Crinum 'Alamo Village'

The 2007 Crinum season has begun and just like last year 'Alamo Village' is the first to bloom. I took a sequence of photographs over the last few days, first of the buds, then of the first two open flowers, and finally of an umbel full of open flowers. The petals at the 10:00 and 2:00 positions display a gull wing shape that I think is really pretty.

April 27, 4:30 PM

April 28, 7:30 AM

April 29, 8:30 AM

She's not just a pretty face either. Here's a shot of the whole plant so you can see that she's got nice leaves to go with those pretty flowers. The height is just a bit over 3 feet (1 meter).

Crinum 'Alamo Village'

Farewell Narcissus

Narcissus season is coming to a close in the garden and we've had quite a run, starting in mid-December with N. 'Rijnveld's Early Sensation' and continuing through early May without interruption. Before we say goodbye to the Narcissus until next season, I'd like to show a couple of very eye-catching late varieties.

First up is Narcissus 'Smiling Sun', a perfectly shaped flower with a yellow trumpet and white petals. Some of the yellow from the trumpet spreads onto the petal bases, a really nice touch.

Narcissus 'Smiling Sun'

The last Narcissus to open in the garden is 'Felindre', a poeticus with a nice blend of green, yellow, and red in its sharply defined small cup. It's also nicely proportioned with medium sized flowers on compact plants.

Narcissus 'Felindre'

Unless I've overlooked another late variety, that's it for Narcissus until next year.

Left Behind

The deep freeze that covered much of the middle and eastern United States this past week also caused much damage on Crowley’s Ridge. One of the things that struck me is that on some of the trees, among dozens of dead ones, there were a few leaves still alive. Though I don’t put credence in premillennialism and have not read the books, it made me think of the Left Behind series. I don’t believe there is anything mysterious about this but I can’t figure out why some lived and others didn’t. The size or position of the leaf does not seem to explain it completely. If anybody has a scientific explanation, I’d like to hear it - or even an educated guess!

Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis)

Hickory (Carya)

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

The Iceman Cometh

If you live in the eastern half of the United States you probably noticed a big change in the weather last week. A strong cold front drove south all the way to the Gulf of Mexico and east to the Atlantic Ocean, spoiling many spring garden displays as it went. The weather station at the airport not far from here recorded a low temperature of 27°F early Sunday morning, it might have been a little warmer or colder here in the garden. As a gardener and lover of wild plants and the animals they feed and shelter, extreme weather events like this are very disturbing to me.

As much as it bothers me, I decided to record the freeze damage in the garden with the camera and then add more photos over the coming weeks and months to show how the plants recover from their injuries. All of the pictures will be of woody plants, both natives and exotics, that are growing in the garden or the adjacent forest. Yes, there was damage to herbaceous perennials also, but some of the most sensitive, such as Hostas, I covered with old blankets.

First up are the natives. These should be well adapted to our climate and not be fooled by the sometimes vague transition from winter to spring, but several weeks of warm weather got them to commit and they paid the price when the cold arrived.

Pawpaw (Asimina triloba)

Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)

Tulip Poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera)

Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum)

Several other natives were badly damaged by the freeze. I have photos of them but in the interest of column space I am not putting them inline and will link to them instead. They are Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis), Black Gum (Nyssa sylvatica), and Yellowwood (Cladrastis kentukea).

Next up are the exotic victims, all native to Asia, mostly Japan, and adapted to similar climates, although perhaps not so uneven in the spring as the Eastern United States. In the photo of Japanese Spicebush below, note that the leaves are undamaged but the new shoot to which they're attached is limp. Hard to say what will happen as they continue to grow, but I'll be watching.

Japanese Clethra (Clethra barbinervis)

Weeping Katsuratree (Cercidiphyllum japonicum 'Pendula')

Crapemyrtle (Lagerstroemia 'Muskogee')

Japanese Spicebush (Lindera obtusiloba)

The good news is that most of the plants in the garden, native and exotic alike, got through this late cold snap with little or no damage. Here's the complete report for my garden.

No visible damage

Acer leucoderme, Acer rubrum, Adiantum pedatum, Aesculus parviflora, Aesculus sylvatica, Ajuga reptans, Allium 'Millenium', Alpinia japonica, Amelanchier arborea, Amsonia hubrechtii, Anemonella thalictroides, Aquilegia canadensis, Arum species and hybrids, Aster divaricatus, Athyrium filix-femina, Baptisia minor, Baptisia 'Carolina Moonlight', Baptisia 'Purple Smoke', Chrysogonum virginianum, Clematis species and hybrids, Clinopodium georgianum, Colchicum species and hybrids, Coreopsis verticillata, Cornus florida, Cornus kousa, Crataegus phaenopyrum, Dicentra eximia, Dicentra spectabilis, Disporopsis pernyi, Disporum flavens, Dracunculus vulgaris, Dryopteris species and hybrids, Epimedium species and hybrids, Erythronium species and hybrids, Eucomis species, Eupatorium rugosum, Fagus grandifolia, Geranium species and hybrids, Habranthus species and hybrids, Hamamelis species and hybrids, Helleborus × hybridus, Hesperis matronalis, Heuchera americana, Hydrangea quercifolia, Hymenocallis species and hybrids, Illicium floridanum, Iris species and hybrids, Leucojum species, Liquidambar styraciflua, Liriope muscari, Lobelia cardinalis, Lonicera sempervirens, Lycoris species and hybrids, Magnolia stellata, Mertensia virginica, Myosotis sylvatica, Narcissus species and hybrids, Oenothera fruticosa, Ostrya virginiana, Paeonia species and hybrids, Parrotia persica, Parthenocissus quinquefolia, Phlox divaricata, Phlox paniculata, Polygonatum caniculatum, Polygonatum humile, Polygonatum odoratum, Polystichum acrostichoides, Primula kisoana, Primula vulgaris, Prunus mume, Rhododendron atlanticum, Rosmarinus officinalis, Salvia guaranitica, Salvia lyrata, Salvia × superba, Scilla natalensis, Scilla peruviana, Scilla sibirica, Sedum species and hybrids, Smilacina racemosa, Stokesia laevis, Stylophorum diphyllum, Thymus species, Tiarella cordifolia, Thalictrum kiusianum, Trachycarpus fortunei, Tradescantia species and hybrids, Trillium species, Uvularia species, Vaccinium species, Verbena canadensis, Veronica species and hybrids, Viburnum species, Viola species, Woodwardia areolata, Zephyranthes species and hybrids

Some damage

Acer japonicum, Aesculus pavia, Agarista populifolia, ×Amarcrinum, Anemone hybrids, Astilbe species and hybrids, Athyrium niponicum, Baptisia alba, Camellia species and hybrids, Carya species, Corydalis 'Blackberry Wine', Crinum species and hybrids, Farfugium japonicum, Fothergilla 'Mt. Airy', Hemerocallis hybrids, Hippeastrum hybrids, Itea virginica, Lindera obtusiloba, Magnolia sieboldii, Musa velutina, Nandina domestica, Quercus species, Rhododendron canescens, Salvia microphylla, Stewartia pseudocamellia, Styrax species

Severe damage

Acer palmatum, Asimina triloba, Bletilla striata, Buddleia species, Cercidiphyllum japonicum, Cercis canadensis, Cladrastis kentukea, Clethra barbinervis, Chionanthus virginicus, Corylopsis pauciflora, Ilex species, Lagerstroemia hybrids, Liriodendron tulipifera, Nyssa sylvatica, Osmanthus species and hybrids, Oxydendrum arboreum, Perovskia atriplicifolia

No damage, still dormant

Alpinia pumila, Asclepias tuberosa, Callicarpa species, Canna hybrids, Clethra alnifolia, Cryptomeria japonica, Curcuma species and hybrids, Eupatorium maculatum, Hedychium species and hybrids, Hibiscus coccineus, Lavandula species, Osmunda species, Magnolia grandiflora, Magnolia tripetala, Musa basjoo, Musa itenerans, Rhododendron catawbiense, Rohdea japonica, Thelypteris species, Tsuga canadensis

A Walk on the Wild Side

Last weekend I decided to hike to the back of our twenty-five acres to see how far advanced the red buckeyes (Aesculus pavia) were. Our property is long and narrow and it’s half a mile to the back of it. We only have a couple of buckeyes on our land but there are several nice, large specimens on our neighbor’s property. Their land borders ours on the east so I decided to stay close to the fence line on that side. My camera case was securely hooked to my fanny pack so I could get shots of any woodland blooms I came across.

When I was getting near the back, I came upon an almost impenetrable stand of saw briar (Smilex bono-nox) which must have stretched 30 feet across, in front of me and on the west side. Not wanting to backtrack, I looked for a hole where I thought I could get through unscathed - but somehow a branch I was holding away from me slipped from my hand and raked several long, ugly scratches on my arm. Blood was pooling in big drops when I remembered the tissue in my fanny pack. I pressed it tightly over the cuts and continued to make my way through the rest of the stand, now using only one hand.

Smilex bono-nox

After seeing the state of the buckeyes, I decided I would not return the way I had come but headed west where the undergrowth was not so dense. I was just thinking, “No saw briars here, thank goodness!” when I came upon thick brambles of blackberries ((Rubus fruticosus). A long scrape on my shin is a souvenir from my encounter with them!

Rubus fruticosus

The next day some fluid-filled blisters were proof that when I leaned on my elbows to get that close-up of the rue-anemone (Anemonella thalictroides), I didn’t look close enough for the poison ivy (Toxicodendron radicans) that grows all over our land. They are tiny when they first leaf out and sometimes difficult to spot.

Toxicodendron radicans

What started out to be a nice springtime tramp in the woods had turned out to be a walk on the wild side! If you’ve ever been pricked by the thorns of a rose or a blackberry, you’ve done battle with a plant, though you may be only an innocent bystander. I’m not in the habit of eating blackberry or saw briar leaves but other animals browse on them. Since plants must keep their leaves in order to make the energy they need to grow, many have evolved ways of protecting themselves. In the case of the blackberry and saw briar, their defense is something like a barbed wire fence. Poison ivy, on the other hand, has evolved a different form. It produces an oily chemical, urushiol, which produces severe pain in the digestive tract when eaten. Herbivores soon learn to avoid it, as do humans, like me, who develop a skin rash when they come in contact with the chemical. You don’t have to make contact with the leaves to be affected either, as touching the stem or the woody vine that clings to trees will do it. That’s why you can get a poison ivy rash in the dead of winter.

This Black Swallowtail is inexperienced or not allergic!

Even when I’m enduring the itch of my poison ivy or nursing my scratches, I’ve got to admire those plants. They can’t run and hide but they sure can put up a fight!

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns
…or we can rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.

- St. Francis de Sales

What's in a Name? Green and Gold

Chrysogonum virginianum, usually sold as Green and Gold (when offered), is simply that, green and gold. Its pubescent (fuzzy) leaves and yellow daisy-like flowers help make this plant a wonderful groundcover in sun or shade, in very moist to average soil.

Other notable facts about the plant is that it is easy, native, it spreads very quickly, is a snap to propagate, starts blooming early and keeps blooming for months.

My favorite attribute of this plant is its ability to bring yellow to the shade garden. I've had this plant bloom in very limited light and with more moisture than most plants will take. All the same I've had it do well with much more light and much dryer conditions. It's that rare plant that can act as a foil across a large area under varying conditions. Chrysogonum is one of those plants that can "quietly" tie the garden's design together.

Strangely, for all its merits, it is still quite rare in cultivation. I don't get it. Even I have only now reacquired it, years since growing it at my parent's home. Why is this plant so easily overlooked? Maybe it's because its name is so, well, boring.

For whatever reason it is overlooked, this unsung hero of the garden is now blooming its heart out for me and will still be blooming after all the spring flowers have disappeared and the early summer flowers have taken their place. Perhaps if I called it "Greenbacks and Gold Bullion" people might be clamoring for it.