June Blooms Galore! Agastache, Geraniums, Blue Wild Indigo, 'Zagreb' Coreopsis, Johnny Jump-Up, Lantana, Mexican Hats and more!

Agastache rugosa 'Honey Bee Blue', an expert told me not to get my hopes up about this Agastache behaving as a perennial here in Middle Tennessee, but it came through our unusually cold winter and very wet spring without any complaints.

Welcome to June in the Garden of Aaron!

As I prepared this post, I took a look back at some previous June posts to see how things have changed in the garden over the past few years:

- There was the June 2012 post that I made in the midst of an awful drought and heat wave that stressed almost every plant in my garden (except for the crape myrtles, the French marigolds. I will say that it's interesting to see that the coneflowers were attracting lots of little skipper butterflies by late June 2012. So far, despite seeing lots and lots of bees, I've seen very few butterflies in the garden. Perhaps more will arrive in the next week or two?

- In June 2013, Gaura lindheimeri, love-in-a-mist and Penstemon digitalis 'Husker's Red' were rocking the house. Zinnias and sunflowers were just getting ready to burst.

- Later in June 2013, I posted photos of additional flowers - zinnias, coral honeysuckle, Monarda didyma 'Jacob Cline', cranesbill geranium, Agastache 'Golden Jubilee', Salvia 'May Night', Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst', crape myrtles, Stachys officinalis, French marigolds (again), Alchemilla mollis, Bush's poppy mallow, lambs ear, gardenia, love-in-a-mist (again), Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina', Veronica spicata 'Giles van Hees' and purple coneflowers (again)


So before I dive into the June flowers (and some foliage) from this year, I thought it might be useful to give a quick recap on which of these plants I'm still growing in my garden and which have fallen by the wayside.

I've nothing against growing flash-in-the-pan shooting stars that have a moment of glory one year and are gone the next, but lots of gardeners (myself included) also prize durable and dependable favorites that will come back and even grow stronger and more beautiful from one year to the next. So, which of the June bloomers are still around in the 2015 edition of Garden of Aaron?

- Lagerstroemia indica, crape myrtle - Oh yeah. Bigger, better, stronger. Just starting to bloom now (no photos below), but should be glorious in a couple of weeks. No damage at all on my big, mature crapes over the last couple of winters with lows near zero, ice storms, etc. My secret? I don't murder them.

- Tagetes patula, French marigold - Yes, still persists in my garden as a self-sowing annual. I intentionally pluck and scatter the seed pods to help it spread. Despite sowing many seeds, I don't get many seedlings, but enough to help the plant persist in my garden. As long as it gets decent rainfall, it typically blooms for months. Last year, it was spectacular throughout the entire summer. This year, it is just getting started.

 - Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflowers - Yes, they continue to thrive and spread here. I love the fact that they attract bees, butterflies and birds. I had some issues last year with either a disease or a pest (aster yellows?) distorting some of the flowers, but I pulled the affected plants and so far I haven't seen any issues yet this year (knock on drywall). I've included a couple of photos below.

- Gaura lindheimeri, gaura has basically died out in my garden. It's a pity, because it was very drought tolerant and bloomed for a long time, attracting bees (and aphids, ladybugs and green lacewings). I think the soil was too heavy and/or the winters too cold and wet. I may try again with the all-white variety, which seems to have survived last winter just fine at my neighbor's property, even as she also lost her pink gauras.

- Penstemon digitalis 'Husker's Red', I feel a bit guilty, but I have to admit that I shovel-pruned this plant. I was not digging the short bloom period, and while it was semi-evergreen, I thought the foliage didn't look all that good in the winter. I have some regrets about this, but I've added some new penstemons to the garden (Penstemon x mexicali 'Red Rocks', which I'm liking much more and which has a much longer bloom season)

- Nigella damascena, love-in-a-mist, I'm actively trying to get rid of this. Yes, the flowers are beautiful. Yes, the seedpods are mysterious and exciting. BUT, it self-sows everywhere. The seeds germinate in summer or autumn. The feathery seedlings survived our cold winters without any issues and then it shoots up and blooms dramatically in the summer. The seedlings easy to pull, but when there are hundreds or thousands of them, it gets tedious. 

- Zinnia elegans, I still have a few zinnias growing in my garden, but I have not sowed any seeds recently, and they have sort of petered out. I think the last two cold winters in a row have prevented some self-sowing. I have mixed feelings on zinnias. In dry years (like 2012), they look awful without supplemental water, which I'm reluctant to provide (since I want to have a relatively self-sufficient garden). In wet years (2013 and 2014), they get powdery mildew and still look awful. (I tried a supposedly mildew-resistant zinnia species - Z. haageana (last photo in this blog post) - and was not impressed with the flowers or the disease resistance. It did not self-sow.) Still, maybe I'll sow some zinnia seeds next spring. I miss the butterflies they attract.

- Cranesbill geraniums, still grow them, still love them, they get better each year, I have one photo below

Geranium sanguineum, bloody cranesbill geranium, beautiful flowers, gorgeous foliage, trouble-free and attracts small pollinators (as you may be able to decipher from the blurry visitor in the flower on the left).

- Agastache 'Golden Jubilee', still thriving, self-sowing politely (well, perhaps a bit more than 'politely', but I wouldn't call it 'aggressive' or 'rampant' by any means)

Agastache 'Golden Jubilee' just coming into bloom in early June 2015

- Monarda didyma 'Jacob Cline', shovel-pruned it. It was spreading too fast, too far. And I didn't like the flowers. And I never saw it attract any pollinators. I think it might have gotten some mildew too. So there.

-  Salvia 'May Night', it's still hanging on, even giving a bit of rebloom this year. Hasn't really thrived, but has not croaked either. We tolerate each other.

- Stachys byzantina, lamb's ear, still have it, still love it, one of my 'Helene von Stein' cultivars even flowered this year (although it's not supposed to).

Stachys byzantina, lamb's ear, this 'Helene von Stein' cultivar is not supposed to flower. Apparently this one didn't get the memo.

Lamb's ear flowers are supposed to be attractive to bees, but I haven't seen any pollinators on these two flower stalks. Guess they didn't get the memo either. (One commenter on a previous post said that lamb's ear flower stalks reminded her of Medusa. That seems a bit harsh to me...)

- Stachys officinalis, betony, doing just fine, still have it, it's never really "wowed" me, but it's nice.

- Alchemilla mollis, lady's mantle, also doing fine, the clumps have gotten a little bigger, despite its reputation as a rampant self-sower, I've never seen a seedling.

- Gardenia jasminoides 'Jubilation', long gone, I think it was just too cold and windy for gardenia in my garden. (Gardenias have a reputation for being 'difficult' plants, so I may have killed it with gardening incompetence, but I'm going to blame the cold and wind.)

- Callirhoe bushii, Bush's poppy mallow, the rabbits did their best to kill this one, nibbling it down to the ground repeatedly, but it's come back every time and this year has some protection from other perennials that have grown up around it. It's a tough survivor that has won my respect and admiration. 

- Malva sylvestris 'Zebrina', this one the rabbits successfully killed. It's a shame, because the flowers were beautiful.

- Veronica 'Giles van Hees', this one sometimes melts out a bit in the summer, but it always seems to recover and come back just a little stronger and wider. It's growing on me...slowly.

- Lonicera sempervirens, coral honeysuckle, I had two vines growing on my front porch railings, they got very bushy and wild, one of them started suckering and/or layering, so I removed it. I kept the other one for now, but it had a bad case of aphids this year and even though ladybugs and other predators eventually showed up, a lot of the leaves and flowers still seem damaged. It's limping along. In years past, the coral honeysuckle vines attract hummingbirds, but I've barely seen any hummers this year (even though I have other flowers like Salvia greggii, autumn sage, that are supposed to attract them).

- Hypericum frondosum 'Sunburst', I had a landscaper install about a dozen of these shrubs on my front hillside. They seem to be a little short-lived. A couple have kicked the bucket and one of the others has some dieback. I don't find the plant all that attractive most of the year, but it's marvelous in bloom - covered with yellow puffball flowers that the bees go crazy over. Still, when I remove the ones that have died this autumn, I think I'll try to diversify the planting by replacing them with something else.


So I think that's a recap of where things stand with many of the plants featured in previous June blooms posts. Now here's what's blooming (or otherwise eye-catching) this year:

 

Baptisia australis, blue wild indigo (year 3 in the garden), seed pods

Coreopsis verticillata 'Zagreb' (year 2 in the garden)

Close up on 'Zagreb' with a small pollinator visiting one of the flowers.

Achillea millefolium 'Paprika, yarrow (year 1 in the garden), the rabbits did a number on it for a couple of months, but they seemed to have moved on, which has allowed the yarrow to resprout, spread out and put up flower stalks.

I'm 99% sure this is Agastache foeniculum, anise hyssop, I sowed some in spring of 2014 and got zero germination last year. This year, I've seen some pop up here and there, so I guess it needed a cold treatment to germinate? If you look closely in this photo, you can see a small pollinator has landed about 2/3 of the way up the flower.

Sisyrinchium angustifolium 'Lucerne', blue-eyed grass, this may not look flashy, but I think it could be one of my best additions to the garden this year. It looks like a grass (and of course it has 'grass' in its common name), but it's actually a member of the lily family, and it has bloomed non-stop since I planted it about two months ago. (The blooms do stay closed on cloudy days.) I wouldn't call it a pollinator magnet, but I have seen pollinators (especially small pollinators) visiting the flowers.

Here's another perspective on blue-eyed grass. It's native to Tennessee and throughout the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and New England. Charming!

Here's a purple coneflower (Echinacea purpurea) and a small spider hanging out on one of the flower petals.

Echinacea purpurea, purple coneflower, at many different stages of bud and bloom

This Fothergilla (center) is being engulfed by a patch of Melissa officinalis (lemon balm, left). I think the Fothergilla is getting a little stressed out by the competition, so I plan to cut the lemon balm way back and/or pull some out, but I'd like to wait until it blooms first. It's just starting to come into bloom with tiny white flowers, but when this photo was taken (about a week ago) it had not yet started flowering. The flowers are supposed to be very attractive to bees. We shall see...

Viola tricolor, Johnny jump-up, heartsease, apparently these are prolific self-sowers in some gardens, but mine have sort of petered out after a few years. This is the only remaining patch. Perhaps I accidentally mistook some of the other seedlings for weeds and dispatched them mercilessly? It's possible. It's a charming, cheerful little perennial. I may try to sow it again in the garden someday.

Lantana camara 'Miss Huff', I'm trying lantana for the first time this year. Most sources say it's only hardy to zone 7, so I'm probably on the borderline, but 'Miss Huff' is supposed to be one of the more cold-tolerant varieties, so I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'm growing it both because it's floriferous and cheerful, as well as for its reported ability to attract butterflies, but I have not seen any butterflies (or any other pollinators for that matter) visiting it yet. Perhaps as the plants get bigger, they'll become more noticeable to the pollinating crowd?

I've got a lot of Mexican hats (Ratibida columnifera) growing in the garden this year. It's a perennial that also self-sows quite a bit. So far, the seedlings don't seem rampant, but it's spread around quite a bit. I feel a little trepidation about what happens next year... It's growing here next to some Gaillardia x grandiflora.

Not one perfect rose, but instead of one perfect Cosmos bipinnatus! Cosmos are annual flowers that volunteer from year to year, but never (for me) in overwhelming numbers. I often end up pulling some that volunteer in the 'wrong' place, but I let most of them grow wherever they sprout.

The flowers are not terribly showy on this species Viburnum dentatum (arrowwood viburnum). I'm growing two cultivars ('Chicago Lustre' and 'Pearl Bleu') in partial shade, and they both seem happier than this plant, but I can't tell if that's because the others are cultivars or because V. dentatum would really prefer partial shade in Middle Tennessee. Honestly, I suspect a bit of both.

So that's what is going on right now here. 

What are some of the standout bloomers in your June garden?

And how do this year's June bloomers in your garden differ from years past (i.e., which plants have joined the dearly departed and which ones have joined the show)?

My Neighbor's Peony plus Creeping Zinnia, Cute Gaillardia and Bee-Friendly Salvia

My neighbor's fragrant peony

I don't have a peony, but my kind neighbor does.

She's a gardener too, although her tastes run more toward roses, lilacs and Japanese maples.

She and her husband are originally from China and she told me that peonies are seen as very special there. (This website says the peony is China's national flower!)

Peonies apparently are long-lived, but they can take a few years to settle in. I think this is the first year she has really gotten a nice amount of flowers from her peony.

Not only are the flowers beautiful, but they also have a lovely fragrance that reminds me of roses.

Meanwhile, despite unseasonably hot weather (lots of days in the high 80s) and no rain this month, there are still plenty of flowers and buds in the Garden of Aaron, including:

Creeping dianthus

Coneflower bud

Creeping zinnia...only it's an imposter, because it's not really a zinnia at all, but a completely different species: Sanvitalia procumbens

Gaillardia x grandiflora "Sunset Cutie" (although truth be told, it doesn't look quite like the official Sunset Cutie photos) 

Salvia nemorosa "May Night" and bumblebee 

Salvia guaranitica, Anise-Scented Sage, "Black and Blue" buds

The Natchez Mock Orange is blooming its heart out. I'm happy to see that it attracts some insects - mainly ants and small bees. Despite the fact that some sources describe Natchez as being a scentless Mock Orange, I can detect a light scent -- which is exciting because often I have the opposite experience of not being able to smell flowers that are supposed to be fragrant! 

Expert Interview #2 - Kirk Shillinglaw, Prairie Nursery

Monarch butterfly and bee on Prairie Blazingstar, photo by Rachel Ford James

As I mentioned when interviewing Ira Wallace of Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, my hope with GardenofAaron.com is to share not only my own limited knowledge and experience with gardening, but also to bring you the views, opinions and wisdom from authorities in the field.

For that reason, I’m honored to be able to present an interview with Kirk Shillinglaw, VP of Sales and Marketing at Prairie Nursery. Although Kirk carries a businessperson’s title, he assured me that he was formerly seed division manager at Prairie Nursery, which means that he is well acquainted with the virtues of various prairie and native plants.

GardenofAaron.com:  Tell me what makes Prairie Nursery different from other plant nurseries and seed catalogs.

Kirk Shillinglaw: We were one of the first nurseries to use native perennials in landscaping. In fact, we just celebrated our 40^th anniversary in business, which makes us one of the oldest – if not the oldest – native plant nurseries.

In addition, we have very high quality seed and plants. All the seed we sell is lab-tested for quality and viability, and we hand-grade all our plants. 

And we have something for  just about any soil type or condition. Our annual sales reports show that we have customers in all 48 contiguous states. In the Southeast, many of our customers are located in North Carolina and Tennessee.

GardenofAaron.com: Why should gardeners consider using native plants in their landscapes?

Shillinglaw: If you choose the right plants that fit your soil and sunlight conditions, then native plants will be naturally adapted to the local conditions. Natives are generally hardy and disease-resistant plants. They often attract birds and butterflies by serving as a natural source of seed and food for pollinators. They are typically low-maintenance and many of them have good drought tolerance. While some natives do naturally experience a certain degree of insect predation, they’re generally less likely than exotic plants to get absolutely mauled by insects, which means that usually gardeners do not need to resort to insecticides to keep a plant alive and healthy.

GardenofAaron.com: Where I garden in Tennessee, the soil is mostly clay. Many other gardeners in the Southeast and elsewhere in the U.S. garden on clay soils. What sort of plants would you recommend for them?

Shillinglaw: We actually have a strong line of clay plants that we call Clay Busters. The great thing about using these plants is that you don’t have to amend the soil.

GardenofAaron.com: Really? You don’t have to amend your clay soil at all before planting these Clay Busters?

Shillinglaw: Well, we suggest removing competing vegetation to reduce some competition at the start. If you plant a native plant into a patch of quack grass, it will have a tough time getting established. So give the plants an even playing field, dig a hole, loosen the roots of the potted plant, ensure that you have some loose soil at the bottom of the hole and then tuck the plant in. You do need to give the plant some water in its first few weeks until it gets established so that it can get its roots into the soil.

GardenofAaron.com: So which of the Clay Busters would you specifically suggest for someone like myself gardening in a sunny patch of Tennessee clay?

Shillinglaw: One of the most commonly and frequently used clay plants is the Purple Coneflower (Echinacea purpurea). Another popular one is Prairie Blazingstar (Liatris pycnostachya). Those are two of the most well-known native prairie plants.

Another plant that can work well in clay is Rattlesnake Master (Eryngium yuccifolium), which has a really unusual and unique appearance.

And one of my favorites is the New England Aster (Aster novae-angliae), which in Tennessee might bloom through November.

In moist clay, Ironweed (Vernonia fasciculate) can be a good choice if you’re looking for a tall plant [4-6 feet].

Butterfly on Rattlesnake Master, photo by sfgamchick

GardenofAaron.com: You said Ironweed is good for moist clay. What if you have clay soil like mine that is moist after one of our strong rainstorms and slow to dry, but then bakes like concrete in hot, dry weather? And what if you want a plant that can take drought without a lot (if any) of supplemental water?

Shillinglaw: In that case, you want to look for plants like Yellow Coneflower (Ratibida pinnata) and Black Eyed Susan (Rudbeckia hirta) that are listed in our catalog or on our website as doing well in any kind of soil – Dry, Medium or Moist. The plants that have that description will generally be more cosmopolitan and adaptable with regards to soil moisture. Note that Black Eyed Susan is a biennial, but does self-sow on bare ground, and the vast majority of our plants are perennials that you can plant once and that will come back year after year.

GardenofAaron.com: Changing topics a little, do you grow your own plants?

Shillinglaw: We do grow approximately 95% of the potted plants we sell in our own greenhouse. Much of our seed is also produced on site.  

GardenofAaron.com: I am trying to do some of my planting in autumn this year (as opposed to this year and last year when I planted in springtime). How do you feel about autumn planting in Tennessee or elsewhere in the Southeast?

Shillinglaw: Planting in fall can be a good idea to help plants get established and put down roots so that they grow a bit more strongly next spring. While most spring transplants will still bloom their first year in the ground, you’re more likely to get blooms the following year on a fall transplant. Our autumn shipping season runs from mid-September to mid-October, although we will ship a little later to Southern areas on request. For large orders, we can sometimes make exceptions and ship outside of this time frame.

GardenofAaron.com: What are your recommendations when it comes to fertilizing native plants?

Shillinglaw: Generally, there is no need to fertilize native plants. In fact, we find that adding fertilizers may actually tip the balance in favor of competitive weeds. Of course, like anything that is green and growing, if you have a plant that is looking really poor, you might want to add a balanced fertilizer, but generally there is no need to fertilize with native plants.

GardenofAaron.com: So in the Southeast, where we have a lot of rainfall, but we alternate between periods of heavy rain and drought, would you suggest looking mainly at plants listed as tolerating dry to moist conditions?

Shillinglaw: Well, it depends on soil type. I know quite a few people garden on clay in the Southeast, but if you have a sandy soil, you’re more likely to lose moisture quickly even after a heavy rain. In that situation, plants that we have categorized as suitable for Dry, Sandy & Rocky Soils would be most suitable.

GardenofAaron.com: What plants would you recommend for shade or partial shade on clay soil?

Shillinglaw: Well, Trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) is one good option. Another good choice might be Sweet Joe Pye Weed (Eupatorium purpureum). Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense) is a tremendous groundcover for shady or partially shady areas on clay soil. Even a few of the woodland asters, like the Heart Leaved Aster (Aster cordifolious) and the Big Leaf Aster (Aster macrophyllus), can do well in clay and partial shade.

Wild Ginger (Asarum canadense), photo by gardentrek

GardenofAaron.com: Speaking of groundcovers, any suggestions in that area?

Shillinglaw: We don’t really carry any vines that would rapidly cover an area, but almost any of our ferns has the potential to spread and attain good coverage. Stiff Coreopsis (Coreopsis palmata) can also spread and function as a groundcover. And then there’s Wild Stonecrop (Sedum ternatum), which can function as a groundcover. Another good option might be Palm Sedge (Carex mukingumensis), which has unique foliage that looks like the leaves of a palm tree.

GardenofAaron.com: Would you say that interest is growing in the U.S. in native, prairie plants?

Shillinglaw: I’d say that the market for purists or traditionalists looking to restore native prairie lands has stayed about the same size in recent years, but we do have more and more customers and potential customers who realize that native plants don’t have to look wild and weedy. A lot of native, prairie plants make excellent garden plants. Very few of these natives are aggressive, which means that they will mostly play well with others.

Also, pretty much everyone likes birds and butterflies, and so the fact that these plants often do a good job of attracting that sort of wildlife is a strong point in favor of the native prairie plants. Generally, I’d say they are becoming more mainstream and more accepted by landscape designers and customers.

GardenofAaron.com: Presumably a lot of the native plants are also attractive to bees and hummingbirds?

Shillinglaw: Absolutely, bees love plants like Bergamot (Monarda fistulosa), which is commonly known as Bee Balm. And Columbine (Aquilegia Canadensis) is an excellent hummingbird plant. Our catalog and website has icons showing which plants are best for attracting birds, hummingbirds and butterflies. And next year, we’re planning to add a bee icon to highlight plants that attract pollinators. We are working on that project with the Xerxes Society, which aims to protect pollinators.

GardenofAaron.com: Anything new that we can expect from Prairie Nursery down the road?

Shillinglaw: We have been building up the woodland species that we offer, for instance by increasing our selection of woodland ferns. And we are starting to look at offering a few native shrubs, for instance plants like Elderberry. So that’s something to keep an eye on for next year.

Thanks to Kirk at Prairie Nursery for these insights!

It’s almost fall planting season at GardenofAaron.com. So stay tuned for photos and play-by-play on some of the big changes coming to the garden!

Have you ever ordered from Prairie Nursery? 

Do you have any native and/or prairie plants in your garden and, if so, how have they fared? 

Please share your experiences in the Comments field below.

Botanical Garden Review - Cheekwood, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

I'm a big fan of botanical gardens in general, and since Cheekwood is my hometown garden, naturally I have warm and fuzzy feelings toward it.

And yet, I don't get to Cheekwood as often as I would like. I used to live just around the corner, but since we moved further away, it's become a special occasion sort of trip.

But just to be masochistic, we decided to visit Cheekwood on a typically hot and muggy August day (~95 degrees). The good part is that the garden wasn't that crowded. The bad part is that it was 95 degrees! We carried LOTS of water, sought out shade and hydrated constantly.

I wanted to see which plants were thriving in Middle TN despite the heat. Here's some of what we saw:

Big bee on unidentified purple flowers. Anyone know what these flowers are?

Beautiful goldfinch snacking on cone flower seeds, I believe

Two more goldfinches munching on coneflower seeds. I like goldfinches and I like coneflowers. They go together like Rice Krispies and milk.

I was so focused on getting a photo of this handsome grasshopper before he hopped off that I didn't even notice this white flower until I uploaded the photo. What do you think? Could it be a balloon flower?

These green and gold bushes were really dazzling and looked simply luminous and healthy despite the baking heat. They were pared (as you can see) with hostas that had a similar color scheme. I'm not a huge fan of hostas (is that sacrilegious to admit?) but I did like this big bush. Anyone know what it's called? I'm pretty sure I've seen it in a catalog, but I can't remember the name and it looks like it would be a great shrub for Middle TN if it can handle this summer's heat, humidity and drought and still look this good. PS - Could it be Aucuba japonica??

Beautiful groundcover, dotted with charming pink flowers. I'm thinking that the leaves and buds look a lot like zinnias, but these were really short and the flowers seemed pretty different from zinnias that I've grown. What do you think? Are they zinnias? And if so, what variety?  Maybe one of the Profusion series?

Praise:

1) Art + Gardens -- Cheekwood has both an (air-conditioned) art museum housed in an historic mansion and numerous gardens. It's a nice mix. When you get hot and tired (or, in the winter, cold and tired) there's a climate-controlled space to cool down or warm up. And if you're a history buff or a coffee drinker, you might be interested in visiting Cheekwood just for the Maxwell House connection...

2) New Literary, Rain and Wildflower Gardens -- Like other parts of Middle Tennessee, Cheekwood has suffered its share of severe weather lately. As I recall, one particularly severe storm wreaked havoc in what had been a shade garden, necessitating a complete rethinking and replanting of that space. The newly renovated Howe Garden is not only a beautiful space in its own right, but also does a good job explaining some of the concepts and importance of rain gardens. And I simply adored the Hobbit-esque house stone house with the thatched roof in the Howe Garden. Plus there's a new Sigourney Cheek Literary Garden too where readings are held on a monthly basis. I haven't been to any of the readings yet, but it looks like there is a small rock amphitheater that has been built to foster intimate storytelling sessions and I can easily imagine that the result is charming. Paths throughout the new gardens are well-constructed and comfortable for strolling.

3) The People -- As elsewhere in Nashville, my experience is that Cheekwood staffers, particularly the gardeners and the museum docents, tend to be kind, cheerful and polite, which makes any botanical garden visit more enjoyable.


Constructive Criticism:

1) Variety, or Lack Thereof: I believe that a botanical garden should serve both aesthetic and educational purposes. Cheekwood has loads of dogwood trees and an impressive alley of crape myrtles. Both certainly fit into the local horticultural vernacular and deserve a place in the garden, but I would have very much liked to see more variety and more unusual specimens among the plants on display.

2) Give Me a Sign: I don't mean to be harsh, but I thought signage was simply dreadful through the gardens we visited. Seeing an interesting plant and finding a identifying tag was the exception to the rule. And sometimes in the rare occasions where ID tags did exist they were illegible due to their location literally 20-feet from the path in the middle of a landscaped bed sporting a sign pleading with visitors to stay on the path. It would have been more helpful in that scenario to have a large illustrated sign near the path explaining what plants were in the bed and offering photos of each one. There are one or two signs in the Howe Garden that take this approach, but again, they are the exception rather than the rule. Thus my confusion and pleas for assistance in identifying some of the beautiful plants in the photos above...

3) A Feast for the Senses: Gardening is about beauty, but taste is also one of the five senses. How about adding a demonstration vegetable garden that might inspire visitors to grow some of their own food and even show them that a potager can be aesthetically pleasing? I guess it would be a lot of work to maintain, but I think it would be a valuable addition to what Cheekwood has to offer (and probably would help make the garden more historically accurate, since I would imagine the Cheek family grew some crops on site back in the day...)

PS - If you have children or you are a child-at-heart, this month is a great time to visit Cheekwood to see some incredible giant treehouses based on famous works of literature!

Shots in the Garden! (June 3-9, 2012)

Bee on Russian Sage

I think I remember now that the coneflowers I planted last year are Echinacea purpurea (Purple Coneflower). It takes a long time for the flower to open, but once it does, the flower lasts for a long time and slowly evolves through different stages. 

This is an Echinacea purpurea flower that has been open for a long time. I haven't counted the days, but perhaps as long as two weeks? The individual flower petals are fading, but the central part of the flower and what I presume are its spiky seeds are getting bolder, more dramatic and more sculptural each day.

Four stages of flowering on a single Purple Coneflower plant. 

Let's move over to the vegetable and herb garden. Chocolate mint is growing in its own pot. Yes, the leaves really do taste and smell like a combination of mint and chocolate! Mint has a reputation for being invasive and as you can see, this plant has put out rhizomes in attempt to colonize new ground. Being in a pot, the rhizomes have been forced to take a circular path.

The Sun Gold cherry tomato plant has lots of fruit, but none of them are ripe enough to pick yet.

Spanish Musica pole beans are boldly climbing their trellis made from an upside-down tomato cage staked into the ground. 

I like the name of this cucumber variety from Kitazawa Seeds: "Progress". The seedlings have emerged next to a makeshift 'trellis' I created from a roll of hardware cloth. I'm hoping the plants can be trained onto the trellis to keep the fruit off the ground and help keep the plants healthy. Last year, my cucumbers produced heavily but succumbed to powdery mildew. Progress and the other cucumber variety I planted ("Southern Delight", also from Kitazawa) are both supposed to be disease-resistant varieties. 

The Natchez crape myrtles have started to flower!

The peeling bark on the Natchez crape myrtle adds another layer of visual interest. 

I like to post photos of my gardening triumphs, but I think that sharing information on my failures can be equally instructive. This is/was Lamium maculatum, also known as Spotted Deadnettle. This particular variety is/was "Red Nancy". Lamium is supposed to form a nice groundcover in partial shade settings. Some sites even warn that the plant can become rampant or invasive. I would say this is the opposite of invasive, at least in our Middle Tennessee garden.

Back to a more cheerful photo. This sweet alyssum is thriving in the same bed where the lamium flopped. We sowed some sweet alyssum seed this year, but also purchased purple, pink and white seedlings at a local nursery. Our success rate was not great with the seedlings, but the white ones seem to have done best of all. Based on my experiences last year, I hope that alyssum will flower all summer, attracting small beneficial insects like hoverflies and parasitic wasps to the garden. I may need to give the plant a haircut in the middle of the summer, but then it should bounce back and flower strongly in the fall until frost. We'll see if these expectations are fulfilled!

The David Garden Phlox is almost ready to bloom!

Half a zinnia is better than none! Why only half? I suspect the gold finches. I'm not sure if they eat the petals or probably just dislodge them while going after the seeds. Either way, they leave intact the yellow 'crown' that surrounds the pink globe on these improbably beautiful flowers.

We started with blue and let's finish with blue. This is one of the Rozanne perennial geraniums, still covered in flowers.