Temporary Garden Summer Wrap-Up

Well, the Temporary Garden has made it through a thankfully nonbrutal summer with only the thirsty genera (willows and hydrangea) showing any severe effects from my tough-love approach to watering.

 

There are three crape myrtles on the property; the other two are red. Neither of those made even half the floral show that the pink one did.

 

 

This large-flowered white hosta was literally the most fragrant plant in the entire garden. Guess the prior owners weren’t into the fragrance thing.

 

 

Anonymous hardy hibiscus – maybe ‘Lord Baltimore’??

 

 

I was very disappointed in the performance of the buddleias, except for this white one which naturally is situated at the rear property line and so whatever butterflies that may have visited it were invisible from the house. Ironically, this one was in the most shade; the others are in full sun all day! The blue and the magenta buddleia barely managed to work up enough enthusiasm to produce perhaps a dozen or so flower spikes.

 

 

This is the yellow buddleia that I mentioned in a previous post as being ridiculously lanky and spindly, so I cut it back to 12” this spring. As a result it eventually (very slowly!) responded by….. putting up brand new lanky and spindly growth. As you can see in the photo, its foliage seems particularly attractive to munchers. Taking that, and the flower color, into consideration perhaps it could be called the Swiss Cheese Buddleia.

I really have no idea what buddleia this is. Having pored over photos of Buddleia x weyeriana and Buddleia globosa, as well as ‘Sungold’ and ‘Honeycomb’, I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t look exactly like any of them because these are spikes, not separated globes or balls. Maybe it’s a failed genetic experiment!

 

 

This, my friends, is what was supposed to be a pillar of blue (by day) and white (by night) flowers. Somewhere under all those leaves is a trellis/obelisk, at the base of which I planted seeds of Heavenly Blue morning glory and also white moonflower (Ipomea alba) in early May. The seeds didn’t even germinate until June – yes, I did soak them overnight – and then in July they took off like gangbusters. This photo was taken on August 30^th. Don’t bother looking for flowers, because there aren’t any. Nor are there any buds in evidence. No idea why. It certainly isn’t coddled or fed. It’s just… green. Lotsa green. Maybe I will start calling it the Jolly Green Giant.

 

 

This is the only one of the hated rose of sharon (Hibiscus syricacus) that I spared from the chainsaw this spring, and only because it’s a double which I assumed is sterile because I didn’t find a bazillion seedlings trying to reforest its surroundings. What I forgot is how much I really really really dislike the flowers, not only because they are constantly covered with bees (who in their right mind deliberately plants something like this along a front walkway??) but because the wilted flowers turn into wads of purple toilet paper. Ick. Next spring it gets the chainsaw treatment.

 

 

This shot was taken from the kitchen window on August 30^th (do try to ignore the Lasso/Noodle cedar, please). The red crape myrtle at the rear is the one whose flower truss is shown above, and you can see the white buddleia in the righthand corner. Take a good look at those rudbeckias because within 48 hours after this was taken, they were all gone – on purpose.

I began by cutting down the ones in the two beds nearest the house, stood back, and said: “That’s better.” Because I must confess that I really seriously do not like that color. So I thought that if I just left the rudbeckias that are farthest away (about 140 ft or so from the back of the house) it would be more tolerable. And to my eyes it was a definite improvement. However, two days later I realized that it wasn’t improved enough, and so I did my Red Queen impression – off with their heads! When finished, I took a deep breath and declared “That’s much better.” I honestly hadn’t realized just how much the sight of those brassy yellows had continually stressed me out, until they were gone.

Color is a funny thing, isn’t it?