Last Sigh of Summer

The glory of fall has arrived on Crowley’s Ridge! These days I find myself raising my eyes often from my work to gaze in wonder at the vivid scarlet of a sumac, or the blaze of gold in the hickory on the hill, or the blue, blue, blue of the autumn sky.

My flowerbeds are mostly ragtag foliage now but there is one last sigh of summer – Nicotiana alata or flowering tobacco. Some time in the summer months I read that it attracts moths, mostly lunas, which I dearly love, so I bought the first one I came across. I obviously didn’t have my head on straight because I know that luna moths don’t feed at all as adults. They don’t even have mouthparts but emerge from their cocoons only to mate and die within a week.

Nicotiana alata

Doing a little research on flowering tobacco before my purchase would have been wise too as mine have little scent, but I love their colors, the bright, almost neon red and the pale rose. I later read that the newer varieties, which are much more colorful, don’t have the fragrance of the old-fashioned ones. Next year I’ll look for the unimproved white variety for its fragrance but I’ll also plant the colorful ones for their beauty!

Early Autumn Color

The garden is winding down for the season and there's not much blooming now, although the Sansanqua Camellias are about to start. No doubt that the drought here isn't giving the plants what they need to provide abundant late flowers. There is some interest in the garden now provided by some bright autumn foliage, although the peak is at least several weeks away. The three species featured are all native to the Eastern United States and are reliable providers of early autumn color.

First up is Bottlebrush Buckeye (Aesculus parviflora), a plant that's been featured on this blog twice before, for its emerging spring foliage and early summer flowers.

Aesculus parviflora autumn foliage

Close-up of Aesculus parviflora compound leaf

Tupelo (Nyssa sylvatica) is not known for showy flowers, but it does have a neat pyramidal habit and consistently adds bright red to the early autumn scene.

Nyssa sylvatica autumn foliage

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) is another reliable provider of early autumn red foliage and also offers attractive summer flowers.

Oxydendrum arboreum autumn foliage

Autumnal bare bloomers

On Friday afternoon and evening the garden finally had a good rainfall, receiving almost 2 inches (4.5 cm) after two months with very little precipitation and temperatures well above average. The rain, along with the autumnal air mass that followed it, brought many geophytes into flower this week. All of these "bulbs" are unusual because they bloom in late summer and autumn without any foliage present.

Lycoris radiata, a native of China, has spidery red flowers with long, exserted filaments. After blooming, the tidy, dark green leaves, with a pale central stripe, emerge and add attractive greenery to the garden all winter, disappearing as the bulbs enter dormancy in the spring.

Close-up of Lycoris radiata

Group of Lycoris radiata

Rhodophiala bifida, a native of Uruguay and Argentina, also has red flowers on bare scapes, but the flowers have a different look. The narrow leaves emerge from its long-necked bulbs after the flowers, remain green all winter and go dormant in the spring, but they're long and sprawl around, rather than remaining tidy like those of Lycoris radiata.

Group of Rhodophiala bifida

Not all of these autumn bloomers are red, these Colchicum have pinkish-purple flowers. Unlike the others here, its broad foliage doesn't emerge from its corms until late winter, going dormant in late spring.

Close-up of Colchicum

Cyclamen hederifolium, native to Southern Europe, has pale pink flowers, shaped like shuttlecocks, that arise from flattened corms. It has a long blooming season, during most of the autumn, and the later flowers are joined by dark green, triangular leaves with gorgeous silver markings.

Close-up of Cyclamen hederifolium

Variegated Hedychium

Back in June I had an early Hedychium bloom, but most Hedychiums bloom here during late summer and early autumn. Nearly all of these gingers have showy flowers and many are also intensely fragrant. Out of bloom they make attractive foliage plants with long tapered leaves alternating along arched stems. There aren't many with variegated leaves, I've got the only two I know of happily growing in the garden.

Hedychium 'Dr. Moy' has subtle variegation, a mixture of grayish-green, sometimes white, streaks and speckles on a medium green background. Without the variegation it would still be an excellent Hedychium because it has very sturdy stems which bear broad foliage and large heads of very fragrant, light orange flowers with darker orange throats. It is a hybrid of H. flavum × H. coccineum and was bred by and named after Dr. Moy, a botanist, now retired, at San Antonio Botanical Garden.

Hedychium 'Dr. Moy' flowers

Close-up of Hedychium 'Dr. Moy' foliage

Hedychium 'Vanilla Ice' is a sport of 'Dr. Moy' with very dramatic variegation consisting of abundant white streaks. Its flowers and growth habits are the same as 'Dr. Moy', and although the loss of chlorophyll reduces its vigor, it's still a decent grower. It was selected and propagated by Messenbrink's Nursery of Nashville, North Carolina.

Close-up of Hedychium 'Vanilla Ice' foliage

Hedychium 'Vanilla Ice' foliage

Hedychium 'Vanilla Ice' flowers

Hippeastrum reticulatum striatifolium

Hippeastrum reticulatum striatifolium is quite a mouthful, but it's also a very descriptive name. Reticulatum refers to the net-like veining in the flowers while striatifolium refers to the white stripe down the center of each leaf, both are features readily observed in the photograph. This beauty is not planted in the garden, it's potted in a decorative container and spends most of the year on the porch, except during winter when it's in the house.

Curcuma

Curcuma is a genus in Zingiberaceae family with about 80 species native to Asia. The rhizomes of Curcuma longa are ground to make turmeric, an orange-yellow powder used as a spice in curries. Other species are cultivated for their showy flowers and bold foliage, but they also have aromatic rhizomes, leaves, and stems even though they're not cultivated for turmeric production. The two best performers in the garden so far I grow mostly for their foliage.

Curcuma rubescens has bright red petioles supporting its large green leaves. In bright light, with sufficient moisture, even the leaves will produce red pigments, although never as dark as the petioles. It's known to have showy spring flowers too, but my plants have been reluctant to bloom so far. If they bloom someday that will be great, but even without I am happy.

Curcuma rubescens petioles

'Emperor' is an attractive selection of Curcuma petiolata with excellent variegated foliage, green with a variable creamy margin. It also produces summer flowers, but they're subtle when compared with many Curcuma flowers. They're also mostly hidden by the foliage so they don't really contribute to the overall garden scene, but it's worth your while to part the foliage and take a peek if you enjoy unusual flowers.

Curcuma petiolata 'Emperor' flower

Curcuma petiolata 'Emperor' foliage

Both of these plants are very slow to emerge in the spring, often not showing above ground until late May, causing the gardener to wonder if the cold weather from the previous winter has killed them. However, once they start to grow they do so very rapidly, reaching full height in just a few weeks.

Yes! We have pink bananas!

We have pink bananas today! Not only are these bananas pink, they're also cute and fuzzy, too bad they're really seedy and not edible.

Musa velutina fruits

They belong to Musa velutina, a small banana that grows about 7 feet (2m) tall and is winter hardy here in Raleigh, North Carolina. Its large leaves give the garden a tropical look from late spring until frost, with additional interest provided by the pink flowers in late summer, followed by the attractive, and unusual, pink fruits. I got my first plants a few years ago from my buddy Bodhisagan, the owner of this blog, and this year I had enough to share with another friend.

Musa velutina

Musa velutina inflorescence