It’s been quite a floral extravaganza this spring in the dryland garden sections. Here are the latest of our flowering barrel cactus that have bloomed recently at JLBG. All of our cactus are growing outside without any winter protection in our zone 7b garden. The key for most is simply good soil drainage.
Flowering now in the rock garden is the European native, Anthyllis coccinea…aka: red kidney vetch. This small rock garden legume (Fabaceae) is still in its first full year in the ground, having been planted last June…so far, so good.
In flower now in our parking lot beds is our amazing 2005 introduction, Gladiolus ‘Halloweenie’…a fall-flowering, seasonally colored selection that we just adore.
Salvia regla ‘Jame’ (pronounced Haam-hey) is looking so wonderful this time of year. This amazing North American native (US/Mexico) was originally shared back in 2000, by the late Salvia guru, Rich Dufresne. It has adorned our gardens every year since with these amazing fall shows. Hardiness is Zone 7b and warmer.
Try as we might, we have been epic failures trying to grow the showy southwest native Zauschneria (now epilobium) in our garden, due to the combination of high humidity and torrential summer rainfalls. No matter where we tried them in the rock garden, they quickly expired. That was in the years BC…before crevice. Here is our plant of Zauschneria canum var. arizonica ‘Sky Island Orange’, a David Salman selection, planted in early 2018 and still thriving in our urbanite crevice garden. Not bad for a plant that doesn’t grow here.
Early fall is peak ginger lily season, and Hedychium ‘Anne Bishop’ is looking particularly stunning this week. This amazing cultivar always ranks near the very top of our favorites list.
Here’s our reference stock blocks of zephyranthes (rain lilies). Within 3-4 days after a rain, the beds are ablaze with what the late rain lily breeder, Fadjar Marta, called a floral blitz. We concur.
Our patch of Aloe cooperi has been beautiful in flower this summer, but every time I see it, my mind automatically associates it with rocker, Alice Cooper. I guess he made quite an impression on me as a child. Aloe cooperi is the hardiest of the aloes, first cousin to the better known Aloe vera. Aloe cooperi has been fine here in Zone 7b for decades, but we doubt it would be winter hardy much further north.
The NC native Polygala aurea is putting on quite a show in the bog garden here at JLBG. There are few plants, native or otherwise, with such brilliantly screaming orange flowers. Perhaps we need to see if we can propagate this since we never see it offered for sale.
We cannot think of any plant that draws more hummingbirds than the hardy upright sinningias. Most of these are Sinningia selovii hybrids that come in a range of colors from yellow to orange to red. We have them ringing our full sun patio, which results in a non-stop show of hummingbirds.
What a stunning addition to the fall garden! Cuphea micropetala creates a show-stopping display with thousands of bicolor yellow and orange flowers atop a 3′ x 3′ clump. Cuphea, also known as Mexican giant cigar plant, is deciduous and may be slow to emerge in the spring in colder climates, but has been reliably hardy for us to 8 degrees F.
Cuphea micropetala with striking yellow and orange bicolor flowers
Cuphea micropetala in the garden today
Cuphea micropetala for sale