Douglas Justice's August blog is out now: August 2021 in the Garden - UBC Botanical Garden, with even more photos than usual, as Douglas has been including contributions from other garden personnel. This is the second month that I'd have loved to hang out in the shady Asian Garden but instead had to (well, I didn't have to) roam around checking out plants in the sunny north garden. But I'm a sun-lover, so all was well. The Food Garden was one of the features this month. Here's a tomato plant, Solanum lycopersicum: I ran into Linda Layne a bit later, and the first thing she said to me was "I know, the tomatoes have no labels. They're coming. Soon." Maybe even if I could have stayed a bit later today. So next week I might know what tomato this is. Here is one mentioned in the blog but not shown - Solanum lycopersicum 'Elfin'. These chile peppers were labelled: Capsicum baccatum 'Aji White Fantasy'. I found a comment saying that they should be mild enough to eat raw in salads. There are lots of colourful ornamental flowers planted in with the vegetables, or given beds of their own. The orange flowers are Asclepias tuberosa, Butterfly Weed. Douglas included a comment about how we should not eat the fruits or vegetables grown here because they are distributed weekly to a local food bank, but he put that note at the end of his paragraph about Aronia melanocarpa. Linda confirmed, that no, these do not go to the food bank. The common name for these is choke-berry. These are ripe now. Another featured genus this month was Yucca, but these are way finished blooming. Still the plants are great. This is the Yucca schottii, hoary yucca. Yucca flaccida 'Golden Sword' has nice leaves, and the inflorescence structure is interesting without the flowers. My favourite, and nothing to do with the flowers, is Yucca linearifolia 'Dusky Blue'. I've posted this several times, don't think I've ever seen the flower.
Here is the Sorbus pseudohupehensis mentioned in the blog, near the Roseline Study Amphitheatare. It's quite near the × Chitalpa tashkentensis 'Pink Dawn', in full bloom now here and on the entrance plaza. The plants along the path leading to this tree are worth checking out. Here is Salvia argentea, planted with Rosmarinus officinalis. Here is Bupleurum fruticosum, shrubby hare's ear. Apiaceae. Well, this surprised me. I recognized the name Echium wildprettii subsp. wildprettii from photos posted by @Gomero on another site, but I wasn't thinking of those tall flower spikes at all when I saw these leaves that appealed to me. They're native to the Canary Islands, supposed to be hardy in USDA zones 9-11, but I see them shown on sites in England, Portland, OR, North Carolina. Sure, why not here! I'll be beyond excited if these things flower, but for now, I really like the leaves.
The Solanum lycopersicum cherry tomatoes have their labels now, for which Linda thanks Adriona. The tomatoes still have a ways to go. Here are some that are mentioned in the blog but didn't have photos. 'Cerise Orange' 'Fruit Punch', which should turn a fruit punch colour. 'Snow White', for which I see photos showing pale yellow to white. I'm not including 'Petit Chocolate' as it has a long way to go. 'Amy's Apricot' was pictured in the blog, but I wanted to include something with ripe fruits. Here's a little pomegranate plant. And here's buckwheat, Fagopyrum esculentum. The ornamentals in this area that I photographed last time are mostly Cosmos bipinnata 'Double Click' - the pink, red and white flowers were all from the same package.
I might not have included enough colour in my previous postings. In an attempt to make up for it, here's Campsis x tagliabuana 'Madame Galen', which I might have posted almost every year. On August 7, 2019, I wrote that the flowers on this were past their prime. This year on August 12, they seem to be at peak bloom. In the Contemporary Garden, here is Helenium 'Baudirektor Linne', sneezeweed. In the Alpine Garden, Kniphofia 'Nobilis' has been showy for at least two weeks. The first photo is from a week ago; I was more attracted to them this week. Eucomis comosa 'Sparkling Burgundy' flowers were not open last week - it was the purple leaves I admired then (first photo).
Here are some more herbs outside the Amphitheatre. Origanum laevigatum 'Herrenhausen', oregano and Satureja montana, winter savory. I guess since I knew the name "summer savory", I might have guessed that there might be a winter one, but I've never heard the name. I posted an Echium from the Canary Islands last month. Tim, who saw me looking at this Echium simplex, also from the Canary Islands, told me to not get too attached to this one. He says it has even less chance of surviving than the E. wildprettii. As I was dawdling on my exit from the garden, I decided some photos of the Calycanthus chinensis in the nice shady Asian Garden were in order. These flowers feel just like plastic.
I think this Clematis is C. vitalba. There is a LOT of it climbing over what I think I remember being a rose hedge. Most of the leaves have several dull serrations (there's probably a word for that), but other leaves are entire. I don't know if that means there are two species here, or the leaves are just variable. I don't see any Clematis listed in this location on Garden Explorer or on my listing.
