June into July 2014: Non-vining clematis

Looking across the big island bed on a foggy morning, with Clematis x durandii clambering through its new support in the foreground

I have long been intrigued by herbaceous, non-vining clematis-- species and cultivars that lack the twisting petioles by which most clematis cling to their hosts. Many of these clematis are shorter than the big vines, but lacking their equipment for hoisting themselves, the non-vining types tend to rise straight up a way. Then they flop, and manage to rise again from the tips. The habit is politely described as "decumbent", but in the garden, it's promising… and then it's a mess. With the two or three sorts we had long grown I'd tried the usual prescriptions, guiding them through or over neighboring plants or supporting them with peasticks (brushy, much-branched stakes). I still had a mess, and often, flowers near ground level-- disfigured by earwigs and slugs.  Upside-down tomato cages seem to solve the problem, at least once we add some sort of finial to what were meant to be the legs (which if left exposed threaten the limbs and eyes of the gardener). We're using grape vine spheres, and  also the terra cotta finials meant for holding together bamboo stake obelisks. The bases of the cages need firm anchoring with long staples, the sort meant for landscape fabric. These upside-down tomato cages (I found the idea at the blog or website of a public garden I've since forgotten and can't locate via Google) seem to suit the former vegetable garden air of our fenced garden; a couple seem comfortable outside it. Caging has let me get more out of the non-vining clematis we had-- and to add a lot more kinds.

Clematis 'Gazelle' in an inverted tomato cage support, and planted just last fall. By next year the plant will be taller and should fill the cage with more stems.

Clematis x durandii in the big island bed. It's been in its spot for years, but never showed well until we gave it better support-- along with plenty of fertilizer and water.

Clematis x durandii flowers, like some other clematis, are perhaps as beautiful seen from the back.

Clematis SAPHYRA DOUBLE ROSE 'Cleminov29', first flower. The name in all-caps is a trademark name; the name in single quotes is what should be an invalid cultivar name...

Clematis SAPHYRA INDIGO 'Cleminov51' opening its first flowers on young plants. The flowers slowly open further, flatter, and paler.

Clematis SAPHYRA INDIGO 'Cleminov51'. Plant Delights Nursery has published the name as Clematis 'Sapphire Indigo', using the trademark name in place of the patently invalid putative cultivar name. Good for Tony Avent.

Clematis BLUE PIROUETTE 'Zoeblupi'.  We got this as a small plant from Plant Delights Nursery eight years ago (as just Clematis 'Zoebluepi'!) Small clematis plants can be hard to establish. This one was more or less lost in the jungle and failing to rise through a symphoricarpus shrub for all that time. I may have found it and given it a bit of fertilizer last fall or this spring-- but was still surprised to see its first flowers after all that time.

Clematis 'Juuli', planted last fall in the fenced garden.

Clematis 'Juuli'

Rosa 'Sharifa Asma', one of David Austin's English Roses, in front of Clematis 'Aliononuska' in its first year with us.  At one time the fenced garden was largely roses and their companions.

Clematis 'Aliononuska'

Clematis 'Aliononuska'

Clematis 'Pamiat Serdtsa', another first year plant, and another Ukrainian name-- both clematis were bred in what was, at least at the time, part of Ukraine.

Clematis 'Arabella',  Barry Fretwell's big hit in breeding non-vining clematis. He has written of regretting not having been able to secure plant breeder's rights on what has become a widely sold plant. We were able to get both 'Arabella' and 'Alionushka' from local nurseries.

Clematis 'Arabella'

Clematis 'Arabella' with the red and chartreuse of spigelia.

June into July 2014: Vining Clematis

Clematis 'Betty Corning' hovers over the Pool Terrace.

Clematis 'Betty Corning' climbs up and over a shrub rose, Rosa 'Louis Riel'.

Clematis 'Betty Corning' has a little fragrance, adding to its appeal in small bouquets.

The first flower on a young plant of Clematis 'Bonanza', a Viticella Group cultivar from the breeder Raymond Evison.

Two clematis climbing through a shrub, Rosa 'Corylus': Clematis 'M. Koster' in rich solid pink, and Clematis 'Minuet with white flowers edged purple-red.

In this bouquet dark pink Clematis 'M. Koster' reappears,along with white-centered Clematis Minuet'. Light pink Clematis 'Pagoda' and light blue Clematis 'Prince Charles' are here and in the next photos.

 

Clematis 'Prince Charles' in in its second season in the garden, already generous  with bloom. Its support is from a rebar tripod with bits of twiggy brush tied to the rebar-- so that the fine petioles of the clematis have something smaller to grab.

Clematis 'Prince Charles' seen closer and in softer light.

 

Clematis 'Pagoda' is a subtle mauve-pink-- lovely in small bouquets, perhaps too subtle to show up well on its own in the garden-- even on a mature plant like this one. We have added a purple flowered clematis for contrast, but that plant is too small yet to show in the photo.

Clematis 'Pagoda'

I love these clematis with nodding flowers. Here, the first flower on a young Clematis 'Odoriba' offers a much brighter pink (on an even smaller flower) than Clematis 'Pagoda'.

Older flowers of Clematis 'Odoriba' develop a more purplish pink, retaining their bright white interiors. The larger flowers in this bouquet in an old salt shaker are Clematis 'Minuet'.

 A young Clematis 'Maria Cornelia' climbs a small winterberry holly-- eventually, we hope, into the big Hydrange paniculata 'Pink Diamond' above.

Clematis 'Galore', another Raymond Evison bred clematis from the Viticella Group.

Clematis 'Galore'

An unnamed clematis seedling from Debbie Fisher of Silver Star Vinery, now in its second season here. The nodding flowers and slender pedicels show Clematis viticella ancestry; the emphatically twisted sepals are something extra.

Clematis 'Perle d'Azur' on the gateway to the fenced garden. (The smaller, darker flowers below the rest are from a young Clematis 'Galore'.)

Clematis 'Perle d'Azur' has flowers facing just a little downward, a trait derived from some Clematis viticella ancestry, and adding greatly to its charm. 'Perle d'Azur' has been called the world's favorite clematis.

Clematis 'Betty Corning', again. Clematis 'Perle d'Azur' may be the world's favorite clematis, but if we had to choose just one I think this would be it.

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Coming soon...

Non-vining clematis

June into July 2014: The Calycanthus Collection

 A couple years ago we realized we were losing two large maples from the woodland edge at a relatively moist part of the woodland edge along the driveway. We had been determined to bring no new land under cultivation: not to expand an already demanding garden. With the trees cut, though, we had a chance at some gardening with partial shade and a little moisture. How could we pass that up? There's quite a bit out there now at that busy deer crossing. The largest woodies, apart from an earlier planting of Clethra acuminata, are a group of sweetshrubs-- calycanthus species and hybrids. Three are pictured here, with their bold leaves and fragrant flowers like small magnoilias over a long late spring through early summer season. The leaves and stems are aromatic when broken, offering some protection against deer. (I'm spraying repellents, too.)

Calycanthus 'Aphrodite'

Calycanthus 'Venus'

Calycanthus floridus 'Katherine' (aka Calycanthus 'Athens')



Coming soon...

Vining Clematis 

Non-vining Clematis

June into July 2014: Mulleins, meadowrues, and a few more

Our wren house was vacant this spring, but a pair have moved in to raise a late brood-- over Digitalis grandiflora, Verbascum chaixii album, and butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosum.

The driveway bed got stone stone edging this spring, but still straggles out into the gravel with a fringe of oxeye daisies. Two kinds of mulleins show here, Verbascum chaixii album on the right, and an apparent hybrid that turns up here between Verbascum chaixii and Verbascum thapsus (the tall common mullein), intermediate in habit between the two and very long blooming-- those are on the left, with purple Tradescantia 'Concord Grape' between.

Another of our homegrown hybrid mulleins, leaning over the garden steps

Homegrown hybrid mullein, close

Verbascum chaixii album and butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosum

The driveway bed, largely renovated last year, with its new stone edging added this spring. More mulleins, including a couple well-fed common mulleins (Verbascum thapsus).

The pale yellow of the small yellow foxglove, Digitalis lutea, at the lower right

Bright orange butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa, in the gravel of the entry courtyard, backed by Verbascum chaixii album, the long lasting chartreuse bracts of Euphorbia seguieriana var. niciciana-- and brighter chartreuse from the foliage of Spiraea thubergii 'Ogon' in the driveway bed behind.

Tradescantia 'Concord Grape' (in the driveway bed) was supposed to be sterile, and perhaps on its own it was nearly so. Ever since I planted Tradescantia subaspera (another tradescantia that doesn't self-sow too generously on its own) in the nearby big island bed, we get a lot more seedlings. They are mostly a nuisance, but I've been watching this volunteer in the gravel of the entry courtyard for a couple years for its astonishingly brilliant magenta color, backed here by a dwarf golden barberry.

Digitalis grandiflora, the yellow foxglove, the most reliably perennial of our foxgloves

We grew a big batch of the small yellow foxglove, Digitalis lutea, from seed last year, after long enjoying it in a friend's garden. The chartreuse shrub is Spirea thunbergii 'Ogon'.

Biennial Digitalis lanata, the aptly named woolly foxglove

The circular terrace stonework left small planting pockets around a paving stone, where the usually quiet Sedum spurium 'John Creech' is having its moment.

Thalictrum lucidum, shining meadow rue, in the fenced garden

Another meadow rue in the fenced garden. This closeup of Thalictrum 'Elin' was taken on a short, young, recently acquired plant. We would need a stepladder to photograph the flowers  near the top or our other plant. Hybrid vigor carries them to seven or eight foot heights here, even higher in some gardens.

'Elin' is our largest meadowrue, Thalictrum kiusianum by far the smallest, here between paving stones in the shade of a chair in the fenced garden. Chartreuse leaves of Filipendula ulmaria 'Aurea' loom over the tiny but long blooming meadowrue. 

The fenced garden bench offers shade to a dwarf blue hosta, Hosta 'Blue Mouse Ears'. David really likes the big blue hostas, but we have found moist shade enough for just a few little ones. Sedum rupestre is to the right, sweet violets and another small meadowrue, Thalictrum ichangense, barely visible to the left.

My favorite tuffet in the fenced garden, the very blue Hosta 'Gemstone'

Tanacetum macrophyllum in the fenced garden

Spigelia marylandica in the fenced garden. The interiors of the scarlet flowers can be either yellow or chartreuse. Here, their chartreuse picks up the foliage color of Tanacetum 'Isla Gold'.

Spigelia marylandica, this one yellow and scarlet, leaning over the dark and dependable foliage of Hosta villosa atropurpurea.

Heliopsis helianthoides starting to bloom in the meadow to either side of a path to the fenced garden

Bluebirds are raising a second brood in the tallest of the folly birdhouses, and sometimes pause as finials. Pale purple coneflowers, Echinacea pallida, bloom in the meadow beneath the houses.

Pale purple coneflowers, Echinacea pallida

Pale purple coneflowers, Echinacea pallida seem to change color with the evening light.

We didn't do well with the fancy hybrid echinaceas when they first arrived, but a hybrid that turned up here, apparently between Echinacea tenneseensis and Echinacea purpurea, grows well, with graceful, long stems and vivid, lasting flowers-- if our goldfinches are not too eager.

A late blooming iris pleasure in the big island bed, Iris 'Akira Horinaka'. It is a hybrid between one of the Japanese irises, Iris ensata, and the American blue flag, Iris versicolor.

Veroncastrum 'Lavendelturm' with Euphorbia schillingii in the big island bed

Coming soon...

The Calycanthus Collection

Vining Clematis

Non-vining Clematis