Ailanthus altissima (Tree of Heaven)

As I left work today I decided to wander off into the woods for a while and take a few pictures. Of the three dozen or so that I took, most of them are of leaves and all of them are predominately green. Some were of bramble buds, which are covered with red hairs but the overall effect of the picture is still green. In this one, of a single leaf of a tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima), there is a bit of reddish tint in the leaflets, but still, it’s a green picture. The glossy leaves with their touch of color are quite beautiful, even if the tree is a fairly weedy invasive in our area.

Asiatic Lily

The Asiatic lilies in our yard are starting to bloom. These have taken a few years to become established but they certainly are worth the wait. This one happens to be growing in a container on the back patio but there are a few others just like it around the yard. There are some really amazing colors available in both Asiatic and Oriental lilies and I need to plant more. The Oriental lilies are taller and also generally have very strong fragrance, while the Asiatics have little or no fragrance. They certainly are beautiful, though, and are worth having. They also bloom at different times, with the Asiatics blooming first. We also have some tiger lilies (Lilium lancifolium) but they won’t be blooming for a while yet.

Driveway Plants

Most of our garden beds are made up of woody shrubs and herbaceous perennials. The only real exception is the area where an oak tree used to be along the front of our yard (and it’s mostly in the county right-of-way, actually). Cathy plants annuals there to provide a bunch of color—yellow, orange, blue, and white—that’s easily seen from the road. In the driveway are two collections of containers. At the top, right are a mix of containers that include lots of seedlings that she plans to put in various places around the yard. On the left, seen here, are more ‘permanent’ containers that are mostly perennials but which get annuals mixed in. The large variegated Pelargonium at the top was a gift from the school for my volunteer activities this year.

Rose ‘Perle d’Or’

This little rose called ‘Perle d’Or’ is growing outside our front door. A few years ago it was a seven foot tall shrub but the winters of 2014 and 2015 each had very cold spells and killed back all of the taller canes. It’s much smaller than it was, less than five feet at the tallest point. This last winter was much milder in terms of temperature, though, and didn’t do so much damage and it will probably come back strong. It’s covered with these petite pink blossoms that are wonderfully fragrant. On a humid evening (like we’ve had the last week) they are really nice.

Coreopsis

We have some Coreopsis in the bed at the back of our yard. That bed actually needs a bit of work, but this is a fairly reliable little perennial that I’d hate to lose to any renovation. It’s a very cheery orange color and although later in the summer that would be drowned out by all the black-eyed Susans, at this time of year, before even the day lilies have started to bloom, it’s quite welcome. We’ve had other Coreopsis plants but they haven’t done as well as this one with large petaled flowers and less feathery foliage. It’s quite happy to be mostly neglected, which is sort of what it takes in that garden.

Iris ‘Eric the Red’

This is a little Siberian iris called ‘Eric the Red’ and it’s in full bloom in our front yard. I really like this little thing, which in our yard only stands about 14 to 18 inches tall, though I’ve seen data that suggests it gets taller. It’s supposed to do well in a bog garden but ours is in a fairly dry spot, which may account for the shorter growth. It’s certainly happy there and blooms reliably. It’s usually hot by this time of year so the flowers don’t last all that long but they are great while they do.

Peony Sunrise

As I said in yesterday’s post, it’s been a good spring for peonies, at least in terms of my notice of them. Today features yet another peony photograph. We were up in Pennsylvania again today, doing a bit more work towards the big wedding coming up before long. I sprayed poison ivy again and am slowly but surely getting it taken care of. It won’t be gone by the wedding, but it needs to be done in any case.

This peony is one of a few growing in front of the cabin. We cleared weeds out of the garden two weeks ago and it’s starting to look like its old self (some of the weeds were trees with trunks an inch in diameter!). There was just the one bloom on the peony but perhaps if we keep at the weeds it will do better. I thought the flower looked a bit like a rising sun and took a few photos of it.

Peony

I don’t know that this year has been anything out of the ordinary in terms of peony blooms but I think having the new peony blooming in my back yard has gotten me to look at them a bit more than normal. We have some on the end of our house but don’t go around there often enough to notice them, in particular. There is also a peony garden at Seneca Creek State Park with dozens of different peonies. Cathy and I went there once years ago and were a little disappointed in what it’s become. There is a beautiful little garden and truth be told, that alone is worth visiting. But it could be so much more. There is a field, probably six acres or so that is full of peonies. That could be so spectacular. But they only seem to cut the grass once a year (during the winter, when they can mow everything and then let the grass, poison ivy, and everything else you can imagine grow up with and around the peonies. It’s a shame because although the peonies are starting to bloom, many of them are hidden by the grass. You also want to stay out of the deep grass unless you are dressed for poison ivy, which is thick in the place. It’s still pretty but not nearly as impressive as it could be or even as we remember it (although our memories may be at fault there). The peony shown here is in the tended garden.

Epimedium Leaf

We discovered Epimedium at the National Arboretum quite a few years ago and decided we needed to have some. At our old house we had at least three different varieties, blooming in red, white, and yellow. We brought some of them with us and have them in our garden here but they are all Epimedium x rubrum, a red flowered variety believed to be a cross between E. alpinum and E. grandiflorum. The leaves are interesting even after the flowers have finished. They have a little red in them and they also have pretty edges with little (and soft) spines along the edges. They are quite hardy and can take anything our winters are likely to give them, as well as getting through the summer drought without any trouble. They are semi-evergreen here, basically losing their leaves by the time the new growth starts in the spring. Common names for Epimedium x rubrum include red barrenwort and bishop’s mitre.

Peony ‘Coral Sunset’

In the fall of 2014 I planted three peonies in our back garden. Last year I saw leaves on two of them but they were barely above the top of the pachysandra amongst which they were planted. This spring I was happy to have all three of them send up leaves above the top of the pachysandra. They lived. Better still, one of them had a bud. It’s only one bud out of three plants but peonies are a long-term proposition and it should get better each year, now. They are a variety called ‘Coral Sunset’ and I think the flower is quite lovely. I’m looking forward to more flowers next year.

Spiderwort Leaves In The Rain

It has been a fairly wet May this year. Not necessarily way out of character, as we often have wet weather in May, but April was so dry that in comparison, it seems wetter than normal. I don’t mind rain, in general, unless I have some outdoor activity planned that requires a bit less wetness than we generally get when it’s raining. I love a blue sky and all, but the sound of a gentle rain, the intensified colors of an overcast day, and the water droplets clinging to everything are all pretty wonderful, as well. Today was that sort of day and I took a few pictures of that water droplet thing, right outside my back door on the Tradescantia (spiderwort). This is the same plant whose purple flower I photographed (also in the rain) on Tuesday, May 03.

Rosa rugosa ‘Roseraie De l’Hay’

I wish I could post the fragrance of this rose, a largish rugosa called ‘Roseraie De l’Hay’. It was bred in France in 1901 by Jules Gravereaux and introduced by Charles Pierre Marie Cochet-Cochet in the same year. The flowers are large, about five inches in diameter and when you walk up to the plant when it’s in full bloom you get slammed by the amazingly strong and lovely clove fragrance. The flowers are beautiful, as well, of course. The plant is large and only suitable for a large space in full sun. It doesn’t have the huge thorns of many hybrid roses but the stems are completely covered with hundreds or thousands of fine prickles (some of which are fairly long). I love this rose. If you’re in the neighborhood, stop by and then stop and smell the roses.