Bogturtle's Garden- July 16 to end, 2023

 Having posted this blog since about 2003, I am impressed with how many sorts of plants have been attempted, how many were successes and how many are no longer here. Going back into old photos is kind of amazing as I assess which ones are still here, some pests, some treasured, and a number of beautiful ones I never succeeded with while I have no explanation why they did not succeed. Others, I have lost, were quite clearly not for my soil or zone. 

Having lost this shrub, unexplainably, several years ago, I ordered a replacement, and this is its second year. Good to see it thriving.                Buddlea weyerianna 'Honeycomb'.

Having both my phone and finepix camera to take photos, I know, now, that clearer photos come from the little camera. But any day, Sun seems to add so much. This photo is from my phone on a rainy day. 

The color of the Chaste Tree, in this photo, seems very accurate. Vitex negundo 'Shoal Creek', if I have that right.  Also in the photo are the Squash plants, being vigorously protected from Deer, Woodchuck, Rabbit by repellent spray. 

The Caladiums in the two pots flanking the steps into the screened porch keep looking better and better. 

One spore of the Japanese Painted Fern started at the base of the screened porch, and then spores from that started. But the life cycle of Ferns is unknown to the vast public. Even serious gardeners don't know how complicated it is. 

Tiger Lilies, Lilium tigrinum, are not striped, but spotted. This one is 6 feet tall. In the axil of many a leaf is a small bulbil that can be picked off and rooted. An unusual way to propagate hundreds, if you care. 

Arum italicum has retreated underground for the Summer, but the flowering stalks now hold these brilliant berries.

An economy here. The lens shaped bed, outside the bank of windows on our addition, was weeded, finally. And those weeds, all prunings, rampant vines, even corn husks from corn for dinner, all went into the chipper, shredder. The rough product is now down, and I hope few weeds will come back. The roses were pruned after a grand show, and are putting out new reddish growth. They will bloom soon, and some already have. The near end is covered with Mazus repens 'Alba', but that needs either a little shade or more water. The Bugleweed, or Ajuga, is there and is another plant that you will likely have forever, if you take it on. Low, easy and with nice Spring flowers. Easily managed, so not really a pest, I guess the word is 'dependable'. Three different clones of the common Violet, Viola odorata are there and I hope they increase. A true pink, a yellow, and a reddish purple, if I recall correctly. The only disadvantage to these is they may invade the lawn, as the normally colored violet sort has. I don't think I will see flowers on these additions until Spring. Also, the Tussock Bellflower, Campanula carpatica, with the mulch, should do better in this area where dry soil is too often the case. A tiny selection of white Phlox sublata is there. Ages ago, these Phlox were offered as two foot wide patches, for a dollar or two, locally. Never got any, for some reason. Wish I had. Wonderful, dependable evergreen ground covers. That, too, will not bloom until next Spring. 

Bignonia ' M. Galan'. Likely a hybrid of an oriental and an American species.  Once planted on the house chimney, that one seeded about and I tried to eliminate it. Another, 'Jersey Peach' with the color of a peach interior, may be back with the Rose 'Winner's Circle' on one end pole of the pool deck. I tried to eliminate that, years ago. Beautiful, but again too vigorous and invasive. And one American sort, B. radicans?, of a clone that is yellow, is on the barn pole just where the wildlife camera is. That has not been a problem, while it may well be seeding about also, as I have starts of these Trumpet Vines all over. All unwanted. The one planted behind the rock garden lattice, running up into the Holly tree, is just starting to bloom. That is where I got this photo of a single bloom. I thought I could plant it there with no harm coming. 

Before I was even married, my parents got a book on gardening from Reader's Digest. The plants suggested tend to be too aggressive, but I did not know that then. Every vine a thug, I am afraid. Trumpet Vine, Porcelain Vine, and Akebia were all recommended. Watch them. Beautiful, but ready to take over the Planet. 

The authors of the book must have wanted to feature 'no fail' plants. Too true.

I will call this Pardancanthus chinensis 'Freckles'. Not the first little bloom, this year, but the first I photographed. A dwarfer form, and when seeds have come, I found them easy to grow. The Blackberry Lily, to some. Taking a house cool camera into this intense, humid heat may have caused the unclear photo, as I used my little camera, not my phone.

Portulaca, also called the Moss Rose. Some companies used to sell separate colors of this extremely useful annual.  It comes back from seed, often. The finest display was at a local shore town, around their welcoming city sign. Perhaps a twelve foot square of every available color, and doubled blooms, as mine are. 

Back in the day, when I thought it might be nice to have a broad selection of colors, I thought this brilliantly scarlet orange Daylily 'Mt Etna' was a good choice.  I never completed that collection and I cannot say all I ever bought are still here, but more should be in bloom, and still may. 

A noted plant in southern gardens, the hardiest of the Lycoris, perhaps. And I am surprised mine are already in bloom. L. squamigyra, I think, and known down south as  'Nekked Ladies'. The rampant foliage comes very early in Spring, but dies down, when Summer comes. These are blooming in the very outer edge of the Edgeworthia bush, at one end of the little rock garden, but others are all over the property, very randomly. 

The tropical Hibiscus. H. chinensis, I think.  Almost destroyed by the large Whitetail Doe, or her fawns. Here every morning, and very bold. Never before, with it put in the same spot near the screened porch, for many years.  But I have been faithful in spraying repellent, since.  So it has recovered nicely. We cannot overwinter the plant, so each Spring there is a hunt for a solid yellow, which my wife prefers.

And here is one cultivated clone of the native, hardy species. Hibiscus moscheutos, dies to the ground each Winter. Very much the same color as the wild ones, down by the creek, but 2x as big.  It prefers full Sun and lots of water. 

A bed without weeds, now. These are seed grown Woodland Strawberries. Red, yellow and white little berries, and everbearing. So I cannot explain why there is not fruit and not even blooms. When I get more mulch from my chipper, shredder, I will use it around these plants. Several years old, and I have gotten fruit in the past. Chipmunks and Rabbits are always behind the pool, where these plants are growing, but even if they steal the berries, I should still see blooming.