What does a gardener do on a rainy day? Create a gardening blog, of course! This is Day 2 of cloudy, rainy weather in the Twin Cities metro area, and it's doing nothing to help the gardening bug. Oh, I know it's needed - the fire danger is finally lowered - but it's a little hard on the pocketbook when one makes a living on gardening. So, here I am, cozy in an arm chair, laptop and a cat in lap, blogging away.
So, what's going on in Jennifer's garden? The foam flower (Tiarella) are blooming nicely. Their short stature is perfect in front of the birdseed-laden ground under the bird feeder. The tulips are still going strong. The early bloomers have since blown away thanks to three days of 30+ mph winds. The mid-spring bloomers are wide open, on the verge of shattering. The nearly black "Queen of Night" are actually still doing quite well since they started blooming in mid-April.My late-blooming parrot tulips are just starting to show color - this is their first year in my garden and I can't wait to see them in their glory!
Last fall a neighbor was splitting their fernleaf peonies (Paeonia tenuifolia) and asked if I would like a few. Of course I would! Only a fool would refuse. I planted them in my sunniest garden, flanking the bleeding heart (Dicentra spectabilis). Yes, I have a bleeding heart in full sun. You should see it - I never thought one would do so well as this one has. It's been in this location for about four years, and is huge. This year it gave a spectacular show. When the foliage fades in the heat of high summer, the tall garden phlox (Phlox paniculata) and variegated sedum (Sedum spectabile variegata *see p.s. below) will have their turn to shine. Back to the peonies...one of the plants has one smallish flower. The deep red is a wonderful compliment to the light pink and white bleeding heart arching gracefully overhead. This particular garden is right by the driveway, so I can keep an eye on its progress every time I drive by.
Most everything else is just growing, growing, growing! I'll share the progress of things as they begin to bloom. Photos coming soon!
p.s. Something of note on Sedum: "In recent years, horticultural taxonomists have deemed it necessary to split up the genus Sedum. Some plants that used to be classified in this genus have now been assigned to closely related genera such as Hylotelephium and Rhodiola. For instance, Sedum spectabile (showy sedum) has been renamed Hylotelephium spectabile, and Sedum 'Herbstfreude' (autumn joy stonecrop) has been renamed Hylotelephium telephium 'Herbstfreude'. It takes a while for name changes like these to be reflected in retail nursery catalogs. But be aware that eventually gardeners will have to grapple with them." A Note on Nomenclature, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, http://www.bbg.org/gardening/article/spectacular_sedums/
Translation: The tall fall-flowering sedum, think Autumn Joy, Autumn Fire, Brilliant, are now Hylotelephium telephium. (Try saying that three times fast.) My best attempt at the pronunciation is: hi-lo-tel-ef-ee-um tel-ef-ee-um. To my understanding the ground cover sedums will remain in the Sedum genus. I don't know if the tall purple sedums fall under the new name. I'll do my best to use the new, correct name in future posts...but it's going to be hard. And just like the article suggests, it's going to be even more confusing and difficult for the common non plant geek consumer.
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