Looked for a Cat, Found a Frog

A couple of days ago, I spotted this green caterpillar nicely camouflaged as it munched away on an arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum) leaf.

Unknown caterpillar snacks on arrowwood (Viburnum dentatum 'Chicago Lustre') leaf

So this morning, I thought I would take another look at the shrub to see if I could spot the caterpillar again.

Couldn't find it, but I did discover this little fella looking quite at home on a leafy perch!

I think this might be a young eastern gray treefrog, but I'm no herpetologist!

I was so happy to see a frog in my garden for the first time ever! :)

An August Visit to Yew Dell - Pomegranate, Banana, Pineapple Lily and Bamboo in Kentucky!

Late last month, my wife and I were passing through Louisville, Kentucky and took the time for a quick visit to Yew Dell Botanical Gardens.

It's not the biggest garden by a long stretch, but I have to say I was mighty impressed and surprised with some of the plants I saw there. Here are some of the highlights:

Aster divaricatus, White Wood Aster, pristine foliage in August plus a carpet of starry flowers. What could be nicer?

Not blooming yet, but looking incredibly robust and healthy, here's another aster - A. oblongifolius "Raydon's Favorite," which wins rave reviews from Mt. Cuba Center

OK, this is not so pretty, but botanic gardens are useful in part to see the brownouts you'll rarely find in a gardening magazine or nursery catalog. This is Coreopsis verticillata Golden Gain.  

More proof that Firewitch Dianthus can make a beautiful groundcover

The sign said Ensete montevidensis, although I've seen usually seen this listed as Ensete ventricosum, cultivar "Maurelii". The common name is Red Abyssinian Banana. Unfortunately, it's only hardy to zone 9, so I imagine Yew Dell planted it as an annual, where it adds some bold and striking tropical ambiance.

I was excited to see what appears to be a thriving specimen of Eucomis comosa, the Pineapple Lily. What beautiful foliage! And even past its prime, the flowerhead is still attractive. I've often seen Pineapple Lilies labeled as hardy only to zone 7 or even zone 8, so it was a real treat to see it growing well in zone 6. (I suppose it's possible that the gardeners lift the bulb for overwintering...I'll have to make inquiries...)

I was surprised to see some Fargesia rufa "Green Panda" clumping bamboo growing happily in the shade at Yew Dell. Later I realized that Green Panda is supposed to be cold hardy to zone 5, so it should be able to handle Louisville winters without any problems. 

This was my first time seeing Green Panda in person and I have to say I think it looks pretty good in the flesh (so to speak). I'm not sure that I have enough shade at this point to keep it happy during a hot Southern summer, but it's tempting to give it a try anyway...

Splish! We heard some splashing sounds as we passed a tiny pond. Close examination revealed this fella.

Peeking through the greenery, we spotted another frog sheltering in the pond

Tragic, but beautiful.  Not sure what kind of bird this is. Maybe a Pine Warbler?
 

Some sort of Lantana camara. Such cheerful candy colors! Definitely planning to add some Lantana to my garden in 2015.

Anyone know what this is? It looks like a really nice groundcover. Maybe some type of sedum? There was a sign nearby that said Manfreda virginica, but clearly that's not this plant

Here's your trusty blogger leaping into the photo to selflessly serve as a yardstick in measuring this 10-12 ft tall banana plant. Maybe Musa basjoo? No sign here either. If it is M. basjoo (or another Musa), I'd be very interested to hear how the garden overwinters them (although they do seem to be located in a protected spot at the edge of a stone wall that presumably absorbs some heat in the wintertime and helps create a warm microclimate).

I've seen Nepeta x faassenii "Walker's Low" Catmint recommended by numerous sources, but it wasn't looking so hot at Yew Dell when I visited in last August 

Here's an (unlabeled) Oakleaf Hydrangea looking kind of crispy and stressed in a bright partial shade location

Sorry for the overexposure in this photo, but trust me when I say that this Oakleaf Hydrangea was growing in significantly more shade - high dappled shade, but shade nonetheless - and it looked much happier than the Oakleaf Hydrangea that was forced to cope with more sunshine. Seeing these two plants nearby reinforced my suspicion that Oakleaf Hydrangea probably prefers mostly shady conditions in hot summer climates. (Well they probably can tolerate a fair bit of sun with lots of supplemental water, but if left to their own devices with minimal extra watering, I suspect they only look their best in the Southeast with lots of shade.)

A pomegranate growing cheerfully in zone 6 Louisville?!
Blew. My. Mind.
True, it is a dwarf pomegranate (Punica granatum Pleniflora), but still I did not know that pomegranates could survive north of zone 7. (I've actually been under the impression that even zone 7 was iffy.)
Seeing this pomegranate seemingly growing happily here has forced me to reexamine my assumptions!

The foliage on this hybrid Witch Hazel - Hamamelis x intermedia "Westerstede" - had seen better days.

Sedum reflexum, Stonecrop, looks like it can make a great groundcover. (I don't think I saw a cultivar name listed, but this looks like photos of Blue Spruce that I've seen online.)

Some kind of tall sedum (not sure which -- I thought it was S. spurium Voodoo, but that's clearly wrong). Whatever it was, there were loads of honey bees buzzing about happily all over the copious flowerheads.

Silphium laciniatum, Compass Plant, a U.S. prairie native with beautiful compound leaves and soaring stems (8-10 feet tall?) that - as shown here - can topple to Earth in dramatic splaying fashion

Solidago rugosa "Fireworks", the top-rated goldenrod in a Chicago Botanic Garden trial, simply stunning en masse as shown here. Solidago reportedly provides bees with an important late-summer source of pollen and nectar.
 

No tag on this, but I suspect it might be Lespedeza thunbergii. It's a pretty shrub / large perennial, but I don't have any plans to add it to my TN garden and I'm a little surprised (if my identification is accurate) that Yew Dell still has it, given that concerns over its invasiveness have landed it in the Significant Threat category of the Kentucky's Exotic Plant Pest Council

New Resource: Botanical Garden List

You never know who you'll see at a botanical garden!
Here a cute frog crashes the party at Powell Gardens' Festival of Butterflies.
Photo by Greg Boege

Dear Garden of Aaron readers,

Thanks for all your support and valuable feedback over the past year!

I would like to draw your attention to a new resource - a list of U.S. botanical gardens that I have added to the right sidebar. 

I'm sure this list is not comprehensive, but I hope that I've included most of the biggest and best botanic gardens in the country.

If I've missed any notable names, please contact me or use the comments section below to let me know.

(In the future, I hope to add a list of major U.S. arboretums. Since some botanic gardens - like the one in Dallas - seem to define themselves primarily or equally as arboretums, they'll end up on that other list.)

Hopefully these links to botanic gardens around the country will help you to discover gardens in your region or give you ideas of gardens you can visit when you travel.

What are your favorite U.S. botanical gardens? I've got to give some hometown love to Cheekwood, but I also was incredibly impressed with a visit a couple of years ago to Powell Gardens outside Kansas City, particularly the 12-acre Heartland Harvest Garden. Well-played, Powell!

Which garden would you most like to visit? I have to say that I'm hoping to visit some of the famous nearby gardens in upcoming years, including the botanical gardens in Memphis, Atlanta and St. Louis, plus the University of Tennessee Gardens in Knoxville!

Down the Garden Path 2012 -- Nashville Garden Tour & Plant Sale

My wife and I had the pleasure of taking a Garden Tour this past weekend. The 13th Annual Down the Garden Path tour sold tickets to visit nine gardens as a fundraising effort for the Lupus Foundation of America, Mid-South Chapter.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. True, the heat and humidity were a little oppressive around noon, but a tremendous hail/lightning/thunder storm dropped the temperatures by 20 degrees in the early afternoon and made the rest of the tour much more comfortable.

Here are some of the photo highlights from our tour:

Lacecap Hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla normalis). I really liked the lacecap, but my wife liked the mophead ones better. Which do you like best?

Koi pond with water plants. Notice the heron statues behind the pond in the center of the photo. According to the owner of this garden, herons are territorial birds. Most of the time, if a heron flies over and looks down and sees what looks like another heron, it will bypass the garden, sparing the fish.

Close-up of the heron statues. Heron statues can ward off real live herons, which are solitary and territorial birds. The only problem is that the statues may actually attract  herons during mating season.

Lilies, after the rain

Hibiscus. Lots of people think that hibiscus is just a tropical flower, but hardy hibiscus (a.k.a. Rose of Sharon) plants are hardy perennials that can tough it out as far north as Zone 4!

Elegant fountain in shady woodland garden setting. This fountain was crushed by a falling tree that was uprooted in a storm, but the owner had the fountain rebuilt and restored to working order. I feel like fountains can have a cooling, soothing effect in any garden. 

Close-up on the big frog sitting next to the fountain.  Used with restraint, statuary can enhance a garden. Here it adds a touch of whimsy. 

We came around a bend in one garden and found ourselves facing this realistic deer statue. I loved the positioning and realism of the statue, although personally I think we have so many real, live, plant-destroying deer in Tennessee that I wouldn't erect a statue to one in my garden!

Next to this plant was a sign that read, "Ugly plant. Beautiful blooms only one night per year." This, my friends, is the Night-Blooming Cereus. Actually a type of spineless, climbing cactus, Cornell says a mature (4 or 5-year old) plant should bloom every two weeks from midsummer to autumn. The flowers are supposed to be extremely fragrant, but you had better be a night owl, because they don't reach full potency until after midnight. Not at all frost tolerant, it seems like Cereus would have to be grown in a pot in Tennessee and brought indoors over the winter. In frost-free parts of Florida, the plant can apparently climb as much as 40 feet.

Inviting bench swing with several types of clematis vines. Notice the adjacent meerkat statues.

Unknown pink flowers leaning against tall verbena. Wish that the gardener had been around to ask about the plant ID.

Rose Campion (Lychnis coronaria)

Unknown flower. Maybe a type of Monarda?

Hardy Gardenia. This plant had an incredible fragrance! We actually visited this garden twice, primarily to spend more time lingering and burying our noses in these flowers with their heavenly scent! 

Close-up on gardenia flower. Middle Tennessee is supposed to be right on the Northern edge of the hardy gardenia's range, but I may have to try growing one in a protected spot for a chance at inhaling that perfume again.