MucknMire: 05/01/2007

Recent Acquisitions

Here are our purchases from a recent Master Gardeners sale. Several Polygonatum, Solomon's Seal, a Trillium and a Hepatica. Thankfully the plants we separated by botanical names so I headed straight for the P's for Polygonatum to beat the large crowd because I wanted to add a few more to the woodland garden. The Trillium and Hepatica were under a tent named collector's corner where they had unusual, commercially obtained plants. I told my wife to scout that area to find anything unusual that caught her eye and she was able to get the Trillium, Hepatica and tiny Polygonatum before they were all gone. She has a good eye for plants.

This is the Polygonatum humile a tiny Solomon's Seal. Humile for humility? We bought two of these plants - they were too cute.

This is Polygonatum odoratum, variegatum. The MasterGardener who checked us out said she donated these plants. I asked if they had a scent because of the name but she replied that it didn't or only a faint scent she could barely detect.

Polygonatum odoratum. Just the plain one, not variegated like the one above. These have not done well. They barely grew, the buds didn't open any more than in the photo and the two plants we bought have already wilted while the other Polygonatums are still flowering and doing well. I could detect no scent.

Two close ups of Polygonatum biflora which is something of a misnomer because there are as many flowers that are triplets as doubles. The first picture a bud closeup of the variegated leaf variety and the following one of the open flowers on the plain leafed one.

And...Trillium luteum "Lemon Yellow". I was hoping the growth on top of the leaves were flower buds but they turned out to be just appendages of the leaves. Rats, I thought I'd get to see it bloom in the first year. Not so!

No close up of the Hepatica but it's in the box in the first photo. Hepatica nobilis var. obtusa (H. americana) - Round-lobed Hepatica a relative of the anemones. The tag reads blue- violet flowers. I hope so because I have the white flowered one which is quite humble and could use the 'Humile' appellation.

The cost for all these plants? $45.00 We almost turned back to buy more when we realized how cheap they were. The most expensive ones were under the tent. 9 plants, two in gallon pots for $45.00. Five bucks apiece. What a bargain.

A passle of pinks, poppies and penstemons

We bought these pinks (probably Dianthus barbatus, sweet william) grown as a multicolored display in single pots last year. I was pleasantly surprised that they all came up again this year only in a much enlarged bunch with about twice the number of flowers. The single colored plant is maybe Dianthus parvonius syn. Dianthus neglectus. The syn. name indicates the toughness of the plant as I planted it on a mound of fast drying soil in a hot sunny location. But it seems to thrive on such tough conditions as it came up again this year and has increased in size as the others have.

The poppies are Papaver orientale I grew from seed two years ago. The photo of the single poppy seems to be an intermediate color between the orange and salmon colored poppies.

The Penstemons are of the barbatus "Navigator" mix. These are considered to be a dwarf variety and seems to remain upright better than the taller growing varieties.

Updates and other plants

Remember the poppy bud with the almost invisible aphids...well, here's the flower. Slightly smaller than the red poppy, Papaver orientale but with an interesting salmon color.

This is the end stage color of the Trilliums. Considerably darker than when they first started to turn pink. Quite unbelievable to think they started out white.

Another Amaryllis (actually Hippeastrum) I think this was "Double Record"? We dried and stored the bulbs last year in our unheated garage and planted them outdoors when the threat of frost was past.

Vanicek Weigela, Cardinal Red. Actually not as bright red as this photo but with more purple added to the red. Don't know why the camera read it as being bright red unless the morning sun shining directly on the flowers gave it a brighter hue.

I planted several rhizomes of the twinleaf plants, Jeffersonia diphylla last spring and didn't see any growth but only one seems to have weathered the winter cold and leafed out this spring, which is really disappointing. I was hoping to have a cluster of plants. I hope this plant will survive. I don't know why the leaves seem to be disfigured.

And the leaf patterning of a Japanese Painted fern, Athyrium niponicum Pictum the 2004 Perennial Plant of the Year.

What's blooming in white?

Spring has definitely sprung and everything is coming into flower too quickly. I can't keep up so I'll just present photos of the flowers without too much commentary.

I guess this is some kind of anemone. But I don't know the name of it. Great start Ki!

The peviously posted Magnolia virginiana.

Ornithogalum are in full flower now. I added two because one of the photos has a bug on it. I thought I missed the bug because as the camera was trying to focus, I depressed the button fully so I would get the bug before it flew off, but as luck would have it, there it was after I downloaded the photos.

White Rhododendron. Sorry, don't know the name of it. It flowers a bit later than most of the other colored Rhododendrons so even if it is plain, it gets its share of attention.

Delphinium, "Summer Stars" a short dainty little plant, no more than a foot tall.

Rhododendron "Sappho"

Sidalcea malviflora, checkerbloom, with tissue thin, transparent petals.

White azalea.

White Columbine.

And not entirely white deciduous or mountain azalea.

Not pictured: We just picked up a Deutzia 'Nikko', Deutzia crenata var. nakaiana 'Nikko' syn. Deutzia gracilis. Closely related to Philadelphus or mock orange.

Sweetbay Magnolia, Magnolia virginiana

If I had only one plant I could choose for its perfume for our zone 6 climate, I would pick the Sweet bay Magnolia aka Swamp or Swampbay Magnolia. The tropical scent is similar to a tuberose and plumeria (Frangipani) combined. The scent wafts around the side of the house it's planted on and you catch drifts of the perfume as you walk by or work in the garden near it. The tree also has a lovely form with open framework and the smallest leaves of the Magnolia family.

It grows naturally along riverbanks or in wet areas so it would thrive if you have a wet spot in your yard. As usual, I went overboard so we have 4 small trees now. I was so taken with the perfume of the first tree, I bought 3 more when the trees went on 1/2 off sale in the fall. The first tree is the one that's blooming now with more than 20 flower buds set to bloom. The other trees only planted last fall have very few buds but they are placed all around the house so it will be great when they bloom - even one flower is enough to experience its essence. The buds don't open all at once so you also have a long period of blooming.

The tree is evergreen in warmer climes but here in NJ it is deciduous. Still, a very attractive tree in my opinion.

Jack in the pulpits are up, Arisaema triphyllum

These are the plain old woodland wildflowers not the exotic ones like the spectacular A. sikokianum but elegant in their own right. I was lucky when I bought them to have gotten one each of the pale green and purple-brown.