Christmas Notebook

As the daylilies bloom and the daisies fill in and the purple coneflowers keep coming, there is a lot of color in the summer garden.

‘Paprika’ [GN]

Everyone comments on the Russian Sage. It makes a beautiful airy splash of bluey-purple in the flower bed.

‘In Depth’

The hydrangeas are ready to pick for drying.

The tiger lilies are beautiful right now.

The small bulbils on the lily stem can be planted for more tiger lilies.

Hydrangea ‘Little Lamb’ is a later blooming variety than our bigleaf hydrangeas.

This hibiscus blossom is about 12″ across. I can see it from the kitchen sink, in its spot way across the lawn, down the slope of the backyard.

Each individual daylily blossom is beautiful in its own way.

‘Swelling Anthem’

‘Wineberry Candy’

‘Touched by Grace’

‘Nefertiti’

‘Wayne Johnson’

‘Two to Tango’

‘Kathy Lynn’

‘Jolly White Giant’

‘Stoplight’

You can visit other summer gardens at Bloomin’ Tuesday.

~~Rhonda

This year seemed to be an exceptionally good one for hostas. Perhaps because of all that rain we had in the spring. Most of our hostas are looking great. Lush and full. Of course, many are coming into maturity finally and look more filled out than they did for a few years after planting.

Some hostas are finicky. They need to be moved around until you find a place where they will flourish. Some don’t seem to care. Like ‘Royal Standards.’ They do well anywhere. We even have some in full sun (where they were under trees that are now gone) and they are thriving. A few leaves may be a bit tattered from the heat, but overall, they look fine!

‘Royal Standard,’ grown in full sun.

‘Royal Standard’ grown in some shade has a darker color than the one above. This one (the hosta on the right) is planted under a redbud tree.

Some hostas grow quickly, some slowly. ‘Squash Casserole’ is one that grows quickly. It’s a bright yellow green and looks wonderful against something darker where the contrast makes it show up well.

‘Squash Casserole’

‘Squash Casserole’ blossoms

‘Gold Standard’ is similar to ‘Janet,’ though ‘Janet’ is a bit smaller in size.

‘American Sweetheart’ with ‘Radiant Edger’ in front. We’ve found ‘American Sweetheart’ to be a very nice hosta. It has an upright habit, heavy substance and, for us, it has multiplied well. Some web sites list it as a “slow grower,” but we have’t found it so.

‘Thunderbolt’ is another nice hosta with a pretty center.

‘June’ may be my favorite hosta. The only improvement/change I’d make to it would be size. I’d love for it to be a larger plant at maturity. It’s still stunning though. This picture doesn’t do it justice.

This ‘Sum and Substance’ is planted in a cool moist spot, under the old mulberry tree in our back yard. This year, it has sent up two “sports.” What is a sport? It’s a shoot of a plant that is different from the original. In this case, the solid lighter green leaves are the original plant and are what ‘Sum and Substance’ is supposed to look like. The ones with darker green patches are the sport. We will dig out the eyes that are throwing the sport and replant them elsewhere so we can watch them for a few years. Some sports aren’t stable, which means they will revert to the original. We’ll see.

I’ll quit here. Perhaps I’ll post more hostas in a week or so…depends on how the weather progresses. I don’t find the heat and humidity appealing in any way, so am staying inside as much as possible right now. :-}

You can visit more gardens at Bloomin’ Tuesday on Jean’s site. Check out the links at the bottom of her post.

~~Rhonda