Cool Plant: Caracalla Bean

The Caracalla Bean, also known as snail flower, is one of the most interesting beans I think I have ever encountered. It has ordinary foliage but a beautiful snail like flower, that is quite fragrant, and is a surprising late bloomer. I discovered it last year while visiting Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson. While I had fully intended to plant it in my own garden this year, I never quite got around to it, but these photos are certainly making me regret that!

Blooming Now: Daylilies

Daylilies might as well be called “deer food”, last year I got one bloom before the deer came along and had quite a pleasant snack.  As a  result, I transplanted them in the fall, moving them to a more remote area of the yard, in an attempt to keep from luring the deer there.  I was pleasantly surprised that the transplant went well with the deer have stayed away from the (for this year), and there are blooms a plenty!

DIY: Mailbox Planter

One of the first things I didThis re purposed mailbox is no more difficult than planting any other planter, you fill with dirt, make sure there is appropriate drainage and away you go! I wanted something that would fall out of the box and had some left over Creeping Jenny that I needed to put to good use. The one downfall is that the mailbox doesn’t collect rain and can get quite hot, so be sure to water appropriately.

Blooming Now: English Lavender, Lavandula Angustifolia, ‘Munstead’

Today we bring to a close my week long overture to Lavender. This week has  brought me one step closer to planting  rows of lavender in my vacant backyard, and the bees would be so happy!

 

I bought this English Lavender, in a bit of haste,when I thought one of my beds was a little sparse(it wasn’t), and was surprised to find little blooms popping up this week. Unlike the other two Lavender varieties I have shared this week, Munstead is compact, only growing about 1-2 ft in height and width. It has bright blooms(blooming June-August)  that attract nectar loving insects and short leaf  foliage that is highly aromatic.

Know Thy Plant: Fern-Leaf Lavender

Fun Lavender fact:  The name Lavender is derived from the latin lavo or lavandus meaning to wash, since the herb was so commonly used during bathing.

Today, in this third ode to lavender, we highlight the fern leaf lavender. I am unsure of the variety it could be  ‘multifida’  or ‘minutolli’.  Multifida has more of a lavender scent, while minutolli has flashy blooms and a pungent smell. Think this is a sign I need to keep track of my tags? I fortunately have learned my lesson on this one!

This interesting Lavender, like most other varieties, prefers well drained soil and once established, needs only occasional watering.  I will admit that I may have put mine in a not well drained raised bed and over watered this spring , resulting in yellowing leaves. However it has flushed out a bit with the dryer summer months.

This variety is VERY fragrant. The ‘multifida’ has been traditionally cultivated for oils, for its strong lavender scent.  The variety I have is reminiscent of citronella, and I crush it between my hands and rub on my legs to keep mosquitoes away, to varying degrees of effectiveness. This could mean it is ‘minutolli’, the mystery continues.

The biggest surprise of this cultivar, is that is has been long blooming for me. I completely expected to get one good bloom out of it, but with deadheading it has had consistent blooms since I planted it in May (greenhouse forced I’m sure). The blooms are long, and often form a  beautifully shaped trident.

Regardless of variety the growing conditions are very similar:

Zones: 8-11(some places as high as 14) I’ve noticed mine can really take the heat well, however I’ll have to see how it winters over in zone 7. This may have to be an annual for me.

Soil: Well drained

Water: Drought tolerant once established.

Size: Up to 2 ft tall(40 inches with blooms) and around 3-4 ft wide.

Deer Resistance: Yes

Blooming Now: French Lavender

I believe this variety is ‘grosso’ or ‘hidcote’ but I can’t quite remember…

Did you know that lavender has been used  for over 2500 years for fragrance and medicinal purposes?

Blooming Now: Climbing Roses

This climbing rose, a gift from my home’s previous owner, is definitely a quintessential feminine flower with small but fragrant  light pink blooms. This bush was heavily pruned in the past, but I let it flush back out the last two seasons and it has flourished. I am unsure of the variety, but it has been easy to care for, and despite humidity, has had no fungal issues. It did have a nasty case of aphids earlier in the spring, which I quickly fixed with an application of ladybugs. Although, it is in certain need of some pruning, which I hope to touch on later.

Know Thy Plant: Oriental Poppy ‘Papaver Orientale’

Today brings a close to my 3 day ode to poppies…

I have had a dream of  poppies surrounding my  country cottage since viewing Monet’s paintings of the Poppy fields in Giverny. However, when most people think of poppies they think opium, and  they should, as it is still one of the most effective painkillers on the market today! Or they have witnessed the use of it in symbolism as poor Wendy strolled into the poppy field only to enter an eternal sleep just short of the Emerald city.

What most people don’t know, is that all poppies are not created equal. Opium comes from the aptly named Opium Poppy ‘Papaver Somniferum’ (Latin for sleep inducing) and in most cases have questionable legality in the U.S.. Which is why I forgo a lucrative career in drug manufacturing and grow oriental poppies in my own garden instead.

How to Care for Oriental Poppies

• Grow in Zones 2(3) – 8
• Prefer well drained loamy soil and full sun.  I would hardly  call my soil loamy or well drained, and they have flourished, but I also don’t live in a particularly wet area either.  The exception being this spring we got a few weeks of rain and I believe this contributed to some of the buds dying.
• They can tolerate partial shade. In my own garden I have noticed that the plant in partial shade had fewer blooms and less robust foliage.
• Grow to 2 feet tall and after they bloom the plant will die back and go dormant. I did not know this when I first planted them and was a little bummed that I had killed them, so don’t despair!
• Bloom May-June
• Need very little moisture during their dormant period.
• Difficult to transplant as a result of deep taproot. Your best chance is to transplant when they are small or during a cycle when they require less nutrients. You can also grow them from seed just be sure to research specifics in you area.

Blooming Now: Scotch Broom

This is the first year I am getting truly nice blooms on my ‘Lena’ scotch broom.  Last year after I transplanted it out of the pot it was in it didn’t bloom, but it has come back in full force this year. It has been a solid deer resistant plant, and was left unscathed through the winter and early spring. However with expansive growth it is starting to get leggy,as you’ll see in the last two photos, and it is easy to see how this species is invasive out west.  I have had to tie mine up in order to keep it upright, which it still struggles to do under the weight of the blooms. This especially helped in early spring when some freak spring snow storms knocked the poor plant completely over, pinning its branches under the snow.

I’ve decided to prune it back after it finishes blooming to control the plant and add back in some structure. I’ve done some non strategic pruning on this plant before, either to get out dead or simply control the spread, and it hasn’t seemed to have had an effect on the plant. I have seen people cut them down to the ground and they still flush out, however I don’t know how this affects blooming. I have read some advice on pruning from the outside in, pruning back the woodier older branches, which is supposed to reduce some of the innate legginess of this plant.  I guess we’ll see how it goes, but I’m pretty confident in this plants hardiness so my advice is prune away my friend.

Know Thy Plant: Cytisus scoparius ‘Lena’ Scotch Broom

I’d like to introduce one of my favorite earlier blooming  plants, cytisus scoparius ‘lena’. It is more commonly known as scotch broom and I have been seeing them pop up in nurseries more and more recently. They frequently come in yellow, but the ‘Lena’ has a red flower with hints of yellow. I  love the scotch broom which  unlike many early bloomers, I’m looking at you forsythia and azalea, gives interesting texture to the garden year round and often looks less messy.  Even though it is called the scotch  broom,  once it gets bigger the long branches bend over and it reminds me more of  long sea swept hair.

The scotch broom is deer resistant, attracts butterflies and bees, blooms may through June,  get 3 to 5 feet high and wide, and can do well in a variety of soils. It is considered an invasive species in many climate and contains a  toxic alkaloid that is an antiarrhythmic, and a sodium blocker,  meaning for most normal people it depresses your heart. With this in mind it is best to plant this in an area away from pets and small children.