Flowers and Plants

Hydrangea ‘Big Smile’

A year ago (exactly a year ago, as it would happen) we bought two hydrangeas for the back yard. One was a Hydrangea paniculata and the other a variety called ‘Big Smile’. They are planted in a partly shady area of the back border and seem to be doing quite well. This is one of the large, sterile flowers on ‘Big Smile’. The buds seen at the top of the image are fertile flowers that have yet to open. They are small and fairly inconspicuous. From a distance, it is quite attractive but I also like the subtle coloration and the asymmetry of the petals in this flower.

Day Lily

This is the first day lily of the year in our yard. To me, this marks the transition from spring to summer and although it’s been cool and pleasant (and rainy) the last few days, the forecast is for hot and humid tomorrow and through the weekend.

While spring flowers are relatively fleeting (except the daffodils, I suppose, which last a while, summer flowers are more enduring. Not the individual flowers, which are generally here one day and gone the next. But using day lilies as an example, they tend to bloom continually, with new flowers each day, for weeks or in some cases all summer.

Water Droplets on Verbascum

When I went out to the car this morning the grass was fairly heavy with dew. Generally I don’t like getting my shoes all wet walking to the car but occasionally it’s worth venturing out into the grass to see what else has been covered by droplets of water. In this case, a common mullein (Verbascum thapsus) was absolutely covered with little beads of water, its velvety surface increasing it’s holding capacity. The picture isn’t actually all that good, but it’s what I have for today.

Rose ‘New Dawn’

We’ve been in need of rain. I don’t pay particular attention to rainfall amount for particular months but generally April and May are pretty rainy. This year, May has been on the dry side. Recently the lawn has started to look like it often does in early August. Well, the rain came today (but of course, it’s now June). One downside to the rain is that it knocks the petals off the roses. The multiflora is pretty well finished, but the ‘New Dawn’ growing beside it on the fence is just really getting started. Here’s a picture of ‘New Dawn’ with drops of rain, a la Oscar Hammerstein.

Cathy’s ‘Stump’ Garden

Last year the county cut down one of the red oaks growing along the front of our property (but in the county’s right of way, so belonging to the county). Cathy put some planters on the stump and planted a few annuals around it. In the fall they came and ground the stump, giving Cathy fair warning so she could move the containers and so she knew the annuals would be destroyed in the process. Yesterday Cathy planted this year’s garden in the spot where the stump was, including two containers and quite a few plants in the ground. I took a few pictures yesterday but the morning light was on it as I was leaving for work, so I took a few more, including this one. I’ll try to get another picture of it later in the year, when everything has gotten established and filled in. In addition to what she planted, you can see in the lower right that there is a volunteer common mullein (Verbascum thapsus), an alien species introduced from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Cathy’s a big fan.

Sedum (Stonecrop)

We drove back from New York this morning and had no problems with traffic, thankfully. It has gotten pretty warm, although it’s still nice in the shade. I took some pictures in the yard this afternoon, including this photo of some Sedum (stonecrop) flowers. This is a fairly prolific perennial plant and has gotten established in the cracks and crevices around our front steps and walkway. It’s not so aggressive that it’s particularly invasive and it has a lot of these pretty (small) yellow flowers.

Tradescantia (Spiderwort)

Our spiderworts (Tradescantia) have begun to bloom. Ours mostly have very deep purple flowers, although we have a couple with pink flowers. This isn’t as good a photograph as I had hoped, but it does show two of my favorite features of the flowers, the blue stamen hairs and bright yellow anthers. Together, they combine to give the flowers an other-worldly look that I really like. I’ll try to get a better picture at some point, but this will have to do for now.

Iris ‘Eric the Red’

We have some large, bearded irises in bloom but this little one, a pretty, little Siberian iris called ‘Eric the Red’, may be my favorite.

Although it’s called ‘Eric the Red’ the petals are actually a purple color. One interesting thing about it, though, is that in photographs, the petals come out looking more red than they are in real life. In this image, I’ve corrected the color so it matches pretty well what the flowers look like.

Oenothera speciosa (Pink Evening Primrose)

This is our first evening primrose (Oenothera speciosa) of the year. Soon we will have dozens of them, lighting up the garden in the evening (as their name suggests, their flowers open in the evening). Actually, this one is in a shady spot and it seems to be fooled by that into opening a bit early, which is actually quite nice. Oenothera speciosa is an herbaceous perennial native basically to the southern half of the contiguous United States.

Sisyrinchium angustifolium (Narrow-leaf Blue-eyed Grass)

We planted a few small plants of blue-eyed grass in our yard when we first moved here and it has proliferated. Among other things, it’s growing in the cracks between the flagstones of our front walk. It’s fairly well behaved and doesn’t go so crazy that it’s a problem, though, so I don’t mind having it about the place. The little blue flowers are quite nice, too, of course. I don’t know for a fact that this is narrow-leaf blue-eyed grass (Sisyrinchium angustifolium) but that’s the local native so it seems likely and it looks about right.

Roseraie de L’Hay

One of our roses, a rugosa named Roseraie de L’Hay, has started to bloom. It’s a fairly large shrub, 8 or so feet tall and about as much across. It has blooms throughout the summer but in late spring (i.e., right about now) it has it’s best showing. The flowers are a rich, crimson-purple and are double, with a wonderful and very strong fragrance. The only downside to the plant is that it’s so big and many of the best flowers are way overhead and thus hard to see. I should probably give it a good pruning this year and see if I can tame it a bit, but it’s so happy the way it is, I hesitate. This, obviously, is a bud but gives a foretaste of the bloom to come. It also shows the wonderful rugose (wrinkled) texture of the leaves.

The rose is named after the rose garden of the same name in L’Haÿ-les-Roses, Val-de-Marne, France, started in 1892 by Jules Gravereaux.

Lonicera maackii (Amur Honeysuckle)

Among local invasive species, this has to be near the top of the list. It is very prolific. It does have the redeeming feature of pretty flowers in the spring and later will be covered by red berries, but it’s something you want to keep out of your yard, if you can. This is along the side of the parking lot at work and there is a lot of it there, both around the drainage pond and in the woods. I’m sure the insects love it, of course it isn’t like it is consciously destructive. It simply lives where it is planted.

Note: I originally had this marked as Lonicera japonica, Japanese honeysuckle but I was just posting without thinking. This is Lonicera maackii, Amur or bush honeysuckle. The text about it being a pest didn’t need to be modified much.

Fading Dogwood Blossoms

We have a couple dogwood trees in our yard but I’m doubtful if any of them were actually planted by the previous owners. They all have the look and the positioning of trees that just happened to grow and were left alone. This one is actually in a convenient and suitable place so I’m happy to have it. The others are either dying or in a bad place and I’ll get rid of them once I have something appropriate with which to replace them. It’s gotten hot again and the dogwood is done blooming. The flowers are all gone on the pink dogwood up against the house and the flowers on this one are turning brown and the petals will drop in a day or two. But more things are coming into bloom every day. This is a busy time or year. Nevertheless, sometimes we have to look at what was and remember its beauty. There is a certain elegance to something beautiful that has passed its time. People are like that, as well. We crave youth and youthful beauty, but there is an elegance in some who grow old gracefully and lovingly. I wish I could be one of those people.

Chives (Allium schoenoprasum)

The chives are in bloom on the back patio. I love chives and all things onion. One thing I like to do with chives, though, is pick the light purple flower heads off and chop them up to sprinkle over whatever I’m cooking. They give a very mild onion flavor but also add visual appeal. Of course, you can also chop up the leaves into tiny little wheels and the flavor is about the same but purple is more fun than green, when it comes to condiments on food.

Lily of the Valley (Convallaria majalis)

One of my favorite little flowers are the pretty little bells on the lily of the valley (Convallaria majalis). We had a fair amount of this at our old house and brought a bunch with us in pots when we moved. Turns out there was quite a bit already growing in the back garden of our new house. We’ve planted most of what was in pots but this is a rectangular container that is still sitting on our patio. Getting pictures of lily of the valley means getting down on the ground because you generally need to look up at it to see it at its best. Being in a container actually helps here, because the plant’s “ground level” is a few inches higher than actual ground level. After I took this, I looked up to see Cathy and Dorothy at the kitchen door taking pictures of me lying on the patio taking this picture. Seems worth the effort to me. I hope you agree.