Scenes of Summer

It's been hard to find time to post something. I'm sorry it's been awhile. I had this ultra-special post I was going to put up, but it got to a point where I was really stressing over it and questioning if I would be sharing too much of my personal life so I scrapped it....for now.

Instead, I'll just show you some images from my garden the past few weeks to give you a sense of my mostly beautiful surroundings.


Early in the morning at Landwave is something truly special that I don't get to experience often enough because I'm such a night owl. Midsummer mornings are like nothing else. Everything is so crisp, quiet, and every plant seems to just glow as the light slowly intensifies.











 Many of you know how fond of lilies I am. This is 'Scheherazade', a 5 year old clump that produces masses of gently fragrant blossoms full of nectar that the birds and the bees absolutely go crazy for and I love the airy Giant Feather Grass (Stipa gigantea) as a focal point in the garden.

















Foliage is equally as important as flowers in the summer border. Here, Rheum 'Ace of Hearts' and Cotinus 'Royal Purple' echo one another with a little Persicaria spike photo-bombing the composition. Back-lit by the setting sun, this composition is quite dramatic.











That little Persicaria is actually a wonderful "weaver" in a bed as it fills in between plants and they bloom continuously and can be kept tidy if you whack 'em back to the base following the first major flush of blooms for a fresh set of foliage and more flowers! Here the soft oranges and blue purples blend well together here. I love how the reverse of the lilies pick p the purple of the Penstemon 'Sour Grapes and the Clematis, which is 'Etoile de Violette', a vigorous viticella type.






Those soft blues carry through to another bed where Phlox 'Blue Paradise' is an absolute stand out and compliment a brand new lily called 'Blueberry Crush' and the wonderful Echinacea 'Hope'.












The dahlias typically begin in August for me, but a few blooming ones caught my eye at the nursery that I had to have so I added them into the main border and they worked so well with the soft pastel tones and texture of the pom pom Allium 'Summer Beauty'. The dahlia is 'Happy Single Wink'.  yeah...I know....ick.











Someday, I hope to have a garden where I can fully appreciate a gorgeous sunset. A view of the water would be amazing, but probably not necessary because I will never be able to afford it, but much like the early morning, it can be quite a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere as you're almost forced to slow down and relax as light becomes scarce.












Cheers,

Riz




 

The Best of 2010: Part 1: Knowing the Knotweeds

I'm becoming very fond of many selections of Persicaria that are out there. Their bold and often dramatically marked foliage are so eye-catching and the spikes of bright red are fun and add a nice surprised come summer. I find in kind of unfortunate that they're related and often mistaken for their close relatives Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese Knotweed). The ornamental Persicaria (the most common being selections of P. amplexicaulis and P. virginiana), though known to also be quite aggressive and vigorous, are manageable and easy to maintain.


Here's Persicaria amplexicaulis 'Taurus'. A fine border plant for full sun that forms dense, almost woody clumps of lush foliage and abundant spires of red flowers that form in early summer and after that first flush which ends in mid-summer, the plants are sheared back to the ground for a second round of fresh foliage and then MORE flowers that often last until frost! Mature plants can spread 4-6ft. wide and the flowering spikes rise up to about 2.5ft. They're wonderful fillers in flower arrangements!



A brand new and exciting selection (at least to me!) I've acquired this year is one that seems a bit tidier and a smaller version of the above, but with glowing chartreuse foliage. This one was dubbed 'Golden Arrow'. I purchased a division from my friends at Far Reaches Farm in Port Townsend, WA and I've been very pleased with it's habit. Now, it's only the first year and it's not really in the richest or moistest spot in the garden, but I see this as being a very attractive and useful plant in part to full shade, although it gets its best golden foliage in full sun.



P. 'Red Dragon' is a selection of P. microcephala and TALK ABOUT FOLIAR APPEAL! As gorgeous as these leaves are, it is kind of a rambunctious plant, but the great foliage color and weaving habit and small clusters of white flowers late in the season make it a fun and welcomed addition in the garden. Should it get out of bounds, just whack it back to the ground and prepare for a nice flush of new foliage!




Here's one that we don't see too often, but it is quite striking. This one is referred to as 'Compton's Form'. The flowers on this aren't really that spectacular, but for foliage, it's quite dramatic. This photo shows off the early season color in full sun, but grown in shade, the leaves are bigger and you get this effect:



And finally, one I'm quite fond of, but not many local nurseries here carry it is this selection called 'Brushstrokes'. It's not as busy or overly dramatic in terms of color, but the painted "chevrons" and HUGE leaves are so bold and attractive.



There's way more out there that's available, but these are just some of my favorites in the garden this year!


R