Formosa Lily

Lilium formosanum is from Taiwan, formerly known as Formosa.

These are about 6ft tall in half a day sun under an old crape myrtle tree on the driveway.

This plant has two seasons of interest as the seed heads are rather ornamental.

Beware, if like me, you leave the seed-heads on for more than one year it depletes the bulb so that it does not bloom successfully in following years. 

After I deadheaded it for the next couple of years the flowers came back again.

In Australia this fragrant lily has escaped from gardens & is considered invasive .

It not only propagates by seed but also by increase of the bulb

 I have found the seedlings pop up all over the garden.
At right the dried seed heads in the potting shed.
They make great, tall, dried arrangements
if you like that kind of thing.
I am thinking of using just the pods to make a wreath
so many ideas, so little time.

An enormous number of seeds are stacked like 'Pringles' in the seed pods so no wonder they seed around.
I read that they will bloom in just a couple of seasons.
I usually just dig up seedlings & pot them up for the
Pitt County Arboretum Plant Sale
http://pittcountyarboretum.blogspot.com

Downy/Hoary Skullcap

Wether you call those hairs on the stem, hoary (old fashioned word for grey or white hair)

 or downy (a more charming version) this native skullcap is a great July bloomer in my garden.

2014 North Carolina Wildflower of the Year

I got my start from the Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill & have propagated it by seed.

Planted in 3 different places in my garden & two in the Pitt County Arboretum Wildflower Garden

This plant seems to be very adaptable. Shade to full sun it has bloomed well. 

Mine are about 2ft tall after 2 years but said to get to 3ft.

 I did pinch back a couple of stems & they have yet to bloom but will soon.

Well drained soil in both places but some say it will enjoy nice loamy soil too.

The difference in bloom color here maybe just light at photo time.

I do not water ornamental plants in either garden after they are established, so these are viewed as drought tolerant. I  notice many bees visiting these & another low growing skullcap in my garden. See one in the bottom photo obviously a good pollinator plant, perfect!

Rudbeckia laciniata 'Herbstsonne'

Originally a gift from a friend many years ago, this super summer bloomer embraces our July heat & humidity. Increasing it's clump each year so much so that I can usually dig some divisions for the

 Pitt County Arboretum plant sale each year.

It is the much better behaved offspring of the native Green-headed coneflower

 (Rudbeckia laciniata)which spreads rapidly by underground stems & would be better in a field rather than a garden. Since this variety has a German name (herbstsonne) meaning autumn sun it can only be concluded that those Tuetonic plant breeders whipped that rambling native into garden shape. leaving us to enjoy it's clumping nature.

Six feet tall in my garden I, unusually for me, dead-head it a little bit to keep the blooms coming.

Pollinators are quite as impressed as I am with the flowers.

Storm damage

This is what is left of the Carolina Silverbell (Halesia tetraptera) that was on the property line with the park.

The newspaper reported 60 - 80 mph winds during Wednesday night.

Ironically we had talked about how the canopy of this tree was starting to encroach on the power line to the house, well nature took care of that for us.

My husband is trying to use large branches that come down to make a deer fence in parts of the garden, so we hope this will be of some use. Sad to see the tree go though.

Rudbeckia variety

Just one of the many versions of Rudbeckia hirta in my garden

Allowed to go to seed & multiply this native, sometimes perennial, annual produces amazing variations. Saving seed of a particular one of these will not necessarily produce like offspring. 

Enjoy the genetic diversity of this fabulous flowering plant.

Pale Purple Coneflower

Echinacea pallida the Pale Purple Coneflower is native to much of the USA

My clump now in it's third year is very tall this year with all our recent rain.

Often, in the early morning, bees are waking up on the cones.

Below you can see the difference between species pallida & purpurea

The pods are from poppies

I read that Echinacea comes from a Greek word meaning hedgehog in recognition of the bristly cones

http://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=ECPA

Carolina Wrens in a King's Head

A few years ago, before we screened in the front porch, a Carolina Wren made a nest in this decorative king's head that I brought home from England.

When enclosing the porch my husband created a dog door by overlapping 2 pieces of fiberglass screening. This spring a Carolina Wren (they mate for life) made a nest in the same king's head.

Not only built a nest but fed & nurtured 5 baby birds by using the dog door. Hopping in & out by pushing the screen apart. 

When the babies made it out onto the porch they huddled together for a day or two & the parents tried feeding them by pushing food through the tiny holes in the screening but finally decided they had to come inside to be successful. We opened the doors to let them all fly out last week.

Such a delight to have the time to watch all this unfold.