Saturday, September 22, 2018

Anne's Exuberant Garden

 It might look like plants have a free-for-all in this garden, but not really.  Yes, there is a lot of self-sowing going on, I'm a little bit envious of how much, but Anne edits them when they show up in unwanted spots.

Hibiscus coccineus


I love the exuberance.  While editing happens, plants are also allowed to seek their own equilibrium.

self-sowing Salvia coccinea


I think even some of the Acorn squash may have self-sown themselves.  How nice!









Cleome, Spider Flower


Helenium amarum (?), Dwarf helenium





Iris domestica, Blackberry Lily



Salvia 'Black & Blue'
This beautiful Salvia usually comes back for Anne.  It's in a fairly protected site in front of her house with lots of sun. 


And she is a seed collector.  Lucky me, I got some poppy seeds.  She has some beautiful colors, though I think the seed heads are quite attractive themselves.



Anne's Asters were just starting to come on when I took these photos about 3 weeks ago.  They are probably glorious now and I'll have to go back for the show as she has quite a collection.

water collection -- can waste the rain! 
Another handsome Helenium

Helianthus tuberosus is a prolific yellow composite and, of course, you can eat the tubers, though I don't really know what to do with them.  Anne says "One of my books says it 'may be difficult to eradicate.'  There's no 'maybe' about it.  After they bloom I yank them out.  I have two -- the wild one and one that grew out of a Jerusalem artichoke from the grocery store.  The difference is in the root.  The grocery store one has nice bulbous roots, like knobbly potatoes, the wild one has thick fleshy roots --like thick fingers--that break off when you yank them."
 

Yes, the plants are even allowed the cracks in the driveway.  The tall plant (below) is an Artemisia, which to me smells like Santolina.  The appealing, pungent aroma is released each time Anne backs out of the driveway and over the plant.   Now that's  a tough plant and a gardener who knows how to appreciate them!


3 comments:

  1. Beautiful and romantic! Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Sarah, very charming. You need to tell us where in the world this is... :)

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  3. Good point, John. She's an Arlingtonian. At one point I had left part of her license plate in last image, that would have at least clued you into Virginia.

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