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Showing posts with label water irises. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water irises. Show all posts

Monday, May 21, 2012

Bright sun, too bright

Too bright ... for good photos, that is ...

I just can't seem to get to the garden at the right time, so here it is in mid-day golden sunlight, which washes out all detail and most color differentiation. But you can see the flow.


The red Japanese cutleaf maple in the corner above forms a sequence with a large community of Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker' midway out, then another large swath of lysimachia on the far side (not visible here). It's occurred to me I can use the rhythm created by these red dots of color as "gravitational cores" around which I can develop extensive plantings of water irises (Sibirica, Virginica, Versicolor, Ensata) for more color early in the season.


They'll draw the eye to the less easily seen detail. I already have quite a few irises; you can just make out some in photos above and below. A broader distribution in small groupings and individually, with the lysimachia masses to draw attention to them, would be a pleasing addition at this time of year. Siberian irises will work particularly well because their saturated colors have much better definition against the complexity of plant forms, as you can see below. (These four plants have grown quite large and divided into thirds would easily make a dozen ... a good start on iris expansion.)


In contrast, the Iris virginica below looks washed out (the color is pretty to the eye, but disappears when photographed).



The lysimachia communities also serve as reference points, enabling a viewer to better judge relative distance and scale, particularly now when the garden is harder to read, with low, relatively uniform plant height.



Textures and forms can be easily differentiated only up close ... here, Carex muskingumensis with highly reflective leaves of Darmera peltata, and the flatter, matt surface of Petasites visible in the background.


You can just make out the third lysimachia community beyond the chairs.


A sunset shot, when the light is much better, taken with my phone camera. Sometimes fuzzy is good, even looking directly into the sun.


Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Iris time

A couple of weekends back, the irises were in bloom. They're a fleeting presence, but the foliage will continue giving into the fall. My first Angelica gigas appears to be thriving, even after a winter of wet and stressful freeze and thaw, and the Persicaria bistorta 'Superbum' is spreading (which I want). We didn't get out to the garden last weekend, so I'm wondering what we'll find this week.

It goes without saying, all these plants are keepers in wet clay.






Saturday, November 03, 2007

Garden Diary: Slow Gardening

This garden is slow to take shape. I have to compare photos from 2006 and 2007 to realize the progress. The first photo from late June last year shows a rather desolate area, with the spot where I burned debris from tree felling clearly visible at back.



This year, with a deer fence up, another year's growth, and another long season of planting, the picture is dramatically different.



Closer views show the plant matrix clearly emerging and, for the first time, giving a substantial show of texture and color. (Click on the photo above to see the detail.) The Joe Pye Weed, Rudbeckia maxima, water irises, and Lysimachia ciliata 'Firecracker' have come through two seasons with great tenacity in this difficult environment...




while the monardas (Blaustrumpf and Jacob Cline) and Liatris pycnostachya are new and only next spring will tell how they survive or thrive.



Think of the garden as the bottom of a bowl, with surrounding dark forest - a darkness that seems to "swallow" color. Brightness is needed to stand out against the dark trees, and the monarda do that well, especially the red Jacob Cline.



Even better for contrast against the dark are Rudbeckia maxima, with bright yellow blossoms on 6-foot stalks. And their large glaucous blue leaves are a plus. I added 14 more this fall. If the Silphium terebinthinaceum, planted as plugs 18 months ago, flower next year, they should add to the mid-summer brightness.



The lysimachia 'Firecracker' thrives, and I believe can outcompete the most aggressive weeds (not the rushes!) so I plan to add a substantial new planting next spring.



Here it contrasts with rudbeckia stems in the foreground and various panicums further back. All of this in heavy clay, wet for 10 months out of the year.

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