Black Is Back!

I don't know if you have noticed but black is the new white in the garden.  I have said many times that I do not like black in my perennial border.

I have color in my border, lots of color when everything is blooming, but not black.  The closest to black is my brown mulch.

Rainbow Knockout

Geranium Max Frei

Beautiful blooms in the spring but blooms very sparingly throughout the summer.

Sport of Geranium Max Frei

It is looser and more sprawling but I let it be where it bloomed.

Well, I have given into a certain extent and have really gone over the top this year with black in my containers.

Dahlia Mystic Illusion is the star with Phantom Petunia, black Moneywart and Tip Top Aeonium

What is that orange gerber daisy doing in the black picture?

I don't know what came into my mind but I just started buying black plants and couldn't stop.

Coleus Sedona with Black Heart Sweet PotatoVine

Black Coral Elephant Ear

Coleus Merlin's Magic

This is a ruffled coleus, can't wait to see what it looks like as it grows larger.

Geranium Bob's Blunder

This is a dark one in the border but not considered black, more of a bronze, blooms all summer into fall.

As I said, I like color in my borders and Stoplight Heucherella really stands out.

Geranium Lancastriense Striatum

This is lovely when it blooms, short cycle, put it where you won't miss it.

Geranium Karmina

I brought this one from my last home, but again it is a short cycle bloomer, leaves turn red in the fall.

Geranium Magnificum

This one was also brought from my last home, did not bloom for many years and then I moved it to a sunnier location.  It is a short cycle bloomer.

Geranium Rozanne

This is a geranium that blooms all summer into fall, getting ready right now, no blooms yet!

Geranium Blue Sunrise

I love this geranium, blooms and weaves in a lighter manner continuously throughout the summer and fall, but lost one of them and no longer carried at the nursery where I purchased them.  This is not a good sign, usually signals a plant that is not always hardy in this area.

What would we do without color as we know it?

Carefree Beauty

Clematis Henryi

I had Miss Bateman on this same trellis but I don't see it this year, think Henryi has taken over.

I think this is General Sikorski, but it seems short for this variety?

Home Run Pink

This rose is a winner so far, growing very well in my garden, gave some of the red ones that I was trialing to my daughter.  I just do not have the room for eight more roses, kept a couple of reds and two pinks.

I have this mystery plant from my neighbor's garden, about three feet tall (laying down right now) with yellow daisy like flowers.  If you know what it is please let me know!

Rain In The Garden

It rained heavily all last night and it rained all day today.  It has been dismal but the garden loves the attention.

Hycinthoides Blue

I put in three colors last fall, white, pink and blue.  I wondered why Northwind Perennial Farm only had blue when I visited last May, now I know why.  The blue is the color that has the most impact, will be ordering some more blue for the fall.

Amsonia Northwind Select

I purchased three of these last spring at Northwind Perennial Farm (not on the market yet), slow growing, not very noticeable flowers but the fall color is to die for!

Halcyon and August Moon Hosta (both can take sun) with Ghost Fern.  It's all about color not flowers.

This is a hosta that cannot take the sun and I have moved it a few times.  I may be moving it again before it gets scalped by the lawnmower.  I no longer remember the name of it so I can't look up best growing conditions.

Clematis On The Arbor

Clematis On The Fence

Endless Summer Hydrangea

It got nipped a little by the frost but it has tons of flowerheads this year.  It could be an unusual year but so far the secret is don't cut it down and don't feed it more than a light sprinkle of low nitrogen acid fertilizer.  It is an experiment still in progress!

Weigela Dark Horse

This is ideal for a smaller display growing about three feet wide and tall, again about color.

Heuchera Plum Pudding

This heuchera has never reached it's full growth capacity even after several years.  However last year I moved it away from the daylilies that were directly in front and it seems to be growing larger.  I think it may have just needed its own space.

Ninebark Summer Wine

The ninebark is just getting ready to bloom first pink then turning to white.  It is a beautiful shrub throughout three seasons.  Many of the dark leaved plants look great in the fall when many of the "green" ones start to show wear and tear.

Polemonium Brise d'Anjou (Variegated Jacobs Ladder)

Even if it didn't have a flower it would be a beauty in the garden.  I had many of the solid green ones at my old old house.  I am slowly creating a shade garden under maturing trees with some of my favorite plants.

I ran out several times today to put plants in the ground getting a little wet in the process, but overall if was a good feeling to plant and have nature water them in.

Around The Garden

It has been really warm again eighty-six degrees and lots of storm warnings.  I don't remember the plants ever being this large and full without the insect damage we see in the summer.  The foliage is lush and the flowers plentiful and huge.

Clematis Fireworks is a Type II and really puts on a show sharing this side of the pergola with Autumn Clematis.  When Fireworks is done I will cut it down to rejunivate and make room for its late summer partner.

Clematis Bee's Jubilee Type II is paired with Fireworks on the other side of the pergola.  It disappeared last year covered by Fireworks, so I had to make sure it had its own area to grow this year.

Dicentra Goldheart is new in the garden and just lights up the area along the fence.

Brunnera Jack Frost is beautiful through three seasons really pops against all of the green foliage and flowers.

Clematis Dr. Ruppel is another Type II and just stunning against the gray of the fence.  This year the rabbits had plenty of food so they did not decapitate the clematis during the winter.  Therefore, the Type II's survived with all of their vines and huge blossoms.

Pagoda Dogwood

Clematis Snow Queen Type II shares the trellis with Dr. Ruppel.  I like to plant more than one clematis on many of my trellises.

Clematis Ville de Lyon is a Type III that I have finally begun treating like a Type II to get it to bloom.  I did not cut it down this year and voila lots of buds and blooms. 

I am giving the Sunpatiens a try this year, saw them last year at Ball Horticultural Test Gardens and was impressed at how well they did out in the open with intense sun.

I have destressed my containers this year with less in them and some simple ones with only a couple of plants, some tropicals and you won't believe it some black.  I don't do black in the garden but somehow black jumped out at me this year for the containers.

Dahlia Lolo

Black leaves, more black to see when I complete the container!

Coleus Sedona and Sweet Potato Vine Black Heart

Oxalis Molten Lava

The Nemesia will not last through the heat in our area.

The radish tops have grown back from the rabbit forage.

I am working on my containers, definitely downsizing in regard to number of containers and number of plants in each container.  Our climate has become so hot in the summer that multiple containers are too labor intensive.  I still have a lot but less than last year!

Believe It Or Not

It is difficult to believe how much our blooming cycle has been thrown off by the unusual March weather.

I have never had a rose bloom in April!  My roses bloom in June, but not this Rainbow Knockout that looks like it has a little frostbite.

Endless Summer Hydrangea (has not been a good bloomer in my area) has also been nipped but it looks like it has lots of buds this year.  I did not cut it back at all this year and held off on the fertilizer (just a light sprinkle).  This may not be the best year to judge the results because of our milder winter.

Some of the Type 2 clematis are blooming.  This one is Bourbon, grows about six feet high and I will have to cover it again for the patchy frost warning.

This is Ramona and also is a type 2, can't cover this one because it's on the arbor.

Type 2 clematis are a little more work in that they require careful pruning in the spring and every so often need to be cut down after blooming to rejuvenate them and get rid of a lot of dead wood.  I think it is worth growing some of them because of their early bloom and large flowers.

Wow, I have never had this many berries forming on Amelanchier Regent, birds will love it!

Allium in the border takes up hardly any room, a great bulb to layer where there is lots of other foliage to hide the ripening leaves.

I am going to use less annual fillers in the border this year, impatiens are susceptible to downy mildew, and these are what I have usually interplanted.  I am thinking Verbena Bonariensis might work well and take up little space.

I have given up trying to reposition my pansies in other areas, the heat always gets them!

Foolproof perennials, Heuchera Villosa Purpurea, Heuchera Southern Comfort, Heuchera Pistache and Japanese Painted Fern all happy together in part shade.

Raspberry Splash Pulmonaria looks better as the season goes on, decorative leaves all summer.

Persicaria Polymorpha is creeping up towards the grid, hope it holds it firm this year during the storms.  It is such a striking plant and will bloom all summer if not whipped around by the wind. 

The carex grass has just about covered the fencing that keeps it off the path.

This might be the year for Thunderbolt Hosta, not very pretty when there are only two or three leaves.

Rainbow Knockout

It is important to prune your roses each year, opening up the center, taking out all stems that are pencil thin and leaving some thicker and thinner canes.  Don't forget to feed them and they will reward you with gorgeous blooms.  I bring mine down to about twelve inches and they fill out and up beautifully!

Have a wonderful weekend!