Stunning Combinations

Much of what happens in our gardens is a matter of luck rather than careful planning.  In this case the unplanned combination of White Phlox and Cardinal Flower must be remembered and repeated.  That both flower at the same time is what makes this special.  There is a self planted small phlox that is easily movable and we must give some thought to its next location.  It will be surrounded by Cardinal Flower plants.

Phlox come with some drawbacks.  Deer are terribly fond of eating them.  The plant in the picture is encased year round inside a wire cage.  Deer trimming does not drop below the top of the cage so the white flowers are lower than they would be if the plant remained unmolested.  As it is the height of the red and white flowers are very nearly the same.  That could be seen as a plus.

Left alone, Cardinal Flower places all of its blossoms on a single stalk.  Early pruning will result in a shorter but more numerous flower set.  That action totally destroys the natural appearance of this native plant but so does placing it in a garden.  We shall see what changes appear next year.

Anything looks good near a dry stone wall.  Clara Curtis Chrysanthemums grow here like dandelions so this picture seems like cheating.  Still this accidental staging will be repeated again and again.

Here is a bit of a puzzle.  Cardinal Flower presents a low rosette of leaves each spring.  As the flowering stalk grows the leaves near the ground disappear.  They may grow on the climbing stalk but the end result is that the ground at the base of the stem is bare.  This may be a plant from seed sending up flowers in its first year.  Likely the stems should have been snipped off to encourage the growth of a healthy rosette.  I cannot see myself doing that at this stage of the game.  The others are ending their flower production while this plant is just starting.  This plant is on the inside of the stone wall opening shown in the mum photo.  With this written reference, we may remember both the plant and its location next spring.

Seasonal Shift

Last night the temperature dropped into the low 40s.  At a different time of the year the decision to cover tender plants or take a chance would have been made.  August frost is not unheard of here but it certainly is rare.  An extra early wake up found the air filled with moist fog.

New England asters fill the roadside ditches and grow freely in other waste places.  A purple flower catches my attention every time so we have this native growing in far too many locations in our planting beds.  Roadside locations show this plant flowering on short stems following highway crew's mowing.  Here the deer rough prune as they walk our garden paths.  The plant's response is to produce more flowers on shortened stems.  We have yet found the time to prune and the beautiful flowers appear at the top of tall stems.  Lower the stem is covered with dead dark leaves.  With care these plants would make excellent garden subjects.

My Great grandfather introduced me to both chrysanthemums and the notion that real men could grow flowers.  Our cold location makes mums usually an annual plant here.  These Mammoth Pinks may be an exception.  Out in the garden they frequently winter kill.  These located right in front of the south facing house wall have expanded after two years in this spot.
 

Nursery men find our native asters irresistible.  From them they have created an aggressive plant named October Skies that grows rather close to the ground while maintaining the wild form of the flower.  No pruning is needed here but a large space will be filled by this plant.  Our original scrap of a mail order plant has given us two divisions and it still closes off the path opening in the stone wall.

Clara Curtis is truly hardy here.  It winters over with ease and has taken over large areas of whatever planting bed where we placed it.  Its appearance would benefit from some timely pruning and thinning.  We do manage to weed out occasional intrusions toward other treasured plants but have so far resisted the pull to sell plants.

This resembles a weedy jumble but it actually contains treasure.  This Pinxter bush has formed seed pods.  Checked daily, we plan to harvest some seed at exactly the right moment and again attempt to raise some of these plants from seed.  Our first attempt at this failed but this time we will place a screen barrier to keep out garden rodents.  This native plant grows best in moist locations that would also support the natural growth of Cardinal Flower.  We may have the perfect spot for these two plants to grow together.  All we need now is to get the seeds to sprout.