Did you ever stumble upon a plant for one reason or another and add it to the garden only to realize later what a gem you actually have?  Well ,that is precisely how I feel about the plant in today’s profile; monarda bradburiana , also called  Bradbury’s monarda., or Eastern bee-balm.

I have many bee balms planted her in the garden. They are great for pollinators and I dig the flowers. Many of them, though, can get scraggly after bloom and a few are prone to powdery mildew on their leaves. Some can also be quite aggressive and can take over  smothering and out competing other plants I count on them as bee food and  sometimes for arrangements but  I consider none of them to be good foliage plants and am careful where I plant them.

A couple of years ago I was placing an order from Prairie Moon, a native plant nursery that sells plug plants i by the tray in the spring for a relatively  cheap price. After  adding what I wanted to my plug list I was in need of a few more selections to round the number out to fill a tray and . I figured adding another bee balm here would be alright , so into the virtual cart went some plugs of Bradbury’s monarda.I planted them in random places throughout the gardens to see how they played with others and what they brought to the table.

The answer is …a lot!  They grew well in both the sunnier and shadier locations I picked and did not need any extra water or soil amendments. This monarda is the  earliest of all to bloom, and although it is no great stunner in the flower department, they are bee magnets.  As the season progressed I left the seedheads which were kind of cool for a while, then deadheaded it and forgot about it.

The other bee balms came into bloom in succession, then they did the scraggly leggy thing they are prone to here, and the ones who typically get mildew did, and  many got cut back to the ground to hopefully throw out new clean foliage.

A few weeks ago when transplanting some stuff, I realized that the Bradbury’s monarda foliage that happened to be next to the shrub I was moving was still beautiful and was actually taking on a reddish hue as a bonus. I checked out the other locations , and across the board every plant had clean beautiful bushy foliage that was coloring up for Fall. Without haste i dug the ones in more hidden areas up, divided them, and replanted them to edge several beds. They make a beautiful ground cover and the late color change is a big plus. As a clump former , opposed to a runner like others , I am not worried about competition and actually hope they increase in size enough to give away a few and add some to other borders here.

This also serves as a reminder that sometimes”improvement” through cultivation in plants is not always needed. or desired. Many of my  bee balms that were bred for a certain color flower, or longer bloom time , or shorter height don’t even come close to the beauty of this unchanged native. That may not always be the case and I LOVE that plant breeders are continually working to provide us with interesting  and disease resistant  plants that fill our garden needs, but in this case what Mother Nature gave us really can’y be improved upon.

Bradbury’s monarda will grow 1- 2 ft tall in a bushy mounded form , and is hardy in zones 4-8. Bloom time is May, and September with its cooler nights will bring on the color change in the leaves.

as we stretch onto yet another October, I  find it a good exercise to head out and see what is holding court in the garden and make note of it so I can tweak spaces if necessary for next year.

This year was a little unusual in that it was so dry for so long that some of my September stars are actually fashionably late to the party and will now, if the first hard frost holds off,  take the stage this month.

Roses and clematis are two divas that held off, and now there are many in full bud and bloom, and curiously some stalwarts that never quit in most years are sleepy this one.

except the Sweet Autumn which is so loud with the buzzing of bees I steer pretty clear

The Drift roses are all popping into flower as is ‘All the Rage’ . Seafoam has been carrying on since late August  and the red Knockouts are sporadically showing off.

On the other hand,  ‘The Fairy’ , a polyantha which almost always blooms without rest has been all leaves since July, as have the red un-named climber and the white ‘Magic Carpet’

Similarly, most of the September re-blooming clematis were no shows, and now Pope John Paul II is in full bud again.

Th annual vines can be counted on to brighten the place up until frost.

Black eyed susan vine

Morning glories and still in vigorous growth and flower

the delicate cypress vine looks so sweet growing into a birdcage

and the perennial  Major Wheeler honeysuckle typically blooms until December

the moonflower/ cobea scandens/ sweet pea  combination in front of the garage has been a favorite of mine all season long with the monnflowers being the dramatic scene stealers currently.

Of course it is time for the late chrysanthemums

Red Daisy will soon open  

the montauk daisy or nipponanthemum nipponicum, has been here for years and never bloomed well at all, but this year it looks fantastic.

Matchstick is  a very cool mum, called a spoon type because of the shape on the edge of the petals 

and Mellow Moon has been going on for some time now with no signs of stopping

many more including the very late Sheffield and Copper Penny mums are in full bud waiting in the wings to carry the show late into the year.

Also bringing loads of color and interest to the stage are the berries and rose hips.

the beautyberry ,callicarpa dichotoma ‘Early Amethyst’  is a standout for late season interest

the two snowberries, symphoricarpos albus , and.s. doorenbosii ‘Amethyst’ get many inquiries , they should be planted more given their tough as nails constitution, bee friendly flowers and unusual berries

rarely do the berries on the  cranberry bush viburnum hang around for too long, the birds scoop them right up

the deciduous hollies are all  decked out

ilex verticillata ‘Winter Gold’

‘Berry Heavy’

and I think this one is ‘Sparkleberry’

the rose hips of Rosa glauca never fail to disappoint . hard to believe they are the result of flowers that bloomed so long ago in early June

the  hips on all the rosa rugosas tend to get taken by birds almost immediately so they don’t get to add much to the Fall show.

There are a few other perennials and shrubs rounding  out the cast of characters keeping it real here……..

I add gallardia , or blanket flower into just about any bed I can fit a few in. It is exceptionally long blooming, easy to grow , and I love the bright color play off the late season purples and blues of the asters and gentians. I have had bad  luck with some of the newer introductions like ‘Oranges and Lemons’ or ‘ Fanfare’, overwintering  , and ‘Mesa Yellow is not a very  vigorous  grower here, although the dwarf ‘Goblin has performed well .

because I cut back my garden phlox randomly right up until the 4th of July they will continue to bloom until frost. ‘David’ is the white, ;Nora Leigh’ the bi-color .

something about the weather has caused the hydrangea paniculatas to take on a very dark color as they fade and the various tall sedums , too , are turning  deep russett red  which looks fantastic

the peony foliage is turning into it’s dramatic fall colors

chocolate Joe Pye Weed fills in nicely in back of the annuals

geranium ‘Rozanne’  , verbena ‘Annie” and hydrangea ‘Twist and Shout’  all just never seems to stop

the foliage on the hydrangea serrata cultivars  is always a show stopper..

and the best part for me of this years late garden are the asters.  As I have  complained  about before , rabbits think of asters as crack around here, Plant them and they WILL get eaten to the ground. The only exception thus far has been this very bushy light purple variety that was a gift division from a friend with no name attached . I have been trying to name it all summer, ( am currently reading the book “Asters” by Paul and Helen Picton) and have a few guesses. I started and will continue to divide it so I will have a few in each Fall border hopefullywith in a few years.

This teeny eeny sprig of bright pink  Aster  somehow got overlooked by the evil critters. I must go through the HUGE ziploc bag of plant labels from  those who have gone to meet their maker  and figure out it’s name.

the blue woods aster is grown here in containers for safety , where it overwinters just fine

This year i added Aster lateriflorus  ‘Lady in Black’ as an experiment. It has dark burgundy leaves, which usually get left alone by the bunnies, and so far, so good. It was planted in  very early spring and is now a large, beautiful bee buzzing plant.

Of course many annuals are still part of the show. Cosmos ,

petunias

the new to me this year Daucus carrota

nasturtiums

zinnias

celosias

the amazingly tall and odd looking leonitis leonurus

and it wouldn’t be me if there wasn’t whining so….here goes

WORST YEAR FOR DAHLIAS………EVER!

out of the 10 new varieties I added and the several I overwintered, I have ONE that has been blooming steadily called Ted’s Choice, three  that bloomed sporadically  like this one which is Enchantress , and the rest have yet t do a blessed thing.

Good thing there are other things to look at!

this is probably the second busiest time of year for me in the garden. To keep it looking fresh requires lots of cutting back and dead heading, this year in particular has required triage watering on a daily basis as it has been so dry,  and there is perennial dividing and planting, bulb planting, indoor bulb ordering  and usualy a big project on the baord too. That leaves little time for other pursuits, but I have still been managing to throw together some arrangements form the garden and snap some quick photos .

here a simple pitcher with a few late upright sedums( I may have posted before?)

this next one is a favorite , it is one large hydrangea bloom ( faded), persian shield stobilanthes dyerianus, verbena bonairiensis , and a twig of snowberry symphoricarpos . Simple and just my style. Both the Persian shield and hydrangea will last a very long time in a vase, the Persian shield often grows roots and can be potted up to overwinter indoors. The snowberry is a crap shoot, sometimes they last forever , sometimes they brown up quick. I always pick off any that are showing signs of rotting to prevent it spreading and this twig has held up already well over week in water.

The last  one is a red /dark pink color study. I was so excited to do a red filled vase and was going to make it a loose blousy affair with lots of stems of daucus carrota which is a carrot relative I FINALLY got seed for , but when I went out to pick them the GD rabbits had eaten the plant  to the ground. I sulked for the rest of the day, but put together this little vase anyway to cheer me up. It has a coleus, a very large dahlia, purple fountain grass, a single zinnia,   the burnished leaves of a mountain hydrangea, celosia, sedum ,and the foliage of Red Shield Hibiscus, another newbie to me for cutting.  The hibiscus was slow to get going, and now has enough foliage that I don’t mind cutting, what I did notice though was that the older and bigger leaves wilt promptly when cut ,and so far despite all my tricks I have yet to figure out how to re-hydrate them. the smaller leaves are just fine .It is a cool plant I may grow again.

As to the reddish carrot flowers I adore, luckily I had sown seed in a container of other annuals and I have some about to bloom there. The container got lifted up onto a pedestal and out of reach of the mangy marauders for further insurance. As soon as I see flowers I will try again.

Those of you who grow any clematis plants know that their seed heads are distinctly interesting. Freaky, even. Depending on the variety they can be tiny little stars or very large and alien looking sructures.  Those of the weedier species look like old men’s beards , a common name given to clematis virginiana because of the likeness. I wandered around a few days ago to take some photos of a few of those that are currently on vines in the garden. Top to bottom they are c. alba luxurians, c.hexapetala, c.texensis ‘gravetye Beauty’, c. Etoille Violette’, Gravetye Beauty again, c.’Pope John Paul II’, c ‘Pagoda’, c. ‘Polish Spirit’ and c. tanquitica ‘Bill McKenzie’

While  taking the pictures, I remembered that I had seen a photo in an English Gardening magazine in which the seed heads had been made in to a wreath and I promptly decided to make myself one!

I started by collecting a whole bowl full of seed heads from outside making sure to cut a long enough stem on each so it could stay in the wreath without any glue,

Next step:  I took a wire wreath form  and covered it with chicken wire ( ps wear gloves doing this part because OUCH!)

Next step: Moss was wired over  the the form  and then all it took was gently inserting the seed heads in through the moss into the wire and VIOLIA! done. 

It really is very sweet and is now hanging on the mantel. Over the next week or two the seed heads will “fuzz up ” which is something they would do on the vines, but much much later in the season. Once cut , they start to fuzz faster. Then the whole thing will look much different, but still really cool. 

it really was a lovely weekend here with lots of visitors from ll over, thanks to all who came . I hope you enjoyed  it as much as I did!

Depending on the day and how the stars are aligning the plant in today’s profile can be known as  Chrysanthemum pacificum  or Ajania pacificum , and if you are unsure which is correct you can always use it’s  common name,  Silver and Gold Chrysanthemum. Call it what you want, it is a worthy addition to the late season garden. It was brought to us gardeners here in the states very recently after being seen by National Arboretum staff in a nursery in Japan ( where it is indigenous) . I have seen  news articles from the  1980’s  that  predicted this wonder of a plant would be the” next big thing”  when in was first introduced  given its delicate yet striking silver edged foliage, its graceful form , ease of growth and propagation, and bonus little button yellow flowers in late ( and I mean LATE) Fall, yet as far as I can see that has yet to happen. It should though, and if you see this plant, which has been known to grace the shelves of Lowes as well as the catalog pages of sophisticated nurseries, you absolutely must purchase it and add it to your little piece of heaven. ( this photo taken off wikipedia )

Silver and gold chrysanthemum’s  foliage is so unusual  and will pair well with many other plants, and honestly you could grow this for the leaves alone.  In the spring, which is when this plant can be moved and planted most successfully,  I am going to pair one up with an earlier blooming cream or white chrysanthemum, maybe ‘Mellow Moon’  ( seen below) to really bring out the silver edge. It would also work with shasta diasies  or even the annual tiger paw asters. On second thought, maybe I will move a few 😉

Right now it is loving life on the very edge of the rock garden where it does get a significant amount of  sun and most importantly good drainage. Like many of it’s family members it despises wet feet and will not make a winter if it is in placed in a location that stays waterlogged after snow melt. Other than that is it easy to grow, taking or hazy hot and humid summers in stride without ever looking bedraggled , and pretty drought tolerant to boot. You may have to look a bit if you want to purchase plant , given that the predicted popularity never happened many catalogs discontinued carrying it and finding anything at local stores and nurseries is always unpredictable at best. You can get it at  Lazy s Farms online  and they have a newer introduction called ‘Pink Ice’ available too.