An Allium Solution?

last fall at the Garden Club plant sale, I got a big allium plant that I was able to split into three clumps. Here are two of them today. The bee is just a cute freebee!

I thought they were going to bloom in the spring. That is more the norm for most alliums. But this is actually a good time of the season for some extra color, so I'm happy enough that they bloom now. These are also not as tall as the giant alliums. They are 12-15" high.

I looked up if you can plant allium and daffodils together (Allium is actually an onion, so I wasn't sure if it affected nearby bulbs). You can. The daf bulbs should be a bit deeper, so they actually can work well together. And the allium starts to bloom as the daffodil leaves are finishing. Here are two of the plants on August 3, when they were finally starting to turn purple.

But they've been fun to look at for a lot longer than that. The first picture I took this year was on July 26, when the heads were formed and turning white. But they were making the balls for several days before that. So there are probably at least 3 weeks of interest including both form and color.

The daffodills need to be thinned again anyway. I may have to try mixing these this fall. That's the correct time to be moving all these bulbs.

And this late bloom time has helped me identify this as Allium sphaerocephalon- which means "round head," so there's another clue. They would be in more sun out where the daffodils are, too, which would probably make them happier.

The heat today was brutal. I managed to work on things in the morning. Then I cancelled my participation in some trail work in the sun. In fact, by 1 pm, the heat was just about unbearable. It hurts my skin, makes it hard to breathe, and I can't even keep the computer on my lap very long because it's so hot. Lots of cold drinks and very little activity after that. Some days, I just have to give up. It's starting to cool down now. Maybe I can move a few boxes of stuff this evening.

See Annual Mistakes - Part 2

Front Garden Report East 2025- #1

This post will get long, but I want to get all this documented. Browse until you get tired of pictures.

I sure never thought I'd get the east end of this flower bed looking this good in only a couple of years. Due to the birthday money this year, and a bunch of free and marked down plants in the past couple of years, I've been able to fill it in fairly well. But I need to remember to take pictures earlier in the afternoon when the light isn't all dappled like this.

This is the east end of the east side.

Here it is from a lower angle with the lily of the valley patch (that is really outside the garden) behind it.

I've showed you some of these already this year. The blue is the Variegated Ajuga

The west end of the east side is a jungle. This is mixed up Globe Bellflower and the Dwarf Solomon's Seal. This is going to be a real mess to separate. I'll probably just rip out the plants that aren't in the section where I want them. This is what happens when you don't have a plan and you let two aggressive plants grow without control. However, I'm going to wait until the Bellflower blooms because it's already getting buds.

Now lets do a tour of some plants. Here you can see the 'Wiggles and Squiggles' Hosta I showed you earlier this year. It's really happy, and one leaf of the 'Forbidden Fruit' Hosta is on the right. Above that is an Astilbe (really cheap two years ago) and some tiger lilies (plant sharing with a friend last year). The new plant here is another purple Heuchera, 'Season's King' (reasonably priced).

If you look in the first picture above, you'll see a reddish heuchara encircled by the 'Mouse Ears' Hosta, 'Wiggles and Squiggles,' and 'Forbidden Fruit.' OK, I gave into temptation and paid full price for this one. It's another Heuchera, 'Carnival Cinnamon Stick.' I orginially put the 'Season's King' there, but it just needed something brighter. I resisted buying this one once, but the next trip to the store, it jumped into my cart.

Here's an unhappy Hosta, 'Vulcan.' It was another of my almost freebies two years ago. Not sure why it's so small. I don't seem to have any pictures of it from last year, so maybe I accidentally cut it off and it's just recovering. Now it's labeled so I can find it, and it should be OK in another year.

Mixed in with the old 'Francee' Hosta are two of the Allium I got at the Garden Club sale last fall. They are healthy, but I don't think they are going to bloom this year. That's OK, they'll be a nice surprise for the future. The 'Francee' is finally recovering from being chewed to the ground by the deer two years in a row.

Now let's talk about lilies. There are a couple of pathches of Tiger Lily that I was given last year. They seem to be healthy and growing, but they might not bloom this year.

This is the yellow mystery lily that I have no idea where it came from. One year it got eaten, last year it had three blossoms. It looks pretty good this year, but I'll probably miss seeing it bloom because of my hike.

I'm pretty excited about these. Can you see three lilies starting to come up among the 'Francee' Hosta? I got six bulbs for half price earlier this year. They are a variety called 'Landini.' I'll keep it a surprise what they will look like, and of course they may not bloom this first year. But I'm happy to say that all six came up. If they bloom it should be after I get home from the hike.

Finally, this is one spot of organization in the west mess. Last year I put in some of these small hosta near the front of the bed. I have no idea what variety these are. I think they came from Ester. They don't match much of anything in pictures I peruse. They stay small, and the leaves have narrow yellow edges. They make a nice border (you can see the black edging along the front of the photo). Oh, I guess I didn't catch it in the pictures, but last year I spread more of the 'Tiny Tears' Hosta to the very front of this edge as well, and it's spreading nicely.

That's plenty! But I did get a pretty good record of the work done.

I mowed all the grass up here on the hill. I'm not a super lawn-care person, but I have to say that it looks pretty nice mowed as opposed to the mess it's been a lot of years. Also did the computer tasks, blah, blah. Quite productive, and the mower is good conditioning for my core since I still don't have the seat modified. Tomorrow I play.

See Front Garden Report 2024 #3

Most of the New Plants

 There's purple in my future, no doubt about that. But the only purple you'll see today is my nearly yearly sharing of New England Aster, growing on a roadside.

The rest of what you'll see are all but one of the plants I bought on Saturday at the Mason County Garden Club sale. Three of them will have purple flowers. That wouldn't have been my first choice, but I was specifically looking for tallish plants that would tolerate at least partial if not full shade. I came home with 6 different plants for what I would have paid for the one I was going to order. So, I'll see what is happy here. The ones I'm showing you today have all gone in the Front Bed.

The one I put in the deepest shade is 'Winky' Columbine. It will also get the tallest. This is one of the large ornamental columbines, and the flowers are purple and white. Spring bloomer.

I got a big pot of garden allium (onion), and split it into three clumps. This one, I think, will not get over 2 feet tall (there are giant ones). It went in partial shade at both ends of the front bed. Purple balls of flowers in spring.

The other purple bloomer is Lirope. This gets spikes of purple flowers in the fall. I've never tried any of this, but what the heck. It went in mostly sun with a little shade. There are two species, and I don't know which this is, so that will be next season's surprise. It gets about 18" high. I put it in a space that is kind of empty once the daffodils die back. That should work pretty well.

I have wanted to get another Brunnera. This is the 'Jack Frost' that I have and is established. The one I like best is 'Frostbite,' but oh, well. Not only do these have bright foliage, but in the spring they have tons of tiny blue flowers.

The new one isn't looking very happy yet, but it was probably only dug up last week and then moved twice. The other plants were well-established in their pots. I think they were dug earlier in the season. (and some of the plants were donated by garden centers because it's the end of the season)

My other plant for the front bed was a freebie because it was so sad. This is a 'Mouse Ears' hosta. Indeed, it had two leaves, and one of them fell off on the way home. But if the root is OK, it will be back in the spring. The leaves are small but rounded, and the color is quite blue.

In other news: I worked in the morning and part of the afternoon. I walked the summer taxes to the town hall. Total walking 4.2 miles

Miles walked in 2024: 425.1

See Purple Parade

Other People's Flowers

 Vendor event all day. I did well.

Walking to my car, I enjoyed other people's flowers. These are allium (in other words, an onion, but these are ornamental for the flowers)

Red lupine, also a garden cultivar.

The presentation of these was nice. White iris in front of a yellow-green tree, with the red lupine.

This garden had purple and yellow iris.

And a stunning rhododendron bush. This was all just in two blocks!

The vendor event was very busy. Pictures of these events all look alike. Here's the food tent alley. The good news is, I'm doing great. The bad news is that I have another event next weekend, and even though I have books that will arrive this week, I'm going to run out of a couple of titles. It's always a total guessing game how much to order.

I weeded a few minutes after I got home, but talking with people all day long is exhausting. And I'll be doing it again tomorrow. I'm probably going to crash with a book.

See What's blooming now

It's a Purple Day

 
I walked to the library today, and the predominant shades of the flowers are purple. Lots to see. A whole raft of light purple iris.



The hanging baskets on the light poles in Scottville have lots of varieties of purple petunias.



These allium are pretty in the shade. You could say they are pink, but they look quite purple when not seen against other dark purple colors.



I'll try to get a picture of this bush when it's open. These are dark purple lilacs in bud. A recent commercial landscaping project, and they all look healthy.


Even the Silver Maples got in on the act. Look at the newly fallen keys. I hadn't ever realized how much color they have.



Finally, a few of my iris are hanging in there despite the neglect. Just an ordinary old-fashioned purple one, but it's pretty.


In other news: I wrote in the morning, did a couple of errands in town. I'm trying to get the pictures sorted from the hike I'm writing about. Up to nearly 100 of them in the correct order. Want to finish before I move on to writing the next chapter. Oh, and had to figure out what I accidentally did that changed a setting on my camera. It drives me nuts. Somehow I manage to push buttons by accident and screw things up. This change was one I hadn't made before, so I had to spend a bit more time to fix it. But, I did get it. It got really hot here today- almost 90 degrees. Wow. I'm not used to that yet.

	See Iris- Out and About
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Matthaei Botanical Garden

 
You'll have to wait till tomorrow for the post I wanted to do today. I think I have to re-scan some old photos. Meanwhile... here are some fun pictures from the same location I plan to tell you more about.

I worked at Matthaei Botanical Garden in Ann Arbor in a number of different capacities from about 1994 to maybe 2001. Sometimes full time, sometimes part time. It's the best place I've ever worked. That's what I want to tell you about, but today you'll just get some nice pictures from my recent visit.

This is part of the perennial garden, which is less impressive than they would like it to be. The deer refuse to be deterred, so these are critter-proof plants only.


How about those allium!



Inside the conservatory are tropical, temperate and desert houses. This is Rangoon Creeper, in the tropical section.



Here's a general view in the desert house with a blooming Perfoliate Crassula.



You know I love succulents. Crinkle Leaf is the appropriate common name for this, scientific name Andromischus cristatus.



Moving outside, this is an information kiosk, but check out the roof!



And finally, for today, just a nice view of the barn from the prairie trail. I used to get to mow the trails- one of my favorite jobs there, although there was hardly a bad task (OK, maybe a couple).



Hopefully, I can find the other pictures I want to scan for another day.

In other news: I wrote Chapter 7 in The Bigg Boss, and then I worked at Shagway Arts Barn for part of the afternoon and the evening. Thus the late post.

	See Fort Wayne Succulents
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Flowering Plant, No Flower

 
This is a case of me simply procrastinating about looking something up. These grow throughout our field. I've known it was one of the wild garlics (hey, it smells and tastes like garlic- I've even cut up some stems to cook with), but I didn't know which one. I could never seem to find it in flower. You'd think after ten years or so I might catch on.



Anyway, this week I tried to look it up, even without a flower. Well, guess what! Although it's a flowering plant, it often has no flower at all, just those little green tails growing from the bulblets. So I'm not totally unobservant. It can have flowers, little white ones, but mine apparently don't like to expend that much energy. It propagates by dropping the bulblets.

It's field garlic, Allium vineale.


Here's the bad news. It's alien. Here's the really bad news. It's considered an invasive problem species because when livestock eat it, it taints the milk and meat with garlic flavor. Bummer. I had thought it was kinda cool-looking. Now I'll have to learn to not like it. I can keep on eating it, but I can't eat fast enough to get rid of it.

	See Ramps (another Allium)
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