Continued from the previous page.
I've had better luck with Drift and Knockout roses than the Encore
azaleas I showcased on the previous page. Because they have far exceeded
my expectations, I keep adding more!
Since we moved to this minimally-landscaped half-acre property in
early spring 2017 we've planted a total of about four dozen rose bushes.
In April I added another seven Drifts and Knockouts
in a bare spot on one side of our house.
Knockout rose
Both varieties are well-suited for our warm, humid, mostly-sunny
climate. They have grown very fast, produce a lot of pretty flowers, and
bloom continuously from April to December.
They do require some maintenance but not a lot -- monthly fertilization
when they're flowering, dead-heading spent blooms so they re-bloom faster,
and additional water when we don't get enough rain. The Knockouts can be
pruned in early winter but it isn't really necessary. I've never pruned the
Drifts, which are lower and serve as beautiful groundcovers.
Here are some photos of the pink and red roses in the back yard:
Pink and double pink Drift roses on
one side of the yard (5-2-19)
Single pink Drift roses produce a variety
of colors on each bush. (5-2-19)
Double pink Drift roses (5-2-19)
Above and below: pink Knockouts, pink and red
Drifts on the other side of the back yard (5-2-19)
Red Drift roses
Red and pink Drift roses
Above and below: one of
two kinds of pink Knockout roses in this bed
We have mature peach Drift roses on either side of the front yard near the
tall Lorapetalum shrubs, all planted by the previous owners.
I planted peach Drifts in the new landscape island last spring to match
the existing rose bushes, and chose taller coordinating pink Knockouts
behind them:
Above and below:
The roses filled in the space even more by mid-summer. (5-2-19)
Peach Drift roses (above + two
photos below)
I just can't say enough about these roses! I love 'em and we often
get compliments from neighbors and visitors. They will continue to bloom
until the first really hard frost and/or snowfall in December.
Other things that were in bloom in May included the Encore azaleas
and bearded irises featured on the previous page, some new Hilda Niblett
azaleas, and three colors of spiderwort:
Hilda Niblett azalea is a
low-growing,
variegated pink,
one-and-done bloomer (5-17-19)
Above and below: two of the
colors of spidorwort we have; peak bloom was
in May but they continued
blooming throughout the summer. (5-2-19)
JUNE & JULY: SUMMER FLOWERS
Daylilies and hydrangeas also began blooming at the end
of May but were at their peak in June.
We have various colors of daylilies that were planted in the
spring of 2017, so this is their third summer to bloom. They have gotten large
enough that I probably should divide them this fall.
Here are some of the colors:
There are a few more clumps of
daylilies than shown here. (7-1-19)
The pale salmon-colored daylilies are
my favorites. (5-24-19)
Above and below: popular
Stella d'Oro daylilies (5-15-19)
Our five mature, light blue hydrangea shrubs bloom for about
two months:
June is also the time of year when the lantana bushes
have a huge growth spurt.
I prune the branches of the Miss Huff lantanas back to
about eight inches long after the leaves die in late fall and cover them
with pine needles or straw over the winter. The branches sprout in early
spring:
They magically grow back to 8-10 feet wide and 6-7 feet high by
mid-summer and the five shrubs become one big mass of leaves and
flowers, as shown in the following pictures.
This spring I planted three groundcover-type Chapel Hill Gold lantanas in
front of the taller Miss Huffs. They spread to about three feet wide by the end
of July but stayed under a foot tall, as expected:
June 1: some growth on the Miss Huff
lantanas, marked in orange,
and the new groundcover lantanas in front,
marked in yellow.
By the end of July both
types of lantana had grown considerably!
One of the yellow groundcover lantanas is off
to the left.
I love the variety of yellow-orange-pink-and-purple colors in the Miss Huff flower clusters. (7-1-19)
Butterflies love those little clusters of flowers, too:
There is a lot to be said for Miss Huff lantanas:
They are deciduous but keep coming back the next year if the pruned
branches are protected under a layer of mulch during the winter where
temperatures get below freezing. They don't require any other
maintenance. They like full sun and don't need a lot of watering. They
attract butterflies.
And did I mention they can get really big??? That's plus in the space
where I planted ours.
SURPRISE!!
Mother Nature gave us a couple of unexpected bonuses this summer in our
back yard. That's one of the fun things about gardening!
During June I noticed an interesting "weed" growing near the bearded
irises. It's definitely not something I planted. The leaves reminded me of lupines,
which I love, so I let it keep growing out of curiosity.
Lo and behold, it turned out to be a three-foot tall cleome with
four branches and four large, very beautiful and airy flower clusters:
I love it! I've never had one and don't even remember ever
seeing one before. I had to do an internet search to identify it.
I also have no idea where it came from -- airborne from a
good distance, apparently, because none of the neighbors near us has one. The
closest cleome we've seen on our walks is at least half a mile away as
the crow flies.
It bloomed from early July to
mid-August and a baby plant came up nearby; it didn't get large enough
to bloom. I hope both stems will come back again next spring, but I need
to move them to a better location.
A more fleeting surprise that's not a flower but an interesting coral-like growth
is this mushroom that came up in the woods by our back fence in August:
Haven't seen anything quite like that before, either.
It was about eight inches in diameter; the elephant's ear
next to it is small. The fungus turned brown and dried up a few days later when we
didn't get much rain, so I'm glad I took pictures as soon as I saw it.
So, lots of things in our yard to keep me busy and happy.
I haven't even talked about the veggie-herb garden . . . three
kinds of tomatoes, a bunch of strawberries, basil, rosemary, and
oregano.
The
only thing that would make me enjoy gardening more is more consistent rainfall
and fewer mosquitoes in the summer. I'm a mosquito magnet.
Next entry: "We came for the puppies;
we stayed for the mission:" volunteering at the
Warrior Canine Connection service dog organization in Maryland
(Puppies. Need I say more???)
Happy trails,
Sue
"Runtrails & Company" - Sue Norwood, Jim O'Neil,
Casey-Girl, and Holly-Pup
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© 2019 Sue Norwood and Jim O'Neil