Darn near perfect if you ask me -- which of course you didn't, but just in case....
One more for the road, as it were ... I'm never quite sure whether to refer to this as some shade of pink or magenta, but whatever it is, this color inevitably shows up in the mixes I buy to plant every summer. And I'm delighted with it, because these are always real eye poppers in the garden, no matter its designation. There are other ones blooming elsewhere in the garden, and you'll likely see more in the coming weeks, so consider these three to be but a brief preview from this month....
Let's revisit the Torenia I was touting a while back as the perfect replacement for Impatiens ... I guess I slightly honked off some Impatiens fans a while back when I bad mouthed them as "old lady flowers" and these are what I recommended to replace them. These two plants have done quite well over the summer and have expanded their spread quite a bit since we first planted them. They're quite happy to share their space with the ivy we have planted as a ground cover in this area, as well as the omnipresent ground ivy (aka: Creeping whoever... Charlie, Jenny, who else?). Only when I uploaded this shot to the computer did I realize I had also caught a maple seedling ... which will be dispatched soon, post haste! You can also see (to the left) one of the Toad Lilies that is starting to bud out (I think it's 'Amethystina'), but all you can tell right now is that it will be some shade of purple. To the right is one of our Hellebores that has been doing pretty well this year, so we hope it will bloom next year ... I wonder what color it will be, as this one has yet to bloom for us....
I don't think anyone will have to guess too hard what this bud is ... In fact, a few regular readers (who shall remain namelss) are probably just salivating at this tempting sight ... the long awaited blooming of His Majesty the Kopper King! I'll be devoting an entire post to this personal favorite very soon (maybe even tomorrow, depending on how wiped out I am by work at that point). I've been hearing from Gail that hers refuses to bud out and we suspect that lack of sun is the culprit ... but Shady Gardener has it worse! Hers is being eaten alive by some sort of critter ... a voracious caterpillar we suspect, but in any case, I'd really be whining if mine suffered the same fate! Hang in there, Shady, and hopefully it will manage to bloom for you this year! If not, just repeat the age old Gardener's Mantra: Next year....

Well that's it from here for August Bloom day around here! There were a lot of other things I would have liked to include, but given the length of this post already, they'll have to show up later. Never fear though, I really milk the photos I get for all they're worth, so I hope no one feels slighted, hehe. I took all these shots on August 16 and 17, 2008, so they're an accurate reflection of how we were viewing things the past two days. I'll try to remember the right date for Bloom Day next month, but don't hold me to it!

Guest Photo by Fernymoss: Red Celosia Sport

Following up on last night's post about Celosia garden sports, here's a really odd, yet attractive one that Fernymoss was attracted to because of its "joined hands" near the bottom of the bloom. It's obviously a cross between one of the common red plumosa varieties available (often referred to as 'Castle Red or Yellow') and a relatively recent cultivar called 'New Look,' which features brilliant red plumes carried on compact (6-8 inch) plants with reddish foliage and stems. You can see the parentage in the leaves where the reddish hue and veining is somewhat pronounced in this specimen. Unfortunately this detail doesn't show the top of the bloom, which is a bit more like a smaller cristata (cockscomb) variety. (Though Fernymoss did take some shots of the top, none of them turned out well enough to use here, so you'll have to wait a bit to get a peek at that, but my first impression was that it looked like a lobster waving, while the "hands" are "joined" lower down.)
Ok, so why plant Celosia? Whether you choose the Cristata varieties, with its large "brainy" headed flowers often 5-6 inches across, or the smaller varieties, it's guaranteed fire in the garden during the hottest months of summer! They positively thrive in conditions when everything else is looking a bit "burned out" and grow well in full sun whether you have average, poor, to even clay soil in the garden. They're not picky and once you've got them established (you should give them regular waterings while they're settling in) they're incredibly drought and heat tolerant. Once they start blooming they're incredibly long lasting flowers, which if you just leave them alone, will eventually fade and drop their seed after frost, virtually guaranteeing you'll see more of them the following spring. I should note that as long as the seed stays in the ground over the winter, it will generally germinate, however don't look for them until later in the spring, because they tend to come up only when the ground has warmed sufficiently and all danger of frost is past.

The larger 'Cockscomb' variety is a great plant to dry for arrangements and will last a couple of years if dried properly. You merely need to cut the whole plant down (or just pull it up) late in the fall (or while it's at its maximum depth of colour), hang it upside down in a dry place (preferably a dry basement or somewhere out of direct light) and wait for it to dry out completely. It's also best to remove all leaves and just retain the stalk with the bloom intact. Of course, should you choose to do so just keep in mind that once fully dried it will drop its seeds (and they're tiny ones!), so you might want to place something underneath it to catch them. As long as the plant has matured sufficiently over the season, you should be able to store these seeds and plant them the following spring ... or better yet, just broadcast them (in the fall after the first hard frost) in an area of the garden where you'd like to see them the next year. Though they might not all come up, they have a very high germination rate, so you'll probably be forced to thin the seedlings out at some point to ensure the biggest specimens possible.

We've found that while the large Cristata argentea variety tends to come back 'true' to the parent plant, all bets are off when it concerns the smaller varieties, such as those seen in these past few posts. But that's one of the really fun things about Celosia ... if you're not expecting exactly what you planted the previous year, you may be rewarded with the odd sports and mutants, thanks to the many bees, butterflies and other insects who tend to congregate on these flowers.

Guest Photos by Fernymoss: Yellow Celosia Sports

Last summer I wrote several posts on these Celosia sports in their 2006 incarnations, both yellow and red ones, those odd mutants who have crossed over the years and just keep coming back slightly modified each successive year. So here's some of this year's crop ... they're not as numerous as they have been in the past, but the weeds have gotten away from us for a while and have choked out some, I think. And earlier this summer it seemed that there just weren't as many as in previous years, so I think next year will probably entail planting a bunch of new 'pure' ones and let the process start all over again, along with those who come from this year's plants as well.

Long time readers may recognize the first shot as similar to a sport I posted about this time last year, and these particular ones are pretty much in the same spot the original 'pineapple' top we had growing last year. (Make sure you look at the large version to see the bonus bugs!)

The second shot is a relatively new one this year, probably metamorphosed between and plumosa variety and the more traditional cristata, or 'Cockscomb' variety, though anyone's guess is as good as mine. I can only really try to classify them by the shape and colour, both of which are way off from what you'll find in the garden centers. Let's just call this one "Bottle Brush," and consider it named!

Photos courtesy of Fernymoss. Taken 13 August, 2007 out in the front boulder bed.