New Dawn Rose

New Dawn looking fabulous after rain.

 I was contemplating taking the roses down from this trellis over the front porch. People in their seventies have no business climbing on ladders to prune roses. However, this looks so good & the other one at the old veggie garden has died. Either I killed it digging it's roots from my compost bin or it got some of the many rose diseases, either way it's dead so maybe a reprieve for this one.
The Lady Banks Rose is going as it's flowers were all killed by frost & it's too big for this location. Maybe I'm learning to match my energy to my garden. Ha!

Clematis 'Betty Corning'

This is said to be a hybrid crispa/viticella Clematis. I cut it back to a couple of good buds 8-10 inches above the ground in late winter. For me it has been easy and requires no extra help other than clearing away encroaching plants from it's base. Though I am a bit worried about the Indigofera with it's huge root system that is surrounding it.

Betty Corning came from Albany, New York in the 1930's & she is one of my favorites.
The little bells sway in the breeze & keep going until the heat wears her out.
In the fall she generally has a little revival before frost.
I have had her for several years & even in drought times she has come back from shriveled & brown to green & flowering after a good rain.
Now that's my type of plant! (I do not water ornamentals after they are established)

Baptisia & Friends

Baptisia 'Purple Smoke' is just finishing blooming I had planted it under the cascading branches of Buddleia alternifolia amazingly they seem to have the same color blossoms. Each year I say I am going to prune/ train this Buddleia into a much nicer shape maybe this will be the year. It blooms on old wood so my excuse is I remember it too late & then the Carolina Aster, also on this pole, starts to green up & there goes another resolution down the drain or is that up in smoke?

Louisiana Iris 'Black Gamecock' above in the Rain Garden & the species Baptisia australis has seeded itself here too.

Another Blooming Tree

Styrax japonica  I got this as a seedling from a gardening friend's neighbor when collecting plants for the Arboretum Plant Sale many years ago. Probably 10 since next week is our tenth anniversary sale.

It has finally become a flowering tree worth looking up.  Now just tall enough to stand beneath and look up into the so called snowbells. If you get up close it has a faint fragrance, always a plus for me.

A little shade is necessary for this understory tree.
Here growing under a Red Maple at the side of the gravel driveway.
I suspect it's roots have access to the rain as it travels down the slope to the rain garden.
 Moss grows here so an indication of it's preferred situation. Acidic soil, moist but well drained. Pink versions are available  & the native snowbell has a more delicate appearance.
http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=STAM4

Fringe Tree

Chionanthus virginicus the native fringe tree was in full bloom before I left 2 weeks ago, but I got this photo before I took off.
It was so lovely this year you could stand underneath it and look up into an umbrella of white & green.

Looking up

Close up of the fringes

In all it's loveliness