Plants I should have put together

When I saw these shots from scattered spots around the garden on the thumbnails page, I wished that I’d put them all together in one place in the garden, too. The whites and purples work well together.

Verbascum. (Don’t know the species, but it’s seeding around nicely.)
these plants work well together, at least in this post

Closer view
these plants work well together, at least in this post

Cerinthe major
these plants work well together, at least in this post

Purple-flowered tradescantia
these plants work well together, at least in this post

White-flowered tradescantia
these plants work well together, at least in this post

Purple-spotted foxglove
these plants work well together, at least in this post

Another view.
these plants work well together, at least in this post

A shrub whose name escapes me.
these plants work well together, at least in this post

The verbascum I opened with, along with some Verbena hastata coming on. If the Verbena speeds up and/or the verbascum slows down, could be a nice pairing.
these plants work well together, at least in this post

Look out for late blight

late blight on tomatoLate blight — a very destructive disease of tomatoes and potatoes (yeah, the same disease that caused the Irish potato famine) — has appeared here in New York earlier and more widespread than ever before.

Go check your tomatoes and potatoes for signs of the disease. If you’ve got it, there’s nothing you can do about it. But it’s important that you seal up the infected plants in a plastic bag to prevent its spread to other gardens or commercial farms, and report it to your local Cooperative Extension office.

You can find details on the Cornell University Department of Horticulture blog. Meg McGrath, Cornell plant pathologist has excellent images of the disease in her photo gallery, and Amy Ivy, horticulturist in Clinton and Essex Counties has a podcast on the subject.

The twist on this one: Late blight doesn’t overwinter up here. Its spores are usually carried up from the South on storm fronts. This year, it appears that one source of spores are from infected plants shipped in from production facilities in the South.

High-angle views

One of my favorite views of the garden is from our second-story bathroom window. Looking for a better view of the mystery bog grass the other day — looks like it’s American Manna Grass, Glyceria grandis (thanks Lisa) — I tried something a little different that gives me a similar high-angle view:

I fully extended my monopod, set the timer on the camera, and held it up over my head. I’m guessing that puts the camera up around 14 feet or so above ground level. Here are some other high-angle garden scenes.

Patio area.
high angle shot

Bottle tree/grass border.
high angle shot

Veggie garden. (Looks much better from on high than it does up close.)
high angle shot

Original bog grass shot.
high angle shot