Summer ends too early

Another coleus combo —
Hosta is my new fav « stained glass »

Coleus mix and a rain ruined zinnea

With supermarket chrysanthemums

And some « hen and chicks » to the right hand side

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The other pix are my obsession with hen and chicks and cousins ... and old vintage silver (Sheffield plate) — a chafing dish planter

QUESTION - I love the pink daisy-like flower and it lasts thru winter in sheltered spot - it is closed at night and opens in sunshine. It is approx one inch diam (size of Cdn USA 25 cent coin) ... what is it?

 

The pink daisy-type plant looks like Delosperma - maybe 'Jewel of the Desert Garnet'.

The Oregano may be Origanum rotundifolium 'Kent Beauty' which is a lovely cultivar. Unfortunately, mine died when I tried to transplant it.

I like your containers too. :-)

 

Yes - jewel of the desert - thank you!

And Margot if you have room for one single Hosta (tho I personally like the repeated same Hosta to pull things together in my « collage garden » around a cottage)

Stained glass Hosta is a winner!

I have many others incl « Anonymous » ... « Inherited » and « Unknown » (an entire category ;)

And labels for hostas all in large containers and doing well —
Sum &Substance
Empress Wu (blue grey green)
Christmas something
Midwest Magic
Guacamole (yes it’s bright green)

I realize some of us fret over the holes and scars on Hosta leaves — I just go with it and keep mine in shade - usually dry shade and water when I remember to do so. The sun and esp w wet leaves does more aesthetic leaf « damage » to hostas so I just keep mine relatively shaded and dry.

I have conversed w Acer in UK about this prev - and you must view the Hosta stump garden on YouTube - a documentary w Pr of Wales and a Brit tv man (Michael something?) about Highgrove House gardens — the stump garden is every West Coast loggers dream :)

 

Hostas really are wonderful plants; no surprise their continuing popularity. I was amazed during the last hot, dry summer how well they stood up.

It seems we have 'Stained Glass' in common and I really like it too.
My others are:
‘Big Daddy’
‘Feather Boa’
‘Mouse Ears’
sieboldiana ‘Elegans'
‘Satisfaction’
‘Sun Power’
Unfortunately, I didn't put name tags near them when I planted them so trying to figure out which is which amongst the un-named ones is a challenge.

Three that I loved and lost before my irrigation system was installed were 'Aphrodite', 'Tattoo' and 'June' - all rather expensive.

And, thanks for mentioning the HH stump garden - I'll watch the video this evening.

 

See, you already feel uplifted about possibly ending coast summer in September !

I kid you of course

I THINK this is the video



I think the tv host man is Alan something (not Michael) and it’s the usual sir this and that but if one gets thru listening to the honorarial details

Thé plants & design and husbandry especially the hosta stump area are very interesting .... if I had a forest acreage and no deer!

 

Oh and Margot - when you watch this the head gardener is Cdn - from a farm here out West, I think.

 

Interviewer is Alan Titchmarsh. An Englishman from Yorkshire. But now lives in Hampshire.

 

@Georgia Strait and @Margot what a small world. I bought Hosta Stained glass on Tuesday. Agree with Georgia it is lovely. If you think about getting it Margot, it does better in the sun than most other varieties.
Totally agree that Hostas are wonderful and now so many different ones to choose.

 

Here is my Hosta 'Stained Glass' growing in a pot for many years now and in need of dividing. It is in complete shade.

 

@Margot that is a beauty Margot, hope mine looks like that when it grows up!!!!

 

Margot - for your CONTAINER hosta plants - like Stained Glass - what and when do you feed them?

And also - how often water?

And - we have a good number of Coastal BC months with no hosta leaves (winter) - so how do you re-purpose thé container without a huge team from Highgrove at your service :)

I look and discretely trim some local huckleberry (vacinnium ...spell ?)

And some greens from conifers

And for later winter (March)
I have some little size pots of tête à tête daffodils planted up to tuck in to my permanent containers

I am also going back to more sword ferns which do well at the coast - and - are evergreen in winter and look great - then as new friends (edit:I meant fronds! A happy typo) come out (spring) - I have the old ones trimmed off (safe for compost) and the cycle Continues.

 

Hi @Georgia Strait - I have to admit that I never fertilize my hostas . . . they grow too fast even without feeding. I water them generously every second day, knowing the water flows right through. Where 'Stained Glass' is located, there are quite a few evergreen plants nearby so I just leave the container as is. I must divide SG soon though because part of it is already reverting to solid green and it will begin to decline if left in the pot much longer. A crew from Highgrove would be most welcome, that's for sure!

I like your ideas about adding interest to containers over the winter while their permanent occupants are sleeping. The huckleberries and conifers you trim no doubt benefit from it. Red and yellow-stem dogwoods would be attractive too if you can find them.

I've got sword ferns all over the garden because I admire them and because they self-spore every now and then and I leave them be until they get too large. Another fern I like in winter is Licorice fern, just leafing out now, fresh and green as if it were springtime.

But who's thinking about winter, let alone fall!? The 14-day forecast shows nothing but sun and warm temperatures . . . almost too much of a good thing.

 

Good morning, Summer ending too early is not happening in England atm. So warm today and temperatures expected into the mid twenties this week. I am getting new growth everywhere. So very strange. But an Indian Summer does seem to come around every several years.
It is very welcome !!!!

 

I notice the spring bulb displays (of bulbs , that is) are not in the retail garden centres yet.

I hope they come in soon - I have a couple of reasons for my eagerness - mainly I like going and looking and envisioning how « next year » I will orchestrate the most tidy, organized, tour -worthy garden and everything I buy or trade will be planted in perfect locations that same day!!

I am sure there are cartoons of these thoughts on everything from tea towels to tea mugs at every botanical garden gift shop.

Anyway - i have heard that the Port of Montreal strike has held up the bulb shipments from Europe out to us in the Canadian Pacific northwest coast —- if only we lived a few miles south in Skagit Valley WA for the beautiful local bulbs!

When are your spring bulbs on display in UK retail, Acer?

Remember many of us need to plant on time due to winter climate here in Canada. I do very well with tête à tête mini daffodils in the BC Okanagan climate - i don’t water them and the deer and elk leave them alone. They have naturalized in our dry Ponderosa pine grassland. We get snow and also lots of below freezing winter days in a row.

 

@Georgia Strait good afternoon Georgia, isn't it exciting each season, but for us gardeners September sees the garden centres full of spring bulbs with photos showing how they will look to tempt us to buy a few more.
Yes they are all on display now to answer your question. We usually buy from the local agricultural show, but this year for the first time it is cancelled for the obvious reason. Such a shame as I had a stand there for many years giving advice on Equine and Wildlife matters. Very happy memories tbh.

Hope you get your deliveries of Spring bulbs soon, a you say planting time is quite short for you in Canada. Don't these strikers know there are gardens to plant up !!!!! Lol.

 

Margo - I have the ornamental Osier dogwood called « arctic fire »
Arctic Fire® Red - Red-Osier Dogwood - Cornus stolonifera | Proven Winners

It is supposed to be smaller and red twig but .... mine are 8 feet tall

Certainly not like the photo in the label !

I have in the past grown a variegated leaf red twig dogwood — a failure for me.

 

Back to Coleus, I don't know why I was surprised to notice today that even though the leaves are so thin, they still can be totally differently coloured on the top and bottom sides.

 

Wendy - I have not thought about that detail either — very interesting —- is there a technical plant term ?

Is this the only variegated leaf that has this trait I wonder

I looked at my various multi color leaf hostas and they seem to be colorés on the back (underneath) side too

What about variegated holly? I do not have one

 

So back to Margot original post ....

Are you responsible for this alert today?
Alerts for: Metro Vancouver - Environment Canada

What?! Hot air fr America?
Surely you know I jest
Tho it is remarkable and unusual to be this hot day and night

The prev day major alert warning about huge winds — it missed the BC coast / Okanagan as far as I know and took out trees in a Portland OR suburb.

 

Evergreen leaves often are different in colour and texture top and bottom. Now that I think of it, there are several Acer pseudoplatanus that have purple on the leaf bottoms, with various leaf colours on top, and they are fairly thin, but the coleus leaves just seemed too thin to be able to do that without seeing the top colour through to the bottom.

 

Strong winds across B.C. on Labour Day fan wildfires and cut power to thousands
Strong winds across B.C. on Labour Day fan wildfires and cut power to thousands

Here where I live on Vancouver Island, it was just nice and breezy. That hot air from America worries me though.

 

Sulev suggested that the yellow groundcover was Oxalis spiralis subsp. vulcanicola 'Aureus' – bright yellow-green foliage. I saw a few plantings of this at VanDusen today. They have Oxalis spiralis 'Aureus' listed (but not labelled, that we could see) in what I think is the bed number for the black garden, where I took this photo. I think the leaf shape matches this ID.

 

@wcutler good morning Wendy, I agree with Sulev's identification, Oxalis spiralis subsp. vulcanicola 'Aureus'. It does have a reputation of being invasive.