I am joining Diana of Elephant's Eye in choosing twelve months of my favorite garden plants. Since "Mayhem" I have been submersed in the garden. I find it difficult to sit in my office at the computer, but I need to catch up. Here are my plant picks for May, June and July.
May — Iris. There is nothing like Iris in the garden. Their blade-like foliage adds complimentary texture to any planting bed. Swords of buds, their tips dipped in color, slice through foliage and flora and then one day unfurl in a splash of paint. Blossoming swirls of purple, yellow, cream, inky veins, and bristling anthers brushed with pollen, beckon bees and artists. I have yet to paint an Iris watercolor. My favorite is Sibirica.
June — Alliums. Alliums add surprise and whimsy to my garden. Slowly their sparkling spheres rise and seemingly float above the garden floor, their nodding heads bouncing in the slightest breeze. From the common chive to the bigger beat of the drumstick to the native nodding onion, all of them turn into rotating, buzzing globes attracting all sorts of bees, wasps, flies and other pollinators. I recently added 'Summer Beauty' among my nodding onions for its stronger pink hues.
July — Bee Balm, Monarda. I have several large drifts of Bee Balm. One is pink in color, the others red, given to me by my mother. I would like to add a large patch of Wild Bergamot or Monarda fistulosa. Bee Balm is in fact popular among the bees, and even a small patch of these fireworks guarantees to attract a Hummingbird. How could I not include this among my favorite garden plants when just this week I spied the first Hummingbird Hawk Moth to visit my garden whirring among its blooms? It's the balm!
To read about my previous choices for a dozen for Diana, click below.
January: Sunflowers
February: Wild Roses
March: Lady's Mantle
April: Poppies
I am joining Diana of Elephant's Eye in choosing twelve months of my favorite garden plants. Come April I am reminded of Poppies. Now in the garden the large leaves of Oriental Poppies spray from the ground – Surprise! they say, you forgot we were here. And I did. After blooming, their leaves tend to fade away by late summer. More have popped up from last year. I moved a few to a new spot in the garden where they can surprise me once again next year. Soon, their alien pod-like blooms will rise up on wavy wands to catch the dew.
Again, surprise! One magic day their large billowing blooms burst open. Their blooms are intense fiery suns, their color burning, bringing us Northern gardeners what we have been craving over the Winter months and during this chilly Spring.
Later in the year, California Poppies skirt the edge of my Nice Driveway, hot and dry. They are reseeding themselves nicely and will even grow in the cracks, a much nicer alternative to crab grass. This year I am adding more in a dusky rose color to soften the orange I already grow.
Also this year, Pepperbox Poppies will find their way into the Potager. I have some seeds of an heirloom variety from Renee's Garden and want to try these seeds in my own homemade bread. The pods will also be pretty dried. I couldn't resist Renee's Shirley Poppies Angels' Choir, either. These should be pretty and frilly in a mix of soft "watercolor shades" (perfect for painting!) in coral, apricot and peach. Some are bicolor, some picotees (with a different colored edge).
A native Yellow Wood Poppy, Stylophorum Diphyllum, is blooming in my garden right now. Not necessarily common in this area from what I read. Never-the-less a few have volunteered to grow here and I appreciate their bright drops of sunshine. This year I hope to save some of the seed and spread it around. I may have to compete with the chipmunks who savor these seeds, or maybe they will distribute them for me.
What garden "pops" without Poppies?
To read about my previous choices for a dozen for Diana, click below.
January: Sunflowers
February: Wild Roses
March: Lady's Mantle
I am joining Diana of Elephant's Eye in choosing twelve months of my favorite garden plants. In this month of March, I am all about green. Each Spring, I look forward to the fresh, crinkly leaves of Lady's Mantle, Alchemilla Mollis. Lady's Mantle is native to Europe but has become traditional in many American gardens. I cannot imagine a garden without the ruffled skirt of Lady's Mantle edging its borders and so must include it in my dozen for Diana.
Lady’s Mantle, a perennial herb belonging to the Rose family, has a long history of curative and magical powers. I mostly admire Lady's Mantle for its leaves and the way they catch the rain and dew. Apparently so have many others before me. Throughout history, these dainty drops adorning the leaves of Lady's Mantle were considered mystical and constituted the part of many potions. Considered by alchemists to be the purest form of water, they used them in their quest to turn base metal into gold – hence the name "Alchemilla". (The generic name Alchemilla is derived from the Arabic word, Alkemelych – alchemy.) In earlier times, it was also believed the dew that collected on the leaves was thought to preserve a lady’s complexion and took on extra magical powers if collected by the light of a full moon. Lady's Mantle also been used in traditional medicine as an astringent tonic for skin conditions, as a tea in the treatment of menstrual and digestive problems, and to dress wounds so that they may heal faster.
Lady's Mantle is said to be named after the Virgin Mary's cloak because the lobes of the leaves were thought to resemble the scalloped edges of a mantle. Its tiny chartreuse to yellow flowers dance above its frilly foliage like lace. Lady's Mantle prefers to grow in partial shade. Mine grows in sun as well, in moist soil, but I am in a cooler zone. Aside from an elegant edging, it also makes a graceful groundcover.
To read about my previous choices for a dozen for Diana, click below.
January: Sunflowers
February: Wild Roses
Hmmm, if I scratch myself training the wild roses, I could try applying some Lady's Mantle to my scrapes!
Sources: Botanical, Global Garden, Live and Feel
I am joining Diana of Elephant's Eye in choosing twelve months of my favorite garden plants. In this month of February, I am feeling "pink love", dark chocolate, and ... Roses! Not a dozen dying red roses in a vase (my Valentine knows to give me live flowers), but roses in the garden. What could be more romantic? I always felt my garden would be incomplete without at least one rose, but ah hem haw, I had never grown roses. I don't use chemical fertilizers or pesticides or sprays – roses require such things don't they? No! So, there's no excuse not to include a rose in this garden of my twelve favorites. I decided on two native, wild roses to add to my garden and I would recommend both to anyone who fears "high maintenance roses" and who likes to garden on the wild side.
I planted a Swamp Rose, Rosa Palustris, along the edge of my Potager where the soil tends to stay moist. This rose has grown substantially in just a few years from bare root. It has put forth suckers but they are easily dug up. Never one to pass up a new plant, I have begun a mini rose hedge/border.
Along my "classic" chain link fence garden feature, I planted a Climbing Prairie Rose, Rosa Setigera. This rose puts that fence to shame as it should be. It grows alongside our new covered back porch so I can really enjoy its fragrance and blooms. Every now and then I redirect the canes to follow the fence line.
Aside from romantic blooms and perfumed summer nights, roses also offer interest in Fall and Winter. Yellow-orange leaves in Fall stand out against darkening skies. In Winter, rosy red hips brighten snow and ice.
Roses are also pollinator friendly and fruit loving birds such as Robins will eat the hips. I know my Leafcutter Bees use the leaves for their nests as evidenced by their nearly perfect, circular cut outs. What's not to love?
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