Sunday Best – Premature Pigsqueak
Sunday Best – English Daisy
Six on Saturday: Common Color
As bloom of most other plants decelerates for late autumn and winter, the floral color of common annuals becomes more prominent in the landscapes at work.
1. Viola X wittrockiana, viola blooms with smaller but more profuse flowers than pansy. I am not certain if they are the same species. Also, most of the flowers face one direction.
2. Viola X wittrockiana, pansy blooms with bigger but less profuse flowers which mostly face random directions. We got only two six packs to add to other flowers in a small bed.
3. Viola X wittrockiana, pansy is redundant to the picture above, but is a different color. The plants are so dinky that they are scarcely visible behind their relatively wide flowers.
4. Bellis perennis, English daisy ranges in color from this rosy red to white like the color scheme of candy canes. I am fond of it because it is not so overly bred like other annuals.
5. Cyclamen persicum, florist’s or Persian cyclamen is cheapened as an annual. I used to grow mine as cool season perennials. I also grew colors other than simple red and white.
6. Rhody was unconcerned with these common annuals as he surveyed his domain early last Monday, while I burned forest green waste. He is not overly horticulturally oriented.
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/
Sunday Best – Algerian Iris
Six on Saturday: Cooling Weather
It is looking a bit more like autumn as a few more species respond to cooling weather by discoloring or deteriorating before defoliation.
1. Hosta plantaginea, hosta is really looking shabby now. Actually though, it never really looked all that good. The difference is that this shabbiness is because of cooling weather.
2. Plectranthus scutellarioides, coleus, which looked so splendid for Six on Saturday two weeks ago, is beginning to succumb to cooling weather, as is typical for this time of year.
3. Acer palmatum, Japanese maple, which was still green for Six on Saturday two weeks ago, is now beginning to yellow in response to cooling weather, as it should for autumn.
4. Acer palmatum ‘Bloodgood’ Japanese maple was already bronzy red, but is beginning to turn a bit brighter red because of the cooling weather. Its color may linger for a while.
5. Metasequoia glyptostroboides, dawn redwood is likewise beginning to yellow because of cooling weather. It eventually turns brown while all the other redwoods remain green.
6. Rosa, carpet rose is the only one of these six that is not responding to cooling weather as it produces a few rose hips. I did not expect this. Rose hips are rare in our landscapes.
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/
Sunday Best – Perfect Mushroom
Six on Saturday: More Late Bloom
Flowers are starting to succumb to cool and rainy weather. So, it is beginning to look like autumn here. Summer is truly over.
1. Pelargonium X hortorum, zonal geranium is finally starting to look somewhat shabby after the recent rains, although several others continue to bloom as if nothing happened.
2. Rosa spp. ‘Iceberg’ rose is probably the last rose to bloom for the season. A few young floral buds are molding before they bloom. The roses get pruned before New Year’s Day.
3. Tagetes patula, French marigold is more seasonable. It is expected to bloom through autumn, and could continue until replacement with warm season annuals during spring.
4. Abutilon X hybridum, flowering maple does not seem to know when to stop blooming for autumn. Its bloom should probably decelerate now that the weather is getting cooler.
5. Rhododendron spp., azalea is even more confused than the ‘Duc de Rohan’ azalea that bloomed not so long ago. It is blooming more abundantly and even later, or not so early.
6. Rhody curls up somewhat tighter while the weather is cool. His fur should get fuzzier, but does not seem to be doing so. He insists on coming to work with me, out in the cold.
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/
Sunday Best – Camellia sasanqua
Six on Saturday: Autumn Or Not?
Some vegetation is responding to cooler autumn weather as it should while some refuses to concede. Autumn foliar color is not so spectacular this season.
1. Canna musifolia, canna foliage is beginning to discolor in response to cooling autumn weather. I will groom such foliage out through the season until there is nothing left of it.
2. Plectranthus scutellarioides, coleus is not so easily convinced that it really is autumn. It is as vigorous now as it was for summer. I suspect that it will not last for long like this.
3. Cornus florida, flowering dogwood is already defoliated, and it did so quickly without much color. Others were somewhat more colorful, and were retaining their color better.
4. Acer palmatum, Japanese maple, like coleus, is not convinced that it really is autumn. This particular specimen is as green as it was for summer. Others are beginning to color.
5. Strelitzia nicolai, giant bird of Paradise supposedly blooms randomly. However, ours prefers to bloom through summer and finish about now, so is actually right on schedule.
6. Impatiens hawkeri, New Guinea impatiens, like coleus and Japanese maple, is not yet convinced that it is autumn. It will likely succumb to autumn chill when the coleus does.
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/
Sunday Best – Angel’s Trumpet II
Tony Tomeo 