August 2011 in the Northern Hemisphere

[Knud]

I agree with Maggi abouth both the Tanacetum, and the Heucheras, lovely plantings, and photos.

We have a few plants in the garden that have been here from its start in 1937, and one is a Tanacetum my grandmother brought from the farm they moved from. It was intended for a particular use, namely, to be picked and placed in rooms of the house after cleaning to freshen them up.  I do not know what detergents they had/used in those times, probably some greensoap, but "fragrancewise" tansy beats most of todays cleaning agents hands down.

Another plant that has been in the garden for a very long time (before 1950) is Rosa 'New Dawn'.  The plant we have today is a cutting of the original plant I took when we had to remove the old plant to fix the drainage around the house. The first picture show the 'New Dawn' with a chicory of coffee fame (or should that be "infame"), the seed of which was pick on an Ontario, Canada, roadside verge, about ten years ago. Another Canadian European roadside weed blooming here now is shown in the second picture, Potentilla recta, the seed of which was also picked along an Ontarian road. This plant is for sale in garden centers here, but only a clear yellow form, we like this pale yellow one.

Knud

[Maggi Young]

I used to have a Rosa 'New Dawn' and was very fond of it, though it had no wonderful provenance and family meaning like yours, Knud.
What a super pair of colours of the rose and the chicory - a classic combiantion of tones to appeal to every eye,  I think.
I see what you mean about the 'soft' yellow of the potentilla.  There are times when a strong,  or acid yellow does give a cheery jolt but that restrained yellow is both rlaxing and cheering. Marvelous what we can achieve with our flowers, isn't it?

[Olga Bondareva]

No doubt August is a month of phloxes here.

[Paddy Tobin]

Lovely selection, Olga.

Paddy

[mark smyth]

Coming in late with this plant because when I cut in down just now I see it had 22 flower stems

[PaulM]

Here are some pictures of Aconitum napellus, which was growing when we went on a hike along some old mines in western Sweden at the end of July. Some were growing at an old abandoned cottage and these in the pictures were growing in a clearing in the woods. They really stood their ground well in competition with the natural flora, and the flowers were really at their peak. I think I might return there in September and collect some seeds, as I would really like to grow some...even though it's a common garden plant.


                  I enclose a picture of another aconite which I have in the garden, called
                  Aconitum heterophyllum, which has a nice veining on the lips and helmet.

[Lesley Cox]

Gorgeous phloxes Olga, and I love the eryngium soo. I really liked E. maritimum shown elsewhere. Aconites mean the end of summer here and give a great show. Thank you everyone.

[Olga Bondareva]

I like eryngiums very much for their blue color. But I moved them out because they were a real weed. Only one stays at my garden, Eryngium yuccifolium. It blooms much later and does not sow itself.


(at the right)

[Olga Bondareva]

At the friend's garden

[Paul T]

Beautiful pics, Olga.  Gorgeous!!  I love that last one at the friend's place.

Nice Eryngium, Mark.  Great display.

[PaulM]

    Here are two pictures of a primrose which is new for me in cultivation; Oenothera rhombipetala from the plain states in midwestern USA. I think it's biennial.
   
   I have also grown Argemone sanguinea from southern Texas which sported flowers in threee different colors


   

[xthomasx]

Prunus spinosa coming closer to maturity... Will be a good harvest this year...

[Lesley Cox]

Is Prunus spinosa the sloe? I remember staying with the late Tony Colmer and though his family had eaten all the sloes, the gin left in the bottle was extremely good.

[PaulM]

                   Asclepias is an intereseting genus, and some spread terribly by underground runners, like A. syriaca, which I managed to eradicate from one bed, and now moved to another, where it does spread, but no too terribly. The drier the better in controlling it. The flowers smell sweet, and attract all sorts of insects. This species usually set viable seed, while many others don't.

One that doesn't spread and which is very hardy is A. tuberosa. It takes a few years to reach flowering size from seed, but gets better and better the older it gets. The orange flowers really stand out.

When I was out looking for cloudberries I ran into this Calla palustris plant, which usually have green leaves, but this plant had a reddish tone to the leaf
, which looks nice, but I would't grow this plant in the garden, as it spreads a lot.

Cirsium discolor is a thistle from the prairies of North America, and it's monocarpic ( usually biennial ).
And one of the flowers close up:

An annual which I have grown this summer is Clarkia speciosa ssp immaculata, and what can I say it IS immaculate

   

Vincetoxicum canescens has flowered every year, but it is first this year that it has formed fruits, which are interesting looking.

[Tim Ingram]

Paul - so nice to see the Asclepias. We used to grow A. tuberosa on the nursery but I never managed to really establish it in the garden. There are some wonderful species, especially the smaller alpine ones, but I am yet to find what they like. One larger species that does well is speciosa, and I am waiting to see if I get flowers on vestita, which has similar but narrower grey-hairy leaves and a less vigorous habit. My memory of Vincetoxicum at Wisley is that it has very good yellow autumn foliage, reminiscent of the related amsonias.