Golden Lace (Patrinia scabiosifolia)

I'ts time to start highlighting the occasional wonderful plant.  This is a new one to me.  Patrinia scabiosifolia, Golden Lace.  Saw seeds for sale at Gardens North, and saw it in photos on blogs, and I had to have it. 

 

Started the seeds last spring (2012), and this year the plants I put in the ground last fall sprung up, grew and grew and grew, and are in full bloom now.  Some of them are about five feet tall!  The stalks are very strong and sturdy.  One clump did bend in one wind-storm (lots of windy days at the Cottage!), but they kept their crooked place, and are blooming elegantly as they lean.

   A few of the tiniest seedlings last year stayed in pots over winter, and this year I finally put them in the ground.  Below are a few that need to be separated (and shared).

The foliage is robust and green.  I have it planted in a bed shaded by the Cottage in the morning, and with evening shade from some small trees.  Now it's doing so well, I need to team it up with more things that compliment it.  

It has weathered the ongoing attack of an aphid army - aided by ants, naturally - and I wait to see how long the blooming season will last, and if they will go to seed.  

I recommend this one.  I've never seen it anywhere in NS, nor seen it for sale, except for the seeds I found.  
     Good luck with your own plant adventures.  I do enjoy the gardening blogs out there.

Southern Weeds = Northern Treasures

We just spent a pleasant week in Kentucky, for various reasons, and the vegetation was definitely a feast for the eyes.   Outside our first motel was this shrub bed, one of the few that was not well-weeded.  Its centrepiece was a Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica).  I have one here at home I am trying to nurse along in a big pot.  But, what were the weeds in this bed?  Some of the very plants I call exotic, and am trying to grow here in Nova Scotia.  

   Notice, on the lower left, above, a vigorous Redbud (Cercis canadensis) seedling.  And see, below, at the base of a rosebush, a Sassafras (S. albidum) growing.  Both of these were everywhere I looked in the countryside - in the woods, the fence-rows, and, yes, as a weed in the flowerbeds.  

Here is mine, below, at the cottage, growing very well this summer, after dying to the ground over winter.  I was thrilled to find this at a local nursery last summer.  It is a rarity here in Eastern Canada.

A real weed in the South is Paulownia tomentosa, Royal Paulownia.  Here is one getting a foothold in Mammoth Cave National Park...

it has been quite invasive in parts of the US, having been imported from the orient decades ago.  Here at home, I am struggling to get my seedling to flourish.  I started this from seed about five years ago.  It's growing slowly, and was half winter-killed before this past season. 

Next are a couple shots of other wild things in Kentucky and Tennessee that for me at home are special plants, receiving some attention and nurture at the Cottage.  I have not taken pictures of my plants; these are shots from the South.

Above, Rattlesnake Master, Eryngium yuccifolium, and below, Paw Paw, Asimina triloba.  Paw Paws were everywhere as an under-story shrub, but the developing fruits were hard to find.  My plant is a mere two inches tall!

And, finally, some photos from home.  These plants I'm growing I got to see in their native sphere, mature and flourishing...

Above is one of my Osage Oranges, or Bodark trees, Maclura pomifera.  Started these from seed in the spring of 2012. 

     Below is a real "weed" in many cities and southern places, Tree of Heaven, Ailanthus altissima.  This is the species of the classic US novel "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," by Betty Smith (1943).  It is also the plant nurtured in Canada by "Dave" in Stewart McLean's story, "Tree of Heaven" (2004). Dave finds a seedling growing in the dirt in on the floor of his car, and goes to extraordinary measures to keep it alive.  I'm so glad mine is flourishing, after mowing the three-inch stem off first thing this spring!  It's a foot and a half tall now.

Finally, I saw a few honeylocusts (Gleditsia triacanthos) in the wild, including seedlings, in the South.  Here at home, the one I purchased as a small seedling in Ontario years ago is finally taking off, and even bloomed, as it's four seed-pods can attest.

So, remember... some of your treasured specimens are weeds somewhere else on the globe; and some of your own weeds are highly valued by gardeners elsewhere.

Tangled Garden Tour

After living in the vicinity of this garden for decades, I finally visited the Tangled Garden, with our local garden club.  Wow, I had been missing out on an amazing adventure.

 

The sculpture, the plants, the wild and wonderful style - it is worth far more than the $3 admission.

 

I saw a lot of plants I'd like to grow, a few of which I had never seen growing in Nova Scotia before.  There are quite a few herbs and edibles, and so much more.  

That's a beautiful, simple bench, eh?  Be careful as you sit!  And check out the stone and woodwork at the entry to the labyrinth.  

Entering a herb garden was this uncommon, annual vine.  I think it is Ipomoea lobata, which is the same genus as all the morning glories, actually.  Some of the common names are Spanish Flag, Firecracker Vine, and Exotic Love Vine.  Native to Mexico, Central America and South America, I'd seen seeds for sale in catalogues, but never the plant itself.  

 

In the Tangled Garden, the landscape of edible and ornamental plants, with a gentle approach to weeding out the weeds, is very appealing.  And it's a big garden... don't know how many staff are keeping it going, but they create a horticultural jewel, hidden away in Grand Pré, Nova Scotia.

Along a rocky stream-bed of a path, some spectacular things were hidden away.  Crocosmia always stands out.  Bear's Breech[es] (Acanthus mollis) in bloom was a first for me - a "lifer" as the birders would say.  Planted it once, and it died for me.

 

I did not get a good view of this green roof,  but I want one of these too!

Many of the sculptural elements were composed of rusty metal, recycled bits, some so simply put together.  One person's junk can become another's artwork.

 

 Art imitating life is whimsical, but also gets one observing the real, living things differently. The giant White Pine cone was my favourite, I guess. Sculpture as commentary to the soul about the pine, the bird, the planet.  

It was a nice time of year to tour the Tangled Garden, but then it was time to leave.  I'll be back soon.

 
We stopped for lunch nearby.  Just in time to get out of the rain showers.  

 Yeah, that's yours truly in the centre, with members and guests of the Haliburton Garden Club.  This stopping place has been around for many decades, and is still famed for its seafood chowder and the like.  I had the lobster club sandwich.  :)

The gardeners at the café and motel are doing a great job.  Another feast for the eyes.

     One of my next adventures is a week in Kentucky (flying in and out of Nashville, Tennessee).  I hope to enjoy some different horticulture there.  Any hits about what to see?