July 1-15, 2023

The Plumbago again. But this common name is used for several rather different species. Like the Siberian Squill, that blooms in Spring, this has close to cobalt blue flowers. Ceratostigma plumbaginoides is also called leadwort. 

Like Butterfly Weed, one can depend upon this fine ground cover being rather late to show up, each Spring.

From another year, but here is the 3-4 inch wide lemon yellow bloom of Opuntia humifusa, our native Prickly Pear Cactus. 

An occasional in these piney woods. Strangely named meaning 'spotted' while clearly striped, the leaves are evergreen but the flowers are quite fleeting. The Spotted Wintergreen, Pipsissewa maculata, if I have that spelling correct. Flower are less than an inch wide.

  

After dealing with Woodchuck, Deer, Rabbits, bugs, with the clear understanding that some sorts might be bought in many a market, it is still immensely gratifying to see the vegetables thriving. As I may well have said, the Swiss Chard strangely failed last Summer, but looks great now. A heap will cook down to nothing. That one I seldom see in the market, and a favorite. We will use the Kale, but it is best after frost and goes far into Winter. The Beans, of sorts not locally available, have just bloomed. A few plants, to the upper left, of Purple Kohlrabi look like they might actually succeed. A lot of prep work in cooking, and we might hardly get more than one meal, but a great favorite I have not had success with for several years. 

Wrongly identified by me, this little rock garden Campanula must be C. carpatica, although I though I was growing seeds of the Scottish Bluebell or C. rotundifolia.  But a good number have been attempted and are gone. This single specimen is on the sunny side of the Red Knockout Roses in the lens shaped bed, just outside the addition windows. Almost 2 inch wide flowers seem huge for this low growing plant, which may be evergreen, like C. persciflora.

Crocosmia mansorum 'Diablo' again.

Monarda 'Gardenview Scarlet' again. Nicely contrasted with the Blue Spruce in the background.

Knew little, but found out Blue Dune Grass is properly named Elymus arenarius and is native to coast of Europe. Chosen because of the color, and put on display in the Irish Pot from time to time. I believe a bed of it is kept and mowed in the borders in a local shopping mall. Only a few inches tall, there. I will have to read about this plant. 

The Obedient Plant, Physiostygia virginica, has the strange ability to keep the bends one would put in arranging it in a vase. I chose the white clone, of course, but think the normal wild color is a paler purple pink. A plant that will not stay in place, but one clone named 'Miss Manners' is not suppose to wander. Never tried that.

Crocosmia 'Lucifer' is succeeding in the main perennial bed, as well as by the border between the pool deck and lawn. 

Knowlian's Black Morning Glory again. This scrambling over the lid of the hose storage box. The hose is only enclosed entirely in it in Winter. 

Surely not one of the Groundhogs I trapped and carried away. I don't think they have that sense and I took those several miles away. The Havahart Trap is on loan, but when I get it, I will go through the usual routine. I bait the trap with apple slices, allow the animal to take them, bait it again after setting it to spring. Several squash plants lost their leaves, even though I have tried to keep the repellent spray applied after each rain. Not a total loss, and, at least, the most favorite munchables are safely behind a wire fence. 

Lychnis chalcedonica again. My spelling always iffy. The Maltese Cross.

Aesculus parviflora, the most common Buckeye, and in two clones, one blooming slightly later than the other. Forming such a colony, now, that I will have to prune some out to reduce its successful spread. The species name, parviflora, refers to the individual blossoms as being small, parva, but the individual spears are quite spectacular. Somewhat cattywhompas, after being thrown about by last nights extreme thunderstorm. 

The Double Red Knockout Roses were magnificent, and now, having finished blooming, were cut down and show some new growth. In local shopping centers, they seem alway in bloom. How they are managed is a mystery, and I must ask one authority at the local nursery. He helped me with a mix that really saved them, several years ago, when they showed strange damage. Not Japanese Beetles. They seem immune. The same with Aphids and Black Spot Disease. They are immune. I expect new, vigorous growth, having put some dried chicken manure on them and watered them. The bed is totally weeded and those weeds will go through my Chipper Mulcher with all the other weed vines, trimmings and prunings. Hoping to use this as mulch on this lens shaped bed.

Shown again, this must be Campanula carpatica. By the Red Knockout Roses. All weeds torn out, and may its tribe increase. 

Buddlea weyerianna, I think. One of the few yellow clones of this shrub. Beloved by the deer, unfortunately, and it had died to the ground in Fall, but is now 8 feet high. 

The strong light violet color, Lavendar?, of the Chaste Tree, Vitex agnus-castus 'Shoal Creek' simply does not carry in this photo. This little tree competes, at the far end of the pool, with the Japanese Apricot. That tree is always appreciated for its Winter flowering. It did form small pale apricots, and I should have tasted one. Imagine they are probably inedibly sour. 

The Wooly Betony, Stachys byzantina 'Helen Von Stein', is chosen for the silvery green foliage and that this clone seems never to bloom. The flowers are small and pink and on lanky, floppy stems.  Had it for years, and suddenly it was not there in Spring. This is a replacement. Such a hardy plant that its loss is a mystery.