Studiology

Baptisia

May is the floral explosion month with roses, iris, clematis and baptisia, all coming into flower. The work of general weeding turns to staking and deadheading with the occasional smile of admiration. A key player in this glorious gush of beauty is the native perennial baptisia. A plant with few, if any faults, save that it can occupy a largish footprint but recent breeding has brought us more compact hybrids as well as differently colored flowers.

A member of the bean family, related to the redbud tree, locust tree, and lupine, the flowers are similar with their beak-like shape and all can be eaten, tossed into a salad. As the shoots rise in spring they resemble asparagus shoots, the flowers are held in racemes or tight conical heads. Native to most of the southeast and Midwest, there are about seventeen species found growing in poor soils, dry woodland settings, sand and gravel. 

Baptisia australis

Flower color in the species is primarily yellow with some glorious white species and the most common - Baptisia australis with its blue-purple flowers. Numerous plant breeders have spent years breeding for alternatives in flower color and plant habit with flowers that rise well above the foliage. Prior to the surge in breeding, the species Baptisia minor was used as a dwarf option, but shy to flower, the May show was always erratic. 

Baptisia minor

Baptisia bracteata

Baptisia leucophaea

The favored white species is Baptisia alba, handsome even as it rises from the ground with black stems. Much has been done with this species and we now have 'Vanilla Cream' and 'Ivory Towers'. Bicolored hybrids are amazing and have brought us shades of pink, blue and white, and odd shades of orange/brown with yellow.

Baptisia alba

Baptisia 'Lunar Eclipse'

 To grow baptisia well, sun is essential. A southern or western exposure is best with soil that is not overly rich. Shade and rich soil will cause plants to become floppy. Foliage is very handsome, almost eucalyptus-like. The genista broom moth can defoliate a plant, eating the foliage. A pest of warmer climates, in years with warmish winters it can be a problem in Virginia. 

genista broom moth

Companion plants are numerous, peonies and iris are the simple answer. Penstemon, amsonia, and salvia offer three other natives to include. 

The seed heads are described as inflated or bloated. Some think they are pretty, and they do rattle as seeds mature. The species Baptisia sphaerocarpa has round seed heads, as the name implies; sphaero for round and carpa - seed head. I deadhead them to discourage seedlings of which there are not many. 

round seed heads of Baptisia sphaerocarpa

If you are not familiar with this gem of a perennial, I encourage you to take a gander. They form a deep tap root and are difficult to split or remove when mature, so plan before you plant. Baptisia australis can be five feet wide and a bit taller than four feet. But there are choices, many lovely options.

What's Your Style?

Going through the garden, an individual can spot their color palette and style. It may be haphazard, with no real attempt at color theory or matchy, matchy business, or really honed to perfectly placed neighbors, all playing well together. Clearly I like the weird plants, although I'm not "The Adam's Family" weird, or am I? I like Jack in the pulpits, wooly leaves, intriguing flowers, and patterned foliage. I have always been drawn to variegation, a tropical look with big leaves, and things that bloom really early and really late.

These are some of those oddball plants I have, and they do look a little funky, a little peculiar. Not that I don't have pink flowers, it's just that my garden is not awash with pink or any one color in particular, as I have said many times before, I want them all. Isn't it just one big experiment?

Here are two of the Jack in the pulpit's in flower. Arisaema thunbergii ssp. urashima and then Arisaema ringens. 

Also growing is this odd member of the aster family which is commonly known as the shredded umbrella plant. A shade garden resident, the leaves in spring are like walking zombies. The flowers are nice enough, but the true appreciation comes from these wooly leaves as they rise from the ground. I give you Syneilesis palmata.

There is no denying that maybe the best show of spring might be the flowering trees, the lack of frost and the mild winter are partly responsible for this. The redbuds have been incredible, the leaves not interfering with the explosion of flowers. I have two in my garden, neither one planted, both volunteering and left because they picked perfect spots to grow. They are my pink.

A new epimedium caught my attention last year and rightly so, the speckled foliage is attractive, the flowers are gorgeous. Epimedium 'Champagne', pink enough to go under a redbud, or is it?

There is a degree of pinkish-orange there, better placed with a bit of blue like that of pulmonaria. Not a speckled leaf pulmonaria, like these spotted new selections but a solid green leaf so as not to busy up the scene. Or Virginia bluebells with their pinkish buds that open to light blue flowers.  Or maybe we want to revisit pink in comparison to purple or salmon. Blue in it's multitude of shades can be rich, or pale, but always cool. Green, the color we can't escape can be warm or cool and overwhelming. Oh the mind races!

The true color champions in the world of garden design have experimented, rehearsed the pairings, sure in their ability to create a garden that doesn't fight with itself. I spend a lot of time with the challenges, happy to move things when they don't work - in other people's gardens. I wish I could say that my own garden is carefully blended, but no. I can tell you all of the things that are wrong with it, and it's fine. I dream of a day when I am retired and the full time gardener is me, maybe then.

 

 

Stealth Cam

In these stressful times I am privileged to have a place to wander and get lost for awhile. On a few of my trails I have cameras set up and have rounded up a few recent photographs to share. We have a healthy population of turkeys and it's mating season. From the looks of things, there are way more males than females and the males puff and strut as they try and win over the few females.

The females always look so disinterested to me.

We also have a piebald deer. She has been on the farm for many years, her progeny are normal and as I understand it, the genetic mutation comes from two piebald parents and accounts for only 2% of the population.

Occasionally I get a picture of our resident coyotes. I hear them but rarely see them. 

On my walk today I found three trumpeter swans at the lake. Forgive this poor image quality, it was taken with my phone and I used it to identify them. They were magnificent!

I hope you are able to get out and walk or work in your garden on this wonderful, spring day.

Peepzan and other Things

As a representative of the gallery Art A La Carte in Occoquan, VA, I created our Peep Show for 2020. The title is "Peepzan" as in Tarzan and Jane (of the jungle). The diorama is a jungle scene with tourists taking cell phone pictures and looking at exotic flowers and birds with a binocular. The cast of characters include two tour guides, two tourists, Peepzan, and Jane (of the jungle). 

Jane hasn't seen a hairdresser in awhile, which is quite evident! She is wearing a little (tiny) coconut shell bikini top, and Tarzan is sporting a loincloth, made of faux fur. The pipe cleaner legs and arms speak to his strength and bulging muscles.

The jungle tour guides have seen it all before and wait in the buggy, just another day of taking tourists to see the jungle and Peepzan. 

The Occoquan Peep Show is all online this year so here is a link if you are interesting in voting for my jungle scene and Peepzan, (voting will open for Easter).

Otherwise I have been working on some art projects, here are two small ones, the altered Pez dispensers are Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. As identical twins, they are not as identical as I would like, and I am surprised at how tiny nuances can make one  so different from the other, but they are cute.

I also finished this small box assemblage which I titled "Catch an Angel, Make a Wish". 

Take care everyone, stay healthy!