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Beyond Flowers

Yesterday, a daffodil finally bloomed in my garden–the very first flower of the season. Because of the cold snaps we have had, the garden is weeks behind schedule. There are buds aplenty, but with only one lone flower, there isn’t a great deal of interest just yet.

So we went to see what was happening at the US Botanic Garden, where the Conservatory was brimming with tropical plants in bloom, and the outdoor gardens featured an assortment of early-spring flowers. As lovely as they all were, I found myself drawn to other parts of the plants–the peeling, ribbed, spiked, thorny, and veined bits.

They reminded me that flowers aren’t the only things that add excitement to a garden: bark, branches, foliage, and many other parts can be just as captivating. Especially when there are no flowers to be had…. And, admittedly, even when there are.

Iris Rhizomes Leaf of the Quinine Tree

Branch of the Madagascan Ocotillo Tree

Bark of the Quiver Tree

Tags: bark, branch, Iris rhizomes, ocotillo tree, Quiver tree, spikes, spiky, thorns, thorny, United States Botanic Garden

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Categories Gardening, Gardens

A Remembrance of Things Past

21 Mar

At the moment, the wind is biting, the temperature is dropping rapidly, and we are in for a frost tonight. Still, I am on the verge of getting carried away by spring and all the promise it holds — new growth, new surprises waiting to be discovered, and oh-so welcome color. Spring is just on the horizon, I know it. But today is a reminder that we are not quite there yet. It seems a good moment to give a shout out to some of last year’s plants that came through winter and managed to retain a stark splendor even though their color had long faded. These old plants will soon make way for the new, but here is a brief photographic remembrance that will last even after their time has well and truly passed.

Hydrangea Paniculata

Dried Seed Pods, Unidentified Tree

Echinacea (Ruby Giant)

Tags: dried, dried flowers, Echinacea, hydrangea, seed pods

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Categories Gardening

Bursting Forth: Red Maple

18 Mar

Two weekends ago, I included a photo of tiny, closed, jewel-like maple buds in a post called Ready for Spring. I recognized the neighborhood tree as a maple, but wasn’t sure what kind of maple it was. The answer was staring me in the face the whole time. It is a red maple (Acer rubrum), which makes perfect sense given the color of the buds…. I’ve since stopped by that same tree a couple of times to see if the buds had started to open. This past weekend, they did — and I was reminded that beautiful things can come in very small packages.

Tags: acer rubrum, buds, opening, red, red maple, spring, unfurl, unfurling

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Categories Gardening

Japanese Flowering Apricot

16 Mar

Washington DC is gearing up for this year’s Cherry Blossom festival from March 20 to April 14. It is not only an annual celebration of the capital’s famous cherry trees, but also a key indicator that spring might finally be here. The peak bloom period is expected to be March 26-30.

As gorgeous as the cherry blossoms are, there is an equally gorgeous ornamental tree that is in bloom earlier, from January through March, and that can be seen in the relative calm of Maryland’s Brookside Gardens. It is the Japanese Flowering Apricot (Prunus mume), which puts on a quite a show at a fairly monochromatic time of year in the Northern Hemisphere–a time of year when we are all becoming a bit desperate for some color.

Despite its striking beauty, this tree is not as well known in the United States as other ornamental trees, though more nurseries are now stocking it. Aside from the wonderful attribute of being in bloom when almost nothing else is, the tree is also ideal for smaller gardens, since it only gets to about 20-25 feet. I am now sorely tempted to re-evaluate my garden plan.

Tags: Brookside Gardens, cherry blossom festival, deep pink, delicate, fragrant, fuchsia, Japanese Flowering Apricot, magenta, ornamental, Prunus meme, spring, tree, Washington DC, winter

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Categories Gardening, Gardens

Witch Hazel

9 Mar

Until today, I knew next to nothing about Witch Hazel. I had a vague idea it could be found in a bottle at the pharmacy, but thought of it as something from a bygone era, like cod liver oil. Not that it didn’t have its uses –I just wasn’t sure what those uses were….

But an absolutely glorious day propelled me to nearby Brookside Gardens in Wheaton, Maryland to see what might be of interest there. Turns out, there was a great deal of interest, not the least of which was Witch Hazel (Hamamelis). As I came around a bend I noticed a tree (ok, technically a very large shrub) with the most delicate, spidery looking flowers on it. It was striking not only because it was in bloom, but because the flowers were almost ethereal. I bent to read the sign beneath and learned it was a Witch Hazel, something I had not see before. But once I saw that one, I noticed many others, in different colors, all equally stunning. I immediately experienced garden envy. Or perhaps garden regret–there is only so much I can pack into my own small garden, and Witch Hazel will just have to be admired from afar.

Below are a few photos of a remarkable plant, the extract of which helps control blemishes, soothe burns (including sunburns and razor burns) and cuts and bruises, relieve insect bites and itchy poison ivy/poison oak, and relieve tired eyes. Now that I know this, I will certainly get some extract from the pharmacy in the near future, but for now I will feast my eyes on the lovely Witch Hazel flowers and feel glad that I learned something new today.

‘Diane’

‘Orange Peel’

‘Moonlight’

Tags: blooms, Brookside Gardens, bruises, burns, cuts, delicate, Diane, extract, flowers, Hamamelis, insect bites, Moonlight, orange, Orange Peel, razor burn, red, shrub, spidery, sunburn, tree, witch hazel, witchhazel, yellow

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Categories Gardening, Gardens

Ready for Spring

3 Mar

It is cold, windy, and grey here in the Mid-Atlantic United States, and I am ready for color and warmth. Where is spring? In my own yard, there a few small signs: tender shoots emerging from the ground, buds on trees, and increased bird activity. And though nothing has yet bloomed, I was encouraged today when I saw a few promising indicators from around the neighborhood, including a lone daffodil in flower. Here’s hoping my garden will not be too far behind.

Daffodils

Maple Buds

Magnolia Buds

Tags: buds, daffodils, fuzzy, magnolia, maple, red, shoots, spring, tree, trees, yellow

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Categories Gardening

Joseph Banks and the Bottlebrush Tree

10 Feb

During our wanderings around San Diego this past Christmas, we came across many striking trees with bright red, cylindrical flowers that looked like bottle brushes. I was delighted to see them, but they made me feel a bit homesick. Not for Maryland, which has been home for more than a decade now, but for Australia, where we lived for four wonderful years and where these trees are very popular.

They are Crimson Bottlebrushes (Callistemon citrinus)–a shrubby evergreen plant native to Australia that can grow to about 15 feet. It is a plant that loves warm climates with lots of sun, which explains why it is also well suited to Southern California. How it got to the United States, I don’t know, but Joseph Banks, an English naturalist/botanist, introduced it to England in the 18th century. Banks was a member of Captain James Cook’s voyage on the Endeavour (1768-1771), travelling to Madeira, Brazil, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia, and what is now Indonesia. Banks later became an unofficial advisor to King George III on the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, and ships returning to England from far and wide brought back plants for his collections. As a result, Kew Gardens became a pre-eminent botanical garden, introducing many of these plants to the rest of Europe.

As for the bottlebrush, it is greatly admired by humans and hummingbirds alike, as I discovered when walking up to the tree to take a photo. I realized at the very last second that a hummingbird was closing in on the flower I had targeted. Had I had my wits about me, I might have taken a better photo (see last photo below), but time and reflexes were not on my side.

Though I cannot grow bottlebrushes in Maryland, I have at least preserved a small but very fond memory of Australia in these photographs, by way of San Diego.

Tags: Australia, Bottlebrush Tree, California, Callistemon, Callistemon citrinus, crimson, Endeavour, hummingbirds, James Cook, Joseph Banks, Kew, Kew Gardens, red, Royal Botanic Gardens, San Diego

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Categories Gardening

A Not So Bleak Midwinter

7 Feb

Thus far, our winter has been relatively mild, but nonetheless, the garden looks like a shell of its former self: gaps where perennials have died back or where old growth was pruned to make way for new–and all remaining plants a monochromatic brown relieved only by occasional bits of evergreen.

A fleeting snowfall transformed this landscape for a day, accentuating the stark beauty of the plants that have soldiered on. A reminder that there are bright spots even in the depth of winter.

Presenting three “roses”: a frozen Hybrid Tea Rose bud, a sprig of Rosemary, and the dried seed pods of Rose of Sharon.

Tags: buds, Hybrid Tea Rose Double Delight, Rose of Sharon, rosemary, snow, winter

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Categories Gardening

Succulents: Jade Plant

20 Jan

In spy movies or thrillers, you sometimes see the protagonists pull out a cache of passports and decide who they will be that day. They are maestros of multiple identities, but they have nothing on the Jade Plant. The Jade Plant is in the Crassula genus and has many, many names. On the formal side it can be referred to as Crassula Ovata, Crassula Argentea, Crassula Portulacea, or Crasssula Obliqua. They are all synonyms for the same plant, though the last three are older classifications that have not quite cycled out of usage. Crassula Ovata is the correct form of reference. And then there is Crassula Arborescens, which is very similar to (but not the same as) Crassula Ovata–people mix them up all the time.

If all this weren’t enough, the Jade Plant is also commonly known as a Jade Tree, a Money Tree, a Silver Dollar (or just Dollar) Plant, or a Friendship Plant. The Jade Plant has more aliases than Jason Bourne.

So, it is with some trepidation that I offer you two photos of Crassula Ovata taken during our recent trip to California; I think that’s what they are, but tomorrow I could discover they are something else entirely….

Tags: California Red Tip, Crasssula Obliqua, Crassula Arborescens, Crassula Argentea, Crassula Ovata, Crassula Portulacea, Dollar Plant, flowers, Friendship Plant, Jade Plant, Jade Tree, Money Tree, Silver Dollar Plant

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Categories Botany/Horticulture, Gardening

Succulents: Aloe

12 Jan

Upon arriving in San Diego just before Christmas, one of the first things I noticed was a profusion of striking Red Hot Pokers in flower; they were everywhere, or so I thought. Upon closer inspection, I realized they weren’t Red Hot Pokers. Or were they? The dark-orange spires I saw everywhere in San Diego were aloes. And the Red Hot Pokers I know and love (and have in my garden) are kniphofias. Both plants are originally from Africa, and the flowers look remarkably similar. But one is a succulent, and the other is not.

When most people talk about Red Hot Pokers, they mean kniphofias, which feature clumps of grass-like leaves. Aloe plants have thick and frequently spiky foliage; you can snap off a piece of aloe vera and apply the soothing gel to burns. But some people refer to both aloes and kniphofias as Red Hot Pokers. And in fact, the genus Kniphofia is very closely related to the genus Aloe.

Here are three photos of aloes in bloom in San Diego in January, plus an inadvertent (and less than ideal) photo taken this past May in my garden of a Red Hot Poker Flamenco — a kniphofia — next to a Foxglove.

Aloe