Wednesday Vignette: Coleus ColorBlaze® Torchlight™

This is my first time participating in the Wednesday Vignette meme, hosted by Anna at Flutter & Hum. I've watched my friend, Loree Bohl (Danger Garden), participate for a long time, and I always enjoy it.

When I walked around the corner of the pool house last week and saw this trial plant from Proven Winners® cozying up to my small cat statue, I knew I had to jump in myself.

Coleus ColorBlaze® Torchlight™

When I received Coleus ColorBlaze® Torchlight™ (Solenostemon scutellarioides) as a small plant this spring, I placed it on the north side of our pool house. That little flower bed spends most of the summer as shades of green and often is neglected, both in terms of care and observation. I thought by placing this colorful coleus there, it might add a little spark to an otherwise ho-hum scenario.

Mission accomplished.

Coleus ColorBlaze® Torchlight™
Solenostemon scutellarioides

Zones: 10-11

Light: Sun or Shade
Mature Size: 24-36 inches
Water Needs: Average

This new coleus will be available in garden centers in Spring of 2019.

My end-of-season evaluation

I'm a lazy gardener. When trialing plants, I usually don't give them any special treatment and in most cases, I "set it and forget it." I try to make sure new plants get the water they need, but that's about it. This coleus was planted in spring and to be honest, I completely ignored it, not even watering it as much as I should have. It also wasn't planted in the best soil - unamended heavy clay. (Shame on me.)

It has never bloomed, which I consider to be an asset for a coleus, as I remove their flowers anyway.  It still looks good, this late in the season, but if I grow it again I'll pinch out the growth tips to encourage additional branching. I would also be sure to underplant it with a low grower like the Heuchera shown here, to hide its skinny ankles. Amended soil would be a good thing, too.

It'a beautiful coleus that adds color to monochromatic spaces with little to no effort required on the part of the gardener. And that' why it's a "proven winner" in my Zone 5b Northwest Ohio garden.

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I was provided with this plant free of charge to trial in my garden. Though it's not a requirement to participate in the trialing program, I'm sharing my experience and honest thoughts on growing it.

In a Vase on Monday: A Milkweed Bouquet

I didn't intend to put together a bouquet today, although there are plenty of flowers in bloom out in the garden. All I was doing was feeding my monarchs.

Monarch egg on swamp milkweed.

Right now, I've got a dozen monarchs that I'm raising in the house. I found 11 eggs on various types of milkweed in my garden, and one teeny tiny caterpillar that had just hatched out that day. I don't usually raise them this early in the season, but when I saw the eggs and thought about all that could go wrong if I didn't, I just couldn't leave them out there.

Newly hatched!

We're well past that infant stage now, in fact, two of them are now chrysalides, as of Sunday afternoon. That means that the ten remaining caterpillars are eating voraciously and I'd better keep up with supplying milkweed, or else.

So that's what I was doing, going through my garden and cutting milkweed to bring in for them to eat. I decided I would cut four different kinds: common, swamp, butterfly weed, and whorled. The eggs were found on common, swamp and yet another kind I'm growing - poke milkweed. But hey, they'll eat any of it.

When I put the milkweed in water, in a little vase, and was ready to put it in the terrarium I use for raising them, I thought, "Wow, that's kind of a cool little arrangement." That's why you're looking at a photo of my monarchs' breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

The wispy one is whorled milkweed (Asclepias verticillata), the yellow-flowering one is butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa 'Hello Yellow'), and the other narrow-leaved one is swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata).  In this photo, it's difficult to tell the difference between the foliage of the latter two, but in real life, butterfly weed has rather hairy or fuzzy leaves, whereas swamp milkweed's leaves are smooth.

Butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa) has been named Perennial Plant of the Year
for 2017 by the Perennial Plant Association. It's usually seen with orange blooms.
This one is 'Hello Yellow'.

All three milkweeds are native to Ohio and many other parts of the country. It's highly recommended that you grow what's native to your area and I give you all the information you need to make those good choices in my book, THE MONARCH: Saving Our Most-Loved Butterfly.

It's appropriate that my bouquet is made of milkweed this week especially, since it's National Pollinator Week. And tomorrow, Tuesday, June 20th, I'll be a guest on Twitter's #plantchat, talking about monarchs and my new book. It starts at 2:00 Eastern, so be sure to join in!

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* "In a Vase on Monday " is a blogging meme hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden.

In a Vase on Monday: Love in a Jar

I was walking through my garden last night and saw something blooming that I knew would make a great "In a Vase on Monday" candidate. This something was something I don't grow much of, in fact, there are only two stalks of blooms of this something in my garden at present and that may likely be all I get for this year. This something is also something that I think really does look better in a vase than in a garden and I can't think of much of any other somethings that I can say something like that about.

So this morning, I took my pruners to the garden and of course, you know what happened... I saw something else that needed pruning, so I pruned it. And then I remembered I was going to tip out my milkweed to stimulate some new growth for the monarchs that are not laying eggs on it. (Okay, we've found two eggs, but it should be many more.)

So I pruned that milkweed and inspected it for eggs and caterpillars and found none. :-(
I got rid of that and then remembered the something that I was going to prune for my vase and knew if I waited much longer, the somethings weren't going to be anything because each bloom doesn't last very long anyway.

I cut them and then I cut something else to go with them and went in the house and arranged my bouquet. I'm not a very good bouquet arranger, but flowers are pretty no matter what you do with them, so it looked okay to me. That's what mattered.

I photographed the bouquet from this angle and that and got ready to do my blog post for the meme, "In a Vase on Monday, " hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. But the photos of the arrangement I did today will have to wait until next Monday. Because there's an even better arrangement already in my house.

You may recognize these as Queen Anne's Lace (Daucus carota). They can be seen with such frequency around here right now that they seem downright invasive. In fact, they are not only on Ohio's Invasive Species list, they're on the Well-Established Invasive Species list.

They're pretty, in their own right. But this bouquet is the most beautiful one I've ever seen or had the pleasure of having in my home. It was a gift, you see...

If you've ever received a floral bouquet picked by a child, you know what I mean.

Thank you, Hannah.

In a Vase on Monday: The Tree Peonies

What a wackadoodle spring it's been. First, spring comes early, then winter returns, then it's summer, and now I'm sitting here wrapped up in a blanket in my flannel jammies, wearing my Uggs fringed moccasins to keep warm. I don't know what month it is behaving like, but it is not May.

But it is May. I know, because the peonies are blooming. I've got three types here at Our Little Acre: tree peonies (Paeonia suffruticosa), herbaceous peonies (Paeonia lactiflora), and intersectional (Itoh) peonies, which are a cross between a tree peony and an herbaceous peony. I used to also have a fernleaf peony (Paeonia ternifolia), but it disappeared one year and has never returned. I loved it and if I ever find another one, I'll buy it again.

The tree peonies are always the first to bloom, followed by the herbaceous and then finally, the intersectionals. (The fernleaf peony, when I had it, bloomed before the tree peonies.)

The buds on the tree peonies are bulbous and larger than those of the
herbaceous peonies. Some of my buds were as large as a racquetball.

Herbaceous peonies are known for their beautiful fragrance - traditional rose-like in nature - but tree peonies not so much. Many people think those stink. But it depends! Of all my tree peonies, only a couple of them have stinky smells. The others have a nice fragrance to them including my largest one, this pink variety that I purchased in 2005 at the Cleveland Flower Show.

This was sold to me as Paeonia suffruticosa 'Sahohime', but it lacks
that cultivar's dark red eye zone.

Paeonia suffruticosa 'Kamatanishiki' really is lavender.

I've purchased the 'Shimanishiki' tree peony twice, but both times, the bloom made it obvious that isn't what I got. I'll keep trying. Maybe the third time is a charm? I think I need to buy it when it's in bloom.

I had so many blooms this year that I cut several to bring in the house and put them in this silver bowl. These are from three different tree peonies, but most of them are from the not-Sahohime.

Tree peony blooms always look to me like they're made of crepe paper.

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In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Rambling In the Garden. Go there to see more beautiful cut flowers and plants!

In a Vase on Monday: Amaryllis As a Cut Flower

I recently posted a photo of my 'Ambiance' amaryllis (Hippeastrum) on Facebook and happened to mention the fact that amaryllis as a cut flower lasts longer than if it remains attached to its bulb. A few people were surprised to hear that.

There may be a couple of good reasons why this comes as a surprise to some. (It surprised me the first time I heard it, too.) For one thing, most people who buy amaryllis bulbs do so just prior to the holiday season, they follow the planting instructions on the box or tag, and then dispose of it all once it's done blooming. I think more people throw them away than keep the bulbs from year to year.

All my amaryllis bulbs spend the summer in two galvanized
fire ring raised beds, where they gather nutrients and energy
from the sun to form next year's flowers. I dig them back up
in late September.

There's really nothing wrong with throwing the bulb out, I guess, other than it seems a shame to do that when they can give you so many more years of enjoyment than just a few weeks at Christmastime . . . for one year.

The other thing is that you almost never see amaryllis sold as a cut flower, so it probably just doesn't occur to people to cut them and put them in a vase.

If you don't cut them, the blooms will normally last about a week. If you cut them, you can often get two weeks out of them, sometimes more.


Here's how to make your amaryllis blooms last longer:

Prepare your vase ahead of time by filling it with water. You can add a floral preserving powder to the water if you want, but I usually don't.

Take cotton balls and make smaller balls that will fit inside the cut flower stalk. 
 

Cut the flower stalk at the base, taking care to not cut any emerging foliage. It's best to cut them when the buds are just beginning to open. Immediately turn it upside down and fill the hollow stalk with water.

Take the cotton and wet it, then stuff it into the bottom of the flower stalk.

Place the flower stalk in the vase of water. Replace the water every 2-3 days, both inside the flower stalks and in the vase.

As with everything, your mileage may vary.

 

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In a Vase on Monday is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. 

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Hippeastrum 'Ambiance'

In a Vase on Monday: Spring Ephemerals I

Weather continues to be all over the map, and although it's not atypical for spring in the Midwest, it seems a bit more extreme than usual. Last yesterday afternoon into evening, we had a severe thunderstorm, with winds that hit 57 mph, and hail. Lots of hail.

Two-and-a-quarter inches of rain later, we had way more water than we needed. We didn't need ANY before the storm, but there were no tornadoes, so there's that. Small favors and all.

This is the first time in 10 years that the arbor has blown all the way over.
It was anchored in the ground with 2' metal rods on all four corners.

The hail doesn't look as big as it was when it first came down because
we had just had a lovely 74° day, so it melted fairly quickly.

Plants with larger foliage, like these tulips, didn't fare so well with the hail.

Calmer weather prevailed today, so I went out to see what flowers I could cut for my little window vase.  Fortunately, the smaller spring ephemerals proved to be tough.

These flowers are representative of what is in bloom right now, other than cornelian cherry, hellebores, and some larger daffodils. Just one species tulip bloomed last week, while all the other ones - species and hybrids - aren't even close. But the Dutch hyacinths and magnolias are just days from opening.

• Glory of the Snow (Chionodoxa luciliae)
  
• Striped Squill (Puschkinia libanotica)
  
• Miniature Daffodil (Narcissus 'Tete-a-Tete')
  
• Grape Hyacinth (Muscari armeniacum)
  
• Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum)
  
• Foliage:  Hardy Cyclamen (Cyclamen hederifolia)

The fused glass window vase was a purchase from one of the flower shows I went to several years ago. It's from Glass Pockets and attaches to the window with a wire loop that hangs from a suction cup.

The "In a Vase on Monday" meme is hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. I generally don't cut the flowers from my garden, preferring to enjoy them in their natural setting. My lack of flower arranging skills bears witness to this, but every once in a while, I get a wild hair and grab my pruners.

In a Vase on Monday: A First

I have never met Cathy at Rambling in the Garden, host of the blog meme, In a Vase on Monday. I've never participated in the meme before today, but I'm familiar with it because of someone I have met.

Everything looks as if it was created expressly for Loree's garden - the plants,
the containers, the structures... She is an incredibly talented designer.

"Careful, you could poke an eye out."

Loree Bohl, who lives and gardens in Portland, Ore., has posted her version of the meme a dozen or so times. When the Garden Bloggers Fling was held in Portland in 2014, I was privileged to get to see her garden - Danger Garden - in all its spiky glory. I've long been a fan of her blog and seeing all those glorious plants in person as well as her edgy design was one of the highlights of that trip.

I don't often cut things from my garden, preferring instead to enjoy them in their natural setting. But today, as we were experiencing way above normal temperatures for the middle of December, I got the urge to go out and cut whatever I thought might go together in a vase. On Monday.

Because I don't cut things from my garden, I'm not the most accomplished flower arranger. Those things take practice. But I'm pretty happy with how this one turned out. It even looks a little Christmas-y, though that wasn't the intent.

Red is the accent color in our kitchen and dining area. Chihuly's Burned Ikebana hangs on the wall, and photos of grandchildren Anthony and Hannah keep a
handmade angel (by mom) company on the mid-century buffet.

I worked hard to find something in bloom, impossible at this time last year, which had us with several inches of snow on the ground. Though we were at nearly 70° on Saturday and Sunday this year, it will be a couple of days yet before the fall self-seeded Calendula blooms open up.








But there were some wonderful things out there just the same. I used:

• Panicum virgatum 'Northwind'
• Baptisia Twilite Prairieblues™
• Washington hawthorn (Crataegus phaenopyrum)
• Colorado blue spruce (Picea pungens)
• Sweet autumn clematis (Clematis terniflora)
• Coral bells (Heuchera 'Tiramisu')

 

The vase is one of a set of three that I purchased at West Elm in Austin, Texas,
when Jenny Peterson and I were working our book,
Indoor Plant Decor: The Design Stylebook For Houseplants

I doubt I'll participate in In a Vase on Monday again until spring comes along and I've got something different to choose from the garden for cutting. But you can follow along at Cathy's blog here.

Thanks, Loree, for inspiring me to play.

The Garden Appreciation Society: Week 5

I haven't kept up with each week of cutting selections from the garden to enjoy inside, mainly because I haven't spent much time inside in the last few weeks!  We were preparing for a garden club's visit to Our Little Acre (more on that later) and if anyone was going to appreciate the flowers, the garden was the best place to do it.

But I promised Erin when it was over I would share something.  Here it is - an unlikely bouquet of:

• Rosa 'Lavaglut' (a.k.a. 'Intrigue' and 'Lava Glow'), which is a bouquet on a stem all by itself!  Introduced by Kordes in 1978, this florabunda rose has the deepest, richest, darkest shade of red, which can be very difficult to photograph acurately.  Hardy in Zones 5-10.






• Tanacetum vulgare 'Isla's Gold', a brilliantly colored tansy.  This herb is non-edible (all parts of the plant are toxic), with highly fragrant foliage, hardy in Zones 3-9.  It has small white daisy-like blooms about mid-summer, and while they're nice, I grow this one for its stunning foliage.






• Physocarpus opulifolium 'Coppertina™' (a.k.a. 'Mindia').  There are several cultivars of ninebark that I like, but none as well as this one.  It was introduced in 2006 and it took me several years before I found it in a garden center.  I only have one, but ohhhhhh, what a one it is!  New foliage in the spring goes through several color changes, then it blooms, and then its whitish flowers turn blood red!  One of my very favorite shrubs EVER.
  
  
  
  
  

To see other appreciative efforts, visit The Impatient Gardener.  Thanks to Erin for hosting and for inspiring me to enjoy my garden's flowers in the house.  In spite of being the author of Indoor Plant Décor:  The Design Stylebook for Houseplants,  houses aren't just for houseplants.  Flowers can make a statement, too.

The Accidental Bouquet

I suppose one flower can't a bouquet make, but when it comes to alliums, I think we're good with it.  The large headed alliums such as 'Globemaster' and 'Purple Sensation' are actually made up of hundreds of individual tiny flowers.

When Erin Schanen of The Impatient Gardener challenged us to cut flowers from our garden to enjoy inside, those of us who would rather enjoy them in their natural environment found it a little difficult to do. But sometimes accidents happen and all of a sudden, you have a bouquet whether you wanted one or not.

As I was walking through the garden a couple of days ago, I saw a tall green "spike" sticking up and at first couldn't figure out what it was.  Upon further inspection, I found that for whatever reason, one of the 'Globemaster' blooms had been severed from its stem and was laying at the base of the plant.

Instant bouquet, right?  Yep.  This counts.

After a day or so in water, the bloom color changed to a lavender pink!

Click on the graphic below to see more bouquets from The Garden Appreciation Society: Week 2.

Forcing Myself to Enjoy the Flowers

You must think the title of this post is strange. I mean, what kind of gardener has to force herself to enjoy flowers? Well, it isn't that hard for me to enjoy them; in fact, I enjoy them a little too much - in my gardens.

I'm one of those people who has a hard time cutting flowers and bringing them inside. I've tried to figure out why this is so difficult for me to do and it's pretty simple, really. I enjoy seeing plants and flowers in their natural environment. Not that our flowers grow naturally in well-defined spaces that suit our tastes, but natural in the sense that the blooms are still attached to the plant that grew them.

Erin Schanen, of The Impatient Gardener, knows exactly what this is like, because she's "one of them" too.  Erin is trying to overcome this aversion to cutting flowers from our gardens by going public with a campaign she calls, "The Garden Appreciation Society."  She's challenging us to cut some flowers, make a bouquet, and post the photo of it online.

Okay, Erin.  I took the bait and rose to the occasion.  But it wasn't easy.  I told you I'd do it, but  in the back of my mind, I just wasn't sure I could.  Then this evening, as I was cutting off the spent tulip stems, I was inspired.  And it wasn't a flower that motivated me.

It was those tulips - the ones that looked great a couple of weeks ago.  The ones that dropped their petals just last weekend.  The ones that made these amazingly awesome seed pods.  Those.

These are the seed pods of one of my species tulips- Tulipa tarda:

Before they do that, they look like this:

I love it when a plant doubles the fun like that.

But anyway, I decided that I'd just use those seed pods and find some other things in the garden to go with them.  Since there's always an abundance of chives and columbine, it didn't pain me too much to cut those blooms.

A little harder to cut were the Euphorbia 'Ascot Rainbow' blooms, but I've got plenty of those too, and I'll be cutting those soon anyway, so that the plant will bulk up and branch out. (Although this Euphorbia doesn't really require any pruning, if you don't want to.)

They've got The Most Awesome Blooms that most people will never notice because they won't get down close enough to see the beautiful detail. Just look at this!

Euphorbia x martinii 'Ascot Rainbow'

 So here's what I came up with for my bouquet:

 

It's small - just 10 inches at its tallest point.  Baby steps...

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To see how others are enjoying flowers from their gardens, visit Erin's blog.