I hope you will visit the following sites and partake of what others are sharing this week. I'll be linking with Tracie and her Cottage Garden Party #7 at http://fishtailcottage.blogspot.com/ on Wednesday. On Friday it's Tootsie's Fertilizer Friday (you can click on the badge at the right), as well as Carol at http://www.maydreamsgardens.com/ where gardeners share what's blooming for them on June 15th.
For starters this week, I want to share the clematis pictured above. I had forgotten that I planted it and am not certain of its name, although it might be "Ernest Markham". I have this (bad?) habit of planting a number of clematis plants on a single support and not keeping track of what they are... I know that Ramona is blooming just below it on the rustic support, and there are other cultivars yet to commence blooming here as well.
We grow a lot of hosta cultivars in our gardens. I have many favorites and "Great Expectations" is certainly on that list. I like it's color best when it's grown in full sun as in the photos below. This planting is about eight feet wide and does just fine in its southern location as long as it stays hydrated... It also contrasts nicely with the Weeping "Purple Fountains" european beech growing just behind it.
As noted in previous posts, we are extremely dry right now... today's hope for storms dissipated prior to reaching here and our next chance for rain is at least a week away. I have had to prioritize which areas will be watered and if you note the lawn in the next photo, this is not one of them. A few varieties from the Explorer series of roses don't seem to mind and continue to bloom over a long period...
Champlain is another rose of this series that doesn't seem to mind the drought situation in this utility area of the gardens either...
The gazebo path relies mostly on foliage and texture for its interest...
I featured the clematis "Josephine" a couple posts back... this is a very showy cultivar that stays in bloom for weeks as the center 'powder puff' of petals continues to enlarge over time...
Perhaps the garden spot with the most color right now is the area of the arbor and its surrounds. The Japanese tree lilac is still in full bloom and on the arbor itself are several 14" hanging pots of Proven Winners "Vista Bubblegum", "Vista Fuchsia", and "Vista Silverberry" petunias in various combinations. There are also pots that contain Lobularia "Snow Princess". In these planters I use a combo of sterile bark planting medium, well aged horse manure, Osmocote triple 14, and moisture retaining gel. I've only had to water them about 4 times in the past five weeks thanks to the gel which I used liberally. When I do water them, the excess flows through as a sort of manure tea onto the "Big" series of fibrous begonias planted below, making an excellent fertilizer.
The baskets are starting to fill out nicely and will eventually provide a cascade of blooms...
To the west of the arbor is a grouping of five House of Meidiland "Cherry Meidiland" roses along with a single plant of "Sevillana" and several colorful dwarf conifers. The conifers are a replacement for many more shrub roses which previously were a bit overwhelming, so a number of them were removed...
On either side of the arbor are cedar trellises upon which grow "Jackmani" and "Avant Garde" clematis plants... the combination on each of the rustic supports... only Jackmani is in bloom at this point in time.
There are also a few delphiniums coming into bloom, but the majority of the perennials are new to this area this season and thus will not put on much of a show for a season or two... they include two colors of New Millenium series delphiniums, summer phloxes, and astilbes. The arbor itself has other varieties of clematis including mature plants of "Josephine", "Henryi", and a transplanted "Betty Corning".
Here are several additional photos of the arbor area...
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| "Sevillana" rose with "Taylor's Sunburst" pine |
In other spots in the gardens clematis continue to bloom well, including the "The President" also featured in an earlier post... I hope that it continues looking fresh through the opening of a number of pink asiatic lilies which normally bloom simultaneously with the clematis...
Clematis really can bloom in full shade albeit not as well as in sun... this planting is an example of that and has a "Ramona", "Hagley's Hybrid", and self-seeded plants in bloom together in quite heavy shade...
The viticella cultivar called "Polish Spirit" is just starting to bloom as well and will continue through the entire summer...
The former cottage garden has taken on a different persona this season with its many changes... numerous contemporary varieties of Heuchera are in bloom just now, while Sundrops (Oenothera fruticosa) make a for a lively and rich yellow backdrop...
The sundrops combine well with Verbascum "Banana Custard", a biennial that can grow seven feet tall if staked...
Throughout the gardens, many cultivars of dianthus are still in bloom while others are ready for a shearing of spent blossoming stems... these are in the rockery...
The rock garden is also colorful with a number of yellows and limes in the foliage of the miniature and dwarf conifers, contrasting with the blues and greens of other conifer cultivars...
That's pretty much what's blooming this week however there are hundreds of lilies and hemerocallis ready to open any day... so stay tuned... take care, Larry
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