Dear Diary: Blue Skies and Blooms – In Conversation with Teza’s Children
July 5, 2009
Teza’s first Clematis
….sadly, he has isn’t fond of the climbers, preferring the herbaceous shrubbier cousinsbelonging to the heracleifolia species. Granted there is something dainty about their
pinky finger sized blooms with reflexed petals….. Oh, and some of them do indeed smell like vanilla! Talk about having the deck stacked against you, but he does take care of me nonetheless!
‘It’s my opinion that next to Cory(dalis), I am
closest to Teza’s heart!
My (Aconitum kyrlovii) foliage is pretty spectacular
if I do say so myself! Last year Teza was happy with just my leaves!
….. my cousin Aconitum lycoctanum cavortingwith Baptisia ‘Purple Smoke’
The sub-LIME flowers of Aconitum Kyrlovii…people always confuse me with my cousin
Aconitum lycoctanum, but he’s much smaller
with buttery yellow blooms!
Beware! We are highly toxic and were
once used to deter wolves from herds of sheep!
Rhus typhina ‘Bailtiger‘continues to grow by leaps and bounds!
Euphorbia hybride ‘Excalibur’ andVerbascum ‘ Plum Sorbet’
The furry flower heads ofTrifolium rubens
Under the perfect conditions, there is a visibleamount of blue in my flowers!
Raindrops on Penstemon always catches Teza’s wandering eye!
Perhaps I am a distant cousin of eitherPenstemon or Salvia.
( Teza’s friend Grace mentioned the pouting bottom lip!)
I’m actually Dracocephalum ruyshcianum
‘Sea horses swimming in the Green Sea!’
A school of blue sea horses, slightly blurredto try and emulate an under-water shot….
maybe next time Teza!
A new addition to the container is the additionof Origanum ‘Kent Beauty’
whose green and pink bracts are oft’
mistaken for the actual flowers, which are
much smaller, closely resembling those of Salvia!
much smaller, closely resembling those of Salvia!
‘Something tells us that this going to be one ofTeza’s photographic essays before the season is done!’
‘Did I mention that I’m not fond of upstarts?’
‘Did I mention that I’m not fond of upstarts?’
Cotinus coggygria ‘Grace’has responded most divinely this season!
( And in the Shade no less!)
Corylopsis spicata has wonderfulbluish leaves outlined in a brighter green!
( In the Spring, they emerge a wonderful chartreuse with purple highlights)
Campanula latifolia ‘Macrantha‘ is meredays away from unfurling her gorgeous
upturned mauve bells
…. slightly ahead of the game is Campanula ‘Sarastro‘(Teza loves the pleated buds before they open….. he calls them his garden jewels!)
but he also anxiously awaits the wonderful pendulous bells!
‘I’ve heard of being caged, but this adds a totally new dimension!
Aconitum hemsleyanum( a true climber to 3.5m)
with
Tricyrtis macrantha ‘Macranthopsis‘
(startling canary yellow tubular flowers with ruby centres! Coming in September!)
‘This year I have quadrupled in size, withthree other siblings, but so far only one
cobra-like spathe!
After soaking up the water droplets andTeza’s praise, we happily posed for
a family picture, highlighting the
newest climbing feature!
Hydrangea ‘Annabelle’(Teza wishes I would stay this colour all season long!)
Dear Diary:
After four days of G L -orious rain ( Shhh, there are a lot of gardeners who aren’t happy, but we the children of Teza feel the same way about it as he does!) we decided it was time to shout the virtues of rain, rain, G L orious rain from the bottom of our roots, to the tips of our sometimes very blue blossoms!
Unfortunately Teza is worried about business at the nursery, but when he comes home after a slow day, we make sure that he has something to celebrate! He was ecstatic to discover that a
rare climbing Aconitum (Monkshood) took hold and this year has sent forth two long stems that must be close to 1m in length thus far. For the longest time, they were sprawling themselves amongst and atop the palmate leaves of Dyphellia cymosa, and perhaps Dy complained to Teza about feeling slightly cramped! You have to admit it is a nice feature!
We’re heading into ‘camp’ season – the time of year when Campanula ‘Sarastro‘ and ‘Macrantha‘ send forth their wonderful blooms. Earlier in the season Miss ‘Sarastro‘ was infested with aphids, but Teza was not far behind with a mixture of soap, water and baking soda (or is it powder?) and his q-tip to gently scrape off these most vile of garden pests! To the uninformed, it might appear as if he were trying to clean our ears! Silly Teza!
I (Penny Penstemon) was feeling rather blue today, as I find myself losing the tall and elegant stature that I possessed a mere month ago, but Teza was quick to remind me that my blossoms do add a bit of weight to the stems…… is he trying to tell me something? Of course he was more than willing to prop me up but I told him I am proud of who I am, lounging on the ground, or reaching for the stars……
We’ve often considered Teza to be a bit of a lone wolf type parent, and perhaps this explains his fascination with all things Aconitum. Last count there were close to ten different species in the garden, ranging in colour from butter yellow, steely grey, white outlined with purple, mauve, deep purple and, his favourite, sky blue! Hundreds of years ago farmers who had grown weary of packs of wolves marauding their sheep herds, dug up and left the roots of this majestic beauty in their fields. Toxic to the point of being deadly – Aconitum soon inherited the common name of Wolf’s Bane. The unique helmet shape of their flowers led to another common name, Monkshood, both of which are still in use today!
Teza can sleep in tomorrow, but we overheard him saying that he is going to start a list of those of us that are ready to head of to ‘University’ this fall…… a euphemism for being divided and potted up to go and reside in the Guest Gardeners many splendorous shade borders. Something tells me that the competitive atmosphere here in the garden is going to get FIERCE in the next few days…… stay tuned, commencement is slated for September.
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Your garden looks wonderful, Teza! Love those blue seahorses.
I'm glad someone is happy about all this rain!
I am feeling for those plants that will be graduating later this year
Some lovely plants – I do like those aconitums. I was surprised that you are not fond of climbing clematis – you are missing out on a huge range of vertical beauty 
Could you not be tempted by any of the smaller flowered gems ? I am sorry to hear that business at the nursery is not so good – I hope that it picks up soon.