Lycoris chinensis
Sweet Girls....Evil Raccoons....Sad Day
Lobelia syphlictica alba
Late Summer Waterlily
Lycoris radiata pumilla
Lycoris sprengerii Blushed With Electric True Blue
One Contented Tree Frog
Wildflowers Going To Seed
Almost Weightless, What a Treasure
(click any of these images to enlarge)
A Mist Shrouded Orb WebThe days are getting shorter and shorter,Cool nights have spurred the late flowers into bloom. A cacophony of insects add an almost tropical sound tract to the garden. Spiders abound here at Hiddenfield Farm, all types of orb weavers patiently await their next flying meal. My resident Hummingbirds are battling it out with the first migraters from their Northers nesting grounds. Every morning, I wake to their tiny battle cries. The porch door, so ofter open, lured a beautiful female inside, I heard her flying up and down the window, trying to find a way out, so I scooped her up, and brought her outside to freedom. She made a plaintiff chirp, and then layed there, almost weightless, until I blew a Puff of air to give her a heads up that she was free once more.
In the wildflower area, the Gold Finches are relishing all the maturing seed heads, it has been a pleasure to watch so much life live in this colorful area. Butterfly's are EVERYWHERE, bees too, I'm going to harvest my first honey this fall, only about fifty pounds this season, but the hives seem really good...keep your fingers crossed! I walked by the wildflowers, and on a not so wild Zinnia, my eye caught the apple green of one of the resident tree frogs that I love so much!
In bloom this season are Turtleheads, (Chelonia), Toad lilies(Tricyrtis),Hardy Begonias(Begonia grandis)...(the only zone 5 Begonia, I believe), and the spectacular Lycoris from Asia.We have had so much moisture, that I think it caused some of these wonderful bulbs to skip a season, but I could still be "surprised"!
The Water Lilies are still putting on a show, and the rare white native Lobelia syphlictica is setting gobs of seed-curiously, few self sow, but the periwinkle/blue forms, grace the woods and marshy low areas.
On a sad note, my chicken coop was taken siege by Raccoons, leaving only one terrified hen, I can only imagine the terror felt by my good hens...rest in peace! I'm going to electrify the blank out of the chicken yard, Raccoons are like evil monkeys, truly.
Matt Mattus put out his first prototype magazine for late Summer, so well done, stop by his Growing With Plants blog, and take a look. Each copy is published per order, and has a creative graphic quality I love, great job Matt! (Plant Society magazine)
I hope everyone a wonderful Labor Day, I won't be at work...but I need to catch up on so many garden chores, but that's not work to me!
Brian David Morley
Sorry to hear about your hens. Your garden sounds like a treat to be in at this moment.
ReplyDeleteCan you grow Lycoris radiata in Zone 5? I grew up in Mississippi (Zone8) and loved the surprise as they popped up out of the grass. But I've been under the assumption they won't survive my in my Zone 6 garden. What's the story?
ReplyDeleteJames,they are hardy to zone 5, same with the golden chinensis, but make sure that's what you're getting, most catalogs offer aurea...that is more like zone 7. Look at Telos rare bulbs, they offer some different ones...always limited! Regular radiata is sterile, but radiata pumilla is supposed to be able to set seed(and create hybrids...)Chinensis sets beautiful black seeds, like black widow spiders, very glossy.Get someone from back home to send you a bunch!I like to move them green, so if your friends can dig and ship asap in the early Spring, you'll be golden!(had to do that...
ReplyDeleteBrian
That too bad about the chickens. When we get our own place we hope to grow a lot of our food during the summer and have our own chicken coop for eggs. We'll have to take raccoons into account when designing the coop.
ReplyDeleteAerelonian,nothing is as good as your own home grown vegetables and fruit, and the eggs are so much better! Brian
ReplyDelete