Bogturtle's Garden- June 16 to end, 2024

 A mix of recently shown and new for this year.

The exit drive from where we park. A circle has been very practical, all these years.

Not a clear picture of the return blooming Daylily, 'Happy Returns'. And I cannot show a mass of them. I suspect, despite my spraying, a Deer or two got busy, one morning. 
Almost no buds left. 

Thankfully, the Deer don't bother our native Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa. Seed grown ones are both in pots and various places on the property.

One of the two urns by the steps into the screened porch. Totally hidden now by the Ivy.

Astilbe 'Bridal Veil' and a white margined Hosta in the shade on the North side of the house, by the front walk.

Just another photo of a more dwarf sort of Oakleaf Hydrangea.

The camera did not take clear photos, today. The beautiful 'Maltese Cross' Lychnis calcedonica, could achieve foot wide heads of flowers. Am just happy it is here, and hope I can coddle it a little.

Perfectly happy that the 'Lamb's Ears''Helen Von Styne' is so reluctant to bloom, the flower heads being unremarkable.

Another photo of the blue-purple Veronica. This time it shows up decently, while a little past bloom.

Lysmachia punctata, again.

Hydrangea quercifolia 'Snow Queen' at its best here.

'Stokes Aster', Stokesia laevis is coming into bloom. Native to our 

South East. Extremely successful here and always easy from seed.  Evergreen, Deer and Rabbit resistant and recently introduced in a few newer shades and colors. Usually a violet-blue. Never blue, as I understand it, and it has always annoyed me that sellers would push that a bloom is blue when it is only close.  

Really close to the purest white, this variety is named 'Divinity'.

And even more surprising to me than the white is this straw yellow sort known as 'Mary Gregory'.

Success with Asclepias incarnata 'Alba'. The white flowered sort of the usually rather flesh pink colored 'Swamp Milkweed'. That form is common, locally. Success,Despite the wildlife that are such pests by sampling what I am growing in the rehab, nursery area. Surprisingly easy from seed, but getting it to grow unharrassed by the Deer, etc. has been a challenge. It spent last summer in a pot in the little pond, but is not a plant for the shade, and overhanging trees has made that area dark.

Seldom have any interest in pink flowers. So I cannot say why, several years ago, I bought this pink flowering Jasmine vine called J. stephenense. In a pot and past bloom, except for a few straggling blooms. Cannot say if it has an odor, as so many Jasmine sorts are famous for.

Confused in naming, this is sometimes called Pseudocamellia japonica. My daughter alluded to an impression I had, that I had never mentioned to her. The fleeting flowers look, for all the World, like poached eggs. And they soon litter the lawn. That makes it not such the wonderful patio tree I first thought it would be.  Both Fall color and Winter bark add to its value.

Great variation in appearance of Athyrium japonicum, the Japanese Painted Fern, is a plus. And the plant keeps getting commoner on the property.

In deep shade, on the North of the stairs up to the pool deck, the Autumn Fern had become huge. 

This less than an inch wide wildflower is occasional, and hardly rare here. The 'Spotted Wintergreen' or 'Pipsissewa', in fact, evergreen. Chimaphila maculata. With leaves not truly spotted, as the species name implies, but nicely striped. When I was young, and first saw the waxy little flowers, I noticed they smelled good.

I assumed that, if I planted enough seeds of Asclepias tuberosa, I would get a good range of colors. Here one has bloomed that resembles the marketed sort of Butterflyweed called 'Hello Yellow'.

Went out today in the blazing heat to water the perennials, as they really did need it. And took this series of photos before. Pleased how well the Stokesia has endured the lack of rain and the serious heat. 

In all my years I have purchases and photographed many of the Monarda varieties. The only one left, this year, seems to be this especially tall and brilliantly scarlet one called 'Gardenway Scarlet'. Some really neat colors are for sale, but I will wait until I have a little better control of the gardening, here, before I add any.  

I have photographs of this one cactus, Opuntia humifusa, from past years, with many blooms. Up on the potting table all year, it is about the most neglected of any plant here. Yet it is surviving. I once put some in another yard, to simulate the grand plant scenario one can find in the NJ pine barrens. This cactus is one of the very few species that tolerates our cold and wet, and the sandy pine barrens soil helps it. But it will spread and pads will die and look a mess, so I keep this one in a pot. I can put attention to it on my vast list of what I should be giving, but my gardening crew remains absent.

I like the little Morning Glory, 'Knowlian's Black', because it seeds for next Summer. 'Heavenly Blue' never forms seed for me. 

I call this Malva moschata 'Alba' and will double check. Usually an orchid pink. I had the plant and then did not, but was surprised when one showed up in the large pot that holds a Japanese Maple. But then a Deer came along and ate it, and it managed to put out one single bloom, so far. Disgusted, I found a source of seed, and they are planted. None sprouted yet. Not easy to find.

One of the few yellow flowered types of Buddlea. Buddlea 'Honeycomb' is, originally, I think, from Scotland. This shrub is in a conjested bank of them that hides the screen for the potting bench from where we eat dinner. A prominent feature, there. 

Rana sylvatica, the Wood Frog, and I was glad to see it. Occasional, with none photographed last Summer. Usually stirred up ahead of the lawn mower, and, counter to Bullfrogs or Greenfrogs, largely terrestrial. Of course it starts off in a pond, somewhere. If a full grown one is found, I will show it. They are 10 times this size.

I knew that Azalea 'Lemon Drop' was in the crowded mix of shrubs where we park the vehicles. Directly across from the perennial bed. But I didn't see the flowers, and wondered if it had been out-competed and gone. But an overhanging Winterberry bush, at eye level, hid it until it bloomed. I was fooled because it blooms so late, compared to the other Azaleas here. It will drop its leaves in Fall. Beautifully fragrant.