My Summer Garden-2019

Blogging was not a priority during the summer for a very clear reason - gardening!
Fall is also busy, but at least I can choose some pictures of my summer garden, in chronological order.

 Poppies are my love.

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Isn’t It A Bit Early?

Winter shall come. We know that. It shall come after fall. It shall come when the trees are naked, leaves are on the ground, flowers are in dry bouquets or in a compost pile. We don’t remember a freeze and snow to happen before Thanksgiving. Leaves were still on many trees and vines, and flowers were still blooming. The first snow, November 21st, was very light and fluffy.

Nasturtium, Nicotiana and Begonia finally realized that their time has gone.

Foxglove’s secondary blooms haven’t opened all of their buds yet. It could have been the first foxglove blooming in December, but not now.

Then, heavier snow fell, and unusually low temperatures for November changed things drastically.

Isn’t Fatsia supposed to have shiny black berries after its blooms are finished?

Wasn’t I just recently bragging about its fabulous blooms here: Fabulous Fatsia Flowers

Don’t Hardy Fuchsias in my garden usually carry their blooms into December ?

I used to have pictures of calendula flowers under the snow, but not those of dahlia and mums.

The worst were the winds. They broke huge firs’ limbs, up to 10 feet in length, shook zillions of cones and dry needles onto the ground and turned the yard into a mess. But I don’t complain. How can I be angry with the winds? How can I blame the cold and snow? They are part of winter, and winter is part of life. I can be a bit unhappy with myself for bringing some plants into the garage too late . But, I will try not to worry.

I’d rather prepare flashlights and candles in case we lose power. We already had our first warning. Good thing that I remember how to make coffee when the coffeemaker is dead. You need to have gas, water, Ibrik and coffee, of course!

I wish you a warm, cozy and enjoyable Thanksgiving!

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Copyright 2010 TatyanaS

Fabulous Fatsia Flowers

This is one of my three Fatsia japonica (Japanese Aralia, Aralia sieboldii) plants.

You can see an emerging umbel in the right side of the above picture.

Here, it starts opening, showing creamy-white flowers.

Sometimes, they call Aralia glossy-leaved paper plant, false castor oil plant or fig-leaf palm .

The blooms remind me of snowflakes and dandelion heads at the same time.

The pictures were taken in October and November 2010.

I showed all three aralia plants in my garden here: Aralia Blooming.

Japanese Aralia is an evergreen spreading shrub growing 5-12 feet tall, with thick, sparsely branched stems. The dark green leaves are spirally-arranged, large, leathery, with 7-11 broad lobes, toothed. The flowers are small, creamy white, borne in branching, long-stalked compound umbels in autumn or early winter, followed by small black fruit. Zones 8-10.

Soil: fertile, humus-rich, moist, well-drained.

Location: sun or light, dappled shade with shelter from cold, drying winds. Variegated cultivars need partial shade.

Beautiful plant!

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Copyright 2010 TatyanaS

Aralia blooming

Click on the pictures to enlarge them

Aralia (Fatsia japonica) is one of my favorite plants.

I have three of them. They are planted in different parts of my garden. Which one grows the best?The first one grows in a shady place near the house.

It gets some sheltered morning sun and is protected from the wind by tall firs and the row of arborvitae.
Here it is, on the pictures above and below.

The second plant grows in front of the house and gets a lot of morning sun. Although it's standing not far from the wall, it is open to the winds.

The third plant is located on the border close to the fir trees. It also gets some morning sun. The worst is that its roots have to compete with conifers' roots for space, nutrients and water.
Did you guess which plant is the happiest? If you think the first one, you are right. It's the biggest and the most bushy of all of them. Its leathery leaves are huge and glossy.

It blooms every year profusily in late summer and fall.

The plant in front of the house has plenty of space, moisture and nutrients. Last year, it was the same size as the aralia under the conifers.

Notice the roof above the plant #2!

Wind never caused any damage to it.
Nevertheless, it suffered the most during the last winter' snow storms. Suffered from what? The danger came from above. It got blasted by heavy snow that accumulated on the roof and slid down when the days got warmer.

This is how it looked last spring:

Ouch! Poor plant! But wait! Although being badly damaged, it proved to be a survivor.
It fully recovered and looked good last summer.

Aralia blooms are beautiful.

Small creamy white flowers create compound umbels 12 inches (30 sm) or more across. They remind me of snowflakes:

I love Aralia for its tropical look, architectural habit and late display of flowers. They say it's susceptible to fungal and bacterial leaf spots, mealybugs, scale insects, spider mites and whiteflies. Luckily, my plants have been healthy and free from these problems so far.
It's recommended to grow Aralia in fertile, well-drained soil in full sun or light, dappled shade and to shelter it from cold, drying winds.
I wouldn't say that my plants grow in very fertile soil, but the best performer, plant #1, has dappled shade and is better protected from winds than two other plants.
Originated in Eastern Asia, Aralia does well in the Pacific Northwest. I can not grow many tropicals here. That is why I value Aralia for giving me a tropical look and being hardy.

Aralia can be grown as a house plant. I used to have an attractive Variegated Aralia "Spider Web" - a rare form with variable speckled and splashed variegation on large glossy leaves.

We bought it during one of the NW flower and garden shows. I made a mistake and set it outside in a shade while we went on a trip. I thought it would be safer since a teenage girl was supposed to look after my plants. Well, she did. But, she badly overwatered it, and it died.

To end this post on a positive note, this is one more picture of Aralia's bloom:

***Copyright 2009 TatyanaS

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