We left the gardens for a four day road trip, hoping that all the watering I'd done would be sufficient to hold the plants and pots through what was forecast to be some extremely hot weather. The forecast held firm and as we hiked the bluffs of the Mississippi River near the river's only island village of Sabula, Iowa, the temperatures were in the mid-90's. As we explored historic Galena, Illinois, the temperature actually registered 102 degrees on some of the back streets built into the steep ravines upon which the city was built. Imagine my pleasure in returning home to find that all this heat and humidity had actually broken our pattern of dryness and I found over an inch of rain in the rain gauge!
Clematis are still looking good in the gardens and the element of purple has been added to the vignette pictured in earlier posts and here...
Clematis viticella 'Venosa Violacea' has now joined in the roster of blooming clematis and should continue for months...
Here Jackmani has continued blooming and filling out, with the smaller flowered Avant Garde in combination...
To the right, a second Jackmani blooms just behind a Picea omorika...
I still have a number of self-seeded plants blooming... the one pictured here has been around for years. It seems to develop into a strong specimen for 2-3 years, then goes into a decline for a year or two, followed by a resurgence. This pattern has continued over the course of many years and it is on the upswing this year...
One of the most dependable clematis in my gardens is Henryi, just coming into bloom now... it generally continues to bloom until frost. I have collected a goodly number of cedar poles from removing several mature arborvitae and when time allows I hope to add several structures and many additional clematis throughout the gardens... they are indeed the 'queen of vines'!
I can only be reminded of the future of delphinums in the gardens by this New Millenium cultivar. In the past my delphiniums have generally been from the Pacific hybrid and Magic Fountains series. While absolutely stunning for a year or two, their life span is generally about 3-4 years in our climate. I find myself almost 'delphiumless' for the span of a couple years every five years. The New Millenium series addresses that problem by doing well in our climate for a period of seven or more years and I have prepared for the future by adding 50 + plants of these New Zealand hybrids this spring. Several are blooming, albeit small... in a year or two however, they should be magnificent if all goes as I anticipate...
The asiatics are coming into bloom this week... they are another concern that needs to be addressed since many have thinned out for lack of division. I really need to plant new bulbs this fall as well as divide the ones I have...
This cultivar is called 'Graffity' and I am amazed by its performance for the past two seasons... last year there were blooms with 10" diameters... this season the size is less, but there are 50 blooms on a stalk...
Any day we will start to experience an entirely new crop of blooms... daylilies are about to open and orienpets as well. In the area pictured here, the Scheherezade, Pizzazz, Leslie Woodruff, and Silk Road plants are seven feet tall and not far from opening large bouquets of their fragrant blossoms!
Wishing you a fragrant and flowerful week... Larry
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