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Leptinella squalida 

(lep-tin-EL-luh) (SKWA-lee-duh)

An interesting short groundcover for moist sun and part shade. The flowers and fruits do not add up to much and this plant is primarily grown for it’s dark foliage. It is the perfect groundcover for a ‘black’ themed garden. It grows well in cracks of walks and can be used as a turf substitute, as it can take light foot traffic.

Dwarf Red Tree Fern

Dwarf Red Tree Fern

Blechnum brasiliense

(BLEK-num) (bra-sill-ee-EN-see)

Synonyms: Red Brazilian Tree Fern, Brazilian dwarf tree fern

Even though this plant lacks the traditional trunk of a tree fern it still has a stubby 12 inch stipe that can be seen if observed closely. Its new growth is anywhere from bright red to washed out pink and the fronds harden off to green.

In botanical terms these photos are examples of Circinate vernation. That’s the name for the way a fern frond emerges. Staying tightly wrapped until hardening off a bit. This plant was growing outdoors during the summer but was brought in during the winter.

Hybrid Columbine

Hybrid Columbine

Aquilegia ‘Swan Red and White’

(a-kwi-LEE-jee-uh)

This is always a favorite of mine. This plant has nice big, detailed and colorful flowers. Columbines are a true biennial but if you try you can start a nice patch of them by spreading the seeds out when they are ripe. My experience is that some types come back true to seed and some don’t. There is also that gray genetic zone where for a few years they come back the same color and then wash out. I’m not sure what the Swan hybrid series will do. The plants did well this year and I wouldn’t mind having some of them back.

White Gaura

White Gaura

Oenothera lindheimeri

(ee-no-THEE-ruh) (lind-HY-mer-ee)

Synonyms: Gaura (GOW-ra), Apple blossom Grass, Lindheimer's Beeblossom, Wandflower

This plant changed its scientific name a while back and I still use the old one. I am so not a trendsetter or rider. It is now classified as an Oenothera and I am not sure why. That is a genus, which sends a bit of a chill up my spine because of tendency to run a little rampant and be invasive. However, I have leaned to grow Sundrops and know how to manage them now (borderline iron fist). This plant is much more graceful and a better garden citizen then most Oenothera.

This is a tough plant that is long blooming. It absolutely needs full sun to flower properly and good drainage. It is drought tolerant and can grow in dry areas but I have found it likes a bit of moisture too, especially during establishment. It can be short lived but worth having as a supporting character in the border.

Since I haven’t posted in some time here is a bonus photo

Garden Peony Coral 'n' Gold
Paeonia lactiflora
(pay-OHN-ee-uh) (lak-tee-FLOR-uh)

This photo doesn’t quite do justice to the color of this flower. It’s a Mr. Lyman Cousins’ “Innerglow” hybrid. Known for their luminous qualities and fragrance. A true winner.

Lipstick Lychnis

Lychnis Lipstick

Lychnis (LIK-niss)

This is a plant that clearly exceeded its ability to get named. There are many identities that this plant is masquerading under. Developed by Sunny Border Nurseries here in Connecticut this plant shows a lot of potential. The vermillion color is super and only partially represented here. The dark foliage tips add a beautiful background that is a nice compliment to the flowers.

Generally I think of Lychnis as a cooperative plant that grows well in lean soil and dry conditions. It often reproduces from seed but not in a bothersome way. This plant can be used in the cottage garden, perennial border and in tough rocky areas.

Here is another one from my non-flower photography tries. It is a conversion from a color shot because the D70s does not have a monochrome setting. It is a box car on the Housatonic Railway.

Dalmatian Peach Foxglove

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'Dalmatian Peach' Common Foxglove

Digitalis purpurea  

(dig-ee-TAH-liss) (pur-PUR-ee-uh)

This Foxglove is part of the ‘Dalmation' series. They are colorful and tall but still a biennial. I used to worry all the time about my Foxglove plantings but have lately taken to letting them find their own balance. All the careful deadheading, staking, pinching never really produced better results then just letting the plants bloom and go to seed. The mother plants will die and even if they live to a second or third year they are not very vigorous by then. If the patch starts to look at little dilapidated adding a few plants to the gene pool can be helpful.

I don’t think that these flowers were quite living up to their color potential on the nursery bench. They should gain better color after being planted.

Chocolate Cosmos

Cosmos atrosanguineus 'Chocamocha'

(KOS-mus) (at-ro-san-GWIN-ee-us)

This is an interesting species of Cosmos that certainly bucks the popular trend of pastels, washed out colors and yellows that seem to be dominating the color space right now. In this climate Cosmos is treated as annual but is a very reliable self seeder. The flowers of this particular species are sterile and the plant is extinct in the wild. All plants are from a single vegetative clone. It has been hanging on that way since 1902.

The slightly fragrant flowers appear in summer and keeps blooming until the frost. Like most Cosmos this species is a native of Mexico.

Sunset on Candlewood Lake

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Sunset on Candlewood Lake

Lately I have been trying to take pictures of anything besides flowers. Just as an experiment to sharpen my skills and take a different look at the things around me. I live close to this lake which is the largest in our state.

As part of my experiment all of the equipment I have been using is my back up kit. A Nikon D70s and the 18-135mm lens. At first I was kind of bummed about taking the back up stuff but then realized that if I can’t do it with that then I probably shouldn’t be doing it. The D70s despite being heavily traveled and used is still a fine camera. It took a few minutes to remember how to run it. The lens is sharp and gives a good overall performance. It has a good range but I like using it wide the best. It came as the kit lens on the D80.

This second shot was a boat driving off into the fog. It seems that I arrived just a minute late but still got a shot in the terrible light.

Here is a shot of my ultra bored photo assistant. It’s hard to believe that Juno is turning 10 this year.

Hardy Water Lily ‘Texas Dawn’

Hardy Water Lily ‘Texas Dawn’

Nymphaea cv.

(NIM-fee-uh)

Little did I know that this flower is actually the Official State Waterlily of Texas. I can see why they picked it. The color is unusually bright and warm. It blooms a lot too.

Texan Kenneth Landon developed this unique cultivar by in 1985. He almost single handily started the International Water lily Collection in San Angelo, Texas.

I took this picture last summer at the pond between the glass houses at the NYBG.

Jade Vine

Jade Vine
Strongylodon macrobotrys
(stron-GY-loh-don) (mak-ro-BOT-rees)

Wordless Wednesday

Richard Wallace Canna LIly

Richard Wallace Canna

Canna x generalis 'Richard Wallace'

(KAN-uh) (jen-er-RAY-liss)

Recently I found a “roll” of black and white shots from last year. Shooting the picture in monochrome is usually always better than a software conversion of a color shot to me. Black and white photos of flowers can be interesting even though you lose one of the greatest properties of flowers, color.

Over the last several years we have pretty much stopped growing Cannas. That broke my heart since I truly love the vibe they bring to the garden. A big, bold plant that is still relatively well behaved. Now that a lot of cultivars are almost self deadheading it really is a good maintenance free plant. They are available in a wide range of colors and cultivars. The flower color for ‘Richard Wallace’ is not that appealing. Kind of a dusty yellow/orange. It is still a strong growing cultivar with good foliage.

Phalaenopsis Orchid
Phalaenopsis

(fay-lay-NOP-sis)

Spray of Moth Orchids, recently seen. I miss my days in the Orchid House. The 70/70 conditions (70 deg. F and 70% humidity) are not replicated anywhere else in my life. Also the smell of the orchid bark and the joy of coaching a spray of flowers out of an uncooperative, finicky orchid species. If you want to know more about Phalaenopsis click the tag they have been shown here many times. A lot of people find them to be pedestrian but I think they are beautiful and reliable.

Common Coral Tree

It’s kind of whacky picture day here at Digital Flower Pictures.com. I was just going through some old shots and found a couple that I liked. The weather here today is terrible and it was fun to look back at some travel pictures. The first one is from the world famous Tucson Botanical Garden. The structure had some tender plants inside. I would recommend a visit if in the area.

Common Coral Tree
Erythrina lysistemon
(er-ith-RY-nuh)
Synonyms: Cry Baby Tree, Lucky Bean Tree

This is just an oddball shot of this tree blooming in San Diego, California. They were all over Hawaii too, especially the big island. The color contrasted nicely here.

Just a pensive chimp.

Hybrid Tea Rose ‘Brandy’

Hybrid Tea Rose ‘Brandy’
Registration name: AROcad
Breeder: Swim and Christensen
Introduction: 1981
Parentage: First Prize X Golden Wave
Awards: 1982 AARS Award winner

This has been a great variety of rose. The weather here somewhat cooperated with rose growing last season. By the looks of it the winter won’t be too harsh on them either. I will probably go out and check today as some of the bushes maybe waking up. I have noticed several plants whose buds are starting to swell. I like to remove the heavy mulch from roses as they emerge. There are a couple of Witch Hazels (Hamamelis) in full bloom now and they seem to be fairly reliable for February bloom here in Connecticut. The recent really cold temperatures didn’t seem to have a great effect on their floral show.

The second photo here caught an interloper on one of the petals. An adult spotted cucumber beetle (Diabrotica undecimpunctata), which I didn’t realize was such a pest. It chews up the flowers, leaves and pollen of many species of plants, particularly loving members of the Sunflower family. There is usually minimal damage unless present in large numbers.

Clematis ‘Diamantina’

Clematis ‘Diamantina’

(KLEM-uh-tiss)

Clematis is one of the vines we always get requests for but not many people know how to grow it.  After 30 years of trying I have to admit I am still a bit stumped but have developed some general rules for success. One thing that these plants seem to like is a ‘hot top, cool bottom.’ Which implies exactly that, the roots like to be shaded by other shrubs or mulch but the leaves need a lot of sun to flower properly.

Each type of Clematis seems to have it’s own likes about flowering on new wood or getting cut back completely. Often times the varietal names are lost so you have to guess what they want. My way is to wait until spring and see what part of the plant has been killed by winter and prune to that spot. It is also a plant that I install slightly deeper then most other plants. Covering one or two buds under the soil seem to help it establish stronger.

This 2010 introduction is from Raymond Evison, who has been breeding and introducing Clematis for over 50 years now. They have some very distinctive and showy types. Raymond seems to be one breeder that doesn’t rush varieties to the market, which is a welcome change.

Clematis is generally a pain in the butt to grow but is one of those plants if it likes the conditions it grows very well. If it doesn’t like them it struggles and eventually peters out. They are also subject to Clematis wilt, which often takes the plant out just before it flowers. The only way I have found to slow the wilt down is with a couple of well timed fungicide applications early in the season and that doesn’t always work. In general you can help the plants by watching your watering timing and keeping the area around the stems clean (good fall clean up). The fungus kills the top but usually leaves the roots alive.

Sombrero Hot Coral Coneflower

Sombrero Hot Coral Coneflower

Echinacea x purpurea 'Balsomcor'

(ek-in-AY-shee-a) (pur-PUR-ee-uh)

I am actually starting to plan my spring now. I have been working for an organic landscaping company and learning about some different ways to take care of plants. One customer wanted their perennial border spiffed up and the owner loves bold colors. Echinacea is always a “go-to” plant for me and it does well in borders. It seems to be able to grow organically. 

This very blog has railed against all the Coneflower breeding that has been going on down in Atlanta, but the market seems to shake out the lame attempts at new cultivars. I really try to keep an eye out on gardening trends but my strategy is mainly to wait before adopting new ideas. This coneflower has been out for a couple of years now and seems to be sticking around. Most of the time it really gets to be about availability and this plant is available. It certainly meets the bold color specification. The color is one seldom seen in the garden.

Here is a link to a page with some new flower varieties for 2017. Can you see the color trend?  I guess I would try that PUFF Vanilla Coneflower. I have found the white ones a little harder to grow.

New Garden Flowers for 2017

I have a written work I’m finally trying to bring to market. That is taking up a lot of time but I will try and update this space a little more often.

White Waterlily

 

Waterlily

Nymphaea cv.

(NIM-fee-uh)

Considering I shot this waterlily picture indoors with Karen’s 35-70, 2.8 Nikon lens it came out pretty good. I could have probably used a little more exposure.

This flower kind of represents a growing trend of indoor water features that seem to keep popping up. Previously confined to greenhouses or conservatories they are now merging into people’s houses. We were taking care of two of them last year and had a bit of a learning curve on them. When this flower bloomed it was a small personal victory and despite the environmental conditions it was growing in.

Aspen Dahlia

Semi Cactus Dahlia

Dahlia 'Aspen'

(DAHL-ya)

We grew this Dahlia a couple of years ago and last season it was again a good performer. It looks a bit like a pinwheel especially with some wind. The twist in some of the flower petals is somewhat variable and that adds to their charm. ‘Aspen’ was taller than advertised peaking out about 36 inches (91cm).

I haven’t been crazy about white flowers lately but these Dahlias are really a pure and bright white.

Floribunda Rose

Floribunda Rose ‘Livin’ Easy’
Wordless Wednesday  

Dusty Red Rose

Dusty Red Rose

 

Try as I might to remember and keep the naming of the roses in the big rose garden straight they always seem to get mixed up. I thought this one might be ‘Hot Cocoa” but there isn’t enough orange in it. It also grew and flowered better than that variety. Even with the confusion we enjoyed the dusty red flowers this bush produced.

Perky's Bat Tower

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Perky’s Bat Tower

Mile Marker 17

Lower Sugarloaf Key, Florida

Wordless Wednesday

Bat Tower

Black-Eyed Susan

Black-Eyed Susan

Rudbeckia fulgida

(rud-BEK-ee-a) (FUL-jih-duh)

I decided to post this flower since it reminds me a little bit of the sun, which we need around here. After getting an extended snow and ice storm last night it is raining hard now with up to an inch expected. That’s after our weekend battle with sub zero temperatures.

Black-eyed Susans are a wonderful true perennial that gradually increases it size in the garden. It’s not fussy but needs a good amount of sun to do best.