The main reason I started this blog three years ago was its value as a personal gardening record. I’ve made many failed attempts at keeping track of plant varieties, dates and success/failure rates: spreadsheets, journals, copies of correspondence (I write to other gardeners every chance I get) and odd scraps of paper in the pockets of my out-door clothes, smudged with ink that turned out not so waterproof.
Nothing works as well as posting my experiences online in this little forum, listening to the comments down the line, and being able to search my own writing for information I’ve forgotten or decided willfully to ignore. For example, how many times have I decided NO MORE ROSE BUSHES because given my soil, climate and ability to pamper them they are nothing but expensive annuals? Six times, including the ones in this order for 2011. Oh well.
Quoted text is from the searchable Fedco Tree catalog.
2562 – Anne Raspberry
I am a new convert to “all season” varieties of small fruits. The Seascape strawberries that we planted in spring 2010 bore fruit after six weeks and continued until Thanksgiving. That might have been enough (strawberries! at Thanksgiving!) but they were also delicious. That experience led me to order “Anne” raspberries:
Late. JEF-b1 (Amity x Glen Garry) Flavorful everbearing yellow raspberry, ripens earlier than Kiwigold and is actually yellow, not a washed-out pink. Large cohesive fruit with good flavor. Tall rangy productive plant may sucker less than other everbearing types. Mulching or adding organic matter to the soil will encourage more suckering which should, of course, improve yield. Like other everbearing types, you may cut it right down to the ground after the season. Z4.
2700 – Royalty Purple Raspberry My first set of Royalty canes produced beautifully for 10 years. This summer I dug them all out along with the Killarney Red, which were fine but not spectacular and are therefore not being replaced. We’ll go with the yellow Anne and purple Royalty and see if the resulting color jam is beautiful, or disgusting. Either way it will taste great.
2787 – Seascape Strawberry We tried this variety in 2010 and have been delighted with it. Fifty more plants, please.
3485 – Pinus koraiensis Korean Stone Pine For bonsai. And many decades hence, for pine nuts.
4927 – Abelia mosanensis Fragrant Abelia For the bees, and the swampy, acidic parts of the garden:
4-6′ x same. Delicate showy exceedingly fragrant pink campanulate (bell-shaped tubular) white-centered flowers. Somewhat loose plant with graceful arching stems. Best as a specimen or hedge planting. Blooms in late spring. As fragrant as hyacinth or even Korean spicebush. Glossy green foliage turns orange-red in fall. Full sun to partial shade. Easy to grow. Prune after flowering. Tolerates most average soils but prefers acid, moist and well-drained. Native to Korea.
5204 – Itea virginica Henrys Garnet Virginia Sweetspire
3-5′ x 5-6′ Swarthmore College, PA. Spreading shrub with an erect clustered branching habit. Fragrant white flowers on upright racemes up to 6″ long in early summer. Bright green foliage, brilliant reddish-purple fall color. Will form colonies. Henry’s Garnet has both superior flowers and fall color. Winner of the prestigious Styer award and the 1999 Michigan Growers’ Choice award. Recommended for moist or wet areas although quite drought tolerant as well. Sun or shade, pH adaptable. Species native to eastern U.S.
5474 – Rosa Magnifica Rose Here I go again. . .
4×5′ R. rugosa x Ards Rover. Dr. Walter Van Fleet introduction, U.S., 1905. Large clusters of 3–5″ loose double deep fuchsia-purple-red flowers with showy bright golden stamens, spicy fragrance, and 30 petals per bloom. Dense shrub with large glossy dark green foliage and a vigorous wide-spreading habit. Orange-red hips. Very disease-resistant. Walter Van Fleet (1858-1922) was a physician who dropped out of medicine at age 35 to follow his passion for plants. Twelve years later he introduced Magnifica, an unusual cross between a rugosa and Ards Rover (a fragrant red pillar rose from Ireland just introduced in 1898). From 1910 until his death, Van Fleet worked as a breeder for the USDA.
5723 – Symphoricarpos orbiculatus Coralberry It has four common names, which is a sign I should have a specimen. Also, a bit of Devil’s Shoestring over the door keeps out zombies.
3-5′ x 4-8′ Also called Red Snowberry, Buckbrush, Indian Currant and Devil’s Shoestring. Low-growing spreading arching shrub. A good wildlife plant for banks and hillsides. Dense clusters of small pinkish or purplish-green flowers in early summer followed by clusters of small purple-red berries that persist into winter. Will attract insects, bees and birds. Some say unattractive to deer, but others say otherwise (hence the name Buckbrush.) Red fall foliage. Adaptable to most soils, moist or dry. Shade or sun. Native eastern U.S., west to OK and north into parts of Canada.
6741 – Perovskia atriplicifolia Russian Sage This plant has only increased in popularity over the last five years – it’s everywhere but in my garden, until now. The bees will love it.
6871 – Verbascum Caribbean Crush You can’t have too many giant, towering, gaudy variaties of verbascum.
6972 – Scrophularia nodosa Figwort This plant sounds like something I must have – although I had never heard of it before.
A slim stalk studded with many small waxy dark maroon flowers with yellowish centers. The flowers look like little open mouths singing in unison. Toothed leaves and square stems. Aerial portions infused to make a massage oil that benefits the lymphatic system. We do not recommend internal usage without consulting a seasoned herbalist or naturopathic doctor. Also an excellent plant to attract pollinators. Lauren says, “I have never seen any plant more covered in bees when it is in bloom.” Holly has seen these lovely European natives growing wild in the woods near Sand Beach on Mount Desert Island.
7022 – Verbena hastata Blue Vervain A beautiful bee plant.
North American native with tall branching flower spikes of a deep green-grey hue. Tiny bright purple-blue flowers whorl around the spikes one ring at a time. It will re-seed readily in the garden and around your yard. Commonly used as a nervous system tonic, mild sedative, for a variety of menstrual problems, neck tension, and many other complaints. 5–7′ tall.
My Fedco seeds order arrived today, and I spent the morning clearing off the work table down cellar. Tomorrow I’ll fill some seedling trays with ProMix and check the bulbs in the bank of shop lights. Not that I’ll actually start seeds tomorrow – although I used to plant flats just after Christmas and have hedges of tomato plants by the time they could safely go out (around these parts) in late May. That way lies madness and I’ve reformed. I can stop any time I want. Really.
Campenula growing between seedum and dianthus in the alpine bed.
Astilbe and gunnera growing in the lower garden, near the swamp.
Elecampne growing on the stairs, over a tree peony.
THE GREEN MAN blog says: Of all its favorable attributes, the striking blue hue is what really sets this Fothergilla
The Campenula are in bloom, and we had a sunny day! This variety has a lustrous blossom, the petals are almost reflective, and a beautiful color in the sunlight.
This photo shows the starry, silvered dwarf campenula, as well as the dwarf variety with huge, pendulous white blooms. Not for the first time, I swear Ill be better about recording what variety I plant somewhere permanent and easily referenced.
I took these pictures at 7:30 p.m. The cloud cover is so thick that we’ve had fairly consistent light since the sun rose at 4:49 a.m. Civil twilight isn’t until 8:57, for a full 16 hr, 45 minutes of visible light. I could easily be working outside now, at 8:45, and the thrush is singing in the tall trees at the edge of the garden. Tomorrow’s light will be shorter by 18 secs and the long slide toward Christmas begins again.
Generally, the best plant combinations in my garden are unplanned. Not the plants, but the size, texture and color of the picture they make together, which is something I don’t see until they have grown together in a way that one day, has become exciting and attracted my attention.
