6 on Saturday – 02AUG2024

Chris Mousseau

A hot and humid long weekend here. The garden is lush, even overgrown in more than a few places, so I’ll be out puttering around a lot, battling mosquitos, trying to make the paths passable, relocating the odd hornworm, drinking lots of water and just enjoying the fullness of it all. First off, even before my morning 16 km run, here are six things that caught my eye – joining Jim at Garden Ruminations.

Out the back door and on the porch are a few pots, including two with purple leaved Eucomis. I bring them in for the winter – forcing the bulbs into dormancy with no water and darkness – and bring them out again in May. I love how this flower stalk is all twisty and Seussical looking.

I started a few strawflowers – Xerochrysum bracteatum – indoors in the spring and those that managed to evade marauding earwigs and slugs have started to bloom.

Many years ago a neighbour in Toronto plunked a bright orange daylily in his tiny front yard. It immediately started to multiply and within a few years he was digging up clumps to foist upon give to anyone who as much as cast a glance in its direction. Don’t know the name of this variety, but it’s likely a Hemerocallis fulva of some sort, possibly ‘Kwanso.’ I like it a lot, especially since it blooms much later than most other daylilies.

Another gift from a different neighbour at that time was seeds from my favourite thistle – the blue globe thistle, Echinops ritro. Interesting to note they seem to grow (and bloom) just as well in semi shade as in full sun.

In this season of abundant rain several perennials that are normally tall are abnormally VERY tall. I have to tilt my head way back to see the flowers of some of these ironweed – Vernonia Fasciculata – now just starting to bloom. They’re a favourite of butterflies and bees…

Last but not least this week is another very tall perennial – Alcea, Hollyhocks – that have become so top-heavy with flower and seedpods a few have bent over the driveway – they’d be well over two metres high if standing straight up! The leaves get ratty looking with rust and insect damage so I don’t generally let them grow too near the house, but from a distance the plants are really cool, stately, architectural; up close the flowers are lovely and chock full of pollen for foraging bumblebees. Have a great weekend everyone!

22 Comments

  2. I enjoyed seeing those hollyhocks. I still tend to think of their flowers as solely pink or white; the variety here is lovely. And I like seeing them bent over under the weight of their own beauty!

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    1. I’m driving very slowly around the driveway loop this week – both not wanting to touch/break the bendy ones but also enjoying their closeness. I think the trick will be cutting down the stalks before the seeds ripen and start to fall… At one point I had quite a few of the dark purple (labelled black) hollyhocks but that gene has disappeared in my garden. They were spectacular!

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    1. Mine did well in their pots but after transplanting…about a third just disappeared, another third struggled with critter damage of some sort leaving me with six or eight individual plants at various stages. Some are still just a few inches high while this one is about thirty inches and only this one is blooming.

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  5. Those Eucomis are very dainty and such a pretty color. Was hoping for Strawflowers…I think there are 2 small plants…blame everything on the Chipmunks rooting around in the pots…there should have been more plants. The Lily looks like it’s a double one. Photogenic Globe Thistle! Lovely colored Hollyhocks…fun when your plants grow so high. Monarch up-date. now have six chrysalises, one should be eclosing in a few days. Put 7 large caterpillars in the habitat this am, 7 more caterpillars & 9 eggs.

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    1. OMG Alice – your garden’s going to be alive with monarchs!! How exciting! Chipmunks are doing a number in my garden as well…as is the bunny birthrate explosion!!

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  6. I love hollyhocks, but as you wrote, they are better from a distance! I gave up on mine due to rust and Japanese beetles… too much for not enough return. I esp. love your pale yellow ones, and the wild and wooly look of your borders. Mine are pretty much the same at this point. 😉

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  7. It sounds as though you are having a busy weekend in the garden, I hope you manage to do all the jobs you have in mind. Lovely photo of the strawflowers. My first year of growing them from seed didn’t go according to plan so I topped them up with some bought seedlings. They’re about to bloom, but I think they’re struggling with the weather. Your daylily is a lovely colour with gorgeous shading and I love the collection of Hollyhocks.

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    1. Thanks Catherine – I’m really enjoying the hollyhocks this year myself, especially how each stalk seems to have a different shade/colour. Gardening tasks will not likely get completed today – luckily it’s a holiday here tomorrow! The tomatoes really need tying up!

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  8. That daylily looks just like the more prolific of our two most prolific cultivars. I like their sustainability, but wow, they are getting to be a bit too numerous. We keep relocating some to other landscapes, where they do the same. The other is a bit more yellowish. I just mentioned to someone that the popular ‘Stella d’Oro’ was the only cultivar that I actually purchased, but also the same that did not survive for long. Eucomis seems to be becoming more popular. I have not worked with it yet, but have seen that it is now available in Southern California. It is probably available here also.

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    1. The single H. fulva a.k.a. ditch daylily, is widespread here and individual clumps growing quickly. This double variety is not seen as often yet still incredibly fast growing/spreading.

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  10. Hollyhocks are such messy plants but I love their flowers – you have a lovely mix of colours. Beautiful strawflowers too – mine all got eaten this year!

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