Succulents Don't Suck...(revisted)

This weekend (and much of the future season) I'll be playing with my succulents. I can't help it, they just call to me.

Earlier this morning I posted on my Melanie's Perennials blog, it too was about succulents and some of the plans I have with them.

There are so many different varieties of Sempervivum and Sedums. I don't claim to be an expert on them, I'm not even super careful about keeping their names. If I have a name, I put it in the pot. If I don't, I still grow them and love them. Many varieties were sold to me without names. They are as beautiful as the named varieties so I really just don't care.

This one I've had for 4 or 5 years now. It's been divided each and every year and makes these soft little tufts. The name on the pot was TBA, probably just stood for "to be advised".

One of the reasons I love these plants so much is because they are so forgiving of harsh conditions and so darn easy to grow! This Sedum acre is in a small, cracked plastic pot. It's grown out of the pot and along the ground, rooting in tiny cracks in the concrete.

Here's the same plant, it just crept it's way along the concrete and wound around a nearby planter. You would never know that there's no soil under here.

Every now and then an escapee finds a foothold. This is a tiny Sedum, I'm pretty sure it's name is Sedum dasyphyllum. I have no problem with it having caught hold in the cracks here, in fact I'm going to encourage it to grow!

Pots of these babies are for sale, there's not than many potted up yet and each and every one is different. The watering can is not for sale, I just adore it and can't part with it!

This afternoon friends are coming over with their children. If you do any gardening with kids you have to try these Hens & Chicks. Kids love them! I've done programs at schools and brought in pots of Sempervivum (Hens & chicks). They are so touchable, not thorny or prickly but soft and fuzzy.

The kids especially love the cobwebbed ones and love the fact that they can take them in their fingers and tease the plants apart. The whole idea of the mother plant (the hen) and her little babies (the chicks) appeals to them.

Here's a close up shot, these are just about to send out little babies and we'll be making three different pots from this one piece.

Here's one that was divided out a week ago. You can see how I left room for it to fatten up and for any babies that pop out to find a place to root.

I always add in a few non-succulent plants. This is a Saxifraga 'Cloth of Gold' that I bought yesterday. I haven't had luck with them in the past but this is a new variety for me. It's going to be paired with a beautiful blue foliaged Allium (you can see it in the top photo in the right side of the hypertufa trough).

Off to play,
Melanie

Symphytum - Comfrey

I try to do a perennial spotlight every few weeks. Yesterday I wrote one for my Melanie's Perennials blog, it featured some of the hardy Geraniums in bloom right now.

Another perennial that is deserving of the spotlight is Symphytum which is commonly known as Comfrey or Borage. Any book on herbs contains a page on this hardy perennial. Throughout history it has been used for many different ailments, unfortunately it has come to light that internal use of this plant causes liver cancer.

While I grow quite a few herbs in my garden, I rarely use them in any way other than ones specifically grown for flavoring foods (fennel, basil, mint, rosemary and so on). I have no problem keeping this lovely plant in my garden.

The tallest of the three comfrey's growing in my garden is this purplish/blue one.

I would love to have the full botanical name for this plant but I never purchased it with a tag. My friend Kim and I each rescued a small piece that had been planted at a local historical house. I am just crazy about it and look forward to seeing how it grows in future years.

Another Symphytum in my garden is this pale white/pink variety. I actually purchased this one at a local nursery but none of the pots had labels in them. I have it planted in full sun and part shade, it appears happy in either condition and has been blooming for almost a month now.

In one of my front gardens we had a telephone pole that had broken. The phone company simply cut it off at ground level and put in a new pole. I was worried that nothing would grow near the rotting base of the old pole so planted Symphytum in that spot.

I had read that Symphtum is an invasive plant but so far I have yet to experience any type of invasiveness from any of these varieties. Maybe that one reference was wrong?

This pink blooming one is the only one I have the full name for, it's Symphytum 'Langham's Pink'.

The leaves on Symphytum are rough to the touch and have been used (and still are used) to make a poultice to help knit broken bones. Another use I've read about is to add them to your compost pile to speed up decomposition or to make compost tea with them. I have tried the tea, it stinks to high heaven so I haven't tried it again. If any of you make compost tea with this plant I'd love to know about it.

Over the years I've seen another Symphytum for sale, it's name is 'Goldsmith' and it has foliage that is marbled with yellow & green. Although I did buy this and plant it in my garden in semi-shade it is not here now. I would try it again if I saw it for sale but put it in a sunnier location.

Searching on-line I found some great information at Wikipedia The article states that comfrey grows back quickly after being cut back. This is something I have had first hand experience with, I've cut mine back hard after flowering, put the foliage on the compost heap and had a new flush of growth and bloom.

One thing I haven't tried yet is to divide any of my comfrey. Let me know if you have!

Melanie

Size Counts!

What an incendiary title but oh so true. When planning your garden, size most certainly does count. There's a wealth of dwarf perennial plants and giant perennial plants too but most often it's the trees and shrubs that gardeners miscalculate when it comes to size and space.

This is Lilac 'Miss Kim', saddled with the horrendous botanical name of Syringa pubescens subsp. patula 'Miss Kim'. You can see how I broke my own rule and just stuck with the nickname this time :-)

My 'Miss Kim' Lilac and my Physocarpus 'Diablo' (Ninebark) are both in bloom today. 'Miss Kim is just finishing up while 'Diablo' has just begun to burst into bloom. Both are specatular shrubs and wonderful additions to the home landscape.

There's just one problem with these two shrubs. I totally miscalculated the size they would reach upon maturity. 'Diablo' is lucky, it's in a spot where although larger than I expected, I can forgive it's vigorous growth and just hack it back when needed (as soon as it's done blooming it's in for a serious haircut).

Unfortunately for 'Miss Kim', she has to go. Here you can see the bed where they are, Physocarpus 'Diablo' to the far left, Lilac 'Miss Kim' front and center, totally obliviating the entrance to the garden!

Last year I took a similar photo, maybe you can see that on one side of the lilac is a charming mailbox. That mailbox is totally hidden from view now. I also have to add that I've cut this Lilac back quite a bit in the past two years.

Way back in 2005 I took a photo of the garden as it had just been replanted. My design was a square garden with a circular path in the center. It's my favorite plan, one I hope to recreate in future locations.

When looking for photos this morning to see the progression of size, I finally made my mind up. This week the Lilac will go, I'll cut it back hard and if somebody comes here in the next week and is willing to dig it up and transport it, they will be welcome to it. First come first serve!

Heartbreaking Beauty

Yes, that title is correct, "Heartbreaking Beauty" not "Breathtaking Beauty".

Today was a tough day in the garden, it's that time of spring where the plantings all begin to meld and you realize that all of your creative designs have come together. Unfortunately for me today it was also a day where many of my hearts desires have come crashing around me.

While my garden did little to ease my mind, it did keep my hands busy as I puttered around and took photos.

I've worked for years on this corner of my garden, it took my breath away to see how everything finally came together.

Here's a shot just a few feet closer, you can see Claus, my garden gnome where he is quite happily surrounded by an explosion of hardy Geranium and Symphytum blooms.

Up closer still, you can see the Geranium cantabrigiense 'Karmina' just beginning to go wild, behind it is an iris that has long ago lost it's name but certainly not it's beauty. The backdrop of blue is Centaurea montana (also known as Bachelor's Buttons).

The opposite corner of this bed is almost as much of a work of art. Hosta 'Sagae' dominates in the center (only planted there last year) along with the fantastic gold of the Hakonecloa 'All Gold'.

These two plants will put on this show from now until autumn. Romantic woes aside, who could ask for more?

Misty rain

Ahhh, there's nothing like a long misty rain to rejuvenate the garden. Much as I dislike being cold and wet, I know just how much the garden appreciates this weather.

A big bonus to misty rain is that it's a great photo opportunity!

In this opening shot you're looking at my variegated Ginko, the variegation is just starting to appear on the leaves.

The succulents are wonderful rain drop catchers. They look as if they're studded with jewels. I am so enamored with these babies, I hardly want to work any where else in the garden right now.

Up close and personal, see how the fine little hairs (officially called cilia) catch the mist? These little babies are not sharp like cactus, they are soft to the touch and while I wear gloves out in the garden, when I play with my succulents, I need to feel them with my bare skin.

The Hosta are starting to put on their show, when they first emerge the colors can be quite muted but give them a little time and they really start to shine!

Of course the all time favorite for catching mist, rain or dew is Alchemilla mollis (Ladies Mantle). I love this plant so much but have given up potting it up for people as I just can't get it to sell. (If you want some, I'll dig it out of the garden for you.)

One last peek, in this combination photo you can see how different foliage catches water. On the far left is Nepeta musinii (cat mint) which has some water on it, mostly around the edges of the leaves. In the middle is Oreganum aureum (Golden Oregano) which doesn't look wet at all. On the right side is the star of this photo, Sedum 'Lynda Windsor' with her smoky colors and huge diamond-like drops of moisture.

It's still chilly here but the sun is shining now so I'm off to play with my hens and chicks. Hope you are all reveling in your late spring gardens!

How nice to see you!

Today Old Country Gardens was officially open for business. The weather was a bit challenging, morning spits of showers, late afternoon was gale like winds but hey, nothing stops gardeners!

It was so nice to see so many long time gardening friends. Today was "men's day", it seems like the guys were out and they were shopping for Hosta and Daylilies!

Vinnie drove over in a truck that makes my heart go pitter patter and loaded the bed up with daylilies... what a guy!

Visitors had to take a whiff of the honeysuckle and just missing at the right corner was a huge lilac bush in full bloom. Wish I had smell-o-vision here for all of you.

I only had a minute to sit but had to sit in that swing and look up at the sky, wasn't it beautiful!

The Vibernum plicatum that I received years ago from my friend Kim has grown to the size of a small tree. It was just a cutting she had layered in her garden and fit easily into my SUV back then.

Some winters the Lysimachia 'Jenny' doesn't return but this year it seems to have loved all the snow cover we had. This photo was actually taken in Kim's garden the other day but mine looks just as nice and across the street my friend Cynthia has a wealth of this lovely plant too.

Right now I'm physically exhausted, this is the first time this season that I spent all day outside. Luckily everybody helps me, Mom does just about everything. One of the men who came to shop dug his own Hostas out of the ground.

The good news? Yes, it was benign and despite some setbacks being in the garden and seeing all my friends again is the best therapy of all.

The Mystery Plant

Last weekend while in Chicago I came upon a mystery plant. Now I do have to admit that I don't grow every perennial out there but in most cases I can identify the ones I see while on tour.

This plant intrigued me, needless to say I'd love to try a piece someday.

The flowers remind me a little of Columbines.


The foliage underneath the blooms though doesn't resemble Columbine foliage at all.

There are mass plantings of this lovely plant at Millenium Park in Chicago. I'm guessing that it's a perennial since it was surrounded by other perennials. In this one area it was mixed with Stachys monnieri.

Anybody have any idea what this is?

Chicago Blues

This weekend I had the most glorious time in Chicago. Although the mother nature did her best to challenge us with her temper tantrums, she couldn't put a damper in our visit.

Over the four days I walked every inch and mile that I could, taking photos like crazy. The spring plantings were a gardeners dream come true.

Chicago is famous for it's Blues scene, well, I found quite a few different blues there. To begin with, that's me in front of the Buckingham Fountain in Grant Park. As you can see the sky was as blue as could be.

Plantings were everywhere, containers covered the sidewalks. I took so many container photos that I'm going to dedicate a separate post for them on my Melanie's Perennials blog. I just love the blues of the Hyacinths and Pansies against the gold of the Lysimachia nummularia 'Aurea' (creeping jenny).


Here's a close up of those amazing blue Hyacinths, I found them all over the city!


Mertensia virginica (Virginia blue bells) is a plant that's relatively new to me although not new to the plant world. Obviously somebody in the parks dept in Chicago has realized just how well this plant works in the landscape.


Here you can see the Mertensia combined with white Tulips, Narcissus, and backed with an amazing Cercis canadensis (Red Bud) tree.

Unfortunately it's hard to get quality shots when the sun is shining so brightly but I couldn't resist trying to photograph this unusual pairing of Muscari (Grape hyacinth) and an unknown Euphorbia. One thing I wished for was to find plant labels with the names of these beauties but no labels were to be found.


Lots of blues planted in this windowbox and just in case that's not enough blue, there's the reflection of the sky up above.

Myosotis (Forget-me-not) is a biennial. Some people call them short lived perennials but I think they only live 2 years, a biennial in my book. A nice cool combination with yellow daffodils.

At the Lincoln Park Conservatory they had forced into bloom all kinds of plant material. The combination of Lilium and Tradescantia andersonia was breathtaking.

Also at the conservatory I spied this planting of Campanula poscharskyana just cascading out of a window planter. What a charming use of this hardy perennial.

Hope you liked my version of the Chicago Blues, it was all music to me :-)

Melanie