The Plants from the Fling

During the Fling or the garden bloggers gathering of June 22 to 25, daily bus rides delivered us to 16 stops. The largest collection of gardens on our agenda were those on the National Mall. For this we were allotted a 3 hour window to walk in and out of gardens and museums. I stuck to the gardens, discovering Echinacea laevigata at the United States Botanic Gardens and had to pause as it certainly looked like Echinacea pallida. 

This coneflower is rare and has been so ever since it was first discovered. So rare is this particular species that it's listed as federally endangered in all 4 states that it grows, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. It spreads by rhizomes, which makes it the odd one in the world of coneflowers. 

As the group toured, traveling to gardens north and south, it became evident to me that echinacea was the common denominator in all but one of the sunny gardens we toured. Not just Echinacea purpurea and its hybrids but also Echinacea tennesseensis, which was listed as federally endangered until September of 2011. 

From Echinacea 'Tiki Torch' at Brookside Gardens to great drifts in the garden of Ed and Pat Peters of Hamilton, Virginia, where this entire site was designed by John Magee of John Magee Design and all of his garden installations are designed with native plants. 

There were other native plants coming into flower, monarda or bee balm was splendid in this mix at the Botanic Gardens:

or these random views in the public gardens of Meadowlark Botanical Gardens and Brookside Gardens:

If native plants weren't enough, there were plenty of exotics, mostly tropical exotics, and many on the National Mall, particularly in the gardens maintained by Janet Draper; the Mary Livingston Ripley Gardens. 

Here is the most marvelous Dutchman's pipe from Peru, Aristilochia peruviana.

Aristilochia are the food source for the pipevine swallowtail larvae.

Although there is one Dutchman's pipe that is poisonous to the pipevine swallowtail, Aristilochia gigantea from Brazil (the flowers are 8" across). Employees at the Mary Livingston Ripley Gardens move the caterpillars to safer species.

I swooned when I saw Stropanthus prussia, a plant that is very special to me as I used to grow it in my tropical greenhouse.

And of course there were orchids, like this stunning Brassia Rex 'Sakata' in the greenhouse at Hillwood;

If you think about it, the 4 day event was like traveling around the world in plants. And I was ready to go for 4 more days!

 

Comments

[Gail]

Love this post and the flowers of Fling. I declare that Coneflowers~all the Echinacea species and cultivars are the Fling2017 signature plant! Thank you for the info on the Echinacea laevigata, I thought it was E pallida.

[Helen at Toronto Gardens]

Lovely photos and good commentary, Karen. It was good to chat with you in our (drippy) back seat at the Fling.

[Karen Rexrode]

Gail - I would have passed right by and not given that echinacea another thought, but low and behold, I learned something new.
Helen, I had forgotten all about that drip!

[Pam/Digging]

Such beautiful photos, and I love all the coneflowers!

[Karen Rexrode]

Pam, There were repetitive rudbeckia's and stokesia, but in my opinion the echinacea's ruled!

[Lisa at Greenbow]

Another good way to look at the Fling Gardens.

[Karen Rexrode]

Lisa, With my background as a grower, I go straight to the specifics of a plant and its culture. I especially loved the greenhouse at Hillwood for just that reason.