Evenings with a Blue Bird

"Blue Bird" rose of Sharon, that is... 😏

(Mea culpa... I originally identified the shrub below as 'Blue Satin'. There is a 'Blue Satin' rose of Sharon, but the one I have is called 'Blue Bird', as pointed out by Dottie in her comment below.)

Hibiscus for Days

'Blue Bird' rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus)

Hibiscus moscheutos 'Luna Pink Swirl'

Native rose mallow (Hibiscus moscheutos)

Hibiscus Time!

The top photos show 'Luna Pink Swirl', a cultivar of our native Hibiscus moscheutos.

The bottom photos are two different cultivars of  rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), 'Blue Bird' on the left (looks bluer in person) and 'Diana' on the right.

Both species seem to be totally hardy in my garden - H. moscheutos behaves as an herbaceous perennial, while H. syriacus grows as a deciduous shrub.

White Nights in the Garden of Aaron

Recently, I was taking a stroll around the garden in the early evening and realized that I have a lot of white flowers blooming right now.

White flowers are pretty any time of day, but they really seem to glow and become luminous in the gloaming, that magical time between sunset and night.

And on nights with a full moon, white flowers continue to shine all night...

Rebloom on the 'Natchez' mock orange (Philadelphus x virginalis 'Natchez')

Phlox paniculata 'David'

'Diana' rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), poised to unfurl

Blue moon rising over Tennessee

The Blue Bird and the Purple Coneflowers

'Blue Bird' rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus) amid purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)

'Blue Bird' hibiscus, that is!

I was inspired by a post on Deb's Garden to snap this photo of my hardy 'Blue Bird' rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus). 

Doesn't it look lovely surrounded by all the purple coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea)? 

(Why they're called purple coneflowers is a mystery to me -- I think they should be called pink coneflowers.)

The coneflowers attract bees, butterflies and hummingbirds to my garden.

Sadly, the only wildlife that seems attracted to rose of Sharon so far are deer and Japanese beetles. Alas! 

Still, while I make many gardening decisions based on a plant's ability to support bees, birds and butterflies, I do make occasional exceptions -- and 'Blue Bird' is one of those exceptions. To earn that exceptional status, a plant must be tough, carefree and beautiful, and 'Blue Bird' ticks those boxes for me.

PS - Some rose of Sharons have a reputation for invasiveness. I bought 'Blue Bird' thinking it was sterile, but that was a goof on my part, because apparently it is fertile. Nonetheless, I have not noticed any seedlings yet. Right now, I don't find it onerous to remove spent flowers before any seedpods have a chance to form. Perhaps when the shrub matures, that task might be more onerous... I did buy a sterile 'Diana' rose of Sharon, but so far it seems less vigorous and the deer are more inclined to munch on it, so I don't know how many flowers it will produce this year.

PPS -  Looking to get notifications of new Garden of Aaron posts delivered straight to your email inbox? Now you can subscribe via email!  

15 Great Foliage Plants: Arrowwood Viburnum, Hidcote Lavender, Japanese Painted Fern, Gro-Low Sumac and More!

Viburnum dentatum, Arrowwood Viburnum, I believe this is the Chicago Lustre variety

Everyone loves flowers, but I'll go out on a limb (pun intended!) and state that only gardeners go gaga over foliage.

Think about it - no one buys their love a bouquet of leaves on Valentine's Day. (Well, except maybe a valentine from one gardener to another.)

Why does foliage matter so much to me? Perhaps because flowers are transient - first a dream, then a brief vision, finally a cherished memory. On the other hand, you can enjoy foliage for months and months -- all-year round in some cases.

In addition to the Viburnum dentatum shown above, here are 14 more of my favorite foliage plants as of mid-May in the Garden of Aaron:

Vitex agnus-castus (Chaste Tree) leaves

Sedum Vera Jameson, I believe

Russian Sage, nicely recovered from its sorry state just a few weeks ago

Hibiscus syriacus, Rose of Sharon foliage

Redbud leaves

Platycodon grandiflorus, Balloon Flower foliage 

Oakleaf hydrangea foliage

Brassica juncea, Mustard Green foliage

Lemon Queen hybrid perennial sunflower foliage

Lavandula officinalis "Hidcote" foliage

Eupatorium dubium "Baby Joe" foliage

Athyrium nipponicum, Japanese Painted Fern "Pictum"

Hibiscus moscheutos, Hardy Hibiscus foliage

Rhus aromatica, Fragrant Sumac "Gro-Low" foliage

Stay tuned for more great foliage plants later this week!!

So What's the Damage?

Alchemilla mollis, Lady's Mantle, unhurt by a late freeze, looking bigger and better than ever this year.

The Details:

The weekend of April 12th, temperatures topped out near 80 degrees (Fahrenheit). Then a cold front came crashing through - two nights in the mid-30s and one night where temperatures dipped all the way to 28 degrees Fahrenheit in our neighborhood. (I foreshadowed this cold snap in a blog post last week.)

In true Darwinian style, I left most plants uncovered and unprotected to fend for themselves.

Remarkably and encouragingly, most pulled through without any problems. Here's a list of the ones that laughed off the cold and the few where winter got the last laugh.


Little or No Damage:

- Agastache foeniculum, Golden Jubilee
- Ajuga genevensis (leaves and flowers both unharmed)
- Alchemilla mollis
- Aronia, Chokeberry (buds, flowers and leaves all unharmed)
- Athyrium nipponicum, Japanese Painted Fern (newly planted)
- Baptisia australis (covered with an overturned pot for protection)
- Cercis canadensis, Redbud (flowers and emerging foliage both appear unharmed)
- Chrysogonum virginianum, Green and Gold

Chrysogonum virginianum, Green and Gold, undamaged by the cold, now bursting into bloom.

- Clematis "Crystal Fountain" (leaves and buds both appear unharmed)
- Cranesbill Geraniums (Biokovo, Rozanne and sanguineum)
- Dianthus gratianopolitanus "Firewitch"
- Echinacea purpurea
- Fothergilla gardenii (leaves appear unharmed, some flowers may have been damaged, others seem to be fine)
- Gaillardia x grandiflora "Arizona Apricot"
- Helianthus "Lemon Queen" perennial sunflower
- Hemerocallis, Daylilies
- Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf Hydrangea

Hydrangea quercifolia, Oakleaf Hydrangea, seemed unfazed by the cold. I planted this shrub in autumn 2012 and did not see any flowers last year. Maybe this is the beginning of a flower panicle?!

- Hypericum frondosum "Sunburst"
- Juniperus virginiana, Brodie, Burkii and Grey Owl varieties
- Lavandula, Lavender, "Hidcote" (newly planted)
- Liatris spicata
- Liriope muscari (newly planted)
- Lonicera sempervirens, Coral Honeysuckle (leaves, buds and flowers)
- Malus, Crabapple, "SugarTyme" variety (leaves seem fine, flowers were pretty much finished blooming anyway, so it's hard to gauge whether they would have been damaged)
- Panicum virgatum, Switchgrass, "Northwind" (covered one clump with an overturned pot, but new growth on both protected and unprotected clumps seems equally unharmed)
- Philadelphus x virginalis, Mock Orange, "Natchez" (leaves and buds both seem unharmed)

Philadelphus x virginalis, Mock Orange, Natchez variety, leaves and buds appear totally undamaged by last week's cold snap

- Phlox paniculata
- Platycodon, Balloon Flower (covered one clump with an overturned pot, but the control clump that was not covered looks fine too)
- Polystichum acrostichoides, Christmas Fern (newly planted)
- Rhus aromatica, Fragrant Sumac, "Gro-Low" (buds seem fine, there may be a little foliar damage on some emerging leaves, but I think the majority of emerging foliage seems fine at this point)

Rhus aromatic "Gro-Low" Sumac does not seem to have been set back at all by the freeze. Check out those beautiful lemon yellow buds and fresh multicolored foliage! I'm enraptured!!

- Stachys byzantina, Lamb's Ear, "Helene von Stein"
- Veronica umbrosa, Prostrate Speedwell, "Georgia Blue" (leaves and flowers both seem unharmed)
- Viburnum prunifolium, Blackhaw (buds and open flowers both seem unharmed)
- Viburnum x pragense, Prague (buds and open flowers both seem unharmed)

Neither the new leaves nor the flowers on the Prague Viburnums were damaged by the late freeze

- Viburnum rhytidophylloides, Alleghany variety (perhaps a little foliage damage on some plants, another seems unharmed)



Moderate damage:

- Agastache rugosa, Honey Bee Blue (perhaps 30% of foliage seems damaged/killed on newly installed plants)
- Aucuba japonica (established leaves seem fine, some of the of emerging new growth may have been damaged)
- Buxus sempervirens, Hardy Boxwood (established leaves seem fine, but new growth seems limp and damaged, I suspect I'll need to break out the pruning shears and give the Boxwoods a haircut back to healthy growth)

Wilted and whitened foliage marks frost and/or freeze damage on a Boxwood (Buxus)

- Cephalotaxus harringtonia, Japanese Plum Yew, "Prostrata" (established foliage seems fine, it looks as though the new growth may have been damaged, but I'm not familiar enough with this newly-installed plant to diagnose the degree of damage with any certainty)


Major damage:

- Ceratostigma plumbaginoides, Leadwort Blue Plumbago (newly emerging foliage seems limp, dark brown and dead)
- Hibiscus syriacus, Rose of Sharon (newly emerging foliage and young leaves on both Rose of Sharons looks limp and dead)

Newly emerging foliage got fried on this Blue Bird Rose of Sharon.
This photo was taken about a week after the cold snap. 

- Lagerstroemia indica, Crape Myrtle (most newly emerging foliage looks dead and blackened, fortunately several trees had not yet started to leaf out, interestingly foliage on a few branches of one Natchez crape seems fine, even though foliage on other branches seems dead!)

Crape myrtle with frozen dead leaves and fresh green leaves on different branches

- Vitex agnus-castus, Chaste Tree (newly emerging foliage appears to have been totally killed)

Vitex agnus-castus foliage appears to have bitten the dust.
No sign of any new foliage yet in the week since the freeze.

So that's the story.

Overall, I was very pleased with the way most plants pulled through.