GARDEN WALK

Have you had an impromptu brown bag lunch yet? Okay, the next step is an informal garden walk. Anyone can have a garden walk. I sent out emails to my contacts and phoned a few friends who don't email and invited them for coffee and a garden walk. I wanted to do the walk in the morning while the Morning Glories are still open. Also, walking through a garden at the beginning of the day with a cup of coffee in hand seems like the ideal way to enjoy nature's bounty. My garden walk was today and it was a perfect day. My friends stopped by and I showed off my most treasured blooms. Fortunately, a Tiger Flower was open. No one was familiar with this lovely flower that only blooms for one day. Although the Brugmansia (Angel's Trumpet) has been blooming for a couple of weeks, only one flower was open today. As we walked along the garden path, we talked about poisonous plants, such as Castor Bean and Foxglove; discussed whether red plants in the garden are necessary to attract hummingbirds; and chatted about the advantages of container gardening. It was a lovely morning. I especially enjoyed the interaction with fellow gardeners.

GARDEN DIARY ENTRY

Last week I purchased several plants from my favorite plant vendor, Jan, at my local farmers market. Jan's plants are always healthy and she brings many old fashioned perennials and herbs. My purchases included Chamomile, Datura, Sweet Annie, Hellebore, Rosemary, and two orange-flowered, unlabeled plants that were on sale. I'm running out of space for new plants so I needed to get rid of some invasive Bell Flowers to make room for some of the newbies. I planted the Chamomile and Rosemary in the herb garden after digging out some pesky Purslane.

My summer bulbs, which are mostly in containers, are beginning to bloom and I'm looking forward to the fantastic show they will present over the remainder of the growing season. I repotted most of the bulbs in the spring, nothing was labelled. I like surprises!

The Morning Glories have started to bloom, so most days begin with a stroll around the garden, coffee cup in hand.

GARDEN DIARY

Garden Diary. Oh, to have enough time at the end of my gardening day to record my activities in a journal. If I had done that last year after I planted my purchases from the native plant sale, I would have some inkling of what I bought. I was smart enough to plant everything in one garden bed and I placed the name tag beside each plant. Well, the tags are still there but all the information on those tags disappeared over the winter. In the grand scheme of things is it that important to know the name of every plant in my garden. Of course not, unless, of course , I want to research their growing habits or identify them for my garden visitors. It's a little embarassing when I have to keep saying, "I can't think of the name right now" or "I don't know".

So, what have I done in the garden recently? A fellow gardener was kind enough to share her overabundance of nigella, "love in a mist", plants and seeds. I planted those plus transplanted blue-eyed grass, deptford pinks, amaranthus, morning glory vines. and gentian. I fertilized all my containers. I found a plant with orange flowers hiding behind some milk weed. I sure hope it's butterfly weed. I've been trying to grow that for a number of years. It's been a real pain trying to keep my Heliopolis free of aphids. So far, with the aid of my trusty water hose I'm keeping them at bay.

I'm bummed that my garden doesn't attract more butterflies and hummingbirds. Today, a monarch did fly through..don't know why he didn't hang around. I've had a hummingbird at the feeder intermittently. It always startles me when I catch a glimpse out of the corner of my eye.

A couple of days ago I discovered a dragonfly attached to a piece of garden furniture, what a strange sight!

VINES

It has suddenly occurred to me that I have not talked about vines. I love vines. They are so useful in the garden. They add height. Most have beautiful flowers. They are generally easy to grow. They can hide just about anything you don't want exposed.

Most people are familiar with Morning Glories (Ipomoea sp). Drive along a country road and you're sure to see at least one mailbox covered with morning glories. As the name implies, the funnel shaped morning glory flowers open in the morning and generally remain open until midday. I have the old-fashioned purple variety that begin blooming mid summer. Although this vine is an annual, it reseeds readily.

The first time I saw Hyacinth Bean (Lablab purpureus) at the entrance to the demonstration gardens at Michigan State University I fell in love. It was late summer and the pink flowers, electric-purple seed pods, and purple leaves were gorgeous. Some of the seed pods had dropped to the ground so I helped myself to a few of those. I have grown hyacinth bean vine in my garden ever since and I have shared seeds with many friends.

I have added PassionFlower vine (Passiflora incarnata) to my garden a couple of times in the past. Before this year I always got vigorous vine growth but no flowers. This year I purchased a seedling that was already in bud and lo, I've been blessed with many beautiful passionflowers. Passionflowers are native to Tropical America. The name 'passion flower' is said to derive from a resemblance of the blue passion flower to the crown of thorns. Others say the parts of the plant symbolize features of The Passion of Christ.

The Moon Flower vine (Ipomoea alba) is a fast grower with large heart-shaped leaves. The tubular white flowers are fragrant and open at night. My moon flower is trained over my garden window so I have the best chance of viewing the flowers before they fold up with daylight.

A relatively unknown vine is Spanish Flag (Mina lobata). It's narrow, tubular flowers are grouped in stalks. Flower buds are scarlet, turn orange when they bloom, then yellow and finally white-cream. The flowers of the Candy Corn vine (Manettia luteorubra) look exactly like my favorite Halloween candy. This attention-getter has been blooming all summer. Another lesser used vine is Canary Creeper (Tropaeolum peregrinum) which I mentioned in my previous post.

My perennial vines include a couple of species of Clematis, Boston ivy (Parthenocissus tricuspidata), Porcelain (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata) and Moon vines.

WHAT'S IN A NAME

I just read an article about plant names. It wasn't about the fancy smansy or cutesy names hybridizers use to identify their new crosses. It was about the old fashioned names "just plain old folks " called their common, everyday plants.

"Kiss me over the garden gate"...how do you think Polygonum orientale earned that moniker! My research shows this plant is from China and was first grown by Thomas Jefferson in this country. Hmmm, is that a clue? Was Thomas Jefferson responsible for the name? The plant is described as having large, heart-shaped leaves and long, drooping spikes of rosy blooms that arch gracefully on stately, tall plants. Can you picture it draping itself over a peeling picket fence?


"Lady's Mantle", Alchemilla molis, was originally called "Our Lady's Mantle" because the scalloped shape of the leaves, were thought to resemble the mantle (cloak) of the Virgin Mary.


"Queen Anne's Lace", Daucus carota, is so called because the flower resembles lace; the red flower in the center represents a blood droplet where Queen Anne pricked herself with a needle when she was making the lace.


"Moon Flower", Ipomoea alba is so called because it blooms in the evening; the flowers open quickly at dusk and remain open til morning sun. The white moon flowers are pollinated by night-flying moths. A close relative of moon flowers are "Morning Glories" which open in the morning so they can be pollinated by bees and other day-active insects.


Then there are all the "wort" plants, such as spiderwort, lungwort, leadwort, St John's wort. The "wort" indicates the plant has medicinal/healing purposes for the condition or complaint mentioned in the first part of the name. If you're wondering about St John's wort, here is the explanation, it was used to ward off evil by hanging the plant over a picture in the house during St John's day.