Flowers and Plants

Water Droplet on Spruce Twig

Summer is definitely here and we’ve had a few really hot, really muggy days lately. Today was no exception but in the mid afternoon a thunderstorm rolled through and dropped a fair bit of rain in about a half hour. The wind was blowing and it was beautiful. I sat under cover of the back of the house and watched it, getting a little damp, but really enjoying the show. As the rain slowed and water dripped from the trees, I went out with my camera and took a couple dozen pictures, including this one of a drop of water, gathering on the end of a twig. A second after I took this, it fell and a new droplet began to form.

Tulip Poplar Leaf

I went out into the woods next to my building today. There wasn’t a lot that I decided to photograph. Mostly I took pictures of the sun shining through leaves. I love leaves (and I’m frond of ferns) and especially like looking at them with light shining through them. This is a leaf of a tulip poplar, or tulip tree (Liriodendron tulipifera) and it has large leaves of a unique and easily distinguished shape. While you can easily identify dogwood by its bark, the tulip tree is identified by its leaves.

Asiatic Lily

This is the first of our Asiatic lilies to come into bloom. We have been adding these every now and then and I really love them. They have such loud, hot colors and are such beautiful, symmetrical flowers. I don’t know that I could ever have too many of them. I think my favorites are the solid colors, particularly the orange and deep reds but I saw a mix of orange and yellow the other day that was out of this world. This one is relatively short, with the flower less than a foot and a half from the ground. I like that because it means it’s easier to look down into the flower. The tiger lilies are much taller but since the flowers hang down, that works out really well.

Celosia

Cathy’s been stocking up on her annuals and has begun to put them into containers to go around the house. There are some amazing colors and textures and I thought for today I’d feature this Celosia. Its bright orange flowers are about as close to a flame as you can get and the genus name actually comes from the Greek word keleos (κήλεος) meaning burning.

Cathy has a couple with this flower color and one that is a deep, hot red. They really are something and bloom well in full sun and even light shade. I didn’t know this until recently but apparently it is edible and is cultivated as a leafy green vegetable. According to Wikipedia (caveat emptor, or in this case the eater), “It is traditional fare in the countries of Central and West Africa, and is one of the leading leafy green vegetables in Nigeria, where it is known as ‘soko yokoto’, meaning ‘make husbands fat and happy.’”

Rose ‘Mill’s Beauty’

On page 134 of volume 48 (dated August 24, 1895) of The Garden: An Illustrated Weekly Journal of Horticulture In All Its Branches, under the heading Rosa setigera, it says:

The numerous varieties in this group are at once specially distinguished by their leaves being rough to the touch, shining on the upper surface, downy and glaucous underneath, deeply toothed at the margin, and furnished with curved prickles on the mid-rib and principal veins. The flowers are borne, mostly in threes, in numerous corymb-like clusters.

It lists a few varieties and then under ‘Mill’s Beauty’ it has the following:

A very vigorous-growing and most noteworthy variety, producing a brilliant effect when its flowers, which are of a redder colour, but not so double as those of the preceding variety [R. s. var Beaute des Prairies], are in the full flush of their freshness. An extra fine kind.

This is a rare rose and in past years Nick, whose this one is, called it his ‘Great Unknown Setigera’ It has now been identified as the same rose growing in Roseraie du Val-de-Marne à l’Haÿ-les-roses in France. ‘Mill’s Beauty’ is also known as or ‘Miller’s Climber’ and is a R. setigera hybrid of somewhat unknown origin. According to volume 12 of Modern Roses it was bred before 1835 and may be a hybrid between R. setigera and R. arvensis. It also says that it is more likely of U.S. origin rather than the generally assumed England.

Sedum

We don’t remember where we first got this sedum or what it’s called but it’s very successful in containers and in the garden around our house. It doesn’t grow so fast or furiously that it’s a real problem but it certainly takes no effort to keep it alive. If you want something that will grown pretty much anywhere in your yard, this might be a good choice. It has very beautiful, little yellow, star-shaped flowers on light green foliage. We have it in full sun and in reasonably heavy shade. It places that are almost always wet and others that pretty much bake. If you want a little, let us know.

Bearded Iris

This is the first of our bearded irises to bloom this year. We have a few of this color scattered around the yard, as well as a few that are bright yellow. I love the way the water droplets look on leaves and flower petals. I guess that’s why they are so often subjects of my photographic efforts. I’m not sure they ever really capture them properly but this one is pretty nice. The color of this flower is nice, too, of course, being such a deep purple. I don’t have a lot else to say. I guess I hope speaks for itself.

Viburnum

One of the shrubs that was in our yard when we bought this house is a large viburnum. It’s in the somewhat shady, northern end of the back yard next to a Spiraea. Some years the bloom isn’t anything to mention but this year is one of the best it’s had since we have lived here (over ten years). The individual flowers are not much to speak of the the entire bush, about ten feel tall and equally broad, is absolutely covered with them. It’s not quite pure white but close enough. The birds love this bush and right now, the insects are pretty happy with it, as well. Once the blooming is done, I’m going to do a bit of cutting, because it tends to get too big and it’s been a few years, but for now, we are really enjoying it.

Hyacinthoides hispanica (Spanish Bluebell)

Although it would have been lovely to spend some of the weekend with Dorothy, coming home yesterday, on Friday, was a good idea. We were tired and certainly not ready to go back to work this morning. While we were gone, the yard and garden continued to progress through its usual spring sequence. The Exbury azalea is in full, glorious bloom, with its hot, bright orange flowers. The Spanish bluebell (Hyacinthoides hispanica) is also in bloom in the garden under the cherry trees. It’s not closely related to the Virginia bluebell, being much more closely related to the Hyacinth (Hyacinthus orientalis).