In lieu of bloom day scans

A few years ago, I attended a lecture by Felder Rushing, who is neck-and-neck with Piet Oudolf in the race for most influential gardener in my life.

At the beginning of his presentation, Felder wanted to point out that not only were we crazy plant people, but we were strange even by standards of gardeners in general. He asked for a show of hands to a series of questions starting with, How many of you grow more than a dozen varieties of a single species of plants? More than half gardeners in attendence raised thier hands

The question that really got me was, How many of you have ever given a tour of your garden by flashlight?

Well, honestly I haven’t. But I wouldn’t hesitate to.

If I wanted to do my usual bloom-day scans, I would have had to use a flashlight because light is pretty scarce around here before and after work. Bloom day scans will have to wait for the weekend.

Meanwhile, I’ve had a bunch frosty and fall-color pix collecting here over the past couple of weeks. So instead of scans, here’s a chance for my usual pix purge.

Really hard frost (~19 F) last Sunday:

frost on grasses etc.

Sunrise has hit the far ridge, but hasn’t hit the garden yet.

frost on grasses etc.

Frost patterns in the miscanthus.

frost on grasses etc.

Frozen monard dots. (Thanks Piet.)

frost on grasses etc.

Jade and the plants soak in the sun as it burns off the frost.

frost on grasses etc.

Beads of water after the sun melts the frost.

frost on grasses etc.

Morning sun on Solomon’s seal (Polygonatum)

frost on grasses etc.

Miscanthus floridulus flowered this year, at least 12 feet tall.

frost on grasses etc.

At Cornell, ‘We grow the Ivy.’ It turns red in the fall.

frost on grasses etc.

Scans this weekend, if I can find some time…

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Grasses

grasses sunday morning

Pam/Digging inspired me with her post Early Fall Grasses. That focused me (mostly) on shooting grasses Sunday morning.

They’re at their best morning and evening when the sun is low, and provide different viewing experiences depending on your perspective, for example looking into the sun (above) or with the sun at your back (below).

grasses, sun at back

They’re easier to shoot in the morning before the wind picks up and puts them in motion. (See videos.)

I didn’t think I’d like this variegated miscanthus when I planted it. It’s now my favorite. It’s backed by M. sinensis ‘Gracimillus’.

variegated miscanthus

I’m always amazed how red Panicum virgatum ‘Shenandoah’ gets, here bent over in the dew.

shenandoah

Another favorite that I incorrectly identified as Panicum ‘Heavy Metal’ in a previous post. (Sorry Kim.) It’s either ‘Dallas Blues’ or possibly ‘Cloud Nine’ according to my less than adequate records.

panicum

And a close-up of the seedheads:

panicum

Molinia ‘Skyracer’ is a little slow to get going, mostly because I have it too close to some Eupatoriums that shade it some.

molinia skyracer

A ‘blonde’ sedge in the water garden, and Miscanthus floridulus blocking the traffic from the road.

molinia skyracermiscanthus floridulus

It’s been a pretty good year for the M. floridulus. It’s about 12 feet tall and hasn’t flowered yet. It’s flowered a couple times in the half dozen years I’ve had it. It’s not as strong as bamboo. But I use it for wattles and pea trellis (in conjunction with metal fenceposts and woven wire).

miscanthus floridulus

I don’t have an ID on this grass. But I show it because I like the way that the thunbergia has overrun the trellis next to it and has formed a close pairing with the grass.

grass and thunbergia

And one last morning shot …

grass and thunbergia

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Anemones in the hidden garden

white anemone

Click on most images for larger view.

There’s a small courtyard outside the Plant Science Building where I work at Cornell. It’s bordered on the north and west sides by four stories on stories of stone wall and ivy, to the east by a single story, and is open to the south. Below is a heated basement and nearby greenhouses radiate heat during winter. Talk about microclimates. Several woody plants there are at least a Zone or two outside their range.

I gaze at it from the Men’s room window a story above every time I dry my hands. This time of the year, it’s exploding with anemones that I can’t grow at home because of the deer.

white anemone

I have no clue what this groundcover is that’s flowering there now, but it’s nice:

white anemone

When your shake too much or fail to focus on your close-ups, you can always resort to PhotoShop filters.

purple anemone

white anemone

Actually, the second unflitered wasn’t all that bad:

white anemone

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Garden bloggers bloom day: September scans

In the 30s here last night.  It looks and feels like fall outside, and everything looks (as jug band musicians say) ragged but right on the scanner.

Whites, including Sorbaria (reblooming again this year), Eryngium yuccafolium, Eupatorium purpureum ‘Joe White’, Artemisia, Miscanthus.

sept scan

Dahlia, Solidago.

sept scan

Aconitum, Ligularia, Physostegia, Achillea, Lantana, Chelone, Verbena bonariensis.

sept scan

Ditto above with some wild Eupatorium thrown in.

sept scan

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