Late summer flowers

Trumpet lily.





Penstemon






Great Blue Lobelia, Lobelia siphilitica with crown of buds an interesting feature in its own right.






Callirhoe involucrata, Purple poppy mallow, Winecup, a native wildflower.









Several types of Helenium.





Tricyrtis (Toad Lily) 'Togen'






Ligularia dentata 'Othello'.






Pink version of the Lobelia

500th blog post & World's Hottest Pepper, Bhut Jolokia update

This is my 500th post for this blog. A milestone of some sorts I guess.





Last weekend we went back to the wholesale nursery because they were having a dollar sale. Of course the dollar plants were not the ones we wanted so we ended up spending a lot of green again. As I went to pay for our largess, I saw a hot pepper poster which did not include the world's hottest pepper the Bhut Jolokia. I mentioned to the owner that I was trying to grow some from seed. He was skeptical and asked me where I obtained my seeds. I said I got them from the The Chile Pepper Institute in New Mexico (NMSU) so he was convinced that I was actually growing the authentic Bhut Jolokia and not something else.

I told him that my pepper plants were doing poorly only recently producing secondary leaves after two months. I said I moved the plants to a shadier location and the plants responded positively. He said he planted the seeds directly into the garden and his plants similarly languished. He dug all the plants and potted them, placing the pots where it received only half day (morning 'til noon) sun and they began to thrive. He then showed me a potted plant that was about a foot tall with several peppers forming. I was comforted to know that a professional propagator was having difficulty growing this pepper too.









The tiny pepper plants in the large pot are mine. The large plant is the one given to me by the nursery owner.





I thought all plants in the nightshade (Solanaceae) family needed full sun. We always planted our various varieties of hot peppers in full sun but the Bhut Jolokia apparently requires part shade.

I wanted to buy the plant but he said it wasn't for sale. As we were packing the plants to leave, he gave me the pepper plant and wouldn't take any payment. I guess having bought many (52) plants made him realize we were fairly serious gardeners and would take care of the precious pepper plant. The fact that I even knew the pepper existed possibly made him change his mind. We promised to bring him some pepper jelly if we harvested any peppers.

So now I have at least a fair chance of seeing a fully mature Bhut Jolokia pepper pod before the cold weather sets in. I will bring all the plants indoors in fall but peppers may be tough to grow inside - I hate to admit defeat and my tiny plants seem to be thriving now. After all, I hope I can look forward to turning all shades of purple after chomping on a Bhut Jolokia. I just hope I don't have a heart attack. Will keep you posted.

Wood Poppy Stylophorum diphyllum, Ligularia, Brunnera macrophylla and more photos of Silene uniflora 'Robin Whitebreast'

Wood poppy.





Ligularia.





Brunnera macrophylla Alkanet, Siberian Bugloss and 'Jack Frost'








Silene uniflora 'Robin Whitebreast'.

Another interesting fungus, Tapioca Slime Brefeldia maxima? and Wild Petunia, Ruellia nudiflora

I looked through my Audubon Society mushroom book but was unsure about the identification of this fungus. My best guess is the Tapioca Slime, Brefeldia maxima but the color shown in the book was white rather than the yellow in my photos.

It looked like yellow cake batter when I first saw it. Upon closer inspection the mass was actually made up of tiny balls which looks like tapioca.

I spotted this fungus on the same small decaying tree stump as the chocolate tube slime I saw in July. I find it interesting another fungus can occupy the same spot so soon. I thought the mycelia of the previous chocolate tube slime would still be present and ward off the newcomer - the decaying process continues.






UPDATE: What a difference a day makes. This is what the tapioca slime looks like a day later. It appears the round tapioca like balls structures were supported on stalks which has a passing resemblance to the Chocolate Tube slime below.





The previous occupant, Stemonitis splendens; Chocolate Tube Slime





This is Ruellia nudiflora, a native wildflower - the Common wild petunia also known as the Violet wild petunia, Violet ruellia, or Wild petunia. It is in the Acanthaceae Family. It is not related to the commonly grown petunias which belongs to the potato family, Solanaceae.

Midsummer Flowers and Pale, Sad, Cricket

The crepe myrtle "Dynamite" continues to bloom well and the crimson red color seems to become more brilliant as it ages.




We made another trip to the new wholesale nursery and I discovered they had an extensive collection of geraniums. This one I couldn't resist. The name was too intriguing - "Little Monster".




The giant pagoda dogwood Cornus controversa variegata I bought from Heronswood grows strangely in a sprawling manner. I guess that's how it achieves it's layered look that I like but it looks as if it will be a spreader which we don't have room for. Mental note: get the pruners sharpened.





I understand the quick part of this Hydrangea paniculata "Quickfire" - it blooms about 2-3 weeks earlier than our regular H. paniculata but the fire part escapes me. The panicles were a bright red in the picture on the tag but our plant only becomes a dusky pink. Quite a disappointment. Another mislabeled plant?





Strange looking but highly colored daylily.









I believe I wrote about my appreciation of common zinnias in a past post. We planted some wildflower seeds and these zinnias were included. In the past I didn't like zinnias because most of the ones available were the orange pompom ones and that image stuck in my mind. I do like the single petaled ones more than the elaborate ones but I still don't like the orange ones. Even the past bloom flowers - actually way past bloom - are interesting as they reveal their structure.





A wild cucumber or melon flower. It doesn't seem to produce any fruit so I can't tell what it is but the flower is quite pretty.





Lots of the Hostas are blooming now. This is a giant leafed one with rounded leaves more than a foot in diameter.





I wouldn't normally post a picture of a Marigold but this one especially caught my eye. The fiery Rococco quality was hard to miss.





It is difficult to believe that this is a California poppy. Eschscholzia californica Mission Bells.





The first of the early blooming anemones, ANEMONE tomentosa robustissima is starting to flower. The hairy dark stems and green leaves make a nice contrast to the pink flowers.






I saw this cricket on the covering of the water barrel. The ones I usually see are black colored so this was an unusual find. The drooping eyes seem quite sad but as soon as its long antennae (at least 5 times it's body length) dectected the camera the eye shape seemed to change or it could be that a different tilt to the head made the eyes a more normal round shape.





The Magnolia Sieboldii is starting its second flush of flowers. There seems to be as many flower buds as in the spring. I only wish the flowers were upfacing so you could easily see the dark pink inner parts of the flower.





Rose "Honey Perfume".






One of the new hybrid Delphiniums.

What's blooming now?

California Poppies, Eschscholzia californica and Big Beige Beetle

Of all the flowering seeds I planted this year, the California Poppies are my favorite. The colorful and numerous flowers are just what we need during the hot months of summer. I thought I bought "Thai Silk" but surprisingly I was able to dig up my old order and found I actually bought "Mission Bells".

Only the normal single petaled common orange ones were the first to bloom so I was quite disappointed and thought the seed company sent me just the plain old regular ones but several weeks later the first of the other colors started to appear. This turned out to be a great selection because the texture of the flowers differ as well as size. The largest ones are almost 2" across and the smallest about an inch.

I get the feeling of deja vu as if I've written this before...oh well, the flowers are new and the plants are blooming well now.









These are photos of the Grapevine Beetle, Pelidnota punctata also known as Spotted June Beetle. This large beetle about an inch long was in the house crawling on the curtains. It is probably a female. The males tend to have a darker orangish color and are smaller.

Found new (to me) a wholesale plant nursery - happy as pigs in a wallow

After seeing the lily Conca d'Or my wife took to the office, a co-worker told her about a nursery that sold plants (mostly perennials) cheaply and gave her a list of plants available. Of course we had to check it out this weekend even if the nursery was about 25 miles away.

21 plants in 5" and 6" pots for $90!!! Let's add $10-15 for gas. The old beastie Toyota Previa is a gas hog despite having only 4 cylinders - that still makes it about $5 per plant and most were cheaper because we bought a tree peony that was $12. Several of the plants, Erygium, Agastche, Lobelia and Ascelpias were only $2.34 each. The $90 included a 10% discount because we bought more than 10 plants?

We were mainly looking for perennial plants blooming at this time of the year. Their list included hundreds of plants and when we went there we weren't disappointed. Here are some of photos the blooming plants we bought. They also had some specimen and native plants which I was glad to see. I bought a Kirengeshoma which I tried to grow from seed but was unsuccessful. I also bought a tree Peony. The nursery guy said it was a species tree peony crossed with a herbaceous peony - P. lutea var. ludlowii, a bright deep yellow with woody stems which wouldn't require staking.

I also tried growing Aconitums from seed without success but they had them at the nursery so I bought two - Aconitum h. "Sparks". They had a great selection of Echinaceas as well. Black cohosh, Eryngium (sea holly), Agastache, Cimifuga racemosa, Lobelia siphilitica blue, Asclepias tuberosa to replace the one that died several years ago, Stokesia, Anemone h. Pamina (red), and a couple of dwarf bleeding hearts Dicentra ex. Aurora and s. Alba rounds out the plants purchased.

(Lobelia siphilitica also known as the Big Blue Lobelia and Blue Cardinal flower, as native of the eastern U.S. has an interesting name. Apparently at one time, it was used to treat Syphilis although the plant is quite toxic thus siphilitica.)

Of course when we got home we realized we should have picked up several different kinds of Brunnera, and other plants we passed on because we thought we already blew the budget when we filled up the large pull wagon. We thought we had surely spent several hundred dollars and almost fainted when the bill was less than a $100! I'm sure we'll go back in a couple of weeks.















For those who live in Central NJ and Bucks County PA, the nursery is called Russell Gardens Wholesale. The address is 600 New Road, Churchville, PA. Phone: 215-322-4799. No mail order. They also have a regular Nursery which sells normal priced plants so make sure you go to the Wholesale part of the operation which is at the bottom of the hill not the top. Hours: M-F 8am-5pm sharp!, Sat. 8-12 sharp!, Closed Sunday. Happy plant buying!

Oriental Lilies and Bat Skeleton

The Oriental lilies are really blooming up a storm this year. We bought the lilies about 3 years ago and they've increased in size and especially height. The large white and yellow lilies are about 7 feet tall and very fragrant. They always remind me of the artist Singer Sargent's painting "Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose".






















This bat skeleton was found on a rock lining our small pond. At first I didn't know what kind of animal it was but the long bones of what would be the equivalent of our fingers were the clue that identified the skeleton. Unfortunately the bones were too fragile to save for our collection of bones, skulls and skeletons. I didn't know bats had so many sharp teeth!

GBBD July - Silene, Handsome Harry and Roman Wormwood

Rather than my usual bombardment of photos, I decided to focus on only three interesting plants (to me), two of which I grew from seed.





The first is a Silene or campion, Silene uniflora 'Robin Whitebreast'. From J. Hudson Seeds: "Abundant white flowers nearly enclosed in balloon-like inflated calyces, in summer. Small hardy perennial to 8", forming 4" tall cushions of grey-green leaves." Zone 3. It seems this plant is commonly grown in Europe but I have not seen it sold in nurseries here.








The second, Corydalis sempervirens, 'Roman Wormwood'. From J. Hudson Seeds: "Pink to purple 3/4" yellow-tipped, short-spurred flowers in spikes. Attractive annual or biennial to 2 feet". After reading about Corydalis in an old issue of "Horticulture" I decided to see if I could grow some from seed. And indeed this one was very easy to grow with good germination. The flowers are pretty but very small. However, the attractive fern-like leaves make up for the dainty blooms.


I added this photo of the finely figured Corydalis leaves because I think they are quite beautiful in their own right.








And finally "Handsome Harry", Rhexia virginica, Meadow Beauty which I wrote about a few posts ago but thought I'd share more photos of because it has a unique look and more flowers are starting to bloom. Entangled of Tangled Branches: Cultivated has some wonderful pictures of some wild ones growing on her property in Maryland. The colors of the flowers are a little off - it should be more pink rather than having a purple tinge. I left it uncorrected because the background colors becomes unnatural when I try to manipulate the photos.