This weather has so many horticultural events happening it feels like I could blog every other hour on something new. Today I first want to talk about a little “Blue Sunshine”.

What do I mean? Well, what I am actually talking about are some so-called minor bulbs with blue flowers. They just make me happy like spring sunshine. Only they’re blue.

Anemone blanda (Grecian windflower) has beautiful daisy shaped blossoms. They come in white, pink (more or less) and of course, blue. These come from strange little corms (bulbs) you plant in the fall. It’s kind of hard to tell which end is up so plant them sideways, like putting a quarter in the slot machine (Oh yeah, I know your dirty little secret). Soak ‘em for a few hours or overnight too. In a location where they are really happy they will self sow. Like most spring blooming bulbs the foliage dies away so you want to plant them with other perennials or a groundcover.

The Iris histrioides, I. reticulata (reticulate iris), and their hybrids are early bloomers also, mostly in shades of blue plus purples. It’s hard to tell the different species or hybrids apart really so they all go by the common name of reticulate iris. I’ll show you some pictures of ‘Harmony’, a lovely hybrid blue cultivar blooming in the Overlook.

The markings on the petals actually guide bees to the pollen and nectar so the plants are more easily pollinated.

And here’s a bee hard at work.

Now for the freak show.

We grow Petasites japonica for its huge leaves which can get over 2 feet across. Okay, we also grow it because the common name is butterbur. Anyway, in ideal soil and light, very moist organic soil and dappled shade, it can get a little aggressive so may need to whack some parts off every year. And there is a lovely yellow variegated selection called of all things, ‘Variegata’. The stems are also eaten as a vegetable (fuki). I have not tried them. But this time of year I love it for the bizarre flowers that appear out of nowhere. They belong in what I call “My Star Trek Collection”. These are blooms that in my opinion are so freaky it would be natural to see them in a pot or vase on the Starship Enterprise or even on one of the worlds they visit. Some Petasites are right along the road in Hosta Curve. Don’t park in the road to view it. You make me crazy when you do that. Park in the main lot or the greenhouse lot and take a walk. There are a million other things for you to see anyway between your car and these plants. Take the time to see them. Plus you have sat around enough this winter. Get some exercise.

Here’s a bud shortly after emerging from underground.

Here it has opened some. See the individual flowers?

Here is one even farther along. Freaky.

Don’t cha wish your plant was a freak like Petasites? Don’t cha?

Saw several feathered and furred creatures on the river – a great blue heron (twice), mallard and bufflehead ducks, and three beavers. One beaver was quite unperturbed by my presence as I hung back to try to get some better shots. I started taking pictures when it was far out in the river.

It kept coming closer.

And closer.

And finally ended up back on the tree we scared it from originally.

And there was one muskrat swimming in some open water in the mostly frozen lake. Like it was lookin’ for something. It’s close enough to spring, do you think…

Folks started getting out in the gardens this week to do some work. Always good to get back outside even if it is still a bit nippy. I had hoped for more sun on Tuesday to cut the chill. So I went back inside to jump-start the blog when it felt like it was still below freezing. But before I came in I did a little Horticulture Recon. Noticed the Hamamelis (witchhazel) buds were showing color with bits of red, orange, and yellow peeking through. They make me think of carrot curls made from the cultivar Purple Dragon.

The Cornus mas (cornelian cherry dogwood) buds always make me think spring will be here any day when I know damn good and well it won’t.

The super hardy and tough Helleborus x hybridus (Lenten rose) are pushing their buds up through last year’s mulch and leaves. Even the light colored ones have lots of purple pigment in the stems and buds.

Then I found these blooms, actual blooms, on the yellow primroses. Talk about spring-like.

I probably mention all these plants every year. And I probably will still do so when I am 107 (that’s pronounced “a hundred and seven” not “one hundred seven”). Every year it’s such a thrill to go out in the gardens and find new growth or new flower buds. It doesn’t matter how many Februaries before I’ve gone out and found the same plants doing the same things. Each year I get all giddy and excited again. Not that there aren’t dark moments in the time before that happens. Indeed, there are some very dark times. Some excerpts follow.

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December 22. 2009

Plant orders in. Now the wait to see if suppliers can fulfill my dreams. Holidays coming. Taking extra time off. Cold and gray but hopefully no snow for traveling.

December 25, 2009

Cooking for family Christmas dinner – three pork loins, two baking chickens, five pounds green beans, ten pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, lemon bars, lemon pound cake, two kinds of gravy, macaroni and cheese. With help of siblings fed 46. Weather was nice.

December 27, 2009

Cold. But hey, it’s still the holiday period.

December 31, 2009

Happy New Year! Made Pioneer Woman’s Holiday Bacon Appetizers – both kinds. Cold but no precip.

January 04, 2010

First day back to work after Holidays. Low of 1 last night. High of 18 today. Normal is 35 and 19. Welcome back! Winter will never end.

Janyary 07, 2010

Nearly 4 inches of snow. More cold. Began sticking pins in Chad voodoo doll. It’s only right because he is in Panama not suffering from Indiana winter.

January 08, 2010

Colder. Low of 9 last night. Shoved pins deeper into Chad voodoo doll. Looked at new seed and plant catalogues to get some relief from cold and gray.

January 11, 2010

First day of furlough. Very cold. Low of 5. Began baking – Lemon Bars, then Brownies. Must build up thicker fat layer.

January 13, 2010

Low temps barely make it out of single digits. Highs barely make it above freezing. Put Chad voodoo doll in oven. Turned oven up to broil.

January 15, 2010

Woke up this morning on the kitchen floor. Three empty butter boxes strewn across the floor and butter wrappers stuck in my hair. Don’t remember anything. Later found an empty half and half carton next to computer. Last log-in was to Land-O-Lakes site. Towards evening an odd text message from someone called “The Milkman”.

January 18

Chad back from vacation (he can’t figure out what the ring of ash-like stuff is around his chair). Temperatures moderate. Soil frozen solid. Search for sun continues. More catalogues arrive to distract from gray skies.

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But now the days are so much longer and we had sun a few times this week. Makes you almost forget the bad times. Of course there are several weeks of winter left. Butter was on sale…

At least with experience I am able to spot some of the n’er-do-well types before they break my heart – “Oh. You again. Go throw your piddly-assed blooms in somebody else’s flower bed. Just seeing something like you again makes me want to go right out and buy a 50 gallon barrel of RoundUp.” That can be especially true when I can see it’s just the straight species that somebody has tarted up with a cultivar name or a trademark like a bunch of cheap make-up from the Village Pantry. C’mon! Who the hell you people think you’re dealing with here?

But all that said, I still get all excited when the catalogues come out or somebody introduces a plant at PPA’s New Plant Forum. My cynical side is forever at war with my everything-is-roses-and-clover side. A battle of epic proportions. “This plant really could be different!” I really do believe it, at least until I fully process the info. Wouldn’t you rather think it was new and improved and impossible to live without? Ah, infatuation. Maybe it will develop into truly perennial love?

In my last post I mentioned the arrival of the new plant and seed catalogues. This was referring mostly to retail businesses. We have had some of the 2010 wholesale catalogues since last summer. The very nature of wholesale (not to mention the budget) makes it difficult to order all the plants that tempt me. I might be able to try 5 of some new must-have plant but if I am forced to order 25 or 32 or 96, well, it just ain’t gonna happen. I will have to wait until more wholesalers carry it and some of them will sell it in smaller quantities. Or, goddess forbid, I’ll have to pay (deep breath here) retail. It hurts to even say it. Once you go wholesale there’s no going back.

So which perennial pimps are bringing out my horticulturally slutty side? Some of the usual suspects. Terra Nova once again is introducing a huge number of plants in 2010. And they aren’t all heucheras! I’ve mentioned before I have a real weakness for the red/orange/yellow Echinaceas. I want all Dan Heims has (the plants, the plants people). If I must narrow it down to….. let’s say three. Then I pick ‘Tangerine Dream’, Hot Lava’ and ‘Coral Reef’.

'Tangerine Dream' (terra nova)

'Hot Lava' (terra nova)

'Coral Reef' (terra nova)

I admit it. I want to pull all the ray flowers off that last one. Or alternatively, pull them off half the flowers and reattach them to the half still with ray petals.

Sticking with coneflowers for another moment, Plants Nouveau has added ‘Marmalade’ that has “blooms the color of tart orange marmalade”. Want it bad. Real bad.

'Marmalade' (plants nouveau)

Plus there is ‘Pineapple Sundae’, ‘Strawberry Shortcake’, and Raspberry Truffle”. All part of the Cone-fections series. Food and plants. What a concept? Actually, sweets and plants. Now that’s a concept. Maybe they will name one ‘Butter and Brown Sugar’. I would buy a truckload. Oh! How about ‘Buttered Brown Sugar Bacon’? I would buy the whole world’s supply.

If you are seeing winter hardiness problems with these new hot-colored Echinaceas it may be you need to do a little research. I did. Remember they are not pure E. purpurea but rather most are this species crossed with E. paradoxa. They are both Echinacea true, but quite different in their requirements. The resulting progeny require slightly different care than many of us are used to giving coneflowers. Read the blog by Angela Treadwell Palmer on the subject here. Read an article from Dan Heims here. Some sound advice for all.

Walters Gardens has some new Hibiscus moscheutos (hardy hibiscus). Don’t know if I am wild about the dwarf sizes because the normal types are better at competing with my real tropicals in the garden. ‘Sultry Kiss’ looks sexy as all get out. And who on Earth would not want some sultry kisses in the garden? Only a fool. It says magenta-red flowers (hot damn) and foliage that emerges bronze and goes dark green.

'Sultry Kiss' (Walters Gardens)

It sounds really good though I am still a big fan of the Fleming Brother’s ‘Fireball’, which I have grown.

Coreopsis that is NOT yellow and is HARDY?! I’m not counting those pinkish things. The one catching my eye is a sport of ‘Crème Brulee’ that was found by Sunny Border Nurseries. It’s called ‘Sienna Sunset’.

'Sienna Sunset' (Walters Gardens)

I love the peachy color. It would look great with coppers and blues.

Why plants from these particular vendors? In part because they introduce a lot of plants. In part because their catalogues were on my desk. Some even have a link on their site for the general public (it’s the one included here if available). You see, you don’t have to be a professional plant slut to visit these sites. Any ole plant slut can go to them and ogle to their heart’s content. So don’t fret. I’m taking care of you.

You’re welcome.

As Irvin so beautifully illustrated last week, winter has arrived. I have had to break out my heavy coat and glove liners for working in the gardens.  At home, I’ve had to light the furnace and there have been “three-cat-nights.”  But if I see one more Snuggie or Dreamie commercial , I’ll scream.

Dreamie (via buydreamie.com)

Particularly as I am a traditionalist when it comes to warmth, sticking with moth-eaten wool blankets, like the all purpose flannel of one of my childhood heroes, Linus van Pelt.

Linus, by Charles M. Schulz (via fanpop)

"It just needs a little love!" (via JKönig)

He is of course correct, our gardens just want to be shown a little loving care.

There are several versions of horticultural “blankets” in the vegetable garden of the Tanner Orchard this winter.  The one I am most pleased with is our “cover crop” or “green manure.”  In mid September, after all the squash, carrots, beets, and onions were harvested, I spaded over those areas to more deeply incorporate the horse manure and compost applied in autumn 2008.  Then spread and lightly tilled a thin layer of new compost and did a dense broadcast seeding a mix of Austrian field peas and barley (Pisum sativum and Hordeum vulgare).  The pea will add nitrogen to the soil, and both help smother fall and spring sprouting weeds. Neither plant is hardy below 20F and will die down and be easy to till under  in spring, adding organic matter.

Green manure cover crop

The strawberries get about two inches of straw as a blanket against damage to buds and crowns by drying winds and temps below 20F.  The straw will be raked off in March, when nighttime temps are consistently out of the mid-20s.

To help the asparagus and rhubarb beds get pumped up during 2010, so that they will be ready for cuttings to eat – finally – in 2011, I’m following a recommendation form the ag extension office at Texas A&M University and applying 2 inches of rotted horse manure.  Rain and snowmelt will carry nutrients into the soil, and act as an insulating mulch protecting the shallow crowns of the rhubarb.

Rotted horse manure on asparagus and rhubarb

Finally, the remainder of the beds have been deeply spaded, to bury crop and weed debris.  Then 3 to 4 inches of leaf compost are being added, too be incorporated in the spring of 2010.

aaaaaaah! mmmm! all snug and comfy.

For more on green manure, check out Johnny’s Selected Seeds. No endorsement by the IMA Environmental and Historic Preservation Dept is implied.

I am still digging tropicals and other non-hardies at home. If the weather had not been so great I would be in deep double-dug doo-doo. As it is, I’m sort of leisurely going along – but admittedly starting to look over my shoulder for “real” November weather. Whether it was the cooler summer or the steady rains I don’t know but many plants did extra good this year. The Amorphophallus konjac got huge.

The Xanthosoma violaceum produced “pups”. A first for me.

Even a stroll around the IMA reveals horticulture rarities. One of the bananas Jim planted by the Rain Garden bloomed this year. Since that stalk will die anyway he just left it in the ground. The leaves look real sad but that bloom, that bloom thinks it can still make fruit. The middle of November and it is barely touched by cold.

These little yellow flowers would each develop into a banana in the perfect (tropical) climate.

Behind Deer Zink the containers still have variegated shell ginger (Alpinia zerumbet ‘Variegata’) looking great. On November 13!

On the Sutphin Mall Geranium ‘Rozanne’ demonstrates why I still am willing to plant it. Plenty of flowers on a plant that started blooming in May.

The woody plants continue to put on a show as well. Near the Formal Garden, European beeches glow in the afternoon sun. All that yellow holding back the gray of winter.

In the Overlook an oak and some viburnums seem to have color coordinated themselves.

So even though it is mid-November there is still plenty to enjoy and delight in the gardens. Why don’t you come and visit a spell?

I get to the point that I’m either begging for frost to come and take out the garden or begging for one more day above freezing so there won’t be any damage. Gardening schizophrenia. It doesn’t happen so much with things here at the IMA, but at home ….. well, that’s another story.
As if the gardening I normally do at my quaint little domicile isn’t sufficient to fill many of my waking hours, this year I decided to plant the entire backyard. Down went cardboard, paperboard, and paper feed bags followed by my special rabbit and chicken manure mulch.

Poof! The grass was gone. Unfortunately the dandelions, violets, and bind weed were not as cooperative and they accounted for at least half of my “turf”. But really the only serious weeding I had to do in these new areas was the bindweed. Next year there will be plenty of glyphosate sprayed on the beast. Because I’m going to have so much more free time? Who the hell am I kidding? Whatever. Hopefully I will manage to get a good spray program going because pulling the damn things does not work.
Perhaps the truly scary part of all this is the fact I was able to fill nearly all that space.

It’s hard to believe I once thought it was too much area. Not true. Not true at all. By the end of August, I was searching for more open ground. By early September I finally kind of gave up, though I am sure I will put a few more things in the ground about ten minutes before frost hits. I really am crazy! Why didn’t you people tell me?

Overall, I have been pretty-well pleased with the results. My new dahlias grew and bloomed beautifully.

My tomatoes went in late, but got huge.

My favorite is the variegated one that Gwyn gave me. That’s a feral petunia with it. They just show up every so often.

Even the fruit is variegated.

The Colocasia ‘Thai Giant Strain’ got fairly gigantic, almost six feet tall, but I know I can get it bigger.

And it has a lovely bloom.

I didn’t feel there was quite enough color, so I enhanced some Paulownia stems with paint (Mango Madness).

Then to give everything a little sparkle, a scattering of wine bottles, blue mostly.

Anyway, soon I will be having to answer the question that we all must face this time of year when the all-knowing weather forecasters say temperatures are dropping near freezing – Do I cover everything with sheets?
“The forecast says 34.”
“That’s not actually freezing.”
“But it’s only 2 degrees off.”
“Is it cloudy?”
“Any wind? Wind helps.”
“Unless it blows the sheets off and it drops to 31!”
“Aw crap! Because you know, you just know. After this one frost it’s going to be 70 for the next three weeks. “
“But I just want to get it over with. Let it die.”
“But if I cover it this one night I might have dahlias til Thanksgiving.”
If you haven’t lived it, well then, you just can’t understand it.
And if all that isn’t enough, when one finally decides it is time to give the garden over to Jack Frost and his evil sister Wanda Winter, one then must decide whom to save whom to leave to die. Gardening is not for the weak or the meek. But bi-polars do very well.

image courtesy of neatorama.com

I admit these temps are not ideal for maximum growth on my precious tropicals but for everything else (including me, okay, especially me) it’s fantastic. The Hydrangea paniculata ‘Kyushu’ along the mall has never been so happy. Not that they have looked bad other years. It’s just they look extra full this year.

The Sedum ‘Black Jack’ and ‘Matrona’ on the tunnel at the IMA entrance suffered in the spring with foliar disfigurement from fungus but now are glorious in their fall bloom, all covered in an assortment of bees (many of them of the honey variety).

I had not planned to have a mix of these two but nature thought otherwise. ‘Black Jack’ is a very dark burgundy mutation of the gray/green flushed with burgundy ‘Matrona’. But it is a rather unstable mutation and ‘Black Jack’ very easily reverts back to ‘Matrona’. Kinda like a politician heading to church on Sunday morning after a Saturday night full of debauchery in the clubs. Anyhow. We are now in September and the temps should begin cooling regardless of the summer weather pattern. The last several weeks before frost are the glory days for one of my favorite plants, dahlias. Though they bloom nicely all summer, it is here in the autumn when the sun looses a bit of its power and the nights cool that dahlias really start pumping out the blooms. It seems they are at their absolute zenith when the first frost hits. And I’m okay with that. Afterall, they have been blooming since July or earlier. Let the frost blacken them and send them off to their winter sleep. Come spring we will start all over again.

Dahlias were brought to Europe over two centuries ago from there homeland in Mexico and Central and South America. It was nearly 200 years before that when the Spanish conqusitadors first saw them in Mexico. The tubers were first tried as food. The Europeans found them rather bland though I think the petals will work nicely in a salad or as a decoration. After the food thing didn’t work out so well the blossoms were looked at and declared pretty enough for the garden. The modern dahlia was created using up to seven different species mostly from Mexico and Guatemala. You rarely find the species type today with the exception of the tree dahlia. Which as it turns out may be two distinct species, one white the other lavender. The tree dahlias can reach 25 – 30 feet in height but they take a long time to bloom so success this far north may not come every year. Nor will those heights. You can find more information in great detail from the American Dahlia Society. We grow several older cultivars here at the IMA. I think of them as justified and ancient.

Many of these came from Old House Gardens, a mail-order nursery that specializes in heirloom bulbs (and tubers and rhizomes). They have Dahlia atropurpurea introduced in 1789 which I should try one day. But for now we have plenty of others. Jersey’s Beauty is from 1923. It’s one of out tallest growing cultivars. I’ve seen ours over 6 feet tall.

One of the heaviest bloomers is ‘Glorie van Heemstede. It’s called a waterlily type because the flower shape is reminiscent of waterlily blossoms.

Another yellow but with small ball shaped flowers is ‘Yellow Gem’. This one dates back to 1914.

Introduced in 1944, ‘Sherwood Peach’ has the largest flowers of the heirloom varieties we grow. The big peach flowers have a hint of lavender in them with makes them all the more beautiful.

I first tried to just cut the fully open flower and leave the lateral buds. I couldn’t get enough stem for it to be useful. I now cut the stem longer and the lateral buds add can be cut off or left be. The heirloom that really brought dahlias back to forefront of current garden design beginning in the early to mid 90’s has to be ‘Bishop of Llandaff’ introduced in 1927.

The screaming scarlet flowers combined with black lacy foliage make it an absolute standout in the garden.

I’m quite certain it is in the parentage of most of the current dark leaved plants on the market including ‘Bishop’s Children’ (duh) and the Happy Single® series (They couldn’t find Happy Marrieds?) We have three that I just call by their color as they were purchased before individual names were given like Happy Single® Romeo™ from Proven Winners. Just look at all those trademark symbols. I call the ones we have simply Happy Single® red, lavender, and amber.

I wish I had space and time to go into the modern cultivars but I fear I may have said too much already. So much to tell you all about. All the plants I mentioned growing here can be found in the cutting garden adjacent to the IMA Greenhouse.

Uh-oh, somebody left the blog-o-graph in the Division of Environmental and Historic Preservation unsecured! Well, I am done cleaning Irvin’s and Geoff’s garden trowels so let’s see how this thing works…

I don’t usually make my bed, but if I did I know I’d have to sleep in it. That’s kind of what happened when the rain garden project here at the IMA came along. Not to get too mired in details, but when a preliminary plan for this type of garden at another site on the property became unworkable, Chad Franer, Horticulture Manager, asked the staff for suggestions for another location. Before I could slap my hand over my mouth, the words had already dribbled down my stubbly chin and onto the table: “annual border.”

For those of you unfamiliar with the designations for sub-areas around the campus, this is a garden bed running along the northeastern edge of the greenhouse parking lot which has traditionally been planted with annual and tropical plants. Make that “was”. After a single season of being under my complete control, I had just suggested eliminating a parking lot paradise in favor of a utilitarian system for dealing with storm water. I looked over at Irvin, one of my inspirations for all things shiny and sparkly, and thought I saw his eyelids narrow and his lips mouth the words “you will PAY for this!” Actually, I wouldn’t -because somebody else was going to pick up part of the tab! Still, I knew I would have to face the accusations of betrayal by the Chanteuse of Chartreuse. As quickly as the thoughts congealed in my head, I babbled on and on to Mr. Etienne about how I would transform the beds along the fence in front of the greenhouse into the “new” annual border, complete with bold foliage, contrasting textures, and a riotous rainbow of color.

A reasonable compromise I thought, especially since it was already spring and the plants I ordered in the winter for the annual border would be arriving soon anyway. Disastrous wrath averted, I slinked back to my office to begin pondering the radical changes in store for this particular square footage. Honestly? At first I was intimidated by the prospect of designing from scratch a functional landscape feature of which I only had a rudimentary knowledge. I didn’t feel very passionate about it at the time either. Nonetheless, I set about researching these types of installations, drawing inspiration from a variety of sources. Thanks to the many other professionals involved, certain characteristics of this purpose-built landform were determined for me (Go Engineers!).

Beyond that, I (and my superiors) just wanted it to be aesthetically pleasing. This was accomplished (I hope) by sticking to the “right plant, right place” philosophy which requires matching plant tolerances with environmental conditions. Simply put, in lower elevations of the garden plants have to be amenable to occasional inundation as well as periodic dry spells. Mostly, native species made the cut, along with their cultivars and a few exotics (non-invasive ones).

How will it all work out? Only time will tell. Let’s just ignore the huge downpour which washed out a seven-foot section of the berm on the back side of the garden less than a month after it was constructed and planted (I can easily do that – I was on vacation that week!) On a final note, I would like to thank all the staff, volunteers, and outside organizations whose efforts helped make the new IMA rain garden possible. I hope y’all take pride of ownership in it. Hey, what’s this feeling coming over me? I love what we’ve created!

image from trendhunter.com

image from trendhunter.com

More often however designers are only inspired by plants when they are creating fabric for their work. That fact is the focus for the exhibition Fashion in Bloom put together by Niloo Imami-Paydar, IMA’s Curator of Textile and Fashion Arts. The exhibition opens Saturday April 4 and runs through January 30, 2010. The items in this exhibition go all the way back to the 1700’s, but the four I’m blogging about are from the late 1950’s to the 70’s.Mind you, as IMA Horticulturist Geoff Von Burg discovered when he developed a guide connecting flowers on the dresses with their botanical counterparts, the flowers are not always exact replicas of their living inspirations. Sometimes you just have to guess what the designer was thinking.

Is that a geranium? Or a rose? An anemone. No, maybe a cosmos?
Some however, are as obvious as a drag queen in size 14 stilettos. The bright flowers on this dress by James Galanos leave no doubt that it’s a field of hibiscus.

With the near-perfect shape of the petals and the large yellow protruding stamens, it’s practically a botanical print. Remember there are both tropical and hardy hibiscus plants. I’m sure the tropical variety inspired this fabric’s design.

image from phoenixplants.com

The tropical hibiscus comes in about every color but true blue and is Hibiscus rosa-sinensis. They make great summer plants here in the Midwest blooming constantly whether in containers or in the ground. They are easy to overwinter indoors and will even bloom if happy. The hardy ones, generally Hibiscus moscheutos and its hybrids, range from white to pink to red with the pinks and reds coming in palest pink to near burgundy. Some are now available with dark burgundy foliage as well. They die back completely each winter but come back up in late spring to bloom by mid-summer. In our gardens we have ‘Ruby Dot’ at the 42nd Street Bridge, ‘Intense Pink’ in the Dick Wood Formal Garden, and ‘Plum Crazy’ in front of the Madeline F. Elder Greenhouse.

The flowers on this dress by Indiana’s own Norman Norell must be zinnias …. or dahlias ….  or mums.

image from howstuffworks.com

I like to think of them as zinnias since they are the quintessential summer flower in the Midwest and this dress just screams summer. And they can be found in all the bright colors shown on the fabric. Zinnias are one of the easiest of summer annuals to grow, full sun and decent drainage and they are happy. You can choose from shorter varieties such as the Zahara series I’m using this year around the Sutphin Fountain or the taller more traditional types I used to use in the cutting garden like the Benary’s Giant Series or the hot ‘Uproar Rose’.
I have to include the psychedelic influenced Bill Blass design in the show because the leaves make me think of coleus.

image from gardenguides.com

And really, why even get up in the morning if you aren’t going to think of coleus? Coleus are fabulous in the ground and in containers plus they can be used in the shade and the sun. There are precious few colors not included in their leaves. All you have to do is shop around for the one that fits best with your other plant colors. That’s color from flowers or foliage. Other flowers I see in this fabric are Gazania and Salpiglossis (painted tongue).

The last dress I want to mention is this 1970’s velvet number by Hanae Mori.

The beautiful pink cherry blossoms made me instantly think of the flowering almond (Prunus triloba var. multiplex) ready to bloom right now in the Southwest Border Garden.

Flowering Almond

Long time gardeners may recognize its similarity to the dwarf flowering almond (Prunus glandulosa), a much smaller spring blooming shrub that has fallen out of favor. The flowering almond is one of the earliest spring blooming shrubs, well before its leaves unfurl. It gets rather large, 12 to 15 feet, but can be pruned to maintain a slightly smaller stature. It is another of the woody plants that are great for forcing into bloom in late winter. You just cut a few branches, put ‘em in a vase, and in a few days you have gorgeous double pink flowers brightening the gray winter days. Like most Prunus species it prefers lots of sun.

I suggest you take some time to see Fashion in Bloom then take a stroll through our gardens to see how many similar flowers you find there. Or take a walk in the gardens first then see the show. Just do both and make yourself happy for awhile ( and Niloo, and me, and all the other horticulturists).

By the way, the redbuds (Cercis canadensis, C. reniformis, and C. chinenesis) are in very heavy bud just ready to burst into full bloom. Get your butt over here in the next couple weeks and check them all out.

Speaking of laughing, this made me laugh out loud – for a good while.

Anyway, back to the gardens.

The Hellebores are probably less than thrilled with the temps but they are stalwarts of the winter garden. They will be vital for that touch of green in January and their late winter blooms save us from despair after weeks of gray skies. Helleborus x hybridus foliage is still deep green and unblemished at this early date.

Underground are the flower buds that will emerge with the first warm weather in February. H. foetidous is in bud right now and if it doesn’t turn too bad could be in full bloom in December. Otherwise it will be mid to late winter. Here’s H. f. ‘Gold Bullion’ on Oak Island.

This will be its first winter here. The blooms are definitely yellow, not green like the species, and the foliage is chartreuse. It comes true from seed so I am hopeful it will be happy and self-sow profusely. Italian arum – Arum italicum (see why I prefer you learn scientific names?) is in its foliage glory right now. If the weather doesn’t get too severe it will remain good for many weeks.

Earlier these plants had a beautiful display of red-orange berries. There are other cultivars available, just a little hard to find.

Crabapples are loaded with fruit right now. Actually many of the newer cultivars hold their fruit until late Spring. They come with yellow fruit as well as the more traditional red. Two yellows we have are ‘Canary’ over at Newfield and ‘Bob White’ at the 40th Street entrance. Here’s ‘Bob White’ on the left and ‘Canary’ on the right.

The shot of ‘Canary’ helps explain why the yellows are not as popular. They don’t hold their color as long as the reds. One of the best reds is SugarTymeTM (‘Sutyzam’), planted along the drive to Newfield.

As a point of interest, the only difference between crabapples and appleapples is the size of the fruit (I am being sooooo good right now). If the fruit is over 2 inches the tree is considered an apple. They share the same genus name, Malus, and most are complex hybrids.

When I went to out to take some of these images I found a few more things. A common witchhazel, Hamamelis virginiana, with petals still holding on.

Euphorbia amygdaloides v. robbiae, wood spurge or Mrs. Robb’s Bonnet, is still underused.

And the twig dogwoods are already showing the promise of great winter color in the landscape.

So while the weather isn’t ideal there is still much going on in the gardens. And really even on a cold day, if it’s sunny, it is quite nice out. By all means keep visiting. You can always warm up in the greenhouse if your fingers and toes get cold (they have lots of shiny sparkly things in addition to plants). I’ll be seeing you somewhere between the frost and the sunshine. Well, actually, I’ll be in my office a lot the next few weeks. Surrounded by tropical plants.