POSTED BY KIM — Do you see why I love this flower??  It is mid-November and this plant is going gangbusters.  This particular cultivar is ‘Oranges and Lemons,’ my favorites.  It blooms like an annual — this flower is never *not* in bloom.  And there’s no need to deadhead — the seedheads provide fantastic interest all in themselves.

The secret to successfully growing blanket flower is well-drained soil, so if you live in St. Louis, watch your clay.  Also, it blooms best in full sunlight.

I dare you to not love it!

See? Little seedheads...

POSTED BY KIM — Here’s a picture of LILAC BUDS on the Syringa ‘Bloomerang’ that is planted in our garden here at Sugar Creek.  Please note the date — Oct. 16 — and the temperature — 44 degrees!  I can’t wait to see what this shrub does next year with a full growing season behind it.

I was reading something today about the development of Bloomerang — here’s what it said:

“Over a thousand seedlings were sowed in a wet area to cull out those with sensitivity to wet feet. ‘Many small leafed lilacs have problems with root rot. We lost about three quarters of the original group, but it was a quick way to select for healthy roots.”  Tim (Wood) narrowed the remaining plants down to five selections with the strongest blooms, and from those finalists selected Bloomerang Purple. He hopes to add additional colors to the Bloomerang series.”

And here is an actual lilac bloom -- shivering its little petals off in this 40-degree weather, but blooming its heart out!

POSTED BY KIM — This cool rainy weather has prevented me from digging in my garden — and believe me, I have a lot of digging to do! — but many of the perennials are catching a second wind and looking gorgeous all over again.

This is Penstemon ‘Rondo,’ which is planted in a new little garden by our front checkout area. It’s a supremely versatile plant — likes hot, sunny conditions and will rebloom if deadheaded.  It’s also a little butterfly magnet.  This is the second set of blooms to appear in the last few weeks, and the purple is a real traffic-stopper.

I think Penstemon also do well in neglected soil, so if you have a hot spot in your garden with “unfortunate soil,” this might be a good plant to try there. 

“Unfortunate soil” — I think there’ s a song or poem in there somewhere! 

POSTED BY KIM — Coneflower hybridization has been especially active during the last several years — doubles, oranges, fragrants, reds, yellows, etc.  ‘Tiki Torch,’ ‘Tomato Soup,’ ‘Mac ‘n Cheese,’ ‘Hot Papaya’ — the list goes on and on.  So if you’re a coneflower lover, it’s been fun!

Now I’m going to tell you about a new coneflower that I think is more exciting then all of them — ‘Little Annie.’  “Dwarf” doesn’t really describe this diminutive flower — it’s really a miniature.  It reaches only 6 inches tall (yes, 6 inches!) and is *loaded* with buds and blooms.  The flower petals are tiny tiny, and the little leaves are perfectly to scale — it’s adorable!  It’s also probably sterile, which works in the plant’s favor because it sends all its energy into flower production.

This little beauty was hybridized by Eric Stahlheber at Southernwood Gardens in Jonesboro, Ill.  Eric is a lucky, lucky man, because I think this tiny coneflower is going to change the way a lot of us garden.  The coneflower — which has typically been in the 18″ – 3′ range — is finally going to move to the front of the perennial border.  And ‘Little Annie’ (named after his wife) is such a profuse bloomer, you can almost use it in containers for summer-long interest and to attract butterflies.

I’m going to make a bold prediction and say this is going to be the hottest coneflower in the next two years.  ALSO, it actually isn’t being released until 2011, but Eric has agreed to grow some for Sugar Creek for spring 2010, so yay for us!  We’ll have a limited supply, and I know they’ll go fast. 

If you’re going to get excited about any new plant next year, make it this one…

Here's Maya still in her jammies and with great bed-head getting ready to release a monarch.

POSTED BY KIM — Interesting things are always going on at my little house.  I have two crazy kids, two crazy cats, two (new) dwarf hamsters, and butterflies in the kitchen. (Not to mention my husband — don’t get me started! 

Every year my kids and I collect Monarch butterfly eggs and caterpillars from the milkweed in my yard.  We place them in a little clear plastic box with a slotted lid, then watch them as they travel through their lifecycle to the cocoon stage.  When they “hatch,” we let them go.   We always identify which ones are male or female, which you can do by checking their wings — males have black dots at the base of their wings, and females don’t.  I learned that little tidbit from Tina at Sugar Creek.

The host plant for Monarchs is asclepias, or milkweed.  There are several perennial varieties, and also tropical varieties, which are more floriferous — the tropical plants are the ones that we’ve had the best luck attracting momma butterflies to lay eggs.  Once planted, asclepias do not like to be disturbed, but are quite drought-tolerant because of its taproot.  Happiest in full sun.

They provide hours of entertainment because of the butterflies they attract!  It’s quite spectacular.

Fly away! Fly away!

  Not a great picture, but still cool. The green cocoons turn translucent right before the butterflies hatch.

Here's one of the green cocoons. Notice the gold detailing! It would make a perfect earring.

This picture makes me laugh! That butterfly was on Maya's finger and right as I clicked the camera, it flew away.

 

POSTED BY KIM — Even though the season is winding down, I was out on my deck this morning and saw my passion flower vine blooming.  Yay!  It was a bittersweet moment because it was the first bloom of the season, and here we are in late September.  I overwintered this plant last year in my garage and let it go dormant, but first I cut it back.  *Big mistake.*  (Note to self — passion flower blooms on old wood.)  But my patience was rewarded this morning.

This monarch caterpillar was munching away on some annual asclepias.  I have a dozen or so caterpillars and coccoons living in my kitchen at the moment, but I’ll save those details for a future post. 

This crazy succulent is one I overwintered in the garage under growlights.  Very cool and very easy, and the bloom is *fantastic.*  The picture doesn’t do it justice.

Happy heliotrope — very simple.  I had hopes of pruning this one into a standard form, but it’s really horizontal and floppy, so that project may have to wait another season.

Oooh, my baby fig!  This little guy is about the size of a quarter.  I’ve eaten a few figs off my plant this summer and they were wonderful.  I had the kids try a bite, too, but they gagged.  I think they were expecting it to taste like a Fig Newton Cookie — wrong!

More on my autumn garden later!

POSTED BY PEGGY:  Hydrangea ‘Twist and Shout’ is the latest in the everblooming Endless Summer Series of Big Leaf Hydrangeas.  Endless Summer Hydrangeas bloom on old wood (last year’s growth) and new wood (this year’s growth).  This means if you accidently prune your Big Leaf Hydrangea or a cold winter kills last year’s growth, it will still bloom.

Endless summer Hydrangeas also repeat bloom.  Old fashioned Hydrangeas like Nikko Blue, produce just one set of blooms.  Endless Summer Hydrangeas continue to produce new flowers all summer.

What is so special aboout ‘Twist and Shout’?  It is the first Lacecap re-bloomer.  The Original Endless Summer and it’s sister ‘Blushing Bride’ have the big mophead flowers. Twist-n-Shout flowers have a lacy center of small flowers surrounded by larger blossoms of pink or periwinkle blue, depending on soil types.  Twist and shout is a cross between H. ‘Penny Mac’ and H. ‘Lady in Red.  The stems are sturdy and red (like it’s mother Lady in Red). Another bonus….the leaves turn red-burgundy in fall. It is easy to care for and hardy to zone 4.  Twist and Shout grows 3-5′ tall and wide.

Twist and shout Hydrangea Lacecap Flower

Twist and Shout Lacecap Hydrangea

Just like the Original Endless Summer Hydrangea, Twist and Shout blossoms will be pink or blue depending on the acidity of your soil.

How to get Pink blooms on your Endless Summer Hydrangeas:

To have pink blooms you need to have an alkaline soil.

• To help raise your pH you can apply lime several times a year (Espoma makes a great organic lime) .  Aim for a pH of about 6.0 to 6.2, if it goes above 6.4, your hydrangea may experience an iron deficiency.
• Use fertilizers with high levels of phosphorus such as 10-40-10. Phosphorus helps to prevent aluminum from being taken up in the plant’s system.
• Consider growing your hydrangea in a large pot where it would be easier to control the pH.

Endless Summer Original Pink

How to get Blue Blooms:

Lowering the pH of your soil to a pH level of about 5.2-5.5 will produce blue flowers. Using a soil acidifier ( Espoma also makes one) will lower your soil’s pH for blue blooms.

• Thoroughly water the plant before adding any acidifier. Follow the instructions on the bag.
• Adding large amounts of organic matter, such as peat moss and composted leaves, will acidify the soil as it breaks down.

Endless Summer Original Blue

Remember to check the pH of your water as well as your soil. If you are trying to turn your flowers blue and you have hard water, it will be difficult to achieve. Also remember that concrete foundations and walkways tend to leach lime, raising the pH in that area.

I tried to find a picture of a monarch riding on the back of a hummingbird, but I settled for this.

POSTED BY KIM — Stop me if you’ve heard this one, but a customer was in the nursery this morning and she told me about the most interesting website.  It’s called Journey North, and through this site you can follow the migration of various animal species, including monarch butterflies and hummingbirds.

They say: Journey North engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K-12 students share their own field observations with classmates across North America. They track the coming of spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles— and other birds and mammals; the budding of plants; changing sunlight; and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context. Widely considered a best-practices model for education, Journey North is the nation’s premiere “citizen science” project for children. The general public is welcome to participate.

And the good news is: put your hummingbird feeders out because they’ve been spotted in St. Louis!  Seems a little cold, but apparently they’re not hanging around the beaches of Florida until it warms up.

For anyone interested in butterfly gardening, here’s a free handout that describes how to select proper host and nectar plants.  For the birdies, here’s a handout about gardening for hummingbirds.

I warned you! Look how cute?!

POSTED BY KIM — I’m such a nerd.  I can’t believe I’m doing a post on *Christmas ornaments,* but once you see the pictures, I think you’ll understand.

You see, my kids and I collect caterpillars and hatch them (can’t think of a better word) in a container in our kitchen all summer long.  We specialize in black swallowtails and monarchs.    So when I was at the Missouri Botanical Garden gift shop recently and saw these “J-shaped” caterpillar ornaments, I almost had a heart attack!  (And so did my husband when he saw what I paid for them.  But really, it was an educational expense.  Kind of an investment…)

It’s great fun at work to scan the milkweed for eggs and caterpillars while I’m out watering, or find some babies in the parsley as I’m tidying up the herbs.  And I’m not alone — Tina’s daughter was collecting caterpillars, too, and had a tent in her bedroom where they would hatch.

Anyway — it’s great fun and I’m definitely hooked.  And I’ve gotten the kids interested, too.  See?  All in the name of education.  Maybe if I go back to the gift shop I should check out the jewelry, too…strictly for educational purposes…

Fortunately they only had them in two colors, or I would have been in big trouble.

Bonus pic/ornament! Don't get me started on hummingbirds!!

Native passion flower vine -- exotic looking but home-grown

POSTED BY KIM — Earlier this summer we stacked a bunch of trellises in the parking lot just to make some room, and would you believe that a vine actually started growing on one of them?  Say hello to Passiflora incarnata, the native passion flower vine.

Obviously if it’s growing wild in our parking lot — through *gravel* — this is one tough vine.  Drought-tolerant once established with very deep roots, it might not be reliably hardy in St. Louis, since it’s mostly found in southern Missouri.  But it’s easily grown from seed, and with some winter protection, may overwinter here.

It will also take some shade.  Very fragrant, and a favorite with the butterflies.

The unsuspecting trellis

Those curling tendrils -- a passion flower vine giveaway

Look at that soil -- blek!