Bad Color Mixes

To be filed in the do not do category. We often buy plants which are past bloom or are sold with the wrong tag and end up unwittingly planting them next to others with the resultant color clash. Usually mother nature is able to somehow ameliorate the situation but sometimes the dissonance is so apparent that nothing can save the mistake. The following are a few examples of our color faux pas in the French sense and not gaffe in the English sense.


This first example is not too bad in my opinion but the hot pink of the Azalea somehow doesn't quite agree with the purple pink Rhododendron.





Ufff! Orange and purple.




Well how about adding red to the orange and purple! =:-(




Or purple orange and pink. There is a columbine under the orange mountain Azalea which has pink flowers too so this was altogether not an great arrangement. By the way, I am not colorblind.

GBBD May! An Embarrasment of Riches.

Deciduous Azaleas, Mountain Azaleas, Exbury Hybrids

Mostly photos of our Deciduous Azaleas, Exbury Hybrids. We always called the mountain Azaleas but I don't know where we got that name. I guess the deciduous Azaleas may all be variations of Rhododendron canescens or Rhododendron Pentanthera.
Some other Rhododendrons and Azaleas which are also blooming now are also included.
















Orange and Pink! An example of terrible placement. This is what happens when planting things not in flower :)

More Recent Acquisitions, Dodecatheon etc. and Miscellaneous Other Older Plants

We bought this plant at the Master Gardener's sale last weekend. The flowers just opened a few days ago so it was not included in the previous post. Sorry for the blurry pictures of Shooting Star, Dodecatheon meadia 'Alba'. It was windy and dark when I took the pictures. Some friends came over late yesterday and I was surprised they immediately noticed this flower which is partially hidden under a Japanese maple. The flowering head is probably not much over 8" high but apparently it is not as inconspicuous as I thought. The leaves of the white Dodecatheon are much larger and robust than the pink counterpart. According to Wikipedia they are also know as "Shooting Star, American Cowslip, Mosquito Bills, and Sailor-caps" and are related to the genus Primula, primroses. Also "Primula without Dodecatheon is paraphyletic." "In phylogenetics, a group of organisms is said to be paraphyletic (Greek para = near and phyle = race) if the group contains its most recent common ancestor but does not contain all the descendants of that ancestor." "A group that does not contain the most recent common ancestor of its members is said to be polyphyletic (Greek polys = many)". More information than I care to know or remember... but included for those taxonomically inclined.






We bought the white Shooting Star to accompany this pink one which I also bought at the Master Gardener's sale 4 years ago. Surprisingly the plant hasn't multiplied much but it comes up every year like clockwork and is eagerly awaited by moi. I was again amazed that the aforementioned friends also spotted this tiny plant which is also fairly inconspicuously placed amongst larger plants.





This tiny Jack in the Pulpit, Arisaema triphyllum, was also for sale. I liked the dark colored striped spathe and I hope it remains as dark when it reblooms next year.

An interesting side note. The first Jack I planted was a light green one. It was sent to me as a root, tuber?, and I just pretty much just stuck it in the ground. When the flower appeared, it was facing to the back of the bed so the part you saw was the back of the spathe and you weren't able to see the spadix or the cup of the flower. I thought it was just bad luck and it would probably turn in a different direction in the coming years. But not so. When the flower appeared the next year, it was still facing backwards. I don't know if this is an anomaly or if it will always do this but I made sure I planted this newest acquisition facing in the best direction. Here's a nice little write up on Jack in the Pulpits.






I also picked up four of these Thalictrum aquilegifolium, the Greater Meadow-rue. I bought a Thalictrum rochebrunianum last year which turned out to be a spectacular plant so when I saw these for sale I immediately "had" to buy them. I also bought a Thalictrum from Wayside Gardens called 'Black Stockings' because the stems are dark and almost black in color which I'm excited to see.





This Begonia was just the thing to brighten a dark shaded corner of our deck.






We bought some 'Knockout' roses last year in an after-bloom sale which were mostly of the light pink variety. They rebloomed later in the year with just a few flowers but enough to want to try a few more. This is 'Rainbow' and it is much more vibrant in color than the pink ones. I think they are the prettiest of the Knockouts. I found these in the local Lowes.




The white version of Bleeding Heart is blooming. I like the white much better than the pink because it is much better behaved and doesn't multiply or try to crowd out other plants.




Pink Weigela.





I'm glad to see the Trilliums are flowering again this year.





And indoors - this Easter cactus is blooming now. Apparently these vibrantly colored cacti are difficult to care for and have them rebloom. Only a few flowers are on the plant much, much less than when we first bought the plant last year. I guess they deserve the reputation for being a difficult plant to care for. We almost lost a pink flower version and it has not rebloomed.

Recent acquisition - Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum)

We went to the annual Master Gardener's sale last weekend and bought a few more plants - as if we needed them. I spotted some Thalictrums for sale so we bought 4 for a very shaded area next to some bald cypresses and my failing woodland garden. We also bought a white shooting star Dodecatheon meadia to accompany the dark pink one we already have. We bought a couple of plants that were unfamiliar to me. One whose flower looks like penstemons' and another if reading the tag is any indication, would eventually look like joe pye weed. And finally we bought a May Apple a common woodland plant in these parts. When we went to the checkout stand the cashier said "why would you buy that plant?" "You can just go into the woods and dig one up." I was taken aback and didn't have a quick rejoinder for the remark so I dumbly let it slide.

I should have said "and destroy a part of the woodland ecology?" I don't understand, if they're trying to make money, why they don't hire or recruit people who encourage people's choices in plants. Well enough rancor. The mayapple only had buds when I brought it home but they opened the next day after I planted it in my small woodland garden. That's good enough for me.

I never really looked closely at mayapple's flowers before. I was quite taken by how lovely they look.

Mayapples are also known as "devil's apple, hog apple, Indian apple, umbrella plant, wild lemon, and American mandrake." "The mayapple is a perennial plant in the barberry family (Berberidaceae)" There's a nice little article on the UT Biotech website.

Rhododendrons and Azaleas

The bulk of our Rhododendrons and Azaleas are blooming right now. The Mountain Azaleas are just starting now so I'll post those pictures at a later date. I'll try to post the names of ones I know or have the tags of, as time permits.

Flowering Cherries, Prunus 'Kwanzan'

The petals of the flowering 'Kwanzan' cherries are rapidly falling with warmer weather settling in so I decided to post this before it is too far out of season. So many things are blooming now, I'm falling behind.

Yesterday it looked like light pink snow falling when the wind picked up a bit. The pictures were taken about a week ago. They are of the purple leaf mutation 'Kwanzan' and the normal one. I thought the purple leafed 'Kwanzan' was so lovely, we bought two to grace the front of the house. They seem to be less robust than the normal one and because of that much more graceful.


Purple leaf mutation of the 'Kwanzan' flowering cherry.




Normal 'Kwanzan' cherry.

Tree Peonies at Their Best Now, and Some Trees Around the Neighborhod

Paeonia suffruticosa






I bought out the six tree peonies offered by a garden center. Four have pure white petals and two have light lilac centers. I think just this little bit of color makes the flower even more elegant but the all white ones are difficult to fault. Unfortunately they had no name tags attached but who needs a name when they're so beautiful.







White tree peonies. The native bees in the last photo (click photo to enlarge) are completely covered with pollen.




I see these trees everyday on my dog walk.

The cherry is especially nice. I think it may be a Prunus × yedoensis which may be a natural cross between Prunus speciosa and Prunus subhirtella. It is a spreading tree so it's best planted where there is a lot of space around it.





A mature pink dogwood, Cornus florida.




Mature white dogwood.

Need Identification plus One Weird Plant per Year

I added these photos to help with the identification. I thought plant in the first photo which has now bloomed was the Anemonella thalictroides because the leaves looked similar but the flower sure doesn't resemble A. thalictroides. In fact the flower resembles the one people think is the A. nemorosa.

The other two photos are of the A. nemorosa? today. Anonymous wanted to see the back of the flower and as one of my books indicated it has no calyx. The sepals are the petal like structures. I thought it could also be a A. rivularis but the leaves are much more deeply cut and irregular on A. rivularis. So the search goes on.





All right you plant identification experts par excellence I need help IDing a couple of plants. These plants appeared in shady areas of our yard and I don't know what they are. They are quite tiny but interesting.




This flower popped up through a bunch of crocus leaves. I know we didn't plant it and so far I see only a solitary plant. I have no idea what it is. Interestingly the petals appear in two layers in groups of three so this may be a clue in identification.




This one appears in three locations. One was under a Japanese maple I planted a year ago where I removed a large Japanese maple that was misshapen so I know I didn't plant it. Besides, this plant is exceedingly small only a couple of inches tall and I don't think I would plant such a tiny flower. I will add a picture of the flower as soon as it opens.




Now the weird ones. Each year we seem to acquire one strange looking plant. This year we found two. Actually the second is not all that weird but rather strange the garden center would try to sell a plant with sparsely spaced small flowers. But they sold it to us! So what does that say about us? I guess we had our sucker shirts on that day.


#1. This is a petal-less flower. I guess a plant equivalent of a hairless dog or cat. I liked the red bulls-eye in a dusky yellow surround. A fun flower and not so gaudy as to be garish. This is a Peek a Boo plant, Spilanthes oleracea aka, Toothache Plant, Eyeball Plant. Here's some information from the Magnolia Gardens Nursery website: "This annual is used in salads because of it’s pepper like flavor, and is also chewed for toothache because of it’s anesthetic properties, this is how it gets it’s other common name of Toothache Plant."





#2. This is supposed to be some kind of cloud plant. Well, the name is actually, Euphorbia 'Sliver Fog'. What a high falutin' name for a rather plain plant. Well again, we bit so they had our number. Silver Fog indeed...fogged our eyes and brain.



Since we're into weirdness, guess what this is?

Ok Hank, This is for you...dogwood trees.

Hank, aka The County Clerk wanted to see some pictures of whole dogwood trees rather than just the flowers alone. So here they are Hank.

I haven't been very successful in photographing trees mainly because when shooting from afar everything is in focus and I mean everything from neighbors' cars, trash receptacles, houses, bikes, toys, hoses etc. and even things strewn about our yard. I've had to judiciously try to eliminate the distracting elements by taking photos from unusual angles all while doing a contortionist's dance.

I only have point and shoot cameras so I don't have too much control of the lens aperture and the resultant small(short?)depth of field which would help in blurring the background somewhat and isolating the subject. So I did the next best thing. Today was a gloomy wet day so it was perfect to photograph a light colored (white flowering dogwood) against some darker foliage especially since the wetness saturated the dark colors making them even darker.

Anyway after this long winded explanation here are the pictures. Still not good but the best I can do at the moment.

The trees are still rather small because we've only been at this house for 6 years and the earliest planted dogwood is only about 4-5 years old. There are some gorgeous, large dogwood trees covered with blossoms in the older homes around our neighborhood though. Hopefully, I will be able to take some photos of them before the flowers are gone and post them if I'm successful. It is a dicey proposition sometimes ... I was taking a photo of a big leaf magnolia tree once and the woman who owned the house brusquely slammed the upstairs window shut, probably thinking I was some kind of pervert trying to get a photo of her ;)


White dogwood, Cornus florida with Acer Japonicum 'Otaki' in the foreground and red weeping Japanese maple on the right with newly emerging leaves on bald cypresses in the background.




Same tree different angle.



A white dogwood next to our pond.




A small pink dogwood next to an azalea, a couple of rhododendrons, a peach tree on the right, arborvitae and cedrus atlantica on the left and no name red Japanese maple to the rear all topped by the neighbor's red plum. Feeling a little claustrophobic? The telephoto lens or rather the telephoto feature on the point and shoot camera foreshortens the perspective so everything looks crammed together. There is actually more space between plants than it appears in the photo...but not much more ;)




Another view of the white dogwood in the first two pictures but set further back. You can see the Fothergilla on the right, a redbud just coming into the picture on the left and in the near foreground a Magnolia virginiana which I'm happy to say has many buds forming after having bloomed the first time last year with only a solitary flower. I love the smell of this native magnolia flowers so I'm ecstatic that it is producing a lot of flowers this year.