Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Halftime
This started out to be a post about what was blooming at the end of June. Then it was going to be a post about what was blooming at the midpoint of the year. (Did you know that the first half of 2007 ended on July 2 at 1 PM?) And now? Well, Happy 4th of July to those who celebrate it!
The first few days of July have been unusually cool, which is actually OK with me. I've had the windows open the whole time - airing out the house and saving on air conditioning. But we could use some rain. Plants, both wild and cultivated, are starting to take on that dry end-of-summer look.
Enough about the weather, what was blooming at the end of June? This is one of my more inspired plant combinations. Plain old shasta daisies with a big yellow daylily whose name I do not know. I bought the original plant long ago at the late lamented Chantilly Farm Market. (That was such a great place. There's a Mattress Warehouse there now.) I don't remember whether the daylily had a label even when I bought it, but I don't think so. I like the form of these old daylilies better than many of the new ones, which are so ruffled and heavy with short fat scapes. This one, to me, says "daylily". The new ones don't talk to me very much.
But if had to choose a newer ruffled one, I like 'Apricot Petticoats'. I would call the color cantaloupe, not apricot.
The annuals started from seed are looking good now. I'm still having fun with Cupheas. The one in the background here is from the Thompson & Morgan mix called 'Summer Medley'. They say the species is C. miniata, but I've just about given up on Cuphea taxonomy. The petunia is Chiltern's 'Giants of California', but only some of these are the size, shape, and colors I remember from the now unavailable Burpee's 'Giants of California'. Those were uniformly large plants with uniformly large ruffled flowers in mostly pastel shades. A few of these new ones from Chiltern fit that description, but many are just rather ordinary-looking.
Back in the woody and perennial category, the 'Blue Satin' Rose-of-Sharon is blooming blissfully beetle-free. I still can't believe my good fortune there.
I really should try to eradicate the Passion Vine - it's such an aggressive spreader. It's now escaped to the other side of the neighbor's fence, but I don't think she knows/cares. It will greedily take every inch of territory it can get, but when it's in bloom, I don't care.
Labels: annuals, daylilies, hibiscus, in bloom, passiflora
8 Comments:
Entangled, I didn't know about the July 2nd dividing line - that's interesting information, thanks.
The daylily/shasta pairing looks great...my IL front yard had something similar. Now that you've reminded me about it it might appear here, too.
And your 'Blue Satin' Rose-of-Sharon is lovely - is it really that blue!?
I hope you get a nice, soaking rain soon.
Annie at the Transplantable Rose
Annie: I came up with the daylily/daisy combo after reading Pam Harper's Color Echos, and noticing that the center of the daisies is similar in color to the daylilies. Most years they bloom together, but this year the daisies were a little bit ahead.
The 'Blue Satin' Rose-of-Sharon is more blue than many I've seen, but probably not quite as blue as the photo looks. That was taken early in the morning, and the color looks a lot deeper then.
It poured down rain yesterday afternoon for about 10 or 15 minutes, and more expected today, so I get a break from dragging the sprinkler around.
Your flowers are looking bright and cheerful! Here we're having way too much rain, not nice at all and it is cold as well. Feels like Autumn in fact. Brrrrr Shall I send some rain your way, we have plenty to spare. :-)
The passion flower has such an interestingly beautiful and complex structure. The fruit is seedy but makes a wonderful juice.
The rose of sharon has such a gorgeous blue color.
You usually only see the cigarette plant Cuphea so yours has an unusually wonderful flower. Is it hardy where you live or does it reseed itself?
Yolanda Elizabet: Yes, please send rain! And cooler temperatures - it's 91 F here today! :-)
Ki: The passion flowers have only made a few fruits during the time I've had them, maybe because in previous years they haven't had much chance, with the Japanese Beetles eating the flowers. I may give the fruit a try, just to say I have.
The Cupheas in the photo were started from seed this spring, but I have a lot of self-sown seedlings popping up from last year's plants. The self-sown ones are still quite small. I had several of the Cigar plants (C. ignea) last year too, but no self-sown seedlings of that type.
That 'Blue Satin' Rose of Sharon is just gorgeous! That is a new color for me - wow (I love blues int he garden).
I'm the same way with my passion vine(s). At some point I always think that I need to deal with them - either place them somewhere that I control (prune) them more easily or get rid of them - but then they start blooming and I don't care where they go and some swallowtail caterpillars just love them and another season passes...and they still live and thrive. I've given up. They can take over.
A mattress warehouse where a garden center used to be?? That is criminal :). I love the yellow daylily with the shasta daisies, makes for a pretty picture.
Pam: The 'Blue Satin' Rose-of-Sharon really tends a little more toward purple than it looks here, but it's not that muddy mauve-purple that I've seen in many R-of-S's.
I'm just trying to figure out how I'm going to get rid of the passion vine on the neighbor's side of the fence, when I do finally get fed up with it. It belongs to the neighborhood now, whether they wanted it or not ;-) I think I have a suitable spot for it at the new place - and I have plenty to dig up and move.
IGW: Yeah, it's a real shame about Chantilly Farm Market. It was my kind of place - great plants in the growing season, absolutely delicious produce, pumpkins and fall decorations, Christmas trees, etc. They lost their lease because the owner wanted to "develop" the property, then the lot was abandoned and decrepit for several years. We have 2 mattress stores within a half mile of each other, but no garden centers/produce stands now. This still irks me, as you can probably tell.
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