As I explained earlier, unusual weather has interfered with the growth and bloom cycles of many species. Winter weather was exceptionally wintry. Spring and summer weather was exceptionally mild until only recently. Many flowers bloom precisely on schedule, as if oblivious to the unusual weather. Many flowers bloom significantly later than normal. Lily of the Nile seems to be about a month late. So does garden phlox, although I do not remember if it bloomed simultaneously with lily of the Nile last year. Nor do I remember when butterfly gladiolus bloomed. Hybrid gladiolus seemed to bloom right on schedule, so are finished.

1. Agapanthus orientalis, lily of the Nile should have been blooming like this more than a month ago, and at least for Independence Day. Some buds are only beginning to open.

2. Agapanthus orientalis, lily of the Nile does not bloom abundantly in the shade, but it blooms grandly. This picture can not show that this one floral truss is about a foot wide.

3. Agapanthus orientalis, lily of the Nile, although genetically variable, had always been exclusively blue within all of the landscapes here. This is the first of three white blooms! I grew the originals in the early 1990s, but needed to relocate their herd a few years ago.

4. Phlox paniculata, garden phlox seems to be even more delayed than lily of the Nile is. I can not be certain though, since I got acquainted with its seasons only a few years ago.

5. Gladiolus X hortulanus, hybrid gladiolus was not so delayed, so bloomed precisely on schedule, and now needs deadheading. I am pleased by how many are reliably perennial.

6. Gladiolus papilio, butterfly gladiolus is Skooter approved, and is from Tangly Cottage Gardening! I do not know if it was delayed, because I am still getting acquainted with it.

This is the link for Six on Saturday, for anyone else who would like to participate: https://thepropagatorblog.wordpress.com/2017/09/18/six-on-saturday-a-participant-guide/

43 thoughts on “Six on Saturday: Better Late Than Never”

    1. Thank you. Although white is my favorite color, I like the blue as much because it is more traditional, and also because the lily of the Nile that I have been growing since junior high school are blue.

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    1. I would expect lily of the Nile to naturally bloom later there because of the cooler weather. I do not know about salvias though, since I have not been watching them. There are so many different species of Salvia though, that there is major potential for different responses to weather, . . . or whatever they respond to.

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    1. Yes, they are one of my favorite perennials now. I had never grown it before Tangly Cottage Gardening sent them to me. I like it because it is a Gladiolus that grows like a wildflower. Well, I also like the simplicity of the bloom. The hybrid Gladiolus are very nice also, and are more appropriate for the public landscape, but they are rather garish.

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    1. Lily of the Nile are naturally riparian, but desert or chaparral species. They are resilient to aridity. However, I can not imagine why humidity would be a problem for them. They know something that we do not. I believe that the Phlox that appeared within our landscape is ‘David’, but I do not know. It grew from seed a few years ago, and has been self sowing itself since then. I do not know how true to type ‘David’ is.

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  6. Such beautiful Agapanthus, Tony. The blue flower makes a beautiful companion to the Hydrangeas. The Phlox look vibrant and ready to go. It is fascinating to realize how many environmental clues control plant growth and flowering.

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    1. I always thought that lily of the Nile looked odd with hydrangea. Lily of the Nile looks like it lives in a marsh. Hydrangea looks like it lives in a forest. They have such different style, although their rounded inflorescences are too similar in form. Well, I am certainly not a landscape designer.

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      1. Tony, Maybe they do look odd if you are standing there looking at them in person. I simply liked the backdrop of Hydrangeas in your photo of the blue Agapanthus. I wonder what Brett would say? Sometimes it is nice to have an echo of color and form from one plant to the next. Just like I can see Agapanthus growing in clumps from within a matrix of Carex or Liriope. There was just enough difference in the shade of blue between the inflorescences to make and interesting contrast within the echo.

        How are your beautyberry shrubs doing? Did they bloom this year?

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      2. Ah! I was just about to tell you that the beautyberries are just beginning to bloom. They are quite tall and floppy, likely because I did not put them into a sunnier situation sooner. I should have planted at least some of them last winter, but it may be better that I did not. The area that they were to go into flooded, and they might have gotten trampled as the water was directed away. Besides, if three had gotten planted, there would be only three left to plant this next winter, and I might want a row of five instead. Of course, I can always grow more now that they are here. They grow faster than expected.
        Brent does not often use lily of the Nile because they are so common in his region, although he does appreciate its resiliency, and has installed quite a few. However, hydrangeas are uncommon there. They do not perform very well. I doubt that he would mind the two of them together. He has certainly done worse, with impressive results. I would prefer the hydrangeas to be pink with blue lily of the Valley, so that they do not look like they are trying to copy each other.

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      3. Our beauty berry shrubs are flopping and blooming here, too. Because they grow so fast once summer sets in, the wood doesn’t get very strong as it grows. Even in brighter light you may find them cascading a bit. Yes, now that you have a few established, you can start as many as you like. Birds really enjoy their fruits.

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      4. So, flopping is normal for them? Most that I see in pictures seem to flop uniformly. I figures that they were growing as understory vegetation. These are flopping also, in a rather haphazard manner. I thought that it was just a response to the partial shade of the saran above.

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      5. The beautyberries will grow in full to part sun. They are understory shrubs, and edge of the woods shrubs. More light gives more flowers and better berries, like with most drupe producing shrubs. You can control the flop with pruning to encourage a denser habit. But left to their own devices, the stems will grow long and are very flexible. As the drupes develop they get a bit heavier, too. I’m going to look for a photo of some beauty berry shrubs that were in the edge of my rock garden at the botanical garden, to show you their appearance in fall. They were in partial sun and had been coppiced the previous winter. These shrubs were more than 5 years old- they do tend to grow more dense each year when uniformly copiced before new growth begins in spring.

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      6. I suspect that these will also eventually get coppiced. That seems to be the most popular technique for pruning them. I happen to like that technique for several species, although not many horticultural professionals approve.

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      8. They should not look too bad if they are not prominently visible. I will coppice them to the ground, and may cover them with oak leaves. That will be in the future though. I will not coppice them this winter.

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      12. Yes, they came through. That is about how I expect them to look next year of the following year. For now, they are still rather lean, although floppy. I have seen them larger in other pictures, but I would prefer to be able to see over them. I so wanted to get them into the ground last winter, but now I am pleased that I did not. They are quite tall and vigorous in their cans, and may go to a completely different garden! Alternatively, two may go to the original landscape, and three may go to the other. I will do nothing with them until winter. Also, (and I probably should not be telling you this) I may get a single copy of a cultivar that makes white berries. If I like it, I can grow more from cuttings.

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      13. Actually, I’ve been looking for one with white berries, too. They are very pretty as well and are still considered a ‘native plant’ in our area. I’m glad the photos came through OK. People don’t always cut back their beautyberry shrubs. In fact, I had several huge ones in my yard when we moved here- and didn’t know what they were and how to care for them, then. The older the shrub, and the larger the root system, the more annual growth you will get on the branches. If you want to control their size in August then you really need to cut them back in February-March. They get quite woody over time if you leave a cane to grow for several years.

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      14. I have no problem coppicing or pollarding. It is very unpopular here, as many who enjoy gardening believe that it will kill the subjects. I do it with spirea, and have found that I could do it with elderberries as well, although I still prefer to alternate canes for them.
        White beautyberries are available from online catalogs. I will not purchase any though until I actually have a plan for it, and may never get one if I do not justify it. I must get these seed grown specimens established first.

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      15. In general, most folks don’t really understand coppicing and pollarding. It looks so extreme. I have old Hydrangea shrubs (more than 20 yrs old) that really need the alternate cane removal, but I don’t make myself do it every spring. It really helps though, and the new growth emerging from the roots is rewarding. Like you, I don’t have a good place for the white beautyberry. If I run across it at a nursery I will be sorely tempted, though. It is sad to tell you this, but I’ve been pruning out volunteer beautyberries this year because there are other things I want to grow in the space

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      16. Oh, I understand. I happen to enjoy the six that you sent to me, but that is because I never encountered them before. They are new and unusual and interesting to me. I felt the same way about the Eastern red cedar when I first met it, even though I know that those who are acquainted with it dislike it.

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      17. Actually, I like Eastern Red Cedar. We cut those for Christmas trees when I was a child. It smells wonderful and it is a great tree for wildlife. Unfortunately, some in our yard have developed Cedar Apple Rust. I have some seedlings coming along in another area that still remain healthy. Mature trees that have been limbed up are especially nice to use for borders between properties, etc. So happy that you are still enjoying the beautyberries. The Garden Club Set enjoy them in our area because they make good accents in fall cut arrangements (leaves removed).

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      18. Three Eastern red cedar are canned out back. I do not know what to do with them yet. They grew from seed, and exhibit obvious genetic variability. I am not concerned, since I will not make a hedge of three of them. I will likely put them into a situation where they can grow wild and assume their natural form, like I saw them in Oklahoma.

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      19. Yes- they look better and stay healthier when given plenty of space to grow and develop. The wood is particularly nice because the fragrance and color make it very appealing. The problem with the ones in my yard that developed CAR was that they were grown too close together originally- long before I came to the garden. I didn’t recognize the problem until it was too late. I’ve left them as ‘fence posts’ for our eco-barrier to try to keep the deer out of the yard.

        I dug some seedlings that I hoped were hemlock, but turned out to be Eastern Red Ceder. They don’t look like much until they are 5-10 years old, at least.

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      20. Old homes in the West are, like homes anywhere else, constructed from materials that were readily available when they were constructed. The old Victorian homes in San Francisco are built from redwood instead of fir, just because redwood was considered to be an inexhaustible resource when San Francisco was rebuilt after the Great Earthquake and Fire. Some of the floors were made of coast live oak, which is a difficult wood to work with, but was likewise available. White oak trim and window sills are actually valley oak (which is technically a type of white oak) for the same reason. Anyway, the cedar closets were made of the (nearby) native incense cedar, Calocedrus decurrens. I had always thought that was the ‘normal’ cedar for such application. I noticed that cedar chests made by Ethan Allan (which were still quite popular back then) had a different aroma and color, with blonde wood mixed with red. (Incense cedar is monochromatically red.) It took me a while to figure out that it is Eastern red cedar, a different species.

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      24. That might be even better, not only because I prefer white, but also because of the less similarly rounded floral trusses. Although some of our lily of the Nile is adjacent to hydrangeas where sunny exposures are adjacent to shaded areas, the two typically inhabit different landscapes. Hydrangeas prefer cool and partially shaded areas. Lily of the Nile prefer sunny and warm exposure.

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      26. Yes, but of course, I prefer the old classic hydrangeas. Some of the modern cultivars look silly. If I want bright red flowers, I can grow roses. Hydrangeas are supposed to be pastel colors.

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  7. The aggies are having a good year here but they do look fabulous with you. I am beginning to be tempted be the white ones. I wonder what colour your phlox will be, and they are so tall. All looking lush, late or not!

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    1. The lily of the Nile is performing very well this year now that it is actually blooming. Those in the picture get more sunlight than they are accustomed to be because the flowering cherries that had partially shaded them are now gone.
      The phlox is clear white, like ‘David’. I have never seen any other color there.

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