Fall Color Collage

I finally got some pictures together for the  2010 Fall Color Project hosted by Dave @ The Home Garden.  This year I decided to make a collage of some of the fall color in my yard & neighborhood.

(From upper L-R across & down: Oakleaf Hydrangea 'Little Honey', Variegated Solomon's Seal, Maples in my neighbor's yard, leaf from Sweetgum Tree and Balloon Flower foliage)

Hope you enjoyed some fall color from Newport New, Virginia.  Thanks for hosting this fun meme Dave!  🙂

Bloomin Tuesday

It’s the first Bloomin’ Tuesday of September.  Can you believe that summer is pretty much over and another fall is about to begin?   Not much to show this week.  We were fortunate to get through Hurricane Earl unscathed with just some light winds and very little rain.  It would of been nice to get a substantial amount that’s for sure.   

Chelone 'Hot Lips' or Turtlehead

 One of my favorite fall bloomers is this Turtlehead or Chelone lyonii.  The pink blooms are a welcome addition to the shade garden.  This is a plant that loves moisture, but it held up fine to the drought this summer.  It requires light to partial shade.  And unfortunately something has been chewing on the foliage. 😦

Rosa 'Morning Magic'

Rosa ‘Morning Magic’ is a climbing rose that I have planted on the arch that leads into my Arbor Garden.  One of them is a year older and is about 4-4 1/2 feet tall.  The other was planted this past spring and is still playing catch up at half this size.  They are sporatic bloomers from May through fall. 

Lirope muscari 'Variegata'

Another fall bloomer is the Lirope muscari  in my shade garden.  It will take a bit of sun, but I find it shines in the shade with this variegated foliage.  The bonus every September is these deep purple stems topped with almost irridescent purple blooms.  Then it gets these berries later on that give the plant even more fall interest.  Hope everyone had a safe & happy LABOR DAY weekend.  🙂   To see more Bloomin’ Tuesday posts or to join in the fun this week please visit Ms Greenthumb.

Inspite of the Heat (Part 2-Shade Lovers)

(From upper L-R across & down: Lirope variegata, Heucera 'Plum Pudding', Autumn Fern, Hosta 'Royal Standard', Variegated Solomon's Seal, Pulmonaria 'Raspberry Splash' and Calla Lily)

Last week I showed you the sun-loving plants that stand up to the heat & drought in my garden.  If you missed that post you can read it here.  Today I thought I would share some of the shade-loving plants that are surviving these conditions in my garden so far.   All of these plants I grow mainly for their attractive foliage even though most of them do get some type of blooms.  The Autumn Fern is the only one that doesn’t bloom, but it’s foliage is just as colorful come fall with shades of yellow, orange & red.  These all grow in full shade conditions (filtered light only) except for the Calla Lily which is getting morning sunlight.  I do have some of this Calla Lily growing in deeper shade conditions and does well there too.   In addition I have some of the Lirope and Variegated Solomon’s Seal in a different area of the garden that get more sun and are doing just as well.  🙂 

note:  Since I do my posts in advance this was created before we got some much needed rain.  Thank goodness!

Hostas

(From upper L-R across & down: unknown Hosta blooms, unknown lime Hosta, 'Red October' Hosta, unknown dwarf Hosta, row of 'Royal Standard' Hostas, stems of 'Red October' Hosta, unknown lemony lime hosta, and unknown variegated hosta)

Don’t you get excited each spring when the first furled Hosta leaves start poking through the soil?  I know I do because what’s not to love about these beautiful shade loving foliage plants.  Yes I realize they have blooms and some of them are actually worth the attention.  But my favorite part has to be the leaves whether they be large, small, green, yellow, blue or patterned.  Now the blooms on my Royal Standard are a big plus since they are quite large and very fragrant.  But for the most part I’m not that impressed with the blooms on some of my Hostas.  This unknown Limey green one has pretty white flowers with just a hint of lavender around the edges, no scent that I noticed though.  The stems are quite sturdy which keeps them upright vs laying on the ground to be run over by a runaway lawnmower.  😉   I don’t remember if ‘Red October’ bloomed last year which was the first season in the garden, but the stems are pretty cool huh?  Some of the Hostas in my garden were purchased as a grab bag type deal at the end of a season so I don’t know the names and some were long forgotten.  That’s one of the perks of blogging, it has helped me keep track of new additions and their ids.  Plus for the past 2 years I have been documenting new purchases in a journal which includes where they were planted.  Anyhow just thought I would pay a small tribute to one of my favorite perennials in the garden. 

Progress of New Additions

Cimifuga 'Hillside Black Beauty', Acanthus, Pulmonaria 'Raspberry Splash' and Eucomis comosa)

 Here are a few of the new additions to my garden in 2009.   For the most part I’m quite pleased with how they are progressing so far in the garden.  Some perennials grow quickly in one season while others take a few years to mature.  I thought I would give you an update on how they are doing so far.  The Cimifuga is growing extremely slowly and I’m not sure I picked the best spot for it since it prefers a moist location.  I’m considering moving it this fall to a bare spot by the birdbath in the Hydrangea Bed.  This spot stays damp from me emptying out the birdbath when I fill it with fresh water daily.  Acanthus was a bonus plant that happened to be in the same pot of something else I was purchasing at the Learning Garden Plant Sale last year which you can read about here.  It was a very small division that has at least doubled if not tripled in size since last May.  After seeing so many posts about Pulmonaria in other blogs over the past couple of years I knew I had to have one for my shade garden.  It bloomed this year which wasn’t that spectacular in my opinion but the foliage is pretty interesting so I’m happy with it.  The Eucomis or Pineapple Lily overwintered with no problems to my surprise.  I’ve tried this plant in the past with not much success after one season.  I’m hoping it likes it’s new location which gives it morning sun followed by afternoon shade.  After I made this collage I remembered there was one more plant I wanted to show you so here it is below:

Brunnera 'Jack Frost'

 I had wanted at least one of these shade loving perennials for sometime.  But I found them to be quite expensive.  Imagine my surprise when I got a buy one get one free at a discounted price online last spring.  Of course I went for it.  They were quite tiny so I planted them together for the time being.  Down the road I can always divide it and make more additions for other areas.  It already bloomed earlier last month and the tiny blue flowers were quite pretty.  But I’ll be honest I wanted it for the foliage which really lights up a dark spot under the Crepe Myrtle in my Woodland Garden bed.  Please ignore the wild Violet growing thru it.  That was pulled right after I took this photo.  I leave a few in my garden but they are quite invasive and take over if allowed.  Notice the leaves are the same shape, lol.  🙂