Blooming the Second Mile

We have just turned the calendar over to September, and summer soldiers on.  At the cottage, it's great to have some repeat bloomers.  And some plants that come into flower are a surprise.  I did expect the Crocus Rose to keep on producing its wonderfully scented blooms, and it has.  Ivory, turning yellower, and then a bit pink-speckled by the time the petals fall, these blossoms are great.  

I may need to plant one here in the town where I now live, 150 kms away from the Cottage.  Another rose that is just starting another flush of flowers is The Fairy.  Here it is this first week of September (in the foreground)...

This 'little' rose is getting bigger than I had planned.  I should have known better. Here it is back on July 19th.  

 Another white blossom that is 'going the second mile' is very white indeed: Wild Quinine, Parthenium integrifolium.  This single plant was blooming back in July...  

 ...and has not stopped. I cut off the first flower stalk this week - old and brown - and later stems keep presenting those pure white blossoms.

This is a perennial I grew from seed.  Sprouted in the spring of 2012, I had only two that arose last spring, and but one of them survived.  Here it is back in May of 2013...

It grew up and actually bloomed last year.  This season, it keeps sending up new flowering stalks.  Hopefully I can propagate this.  
     One other plant started from seed surprised me by blooming this month.  A shrub called Shrubby Bushclover, Lespedeza bicolor.  Things like this keep catching my attention, when seeds are offered or other bloggers present them.  I have never seen this... until I grew my own. 
     A couple of the tiny plants I started from seed last spring are blooming now.  

These are not very big.  They should, as the years go by, mound up and become great shrubs, blooming with this vibrant colour in September each year.  I must choose their permanent locations carefully.  
     Here is what they looked like in June of last year.  How could I be anything but very happy with the progress of the Shrubby Bushclover? 

Not sure why I labelled it Lespedeza c.  I'm pretty sure it is L. bicolor. :)

Here it is this week, already blooming.  I don't usually think of shrubs starting to bloom in their second year from seed, but three of my seedlings are mature enough to do this:

May these final weeks of summer bring you a great show of flowers and foliage, and a few surprises.

Catching Up at the Cottage

My attention to gardening at the Cottage has only been slightly more than my attention to blogging this summer... at a low ebb, in other words!  Time to catch up a bit.  Let's just call this a photo essay today...  

     Astilbe and friends, Cup Plant (Silphium perfoliatum), Wild Quinine (Parthenium integrifolium).

I am really liking Dyer's Greenwood (Genista tinctoria).

And, it is rose season...

This interesting new acquisition is, uh... well, I must hunt for the name.  ...Ah, here it is: seems to be called Cruel Plant! (Cynanchum ascyrifolium)  And the last shot is a little Allium I also got at a plant sale in the spring (A. nutans?).

Enjoy the bright bits of summer!

Seedling Survivors!

In a previous post I labelled the above plants wrongly.  Pretty sure these are Eryngium agavifolium, not yuccifolium. Whatever it is, it sure is looking great.  My tagging scheme fell by the wayside last year, and I'm still trying to identify a few things in the ground and in pots.

  Despite the wonderful season of colour, this post is rather green.  It is pouring rain today here in Nova Scotia, anyway. But this day celebrates some perennials and trees that I grew from seed last spring, and have survived!  Below is the stronger of two tiny Parthenium integrifolium, wild quinine.  At least they are alive, and even fighting off some bug that is chewing the leaves.  At least, I hope they are fighting.  I want to see those clusters of white flowers for myself - a sophisticated version of pearly everlastings (Anaphalis), I'd say, from the photos I've seen.  

The next seedlings, also in the ground at the cottage, are cup plant, Silphium perfoliatum.  They are shooting up to the sky.  I await the sun-flowery blooms, with the water-holding leafy cups around the stem.  

     Back home in the greenhouse are a few other success stories.  Another Eryngium is here; this one is likely yuccifolium, though it seems to me I planted three species last spring.  Nine tiny umbrella pines, Sciadopitys verticillata, are soaking up the sun.  In behind is a wee tree I started from seed several years ago.  Was it bald cypress, or something like that?  I gotta start keeping records!

I had a great crop of Osage Oranges last year, Maclura pomifera, close to twenty healthy sprouts that came from seed, planted in milk cartons.  This spring they did not look well.  A month ago I figured they all were dead.  Now, two are leafing out, and a third is showing signs of life.  This is a pleasant relief (dare I say "re-leaf"?).

The biggest disappointment for me has been several species of Arisaema, dear ole Jack-in-the-Pulpit.  Not a sign of life from any of them, save the moss and a couple weeds coming up. 

But wait... could that be?  Look closer.  I know, I know - not quite in focus.   But one is just now coming up!  Yeah, yeah, I know; these are not labelled either.  But look over there, on the right side of the pot...

Perhaps this is the first of many more that will resurrect in the next while.  I'm about to be away from home for a week, and I will be excited to return and see if some more miracles happen!

Peonies and Promises

There's something about peonies arising from the ground that is so promising.  These were new acquisitions last year.  Both looked quite poor after a dry spell in the summer, but now they are proving they are wonderful survivors.  I don't expect blossoms this year, of course, but I now can expect to enjoy these plants for decades to come, and there will be blossoms!  Red and yellow, if memory serves correctly for these new plants.

You can see the promise of lots of weeding yet to come.  Let's just forget about that for now.  Another plant I've been taking cuttings of for a few years, and sometimes killing, is the elderberry "Black Lace."  This one, in the ground, is sprouting happily, as is one I have in a pot. 

Some of the perennials I started from seed last year, and planted in the ground, are also thriving.  Many of the seedlings I kept in pots are not showing any signs of life.  I think I'll try more "in the ground their first year" from now on.

Golly, what was this?  Hmmmm...

Eryngium yuccifolium, rattlesnake master!

Maybe this is Parthenium integrifolium, wild quinine.  I must start labelling things!

This last photo is not a great one, but the tree is great.  Last year this unnamed magnolia bloomed for the first time, and this year it will have many more.  So glad it has finally matured, and is happy in its windy spot by the Minas Basin.

Enjoy to the fullest all the great promises in your gardens.

Dry and Green

I know I'm starting with a colourful Caryopteris bloom, but I was impressed yesterday with how dry and green the gardens are at the Cottage just now.  The peony and fall aster bed below needs a lot more something that booms at this time of year.  

Other plants were very stressed.  I hauled a lot of water from the two rain barrels to keep a few alive.  This evening we have been getting a good dose of rain... just in time... again!

Lysimachia ciliata "Firecracker"

Helenium autumnale

Vaccinium corymbosum

Somehow, some perennial seedling and other things I planted just a few weeks ago have been thriving!  They are in a spot that gets some shade each day, and I have watered them whenever I was near.  

Eryngium sp, Parthenium integrifolium, Silphium perfoliatum, and others

There are a few blooms around the place still.  Some of these plants are tough.  The Impatiens are in the shadiest spot, blooming away despite the dry spell and the aphids.  And the Rudbeckia simply likes the sun.

Impatiens glandulifera

Rudbeckia lacinata

 And this little Oxalis is happy as can be, amid plants that are wilting and crisping up.  I love the novelty of this foliage; everywhere else in the gardens the usual green-leaved variety is a "weed" I pull out.  And the contrast of the yellow blooms, and then the green pods, on this purple variety seems attractive to me.  It can go to seed as much as it wants.

Oxalis hybrid

But let the reviving rains fall!