Tag Archives: jupiter’s beard

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – August 2013

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I cannot believe August Bloom Day is already here! This growing season has been flying by as I find my time spent in others’ gardens as much as our own. The weather in the Lot’s Zone 6a has been wonderfully normal if not a tad cool the first half of this month. Here are a few snapshots from the Lot.

Heuchera in Bloom

This first shot is of some Coral Bells (Heuchera) in bloom in Loki’s bed. There are three different cultivars in the bed and this is the last to bloom. In the GIG (Grand Ideas Garden) where I have been volunteering, we are instructed to immediately deadhead these blooms to redirect energy to the plants stores for winter and additional growth. However, on the Lot I let them linger a bit longer before snipping off the spent stalks.

Backyard Bed Blooms

This next backyard bed is currently colored with Black-eyed Susans and just emerging Mums. In the very back left of the shot is a bit of purple from some Asters I purchased this season for the bed. The Asters will emerge earlier next season, adding some much-needed color beginning in July.

Plumbago

This next plant in bloom is Plumbago, positioned near the right half of the backyard bed. I love, love, love this plant. Since it’s light source was increased by pruning back some towering Sage, this plant is flourishing. When the weather turns cool, it’s foliage will turn red.

Coreopsis Mercury Rising

Moving to the Lot’s south-facing bed, there are a lot of purples, reds, and yellows present this month. Above is Coreopsis – Mercury Rising. This is a red coreopsis I picked up on the Spring nursery tour. This bed receives full sun all day, so not only does coreopsis flourish here but it blooms from the beginning of summer through to the end of Fall.

Coreopsis Route 66

Here is a thread leaf style Coreopsis called Route 66. This little one came home from the Spring nursery tour as well, purchased for a whopping $1 as a seedling, and is loving the sun in the South bed.

Blanket Flower in BloomAnother plant blooming in the front, South bed is the Blanket Flower (Gaillardia). This is another plant that will flower throughout the majority of the season into Fall if it is continuously dead-headed.

Other plants blooming on the Lot include the Jupiter’s Beard, Color Flash Astilbe, Rose Campion, Butterfly Bush, some stray Hollyhock, tall Garden Phlox, the last of the Ligularia, Thunderbird Foamy Bells, Pincushion Flower, and Coneflowers.

Be sure to take a look at other gardeners’ August blooms at May Dreams Gardens. ‘Til next month!

Garden Bloggers’ Bloom Day – October 2012

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Fall has definitely arrived on the Lot. Last week when it wasn’t raining, I was preparing the two 4’x4′ raised vegetable beds for winter. This past, soggy weekend I began to ready the perennial beds by trimming yellow foliage and raking out large clumps of soggy leaves. But Fall prep will be another post; this is a bloom day post with pretty things!

Monster Hardy Mums

First up is the classic, Fall, hardy Chrysanthemums shot. They are a bit raggedy, but still pretty, posing here with Alfred the Hedgehog. In this bed the Jupiter’s Beard (Centranthus ruber) is still blooming and the Plumbago (Ceratostigma plumbaginoides) is just finishing.

False Indigo

This is not a bloom necessarily, but this is quite cool because it’s some Fall interest in the way of sound. These seed pods belong to the False Indigo (Baptisia) that bloomed this past May. When the wind blows through the stalks of this plant, the seeds rattle within the seed pod like a percussion instrument. I’ve also snipped the stalks with pods attached as accents in Halloween and Fall arrangements.

Wand Flower

This Wand Flower (Gaura lindheimeri) was blooming last month as well, but it’s still going. I’ve admired the wispy plant in the garden centers for a couple of seasons now. This was the year it was finally added to the Lot. In the same bed the Coreopsis is finishing it’s blooming. Down along the gate bed, the Stonecrop and Maiden Hair Grass are both in bloom. Other plants blooming on the Lot include Nicotiana, Toad Lily, Lamium, Pincushion Flower, and multiple Stonecrop.

Soggy Fall

I felt this parting shot of a cold, soggy annual would capture the feeling so far of this Fall season. Brrr… a lot of gray and rain. However, the tree foliage colors were beautiful, having reached their peak in our area around the weekend of October 6th. We’ve already had a few frosts that zapped a lot of the more tender annuals.

Time to travel on over to May Dreams Gardens and see what other gardeners from around the world have blooming this October. Since a lot of us shared the hot, drought-like summer, I’m curious what Fall is like so far for them. Be sure to check it out.

Fieldtrip : John Ball Park

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My Better Half and I took a stroll this evening through John Ball Park. I believe volunteers from MSU’s master gardener program care for the landscaped sections of the park. As a result, it’s always a lovely place to visit with it’s very own rose garden.

As mentioned before, I do not know much about the care of roses. That’ll have to change because boy, oh boy, are some of those plants pretty. I snapped photos of the different roses in the park so I can identify them at a later date. Maybe, once educated a bit more in their care, I will purchase some for our lot.
There are also some nice “berms,” simple, circular beds whose soil is slightly raised above ground level, at the park. In one of the free gardening seminars I attended, the presenter spoke of how to construct them. I may reserve the idea of a raised bed just for a little vegetable patch. To create changes in elevation on our lot (which is very much needed), I could give a few berms a try.
Other things blooming on the lot: peonies in the sidewalk bed (pink with frills), little red roses in the front bed, the coral bells in Loki’s bed,  nasturtium, Jupiter’s beard, foxglove and rose campion in the back bed, the nicotiana in the fence bed, and the spiderwort and bachelors button in the alleybed. The lavender and hollyhock both are budding.