Jmh98law at aol.com: Southern Weather Yes, Rain, Yes

[George R Stilwell, Jr.]

Hi Ray,

You wrote:

>I hope y'all are enjoying the Southern weather this summer. Some plants
>like Laurentia are going like gang-busters in spite of the short supply
>of rain. On the other hand, the Zantedeschia are going dormant early as
>are the Arisaema.

Here in northern Michigan, we've had 90 degree weather for the past week
and
it looks like another week of it to come.  But rain --- some nights we've
had
4 1/2 inches of rain!  In fact, I just wrote to famly friends in Los
Altos,
CA, beginning -- "From Noah's Ark".  [We turned off our drip irrigation
three
weeks ago, and everything is still *very* wet.] The emitters for the
Arisaema
each have a shut-off valve, so even when I turn the irrigation back on,
if
dormant, the Arisaema will get no more water.

I began to worry that the already dormant Arisaema, despite the woodland
conditions, would rot!  The only ones that have gone dormant here are the

ones I started indoors in March and the A. griffithi.  Otherwise, they
are
all fat and sassy, lots of seeds set, huge leaves, happily growing.
Still, if
they go dormant anytime soon, I may get a second blooming, as I did two
years
ago with some.

I still have two groups of Zantedeschia in bloom, which will need to be
dug
in the Fall.

Everything has been three weeks ahead of schedule this year because of
the
early spring.  The rain has made the Epipactis [a rhizomatous,
terrestrial,
herbaceous wild orchid occurring naturally here by the 100s just on our
lot,
and many hundreds lining the 2-track we live on -- I assume many, many
more
on everyone else's wooded lots] proliferate and grow very tall.  Usually,
the
summer is drier, and it grows about 12 inches tall at maximum.  This year

I've seen many that exceed 24 inches in height.

I've moved some of the Primula Japonica to the bog area around the water
garden which is in the woods and quite shaded. They are thriving.  In the

perennial garden where the front four to six feet of the beds contain
about 8
species of Primula, the ones that suffer most from the heat and the few
hours
a day of summer sun are the P. japonica and the P. sieboldii.  The others

seem to tolerate the few hours of sun well.  Some of the P. sieboldii is
re-blooming just now.  I expect I could have had more re-blooming on the
P.
japonica had I done more dead-heading earlier.  I am saving seeds for
NARGS.
I hope the P. vialli self-seeds a great deal.  I love that tall, upright
stem
almost as much as the candelabra growth pattern of the P. japonica.

You can expect to receive lots of A. tryphyllum seeds, and also some A.
candidissimum; A. fargesi; A. erubscens; A. kiushianum; [I will have lots
of
seed, as about 3 or 4 set seed.  I've gathered from reading the postings
that
these are, in particular, difficult to get to germinate]; there are many,

many A. sikkokianum that have set seed.  Two A. tashiroi set seed. I
believe
there are a few other species that set seed.  Will monitor the seed heads
and
harvest as warranted.  I will, of course, save some seeds for myself, but

will pass on all that I can.  Unfortunately, I lost the one A. thunbergii

ssp. urashima seed-head I had.  Squirrels, I presume.  I rec'd three A.
consanguineum from Ellen Hornig, only one of which is about to bloom.
[I'm
not real sure about this one -- I haven't seen any silver-mottled leaves,
as
touted, yet.] I also got three A. fargesii from Bob Stewart, and they
haven't
broken dormancy.  [But, then, Ellen's just did a couple of weeks ago, and
one
set seed.]

I remember your suggestions about seed gathering when they are ripe ---
esp.
the part about burning your fingers.  It did not occur to me that the
same
would be true of Helleborus.  However, it was quickly made clear to me as
I
worked on those seeds.  I have since picked up a box of surgical
disposable
gloves.

The next project is to lay the pathways in the Arisaema garden. We have a

local marble place.  They throw their scraps over the edge of a steep
bank,
but any brave soul who wants to collect scraps can take what they want
without charge.  I thought I'd order lots of sand, screen it, lat a 2
inch
deep path foundation, and then set in the marble for pathways.  Until
then, I
only take closely supervised, small [2 to 3] groups in there so nothing
gets
stepped on.

Just now I'm working on finding some special Campanulas, having
researched
the genus, and found some that seem too wonderful.  As they are quite
invasive by nature, I will start with three plants of each of six, and
see
where that takes me.  [We have a new large bed -- about 150 feet long and
3
to 6 feet deep in places -- with all the things I had to move from the
old
perennial bed to make room for the other plants I fell in love with last
winter.]  There is room there for some of the new Campanulas.  But they
are
hard to find.  The one nursery carrying most of what I want is in
Vancouver,
B.C. and does not ship to the US.

I've just ordered 3 years of "black gold", which the Master Gardener
whose
shade garden was on our local Friendly Garden Club tour last week says
makes
all the difference.  I did not know that this supplier delivered, and
lacking
a pickup truck, had put off this purchase.  Since our compost is far from

producing this rich compost / top dresser, I thought it was about time to

give everything a real treat.

However, Bellweather Gardens does deliver, and the owner, Gail Ingraham,
has
been wanting to see our gardens for some years.  So she and her husband
will
come out to deliver and have a good tour in 2 weeks, working around our
schedule of guests.

We had a tour of 16 on Friday, and one of 12 on Sunday.  I love to get
them
back-to-back -- it seems less work.  As the group was too large to take
into
the Arisaema garden, we stood on the edge and I pointed.  The A.
erubscens
was a hit, the leaves and height being so unusual. They were also
enchanted
by the Pinellia cordata 'Yamazaki' and the Pinellia tripartita
'Atropurpurea', both of which are still blooming. Then I showed them the
photographs of what had finished blooming.

Well, to work, to work . . .

Have a good summer.  Jeanne Hannah

--------- End forwarded message ----------

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