Back in May I splurged and purchased a trio of fairly large foxgloves. I’ve had them over the years, even started them from seed a few times, but they are the truest form of ‘short lived perennial’ that I’ve encountered. Even with leaving flower stalks and seedheads to stay, and drop seeds below the parent plant, they just don’t seem to want to come back in my garden. But I love them, bees love them, and here they are. These three Digitalis had different names on their tags but they all just look purple to me!
Over at the edge on the Island Bed, where there’s late afternoon shade, there’s a patch of Phlox paniculata ‘David’ that sends up a few stalks every year which tend to look very straggly come August. This year; however, with our abundant spring rain and even the regular (if not abundant) summer rain, it actually looks really nice – no dead legs!
A shrub that has also benefited from adequate rainfall this year is my Rose of Sharon – Hibiscus syriacus. It’s hardy enough for our winters but really does appreciate moister soil than what’s been on offer here the past few years.
A Hibiscus that is NOT hardy here is this Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. I love to have a few tropical or semi-tropical plants every year. I treat them as (expensive) annuals, growing in pots watered every day, fertilized regularly, to have colourful and unusual foliage and flowers for the few months of the year they will survive here. I couldn’t resist this one, with bright flowers to attract hummingbirds and petals that look lovely after a light rain.
The only allium I know of that’s sold in pots in the spring, instead of as dormant bulbs to be planted in the fall, is Allium ‘Millenium.’ (Note the American hybridizer of the plant, Mark McDonough, registered it with just one ‘n’ in the name. It was first available for sale in the year 2000, hence its name.) The leaves and flowers certainly look like any other allium, and bees are definitely attracted to them. Very drought tolerant, clump forming, they will apparently spread seed if not dead-headed although I’ve yet to notice this and, even if seeds do sprout, they will NOT be true to the parent. Dead heading is in order! Perhaps their best feature is that they bloom right about now, mid to late summer. The colour in these two photos is a bit different – I think one plant is in shade, the other sunshine.
Number six for today, as I join Jim at Garden Ruminations with six things in my garden, is back on the Island Bed: Black Eyed Susans, Rudbeckia fulgida, are now in full bloom. These will spread by seed or underground rhizomes if you let them, and are native to much of the eastern U.S. but not really Ontario. They also love regular water/rain and have been known to quickly crisp up in a very unattractive manner in dry summers.
Wait! I have a bonus photo today! The berries on all the pagoda dogwood (Cornus alternifolia) trees have ripened and this past week various birds were feasting on them. Left behind are these lovely reddish berry stems forming intricate patterns. Have a great weekend everyone – with hopes that rain and cooler temperatures arrive soon in western Europe.
‘Phlox’ and ‘stalks’ seems oxymoronic to me. When I think of phlox, I think of low growers that cluster and rarely exceed a few inches. When I first glanced at these, I thought they were a fancy form of hydrangeas!
Rose of Sharon is quite common here, both white and pink. Yours certainly looks happy!
I laughed at the photo of the dogwood berries: well, dogwood stems. The speed with which berries can disappear once they ripen is remarkable. I’ve seen it happen in a day in some cases.
Yes! The birds appear out of nowhere it seems…how on earth do their small bellies hold so many berries, is what I wind up thinking! And from a distance, or in a wide angle photo, these phlox DO look like Hydrangea!
Don’t give up on your Foxgloves! I bought one decades ago, some how a seed/seeds made it to the edge of the woods, quite a distance from the original plant…it took a while, but now, every year I have bunches of them. I leave the area undisturbed, except for blowing the fall leaves off. A bonus is that 2 …or maybe more…of them have had flowers with peloria…(peloric flowers?) Hibiscus is a very photogenic flower.
peloria – looks fascinating! I guess another trick to continued foxgloves is the ‘undisturbed’ part…
It seems like this is a week for showcasing various hibiscus for you too. I don’t have any Hibiscus rosa-sinensis because they don’t do well here—or if I do keep them, they only last a single season… It’s a shame, because they have such lovely flowers.
The flowers are great! A lot of folks bring theirs indoors for the winter, but they then become very straggly and are susceptible to whitefly and other diseases. If I had a proper greenhouse or conservatory perhaps…
I can vouch for rudbeckia fulgida crisping up in hot, dry weather – the ones in my back garden have done exactly that, whilst those in the slightly shadier front garden are looking good.
Lovely pictures, but particularly the one of the hibiscus rosa-sinensis.
Thanks Helen – and thanks for also experiencing crispy rudbeckias!
Rose of Sharon have a great range. They do very well here in the Deep South and can be found in abandoned country farmyards and cemeteries.
I know they’re considered invasive in many areas of the continent, but not so much here, and I’ve yet to have a self seeded sapling in my garden. Not that I’ve searched for them. It’s just nice to have a late blooming shrub.
A lovely selection. Allium ‘Millenium is a show. I had no end of issues trying to get Welsh Poppies to seed themselves around in my garden initially and in the end just wandered around the garden scattering the seeds everywhere in the hope at least some would germinate. They did eventually. I do a similar thing with the Foxgloves now, once they’ve gone to seed. They usually do best in the gravel path.
Of COURSE they do best on a gravel path! Making it impathable into late summer! Maybe the trick is to create a gravel bed just to scatter tiny seeds. Or make paths wider.
That phlox looks quite different from mine. The floral trusses seem to be spherical. Mine is more domed. Perhaps mine is not really ‘David’.
Hmmm… or mine…
Well, mine is merely ‘assumed’ to be ‘David’. Because we do not know where it came from or how it got into our landscape, we can not be certain of its identity.
Foxgloves are a favorite of mine, but now that I am focusing primarily on natives, I finally added a penstemon – it has the spots and allows me to laugh at the bees pushing their way into the flower with only heir fuzzy butts on display!
A Penstemon appeared in my garden a few years ago and has been quite vigorous every year since. I love the seed heads as well.
Your foxgloves are gorgeous! So lovely to see your flowers enjoying a damp season Chris.😀
We’re VERY fortunate this year!