The Many Faces of Susan

Here come the Black Eyed Susans ( Rudbeckia hirta ) 
The genus named by Linnaeus for his old teacher Olaf Rudbeck. The species name means hairy, notice the hairy stems and leaves.
This annual, sometimes perennial, wildflower is just coming into blooming the circle.

All from seed & now the open pollinated offspring of the original packet Rudbeckia hirta displays it's 

genetic diversity. The multi-petalled flower seem to be on the same plant as the others!

Texas Rose Skullcap

The original plant came from Plant Delights and that one must be 4ft wide and 2ft deep along the driveway. Scutellaria suffrutescens "Texas Rose' likes sunny places and hails from Mexico so give it those conditions and it will form a nice mound of rose pink flowers all summer and keep going until frost.

 

Bees visit the flowers and three offshoots from the original plant have made a great edging strip in front of the porch on the gravel driveway. I suspect well drained soil might be appreciated too.

Above this mound is easily 4ft by 2ft. Looking somewhat damaged by the harsh winter all the plants have bounced back nicely and are blooming again.

Another of these plants has intermingled with a lemon thyme, I think the thyme is winning

Patio Plants

The new patio created from the old garden room renovation has caused me to have some container gardens. I have resisted this type of gardening since it requires more attention but times change.
My friend Kathy & her husband David presented me with two pitcher plants & I have finally got them into a suitable container.

Pitcher plants (Sarracenia) in a galvanized tub made to represent an acidic bog. We saw this type of container at Growing Wild Nursery near Burgaw NC.

to ensure bog conditions holes are drilled about 4" above the bottom of the container. After rain the water stays below the holes keeping the peat based media above damp by capillary action.

It is important to only use rain water luckily I have 4 rain barrels.

Other hypertufa containers are supposed to be a herb garden but I am wondering if this spot will get enough sun so I started out with lettuce this spring which has been successful. The parsley & chives on the other side have worked well too.

The old dog basket has bush beans as another "enough sun" experiment

I think all these containers are Kathy's fault. 

Check out her fabulous examples at the Pitt County Arboretum

Blue Spires

I absolutely love blue in the garden it compliments almost everything.

Above Salvia farinacea 'Victoria' a petite version of the native.
Sometimes sold as an annual I have had one clump of this perennial in my garden for 11 years.







At right Salvia 'Indigo Spires' which is a cross between
Salvia farinacea & Salvia longispicata.

This tall shrubby perennial is one of the earliest blooming Salvias and does it until frost.
You can't ask more than that!
Hummingbirds love it.

Here in the old veggie garden Larkspur grows with potatoes. You probably won't see this combination in many gardens!

 I used to have, it seemed,  hundreds of Larkspur in the circle but ravenous rabbits have gradually eaten them away. Now I let them (Larkspur, not the rabbits) grow in the fenced old vegetable garden to ensure I have these fabulous reseeding annuals. In an attempt to reduce pests and disease I am cottagizing (new word?) my garden and growing veggies among flowers. It makes watering rather a challenge though.

Catchfly

There are a lot of plants with this common name. This one is Silene armeria an annual from Europe.
The flowers are almost florescent, a very bright addition to the early summer garden. Mine reseeds in the circle but does not seem invasive as I don't find it around the garden. Plenty in the gravel driveway though! The original seed came from Wildseed farms in Texas many years ago.
http://www.wildflowerinformation.org/Wildflower.asp?ID=66

Above with Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria)

At right with the Yarrow 'Paprika"
 (Achillea millefolium 'Paprika')
just coming into bloom.

A perfect cottage garden plant for sun

Black Gamecock

Iris louisana 'Black Gamecock' grows in my rain garden and has formed a huge patch but it also grows well under the drip of a leaky gutter. So, give it some moist soil and you will be rewarded by these velvety royal purple blooms in May. The foliage is good looking most of the year.

I first saw Louisana Iris many years ago at Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile, Alabama.
It grew in the bayou in several inches of water.
Tony Avent says in his catalogue that it grows to 5ft, mine gets 2-3 ft but I guess in water it would grow taller. Multiplies nicely in a sunny damp place

Knautia macedonica

This relative of Scabiosa the so called pin cushion flower I grew from seed a long time ago.
I think it was 'Melton Pastels' from Thompson & Morgan, now they are seedlings of those plants mostly maroon in color. They are drought tolerant & have a cottage garden appearance. The tall stems from mostly basal foliage weave through the circle causing interesting combinations.

Here on a misty morning with Bronze Fennel
These self seed in the gravel path so they are in the Plant Sale at the Arboretum this year.
http://pittcountyarboretum.blogspot.com

Pink

The old variety Paeonia lactiflora 'Sarah Bernhardt' is blooming in front of the Therese Bugnet rugosa rose. I like natural stakes but they take time to wind twine around the crape myrtle sticks that I hoard for this purpose. One advantage over metal stakes is that after you have as you want it you can trim off any excess stake. I was a bit late in staking this year so stakes a bit more exposed.

Fragrant  & long lasting if the weather doesn't get too hot

this is in morning sun & afternoon shade

Great cut flower

Hidden Flowers

A couple of plants blooming in my garden hide their flowers under their leaves.
You might have to bend down to get a really closeup look at the flowers of  Indigofera kirilowii  (Chinese indigo). Sprays of pretty pink pea-like flowers cover the underside of stems in spring.

This plant travels slowly but is deep rooted,  it has been said that it could be used as a ground cover under live oaks. Mine is in the circle where it is hard to dig out & seen here under a crape myrtle.  Blooms well in both places. Probably would be best with its own space.

A cousin of the true indigo plant used for that blue dye

Styrax japonicus

Asian Snowbell has spring flowers hanging under the branches. Faintly fragrant and needing some shade in the afternoon.

I got this as a seedling tree at the Master Gardener plant sale at the Pitt County Arboretum several years ago. This is its first year of full bloom.

http://pittcountyarboretum.blogspot.com

Buddleia alternifolia

This unusual Chinese Buddleia is quite different from the much grown Buddleia davidii cultivars. Blooming on old wood it is important to hold off on pruning this until after it blooms. Don't cut this back in winter or you will have no flowers. Quite fragrant and with a weeping habit I saw this first at Longwood Gardens. They had trained it up multiple posts then allowed it to cascade down. What a sight!

I guess I probably started to do the same although on a smaller scale but as usual, for me, another plant came along that needed a trellis so it joined the Buddleia. Now it forms a tangle with the native Carolina climbing aster (Ampelaster carolinianus) which is just starting to leaf out. I really need to prune the whole lot this year, if there is time.

Southern Charm

May must be the most floriferous month here so many things are blooming. Roses all over the place & perennials are making their presence known. Verbascum 'Southern Charm' is a hybrid I grew from seed for a backyard nursery I had in another place & time. I brought it with me to this garden 11 years ago in pots.

 Some references say it is short lived but I think these have been in the circle all the time I have been here. I hope for self seeding but I don't see much evidence. Verbascums are deep rooted so quite drought tolerant but the hot afternoon sun wilts them & sometimes I have poked sticks in the ground to hold up the tall flower stems. This strain has a soft color pallet that will blend with many color schemes.

Downy Phlox

Phlox pilosa is a super spring bloomer in my garden. This native is known for it's resistance to powdery mildew. The fragrant rosy pink flower heads last about a month depending on how hot it gets in May.

There is a large swath of it in the wildflower garden at the Pitt County Arboretum so lovely in full sun there. Unfortunately with all the rain earlier on it's resistance to the said mildew seems to have been lower this year. Still wouldn't want to be without it. Makes a great tallish ground cover as the leaves are evergreen.

Therese Bugnet

The rugosa rose 'Therese Bugnet' is coming into bloom & a sweet fragrance fills the air. It's suckering habit makes it a great hedge rose & the foliage always looks good. The rugosa roses are know for their disease resistance, no spraying needed.

Although it does very well here it is a 1950's Canadian bred rose known for it's cold hardiness. Unlike a lot of her brethren she does not produce many rose hips.
A visitor from the Balkans, through a translator, told me his mother used to make a sun tea from the flowers.
Amazing how gardening connects us.

Baptisia

The False Indigo plant is native to the USA.
 So called for the old fashioned species Baptisia tinctoria which was used to dye cloth blue. The results were less than indigo but native Americans and settlers made do with what was available.
For an in depth look at this great garden perennial see the link 
http://www.clemson.edu/extension/hgic/plants/landscape/flowers/hgic1184.html

In my garden, on the right 'Screaming Yellow'
In the middle 'Carolina Moonlight'
At the top 'Purple Smoke' beneath the arching branches of Buddleia alternifolia .
The common blue Baptisia australis is not blooming yet. I bought the white version yesterday at Growing Wild Nursery.
The Baptisias set lots of seed if you leave the decorative pods on and I must have a thousand seedlings which are easy to pull or you can just cut off the seed pods before they open. I am hoping for some fabulous color combination from open pollination. Seed pods were called Indian Rattle and they do!