White Japanese Anemone

 

Japanese Anemone

Anemone x hybrid 'Honorine Jobert'

(uh-NEM-oh-nee)

This flower is really starting to grow on me. It is one of the few perennials in the garden that still has strong blooms and good looks right now. It seems very reliable and returns every year. Usually it starts blooming in very late summer and adds a kick to any late season planting areas. The main problem is how tall it gets and it does have a tendency to flop over. Rather stake individual plants we often put up kind of a fence around the plantings and that holds up the blossoms. There are some pink types that are also beautiful.

Everyone here is bracing for the possible hurricane on Monday/Tuesday. The forecast keeps changing but we are now directly in the projected path (the cone of doom as I call it). High winds and a lot of rain is expected depending how the storm sets up. I am going to try and not worry that much about it. Getting the chain saws ready will be the extent of my preparations right now.

Japanese Windflower

Japanese Windflower

Anemone hupehensis 'September Charm'

(uh-NEM-oh-nee) (hew-pay-EN-sis)

Synonym: Japanese Anemone

White Japanese Anemone

Japanese Anemone
Anemone x hybrida 'Whirlwind'
(uh-NEM-oh-nee)

This perennial has appeared on this blog before. It is once again blooming and looking great in the garden. Slightly different then most Anemone varieties 'Whirlwind’ features a double flower and a slightly smaller habit. The smaller part is helpful since it can’t flop over like some of the taller types. I would recommend this plant for massing or the border. It flowers in late summer and keeps going until the frost knocks it down.

Happy news at work we have scored a nice sized installation job. It is at one of our regular houses and should provide a nice challenge to complete. It is going to be a mixture of plants because not only does it have to present a nice picture from the street it will double as a continuation of some privacy screening.

There is one part of the job I am not looking forward to and that is moving four Japanese Snowbell trees from the rear patio out to the new area. Normally having some ‘free’ mature plants would be a good thing except the Styrax trees are planted in masonry planters. This going to make them a very tricky dig indeed. Oh well we will just do the best we can trying to move them out. I may try and document our progress as we do the installation.

Prince Henry Japanese Anemone

Japanese Anemone
Anemone 'Prince Henry'
(uh-NEM-oh-nee)
Synonyms: Japanese Windflower, Japanese Thimbleflower, ‘Prinz Heinrich’

Seeing this plant at the nursery led me to do something I hardly ever do, which is make an impulse buy. Most of my plant purchases are well researched in advance for both culture and price. The Japanese Anemones have done so well this year and in the perennial border we only have the light pink and white ones (which isn’t bad but a little drab). I thought ‘Prince Henry’ would brighten up the patch and it did. It grows a lot shorter than the species and other cultivars so it looked nice in the front of the border.

In general Japanese Anemone is a nice perennial that really gives a blast of color in the late season garden. They are easy to grow and seem to be very hardy. It must be the year because the Anemones seemed to bloom earlier than ever this season.

Japanese Windflower

Japanese Windflower
Anemone hupehensis
(uh-NEM-oh-nee) (hew-pay-EN-sis)
Synonyms: Japanese Thimbleflower, Japanese Anemone
Wordless Wednesday
For Ruby Tuesday please see previous post.

Japanese Anemone

Japanese Anemone
Anemone x hybrida 'Whirlwind'
(uh-NEM-oh-nee)
Synonyms: Japanese Windflower, Japanese Thimbleflower

This is another great perennial for the late summer or fall border. The beautiful semi-double flowers are held high above the foliage (which sometimes can get a little ratty) on wiry stems. This is considered a semi-double form that grows to about 2 to 3 feet. Most nurseries classify this as a deer resistant perennial but I have had mine eaten before when the feeding pressure is high.


What I like about these plants is they really come on strong in the late season. There are numerous cultivars to choose from and they grow with almost no care. They do like some moisture and can grow in alkaline soils. In fertile soils they can spread rather rapidly but I have found them easy to control and when I plant them I keep in mind they need a little room to spread. You can divide them in the spring as a control measure or a way to get more plants. My experience is that they are not really fussy about the soil they grow in as long as adequate moisture is available and they have good drainage. The flowers are long lasting and can be used as a cut flower.

Even though they are known as Japanese Anemone it is generally believed to have originated in China. They were introduced in Europe around 1840.

Japanese Anemone ~ ABC Wednesday

Japanese Anemone ~ ABC Wednesday
Anemone X hybrida
(uh-NEM-oh-nee)
Synonyms: Japanese Windflower, Japanese Thimbleflower

If you are hear for WW skip down to the post below. Please consider joining us for ABC Wednesday, it is open to all.

This plant is always a treat in this time of year. It is an easy to cultivate perennial that tolerates partial shade. I have read reports that this plant can spread too much but that hasn’t been the case with mine. Sure it widens out but it is easily managed. I also read with some surprise that it likes alkaline soil. It has seemed to grow in just about any soil that I have planted it in. They do like a bit of moisture and so far have been free of insects and diseases. They are hardy to USDA Zone 4. I like to plant mine in the back of the border or by themselves because they can get quite tall. There are a number of different cultivars to choose from. Unfortunately this one wasn’t marked when I photographed it at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park, New York.

I am happy to post my ‘J’ as Japanese. It is such a big part of American Gardening. While I have been to several Japanese Gardens I actually prefer the kind of American hybrid that has some Japanese elements in it but a broader mix of plants. Someday I would like to visit Japan. We have so many of their garden elements and plant species that I am sure I would recognize a few things.



A couple more ‘J’s. The first one is the Floribunda rose ‘Jasper’. I have never heard of this one before seeing it. I would have sworn that it was an ‘old’ rose. However upon looking it up I found that it is from 1996. It has a long list of synonyms:
Berleburg Berleburg Castle Bewitched (floribunda, Poulsen, 1996) Cuyahoga Herzlichen Glückwunsch Memory Lane POUlbella

It is a double rose with a petal count of 18 to 25 and a nice strong fragrance. I think I am posting far too many pink roses lately. As I said before they are starting grow on me. I guess they are somewhat fitting, as pink roses usually are a symbol of friendship, appreciation and gratitude. So I extend this pink rose to all the people that come here and read this humble space. Your visits and comments mean a lot to me and I hope in a small way I have helped learn something about flowers and shared some of the awe that I still feel when I am out growing or photographing flowers. I have been able to share some of my favorite plants and flowers and some of the unusual things I have seen in my gardens and others I have discovered in the great gardens I have visited. It has been a tremendous learning experience for me. The botanical world is so big I don’t think I will ever stop being a student of it. I hope that all made sense. To sum it up in a word, thanks.



Now ‘J’ is for joke, also, and I couldn’t resist taking this picture of our mentor, ABC inventor and guru’s restaurant in Hyde Park. That is Hyde Park in Dutchess County New York not in London. How she has time to be a teacher, gardener and someone who entertains us, makes us sad, lifts us up and thrills us with her photographic tours of England from the back of a motorbike and run a transatlantic restaurant I will never know.



Just like her blog Mrs. Nesbitt’s Fireside Café serves up hearty fare at a reasonable price. The food is satisfying and there is enough to make you feel good without walking away bloated. There are a good variety of offerings for everyone to find something they like. I guess the ‘joke’ was that I would post a picture of this café and compare it to Denise’s blog. The other stuff I wrote is true and written with the utmost respect, hat’s off to you, Mrs. Nesbitt and I will have another Ham and Brie Sandwich with chips (oops, I mean crisps) and a sparkling water.



Here are some of the other blogs that are participating in ABC Wednesday. If you want to join let me know and I will add your link.

mrs nesbitts place
hin's photoblog
tech the man
a bit of this a dash of that
Little Rock Daily Photo
photoxication
Kissing the Dogwood
strolling through Georgia
Ruth's Garden Blog
dwq online
kate isis
bidadlah.com
photography by kml
AVCR8TEUR'S Blog
Salty Dogs
The Modern Goddess
Simply Sage
HeART of the Nest
Gemmas House
author blog
kai
Mollitudes

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day

Garden Bloggers Bloom Day-September

I remembered on Thursday that the 15th would be on Saturday so I rushed around the garden to get a few shots for Bloom Day. I should have remembered about the 15th since it is my wedding anniversary also. I don’t remember how long we have been married so I will have to figure out a coy way of broaching that subject. It has been awhile at this point, over 15 years but fewer than 20. Since we work together our relationship has a slightly different dynamic then most couples.

The Hydrangea at the top is ‘Tardiva’. It got so tall in this particular spot and is just a mass of white flowers. Long lasting and a dependable bloomer it is one of my favorite Hydrangeas.

So here are the some more shots in no particular order:

Rudbeckia nitida ‘Herbstonne’
Always a pleasant plant to have in the garden. It is really tall but doesn’t need staking.

Dwarf Pink Aster
This plant has been around a long time so it is a long lived perennial. I pinch it several times during the year so it is only about 8 inches tall.

Anemone x hybrida 'Honorine Jobert'
I applied a lighting effect in Photoshop to get a little more light on the bee. This is a wonderful perennial that is just coming on strong when everything else is giving up.

Passiflora 'Lady Margaret'
I had a little fun in PS with this one too. It is a really nice deep red Passion. I over wintered it and lately it really kicked in and is covered with blooms.

Tricyrtis
Hairy Toad Lily is one of my favorite flowers. Definitely doesn’t look like something that should be growing in Connecticut with its wonderfully exotic flower. I have been encouraging mine to seed and now have several hundred of them. The deer got into some of them but they seemed to shake it off and bloomed anyway (well, a lot of them did).

Abutilon megapoticum
I wish I had wrote down the cultivar name on this one. It is a little different than most Flowering Maples. The flowers are pendulous and don't open like the others. This is another plant that I successfully over wintered from last year. It started off slow but is covered with blooms now. I will probably try and save it again.

That is all I have time for right now. I am looking forward to seeing what everybody else has blooming in their gardens. Overall the garden has done well and it looks like we are going to have a colorful fall. That last bout of rain we had really helped out by refreshing everything. We are supposed to get a little more over the weekend, which will also be welcomed.

I have had other posts on most of these plants if you want more information on them. I was probably the last person on the Internet to know this but if you click on the Labels that will narrow down the search amongst the old posts.

To check out what Garden Bloggers Bloom Day is and see some other participants click here:
Carol's May Dreams Gardens

Japanese Anemone

The Japanese Anemones continue blooming very strong. I was at a garden today and several plants I had put in August were in flower. It was about the last plant that was really out in the border. Most everything including the Purple Dome Aster had a few stray flowers and really bad foliage. So these are a very nice touch to the fall garden. Sometimes the foliage has a little fungus this time of year but the flowers are held up high enough that the foliage is really not that prominent. Somebody told me that they love bud pictures and earlier this year I shot some pictures for her. I was pretty hooked, as the buds can be more beautiful then the flowers sometimes. Anyway it opened a whole new angle of flower photography for me. I haven’t been concentrating on it but I will stop and take a look if I pass a patch of flowers that are only in bud.

“I saw old Autumn in the misty morn stand shadowless like silence, listening to silence.”
Thomas Hood

Here is another bud picture I took earlier this year:

Japanese Anemone
Anemone x hybrid 'Honorine Jobert'
(uh-NEM-oh-nee)

This is an old very hardy cultivar of Japanese Anemone. My clump has slowly spread under a large crabapple in a part sun area. I love this plant because not much seems to affect the foliage during the season and it blooms just when you need it the most. The plants are a bit on the tall side but don’t need staking. They look nice mixed with some dwarf Asters. The bed is finally working out with some Daylilies, Astilbe and Azalea for earlier and the Aster and Anemone for later.

This is a wonderful perennial that doesn’t require a lot of care. The foliage is nice looking and flowers are wonderful and plentiful. There are several other cultivars available.

I have been continuing the installation of the Belgian Block curbing and a large entranceway made out of big random granite slabs. This masonry work has been kicking my butt. I am tired before heading off to work. One nice thing is that you have created some nice when you are done. It’s hard to remember that when you are moving the 300 pound pieces of granite around.