clay and limestone

Wildflower Wednesday~Native Bottle Tree

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Not what you expected!

Perhaps, you were thinking of this beautiful Bottle Brush Tree~~C&L November 2009

Aesculus parviflora, dressed in the Nashville fall "it" color. I fell for it when visiting the Missouri Botanical Gardens a long time ago...We were walking away from the Climatron when we passed through a planting of very tall shrubs with palmate green leaves (5 to 7 leaflets) and foot long brush like spikes of white tubular flowers. The flowers had showy red anthers that attract hummers. Missouri Plants website*

It was gorgeous and smelled delicious.... Finally, it's growing here!

C&L's Aesculus parviflora is a baby plant! It's planted in the Garden of Benign Neglect on the edge of the dry stream~~In somewhat moist, but, well draining conditions. Bottle Brush Buckeye is not native to Tennessee~~It is found naturally growing in Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina DC, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It's hardy to zone 4 and will grow in sun or shade. It is not a xeric plant. Here's what it looked like this morning~~All the pretty fall color has faded to a rich brown. You can see hints of the golden color that it once had. It's a slow growing plant that's known to sucker and create colonies! Although, it's described as not invasive. A big bold planting is just what is needed in the back garden...

Here's a photo of what we can hope to have some day!

Thanks to Mobot for the photos of the mature specimens

The Southern Bottle Tree on the other hand
Has no need for anything other than a level spot of lawn or garden.
The new 'garden tree' is sited for maximum viewing...(You might even be wondering where in the world the stock tank can be found? I promise to finish that tale in another post!) I've been hoping to find a bottle tree that had a tree form.

I think this one fits the bill.

The flowering gaura has absolutely nothing to do with this post!
It's just a pretty bloomer that's still going strong in the garden!
I am so very glad you stopped by!

gail

photos courtesy of MOBOT and J.S. Peterson @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database
http://www.missouriplants.com/Whiteopp/Aesculus_parviflora_page.html

Mish Mashing Away

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Witch Hazel/Hamamelis virginiana

The garden is slowing down even more...
There are no longer great swathes of fall blooming asters; even the long blooming Goldenrods have fewer blooms to tempt the late season visitors.
Grasses are turning deeper browns, clearly on their way to decay. Seedheads of perennials are everywhere
and bulbs have arrived in big and small boxes.

Gardening does not come to a full winter stop in this Mid South Zone 7 garden, activities merely slow down. There is no rush for us to get bulbs into the ground before snow covers the garden....The ground may not even freeze for months. But, this gardener has her own time line. Let's get those bulbs planted by the end of November, please!

Gaura has been the best surprise in the Garden of Benign Neglect.
It flowers and flowers!

Our perennials act like perennials everywhere else and die to the ground. Most annuals disappear with the first big frosts. Pansies, violas and cabbages will add color to the garden all winter. Hamamelis virginiana has already begun to bloom (see photo above); next will be H intermedia 'Diane' and then the vernalis witch hazels will bloom during the late winter. A few cyclamen might pop up. It's in full bloom now. There will be cold days and the ground might freeze for a few weeks, but, the sun will warm it all up and you can move plants around safely. It's not unusual to see aster blooms in December and a few brave bees venturing out. The biggest deterrent to winter gardening will be the winter rains and the gardener's need to take a break! Let's get those bulbs planted by the end of November, please!

Purple has popped up in the garden again! A few of the sweet last flowers of the native PFKAA~~Plants Formerly Known As Asters dot the garden. Also, still in flower are fall blooming crocus where I found a sleeping bee one morning this weekend.

The biggest pop of purple are these Adirondack chairs~~

They have have been reborn. All it took was cleaning and sanding and an afternoon of staining to make this big change in the garden! My favorite shot~below~ It gives me a better sense of the promise of purple coloring! It's also a truer photo of the purple stain. The asters, golden leaves of the nearby Juneberry and the red leaves of native dogwoods will be showcased next fall against the purple chairs. For a nano-second, I was tempted to paint the chairs red. Red would have been fun, too, but, the purple is perfect! Instead, Tulipa gregii 'Red Riding Hood' has been planted at the feet of the chairs. Aren't the gregii's delightful tulips! This photo is from Paghat's Garden~~Have you been there? Paghat the Ratgirl has been an online resource since 1999! Her site is chock full of good garden info and nice photos. I thank her for use of the photo.

I know you love befores~~ You can see (well, maybe not clearly, it's a fuzzy, low light shot) that the bluish asters will get along well with the purple chairs. This winter they will be a spot of color in an other wise brown landscape.

Elsewhere in the garden the Sheffield Mums are attracting these diurnal moths!

Yellow-collared Scape Moth and a multi-colored Ailanthus Webworm Moth

There is still enough pollen and nectar in the fading bloom to attract
the small pollinators. Little cutie pie bees and wasps have been visiting the Sheffies since they started blooming.

Check out these members of the mint family!Agastache x 'Raspberry Summer'

Hummingbird agastache has been covered with little metallic green sweat bees all weekend.
If you enlarge the photo you'll see what I mean.

Salvia elegans and Fred.
...and Pineapple sage has finally come into her good looks and is attracting Sulphurs like nobody else. If you want to see some very lovely photos of Sulphurs and honeybees~~Please pop over to my friend Sweetbay's blog!

Thanks for joining me on my meandering Mish Mash Monday posting.
MMM is the brain-child of Monica, Garden Faerie's Musings.

Gail

“In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.” Abram Urban

Gentle Bee The Hand Of The Gardener

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

The gathering bee

rests upon the goldenrod

the hand becomes the flower

Goldenrod is still blooming at C&L. It is a goldmine of goodness in any garden~~A protein rich pollen and good sugar nectar source for visiting critters. They are still flocking to its golden goodness.... Bees of every sort, wasps, moths and even predators have staked a claim and a space on the last of the flower clusters. They've come to drink nectar, collect pollen, nibble leaves and stems, prey on other insects, or lay eggs.
Its rough and tumble golden beauty has begun to dim and most flowers have
turned to fluffy seeds that will soon be blown about the garden.
Until it completely fades away it will be
a cozy bed for sleeping bees to cling to and
the last stop for many on the journey to winter.

Gail

Warmest thoughts of you all~~Have a good weekend and thank you for stopping by.

Moments In A Garden

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

If you surrender completely to the moments as they pass

you live more richly those moments.

Anne Morrow Lindbergh

Gail

Crocus sativus

Autumn Scenes For The Fall Color Project

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:20:00 +0000

Do please remember to click to enlarge!

Shagbark Hickory in full golden glory at C&L

All photos taken at Edwin Warner Park and C&L garden

I CRIED over beautiful things knowing no beautiful thing lasts.

The field of cornflower yellow is a scarf at the neck of the copper sunburned woman, the mother of the year, the taker of seeds. The northwest wind comes and the yellow is torn full of holes, new beautiful things come from my garden

in the first spit of snow on the northwest wind, and the old things go, not one lasts.*

Fall finally arrived and cloaked our world in beautiful colors...Please join our host, Dave, The Home Garden and other participants in celebrating the Fall Color project.
Edit: Has anyone noticed their comments disappearing? I had a lot of trouble with blogger this weekend and a commenter has told me she knows her comment posted~~then wasn't there later.

Warmest thoughts of you all.
Gail

* Poem is Carl Sandberg's Autumn Movement
For a list of the trees at the Warner parks go here

It Was A Dark & Scary Walk!

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Wait a minute!

That sounds familiar.

A gnarly dead tree and shadowed woodland paths.
Wasn't that last year's dark and spooky garden post?
(I liked that post)

Do you remember when
the wayback backyard REALLY was scary?
If you don't recall go here to see it!

Today, it's all dressed up in fall colors.
But, once upon a time, it was a muddy, dark, weedy space
fit for hide and seek with my nieces and nephews and a
hidey hole for the dear deer that found the gate open!
It was a dark and scary walk, but not anymore.

The Dancing Tree kicking up her heels in celebration.

But, just in case,

you are the kind of reader
who likes to sit on the edge of the seat,
thrills at being frightened, or
delights in the ghoulish....
Here are a few really scary things going on at C&L!

Vampire mosquitoes still biting when it's 50 degrees!
20+ inches of rain that's be-witched hamamelis 'Diane' to mildew!

New invasives taking root overnight!
Were they dropped off by alien space ships?

Close your eyes if you don't want to see anything too scary!

The area near my computer
has spilled over into bedlam!

If that's not scary enough
Take a look at my mosaic shed! There are surely cobwebs in the corners!

YIKES!

This scary looking Pterodactyl Seedpod has taken up residence in the garden!

But, it's not completely horror filled!

The sun did manage to peak out from behind the clouds
for a few minutes and fall has arrived in Middle Tennessee!
But you'll have to wait
to see those photos!

~Happy Halloween~

I sure hope your holiday has just the right amount of spookiness!

Gail

Wildflower Wednesday~Carolina Aster: Not Just Another Pinkish Face!

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

It Clambers, It Climbs! It's Fragrant!

Need I say more to convince you to rush to your favorite on line native nursery to get this pretty!

Ampelaster carolinianus

Not convinced yet? How about this~~ niche gardens describes it as "tough as nails". What's known so far~~ It appears happy at C&L and for that we love it! It's not a Tennessee native, but, is found happily growing in NC, SC, GA and Florida. I am sorry to say, that it's marginal in anything colder then zone 6. It's a fall blooming member of the asteraceae family with sweet scented pink lilac flowers that resemble Symphyotrichum patens flower and leaf form. What makes this aster unique is that it's the only woody perennial scandent aster in North America. (Horticulture wordsmiths already know that scandent means climbing! Here's another tidbit! This aster has a chromosomal uniqueness that places it in its own little genus and plant geneticists have had tons of fun confirming this over the last few years. They really know how to play!)

I must be honest~~I bet you're wondering what will follow! This is Carolina's first year at C&L! She has yet to be trialed in our wet winters. Which is the true test of most plants that move here. Can they survive wet clay soil for months on end? Regular visitors know that C&L plants have to be tough. This is one reason why there are so many cedar glade endemics in the garden (here for more on them). They are tough as nails; enduring wet winters and hot, dry summers. If these are your conditions, don't despair! Cedar glade endemics can take it! Austin gardeners, you ought to be able to grow them! Go here for ideas! But, I digress, the point is that Sweet Carolina is not a cedar glade endemic.

Carolina Aster has been described as a woody scrambling shrub, so it might be one of those plants that looks equally good climbing on a wall or romping through the border. We'll see how it grows after the winter tests it! It was happily growing in containers at Growild Nursery. My hope is that it will continue to grow well here and reach toward the 12 feet size it's purported to grow. It's planted on a trellis against a southwest facing wall. A sunny and protected spot; the former home of Carolina Jessamine, which started to grow under the roof shingles and was moved to the wayback backyard's ugly cyclone fence, but that's another story!

Bottom Line Info:

*A pretty little southeast coastal native, that might or might not survive the harsh growing conditions this garden likes to throw at plants! But, worth the trouble, if it climbs and scampers. We like climbing and scampering.

*It will grow as far south as Zone 9 and with protection as far north as Zone 6.

*While some garden centers claim it's tough as nails...It is by NO stretch of the imagination a xeric plant!

*Like all asteraceae, it attracts many pollinators looking for nectar and pollen. It's a caterpillar food plant for the American Painted Lady butterfly.

*It has a sweet honey like fragrance.

*Fall blooming until frost for all the bees and late visiting butterflies.

That's all I know folks! But, doesn't she sound like she might be worth some ~~trouble~~ coddling!

Gail

May I leave you with this~Pollinator shot of the day

Bumble on native aster

Autumn Meditation On Gold

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Autumn at Clay and Limestone is golden Shagbark Hickories
towering 70 feet or more above the house.

Imagine the birds eye view of a garden you would have
if you could climb to the top of the tallest tree...

Majestic and beautiful;
their golden coloring is a perfect match for October Blue skies.
Carya ovata are home to many woodpeckers and far too many squirrels.

At least once a day during the warmest days of autumn
you will find me lying in the grass beneath this tree.
It doesn't feel like autumn until
I see the October blue sky through its golden leaves.
(Some rituals are sacred)

Lying there I notice the
fruity smell of ripening persimmons
and the earthy smell of recent rains.
Bees buzz around me and birds begin to sing again.
My heartbeat slows down and my breathing deepens.
Relaxation sets in.

It's a wonderful place to meditate on Autumn's gold.
Go ahead and give it a try!
I promise it will, at the very least, make you smile.

Gail

"....everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn." ~Elizabeth Lawrence

Hedgemony*

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

The Thrown Room

Dear Impossible Missions Force,

We need your assistance in the Kingdom of Clay and Limestonia! You were a great help when the Kingdom was under attack from the underground Vinca movement. You surely recall the bitter battles and valiant effort of our loyal subjects when Major Vinca and his minions infiltrated every aspect of the community....Siphoning off the country's meager natural resources for their own uses. We remember well, when Vinca Minor, (second in command and even more aggressive then her cousin) aligned herself with the Bush and Privet families. Those very corrupt and once prominent families have been removed from influence. We celebrated those Last Days of Bush for months! But, they are bitter and determined to get re-rooted in the community... We fear that Hedge, our Minister of De-Fence has aligned himself with these disruptive factions. There is evidence of co mingling and conspiracy.

We must move carefully. Hedge has been a loyal subject and has many supporters; including a few of our more powerful families. Word must not reach the ears of our most powerful senator, Mr. I. He will not approve and could make trouble. Mr. I believes that the Kingdom needs a strong Minister of De-Fence and that Hedge has performed perfectly.

It's not without difficulty that We accept reports of Hedge's possible perfidy. He's worked hard protecting Clay and Limestonia from the world. He keeps the prying eyes of neighbors from our little kingdom. He's provided shelter for many an immigrant to our shores.

But, he's getting entirely too big and powerful. He's pushed past the boundaries and claimed land that is clearly not his...He's upset the natural order in this part of the world.

Oh, yes, like other despotic personalities, Hedge can be charming and beguiling! He does cut a fine figure in his seasonal dress uniform.
But, he's aggressive and has over run less assertive neighbors. Toppling a problem like Hedge can leave this little kingdom de-fenceless. Borders will be unprotected. A plan to get in and out of there quickly seems impossible at this moment. WE must of course err on the side of caution.

WE await your response and hope to see the Impossible Missions Force here soon.

Queen Gaillardia
Kingdom of Clay and Limestonia

*Hedgemony (n)~A hedge attempting to achieve garden domination

Hedge~a fence or boundary formed by a dense row of shrubs or low trees
Mony~Latin: action, result of an action or condition; a suffix that forms nouns)
Hegemony~ aggression or expansionism by large nations esp. among smaller nations in an effort to achieve world domination.

Wildflower Wednesday~ Mountain Mint

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Pycnanthemum muticum

Here's a plant that had me smiling when I found it at Growild this past weekend. It's Mountain Mint, but, it reminds me of poinsettia. It's probably those silvery bracts that surround the clusters of pretty pink flowers! (Do they look white to you? They look white to me, too!)**

They weren't in flower but, the seed heads practically called my name as I passed by them.

Set amidst the fluffy heads of hundreds of Asteraceae family members gone to seed,
they were stand out gorgeous. Set on two or three foot stiff gray stems they made a big statement. one of hundreds of fluffy seedheads at C and L!

I love fluffy aster seedheads! But, my friends, these were special.

I don't know if these photos capture how truly special. If you enjoy the look of fading flowers and plants gone to seed you will find beauty in most plants at the end of their season. You won't have to look far to find a bit of pretty in Mountain Mint.

Non gardeners might see plain old gray seedheads and wonder what in the world is she talking about!
I'm pretty sure Mr I would be rolling his eyes. Don't they know! Gray can be so much more then...well, then gray!

I wonder where all the seeds were dispersed!

My eye sees the lavender in the gray. That's what caught my attention as I was wandering up and down the plant nursery lanes. Not plain or boring at all...a lovely shade of gray.

Now for the particulars! As you may have already guessed this mint plant has all the properties of most mints! Spearmint scent when the leaves are crushed and it's said it makes a nice tea. Like other mint relatives...it's an enthusiastic grower if you love it and a thug if you don't! Plant it with false dragonhead/obedient plant and monarda/bee balms and let them duke it out! I think it could look good with the variegated river oats I got this past spring! Btw, that's another enthusiastic grower.

Hardiness zones 3 to 9
Moist soil at the edge of the woodland
Deer resistant
Vigorous and an easy to grow plant
Benefits:
Excellent nectar and pollen source for lots of garden visitors including beneficial insects
Stems and seedheads provide cover for insects and other critters

Surely, you have a spot for this sweet native! I hope it likes C&L!

Gail

and, because I have to show at least one bumble per post~~

*thanks to SB Johnny Wikimedia Commons for the photo

This Is WHAT I'll Remember When The Cold and Gray Winter Days Begin;)

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Today the sky was October blue beautiful. It was cold, but, with the sun finally shining on the garden, who cared! The wind was coming from the west and it was slowly warming the garden. The bees were already awake and the asters were humming with activity.

Small bees, large bees, faux bees, wasps and hover flies were everywhere.

The day invited me to sit and enjoy~~I saw Gossamer wings

Embraceable flowers

Pollen dusted bumbles

Flowers that bloom golden for weeks and weeks

fading flowers still beautiful

A visitor basking in the warm sunshine

Not one, but two Painted Lady butterflies a.k.a. Vanessa cardui

Clouds of blue asters buzzing with bees

Water colored petals in a favorite shade of pink

curlicue petals of fading asters

mouths open wide

The setting sun on the bestday we've had this month.

This is what I'll remember when the gray winter days arrive.

Gail

Well, That Was Certainly A Surprise Post!

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 23:21:00 +0000

Boy is my face red! Too funny! I was quickly typing a title for a post for tomorrow and hit publish instead of save! It didn't even occur to me to see if anything was published. Nor had I corrected the typing errors! I thought blogger had eaten my title and I just went outside to garden. Imagine my surprise to see a published post and comments.

You are good people!

Forgive me my sloppiness and inability to type while looking at the screen!

But, it was delicious outside today!

Gail

We Wished For October Blue Skies**~~and Blog Action Day

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Goldenrod and friend

To share with you on Bloom Day!
(Please remember all photos open larger...just click)

May I offer a lapis lazuli colored lichen instead?

It's my favorite blue~

October Blue Skies and Salvia azurea aside!

It was found growing on a decaying limb in the front garden and
has been tentatively id-ed as a Squamulose lichen.
So very eye catching amidst the greenery;
a gift from the rain gods,
instead of an apology for all the rain.
It was shot on auto/macro and
this is the color I saw!

Speaking of favorite blues~~

Salvia azure is still blooming,
but, it's not as floriferous as it usually is in October.

Instead of buzzing and nectaring around the salvia
C&L 's hardest workers are happily visiting
dare I say this,
native asteraceae!
I know you thought I was going to say asters!

Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

Symphyotrichum shortii
Short's Aster for short

Aster oblongifolius

Echinacea purpurea 'White Swan'

Pityopsis graminifolia Synonym: Heterotheca graminifolia

and the non native asteraceae,
which really is an aster!

Aster tatarian
It's usually buzzing with activity,
but, the continuously hard* rains have washed the pollen out.
Hopefully the sun will bring it back before the frosts take it out!

False Dragonhead is still blooming.
Doesn't it look more Muppet like then dragonlike?
The eyes, the long nose~~Muppet!

Salvia elegans with Clouded Sulphur Butterfly
whose says red and yellow don't go together!

Thank you for stopping by. . . To see more Bloom Day posts then you can visit in one day~~follow this link (here dears) to May Dreams Gardens, where Carol, our hostess and the creator of Bloom Day will link you to blogs all over the blogasphere! It's so much fun.

Gail

and, now a word about Blog Action Day!

Blog Action Day is an annual event that unites the world's bloggers
in posting about the same issue on the same day.
The aim is to raise awareness and trigger global discussions.
Follow the above link to reach bloggers blogging about about climate change.
~~~~~~~

You know, I've been whining about ALL THE RAIN!

There has been a lot; more than 18 inches have fallen
at C&L during the past 6 weeks.
September and October are historically
our two driest months.
Prior to that we had the coolest summer I remember.
There seemed to be fewer butterflies and bees all summer long.

Plants that have adapted to our
wet winters and dry summers are struggling.
Plants that are not supposed to grow
here have begun to show up~~Like this ludwigia.
A plant of marshes, ditches, wet soils,
coastal plains and waterways.
How it arrived~~ I can only guess.
How it's thrived~~all that rain.

Change seems to be in store for us.
Could it mean the usual weather patterns are changing?
Will we have more intense periods of rain and drought?
It sure seems possible.

I know the sun will eventually shine
on my little part of the garden. The
trees will turn their lovely fall colors.
Winter will arrive as usual.
In the meantime, I have work to do~~
Starting with figuring out how to capture a lot of rain for those dry times
that are sure to arrive next year!

Dendranthema Rubellum "Sheffield Pink"
Do you see the tiny critter hiding in there?

*“One of the clearest precipitation trends in the United States is the increasing frequency and intensity of heavy downpours. This increase was responsible for most of the observed increase in overall precipitation during the last 50 years.” (Global Climate Change Impacts, page 32)Here for more on Climate Change

**Autumn rain has increased markedly over the southeast over the last century. At the same time the global temperature has risen .7C. Here are some quotes from the U.S.Global change report: “Floods and droughts are likely to become more common and more intense as regional and seasonal precipitation patterns change, and rainfall becomes more concentrated into heavy events (with longer, hotter dry periods in between).” (Global Climate Change Impacts, page 44)

Wildflower Wednesday~~Narrowleaf Silk Grass

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:25:00 +0000

Pityopsis graminifolia Synonym: Heterotheca graminifolia

I knew nothing of Narrowleaf Silk Grass when I saw it at my favorite native plant nursery in early September. It was still blooming amid the gone to seed coneflowers, baptisias and other natives that Growild grows and sells wholesale to landscapers and retail nurseries.

In the Susans Bed~~it's the spot of yellow

Sure, it's another one of those "darned yellow composites", but, the narrow silvery grass like leaves give it a different appearance in the garden. The fact that it was still blooming last week after being pelted by a great deal of rain makes it an attractive garden addition. (edit: Just checked, it's still blooming!)

The yellow flowers are small...about the size of a nickle and generally begin to flower in late summer and continue to bloom into the middle of October. It's about three feet tall when it hasn't been beaten down by the relentless rains. A haircut in June will help it stay compact and upright. My major concern is that the soil has been too wet and it may rot away before it has a chance to settle in. Sunlight Garden says that the soil should be kept lean and mean. There's room to move and grow

I've frequently thought that C&L soil is mean, but, it may not be lean enough! Which may be to our benefit~~it appears to colonize in DRY, SANDY soils! One description says that it "occurs as scattered plants on better soils"(Forest Plants of The Southeast: Miller and Miller) We'll see, first it has to survive the wet weather Mother Nature has been throwing at it. Then it has to survive our wet winters! ~~The longitudinal studies aren't in yet! (edit: Nell Jean has a nice mention of it here)

Unfortunately, for regular readers residing north of us; Narrow Silkgrass appears to be a true native to the Southeastern States and up into the Ohio Valley. It would be pushing it to plant it in zones colder then 5.

My good friend, Frances (fairegarden) and I have spoken at great length about enthusiastic plants~~Physostegia virginiana and the native asters are excellent examples of enthusiastic, easy care plants that make beautiful swaths of color in the garden. It's possible that Narrowleaf Silk Plant will fit that description~
We can certainly hope!

Gail

Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light. Theodore Roethke

When Bumble Bees Fall Asleep

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Bombus inpatiens(?) resting on Physostegia virginiana

Do you think they dream

A bumble on the buds! The horns are incredible.

of fields of wildflowers and gardens filled with all their favorite flower foods

Goldenrod is a favorite napping spot

or of warm sunny days and autumn asters?

Common Eastern Bumble Bee asleep on the Tartar Aster

Did you know that sleeping bees have similar characteristics to sleeping humans? They don't move around, they don't react to stimuli very readily, their muscles relax, and their body temperature drops. (Reference: Southwick, E. E. "Bee sleep". American Bee Journal 131:165-166, 1991)

They are Sleeping Beauties in my garden.

Sleeping on mistflower

On warm days they are up before I am out in the gardens. The cooler autumn mornings finds them sleeping in; wrapped securely on a flower.
You can wake them up with a kiss~~~ if you're brave! But, a gentle pat or stroke on their fuzzy backs might be easier.

Be very gentle. They are more fragile then we think....They fool us with their noisy bluster and buzzing to frighten us away. Rarely do they sting. They are too busy to bother.

A honeybee very much awake!
But, watch out for those honeybees~~They have tempers!

Don't worry. They can take the gentle and loving touch of the gardener's hand.

So pet them. Appreciate them. Delight in them. It bears repeating~~provide for them.*~~and they'll continue to provide for us.

Gail

If you want to learn more about Bumbles..I've written a post about what we gardeners can do to help them...Go here to read Taking Care of Bzzzness.

“Morning is the best of all times in the garden. The sun is not yet hot. Sweet vapors rise from the earth. Night dew clings to the soil and makes plants glisten. Birds call to one another. Bees are already at work.” William Longgood

*"...a few of the known 49 native bumblebee species in the United States are becoming endangered. According to the National Research Council (as cited in a Xerces Society report), populations of wild bees are in a "long-term downward trend." Some bee experts like Robbin Thorp speculate that our native populations acquired some kind of pathogen from commercially reared bumblebees.**Neil Cunningham

A Beautiful Day

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 15:00:00 +0000

Yesterday was beautiful

Rain was forecast for the afternoon, with mostly cloudy skies during the morning hours. A good day to get at the ever growing list of chores and projects! An even better day to visit the Tractor Supply to check out the stock tanks for the front garden! There were four visiting Monarch Butterflies.
The most we've ever had!

Changes to the front garden have been stalled by rain and an absent landscaper. She needs the big jobs more then my teeny tiny change! It's been frustrating to wait and wait~~but, there has been a gift. The design has become clearer to me and had we gone ahead with it as planned...I would have had to undo it. (More on the design in a future post)

As an aside, I've been eying stock tanks for years. One of the many tear sheets in my garden and home improvements folder features a stock tank jacuzzi. It was very clever and appealed to me on several levels...easy for DIYers and it had that

My Urban Suburban living room/den~
colors all wrong in this shot, but you get the idea!

Urban Country look I love. But, like many a good idea...this one stayed in the folder.

It really was a beautiful day

Fast forward to blogging.

Incredibly beautiful and breezy

Pam (Digging) has renewed my interest in stock tanks! She has used them beautifully in both her gardens. Her planters and small ponds are fabulous.
The large stock tank pond in her new garden is my favorite.
Stock tanks make sense to me~good design and economical.

I think it can work at Clay and Limestone. Another gratuitous photo of the rainy day, NOT, that was forecast!

I'm drawn to round stock tanks.
They can be found in Middle Tennessee. They just won't fit in the back of my Subaru!
Also, I'm not sure which size to get...
Four foot seems too small, six and eight seem too big!
Then there is Hedge and Lawn!
Both will be undergoing some changes in the redesign.

So, I brought an oval stock tank home.
I'm checking it out to see if I like it better then a round one.
The shape is cool. If it doesn't work
there's a perfect spot in the Garden Of Benign Neglect.

So what do you think? Oval or Round?
Gail

"Gardeners, I think, dream bigger dreams than Emperor's.
-- Mary Cantwell

Oh, You Made My Day

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 12:40:00 +0000

It was a great day already,
but the Buckeye Butterfly
flitting around the grasses
was a perfect end
to my playtime in the garden.

Junonia coenia is a common butterfly in the south...
but, a first time visitor to Clay and Limestone.
I popped over to
Butterflies and Moths of North America
to find out about this beauty!

It prefers a sunny area with bare ground and low vegetation...Which explain how happy he was to be flying around my grassy area in the front garden...It's all clover, native sedges, left over turf grasses, and a few of its favorite plantain, poking up here and there. Larval host foods include plants from the snapdragon family (toadflax) and ruellias. It also takes up nutrition from mud and dirt. It's favorite nectar sources are composites including aster, chickory, gumweed, knapweed, and tickseed sunflower. Dogbane, peppermint, and other flowers are also visited.

It's a perching and flying around to attract females kind of critter.
I never saw him nectaring on any plants~~
He would stop on a leaf or a twig and

slowly open and close his beautiful wings.
When I got too close,
he would lift up and fly in a circle and
return to very nearly the same spot!

Such a flirt!

Gail

We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty. ~Maya Angelou

I Love Purple~

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:00:00 +0000

If you asked me last week to tell you my favorite color~~
it wouldn't have been purple!

It would most certainly have been

a water colored pink flower like this gaura or

the salmon pink Tapien Verbena that has been blooming since early spring.

The floriferous Goldenrods would have been in the running.

Of course, the sweet lilac flowers

of Tartar Aster, are dear to my heart.
They were still attracting the Monarch Butterflies before the rains returned.

But, purple my favorite?

Never!

It would have been the blue of

October skies seen over the distant hills

or through the tall grasses.

Purple never crossed my mind....until,

I decided to paint the tuteur. It was barely visible in the wayback of the Garden of Benign Neglect and would have been more invisible as the fall colors turned to winter browns. Without a white blanket of snow our gardens are mulch brown punctuated with junipers and a few hollies. Painting seemed an easy and fun solution.

The debate was between Chinese Red or French Blue, but,
when I saw the Deep Velvet Purple paint sample~Wow!
It was just what the garden needed~~So the tuteur

was painted a rich purple.
Then a bird house was painted a rich purple...and before long
there were purple pops of color all over the garden.

That was when I knew~~

I loved purple!

Gail

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you."
(Rabbi Rashi, February 22, 1040 – July 13, 1105)

Little Asters Everywhere*

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Asteraceae that is!

The plants formerly known as asters are blooming like gangbusters at Clay and Limestone. The Aster tataricus has been blooming for quite some time. It's a favorite of all the bees, skippers, moths and recently several Monarch Butterflies.

Monarch on Aster tataricus ...
Do enlarge this photo!

Once the rains stopped the fall blooming native asters popped open! Now there is a cloud of lilac-blue that is humming with bees all over the front gardens! The blue cloud is lovely to see, but in the deeper shade of the central bed it is nearly impossible to capture. Shooting macro is much more successful and fun. I can get up close and personal with the bees. They are too busy to pay attention to anyone. They rarely buzz me and, even when I am in their space, they move quickly on to the next flower. They're in hyperdrive to collect as much nectar as possible...winter is coming.

Symphyotrichum shortii

I have tentatively identified one of the blue asters as Aster shortii.
Now known as Symphyotrichum shortii. It's my favorite and I look forward to it blooming
each fall.

Symphyotrichum shortii formerly know as Short's Aster

Symphyotrichum shortii is a very prolific flowerer. According to Illinois Wildflower~
It can bloom for almost two months and spreads by seed and root to form small colonies!

That's my experience, too!
Long time readers will know
that words like colony, spreads by seed and roots won't scare me off...
Unless we are talking about the notorious Vinca gang or bush honeysuckle.
(Go here for the post)
I have the space and want the look of a buzzing cloud of blue.

It has been known to bloom lightly, here and there,
in the more protected parts of the garden until December.
That's a very nice habit.
Gardeners can forgive it falling over from bloom heaviness
when we add up all the pluses.
long bloom
easy care
beautiful blue flowers
bees and butterflies adore it

The Tartar Aster is not a native, but,
has been a big food source
for late visiting butterflies and bees.
I love 'Pardon My Big Aster'.
That's my name for this leggy beauty.

It's a lovely plant that makes a great big statement.
Even it's leaves are big.
It's a terrific antidote to the garden's serious case of 'Small Leaf Syndrome'.
Thank you Mother Nature for making this plant attractive to bees and butterflies...
Being a good critter magnet is an added bonus!

The pleasantly warm days and cool nights of autumn
are bringing changes to the garden.
I can see the first of the yellows in the tops of the tallest trees.
Fall can be a long season in the Middle South...
lasting until December, with occasional freezes.
It's a time for open windows, porch sitting and
reflection.

I wish you were here to sit with me in the garden.

Gail

*With ~~thanks~~ apologies to Rebecca Wells for use of her book title Little Altars Everywhere
A great read, btw.

Wildflower Wednesday~~Hearts-A-Bustin

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 22:50:00 +0000

Euonymus americanus
Hearts-A-Bustin

Hearts-A-Bustin is in full autumn fruiting.
A common shrub of the southern woodlands that
often goes unnoticed, even when flowering! But, as soon as the fruiting berries pop open to reveal its

brilliant orange seeds, there is no ignoring it.

That's not all!
Its leaves turn a ghostly white and
cling to the wiry stems for a very long time.
But not yet!
Right now, its about those berries and seeds
and the heart that has busted open!

...and those seeds make wonderful little Hearts-A-Bustin plants!

It's growing in amended clay soil in the full sun,
along with Tennessee Coneflower and Salvia azurea.
They look surprisingly good together.
If you garden in hardiness zones 5, 6, 7, 8 and 9,
it will grow for you!

The bad news ~
I am sorry to tell you this, Cameron!
It's a favorite deer food.

AND, one more thing!

My heart is a bustin with gratitude.

I am tickled Practically Perfect Pink
that you voted for Clay and Limestone
as Best Native Gardening Blog, Best Commenter and Most User Friendly Blog!

What a delight and honor it was to be in the company of the stellar nominees
in each of those categories.

Thank you~~
for reading my blog;
for taking time to make your wonderful comments;
for your friendship;
and for honoring me with these awards.
You are the dearest of people...
It's you who are the best.
Really!

Gail

Rough and Tumble Wildflower Beauties

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

New England Aster or Symphyotrichum novae-angliae

Fall at Clay and Limestone it all about the simplest of wildflowers.

Goldenrod or Solidago canadensis

Wildflowers with no known pedigree!

New England Aster and goldenrod a perfect marriage

Plants like New England Asters (and other native asters), Goldenrods, False Dragonhead and others.
These hardworking beauties bloom in my zone 7 garden until frost.
Colorful and beautiful flowers that are important plants for nectaring bees and butterflies.

I like to plant New England aster with goldenrod. A dynamic duo. A perfect marriage of good looks and functionality. They provide color and nectar at a time of year when both can be in short supply.
New England aster is a host plant for the Pearl Crescent caterpillar.
A wide variety of butterflies and bees visit the aster as a late season nectar plant.

Aromatic aster/Aster oblongifolius is just beginning to open!

Goldenrods, especially Solidago canadensis,
are often seen as a little too pushy for most gardens.
Their reputation is warranted! They spread quickly and need to be kept in check.
But, I find their waving wands of golden color covered with dozens of bees a beautiful sight!

Critters are very attracted to goldenrods. Small bees, wasps, flies, and beetles visit its flowers for nectar and/or pollen. According to Illinois Wildflowers site "the flowers are especially attractive to many species of wasps and flies, which play an important role in controlling insect pests, or breaking down organic matter in the detritus cycle."

It's a beast of a plant, but it's welcome here.
Pulling it out is part of my
upper body strength building program;)

I don't think I could garden without these rough and tumble beauties!

They thrive here.
They are bee magnets.
They just make me smile.

False Dragonhead/Physostegia virginiana and Ageratina altissima

I planted False Dragonhead, but the Goldenrod, Mistflowers, Snakeroots and almost all the native asters were here long before a house was built on this property. I've allowed them to seed themselves about the gardens and only remove them if they get too enthusiastic.

The white snakeroot is one of those enthusiastic, but useful plants.
It attracts bees of all sizes~~small, large and in between!
It grows robustly in shade!

The verbesinas and pokeweeds are also enthusiastic,
but, helpful in the garden.
Many find them both messy and weedy.
I adore them for their stature and color.

Verbesinas provide food for monarch butterflies, carpenter bees and honey bees.
The birds pokeberries attract include songbirds, robins, cardinals,
catbirds, woodpeckers, waxwings, bluebirds, and morning doves.
That's a lot of happy birds!
...and just because I like this kind of information~~
The United States Declaration of Independence was written in fermented pokeberry juice.

I love these rough and tumble, take care of themselves wildflowers~~
They're perfect for this time of year,
perfect for the bees and butterflies
and perfect for this garden.

My holy grail task~to capture a flying bee in focus that shall be a merry chase!

Gail

"They're things as helps themselves," said Martha. (from The Secret Garden Frances Hodgson Burnett)

Sunshine, There You Are!

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:25:00 +0000

Peaking out from behind those billowing and beautiful white clouds.

Welcome back!
We missed you.
Really missed you!

When you finally showed your beautiful face
gardeners from all over the city raced outside

To see how their gardens fared in the last deluge.
Four point five inches were added

to the ten plus that had fallen on Clay and Limestone.

Our state is no longer suffering from a drought.
Thank you Mother Nature.

Chasmanthium latifolium "River Mist"

You've made the bees smile.

They've been waiting to taste the nectar and Salvia coccinea 'Coral Nymph'

carry the pollen to the next plant.

The garden is laughing.

Gaura lindheimeri 'Passionate Rainbow'

I swear you've made us all happy.
We've been a grumpy lot of ungrateful people,
but, now we've put on our best smiles and
taken our manners out of storage.

Toad Lily "Empress"
We are celebrating your warm return.

Welcome back!

gail

“We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” — Thornton Wilder

Wild Flower Wednesday~~Salvia Azurea*

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

My favorite of favorite blue flowers~Salvia Azurea~~is not a sweet demure plant.

It can't be and survive the vagaries of weather
that Clay and Limestone has had in the last many years!
Dry summers, wet summers and always wet winters.
It needs good drainage.
Piece of cake!

It is over six foot tall,
but I recommend that you cut it back in late June
to keep it compact and bushy.
This is the do as I say, not as I do school of gardening!

So, it is more sprawling then tall right now!
But, I don't care! Look at that gorgeous blue.

Every time I pass this plant the bees scatter.
They are up at dawn nectaring.
They may even sleep on the plant.
Skippers visit it, too.

Salvia azurea goes by several names~~
Pitcher Plant, Blue Sage, Giant Blue Sage

Blue Sage is late to emerge in spring, so mark where it's planted...
You don't want to step on it like I have!
As a bonus look for seedlings sprouting.
I'm going to be transplanting the seedlings I've nurtured
to the sunny Susans bed this fall...
That means soon!

Salvia azurea is found naturally growing in North Carolina south to Florida;
west to Texas; north to Nebraska and Minnesota.

Several really good nurseries are now offering it for sale!
We are lucky aren't we!

Have a sweet weekend.
Gail

I cannot endure to waste anything as precious as autumn sunshine by staying in the house. So I spend almost all the daylight hours in the open air. Nathaniel Hawthorne

*rain delayed

Q: So Tell Me, How Much Rain Have You Had?

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:25:00 +0000

A: We've had so much rain that

A few hours of sunshine!

Echinacea Purpurea 'Magnus' and E purpurea 'Elton Knight'

have germinated on their own seedheads! (photo from this summer)

Echinacea cotyledon popping up on the seedheads.

Even closer!

That's a lot of rain!
It sure proves that the seeds on this flower head are fertile.
They've been planted in the bed on one side of the baptisia
with the Tennessee Coneflowers on the other side.
The offspring could be very interesting!
It doesn't matter where you plant coneflower
bees will cross pollinate all them.
Do you suppose I can gently remove them
and plant them someplace safe from the pouring rain?
~~~
We've had so much rain that it's aided and abetted
False Dragonhead's movement through the garden. A strong presence in the fall garden was the goal. A big color statement in the green of summer's foliage
and to feed the bees.

It has done just that~~
It's not a plant that worries me. It really does pull out easily and there's
more to transplant to other spots in the garden.
I am working on repetition and massing plants
and False Dragonhead is cooperating nicely.

I love the way False Dragonhead (Physostegia virginiana)
looks with the towering Tartar Aster

Pardon My Big Aster ~Aster tataricus does not refer to the size of the flowers, but to the height of the stalks.
I had misidentified these beauties as Jin Dai,
because they were under 5 foot. But, this year,
we've had so much rain that it has grown to it's full height~
hovering around 7 to 8 feet tall!
Astonishing, when you see them in in semi-shade! Aster tataricus ~go here to see more on this beauty

To take these photos I had to stand on a chair.

This is where I have to come clean and tell you
that this plant is not as easy to dig out as the false dragonhead. Not impossible, but ...
You know, we've had so much rain that digging and dividing ought to be easy!

Q: So, how much rain have we had?
A: We've had so much rain, that my house is getting clean!

Thanks for stopping by and have a fantastic day in your garden. Gail

Reaping The Rewards

gailtiles@gmail.com (Gail) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:00:00 +0000

I love blogging~~there are rewards that many don't understand~~unless they are garden bloggers. Where else can we talk about gardening as much as we want or show photos of our 'darlings' without seeing peoples' eyes glaze over!
But, it's so much more then that.

The real rewards come from all of you. Sometimes they arrive in a great big box filled with plants or a small envelop with coveted seeds! Gifts from your garden. (Over due thanks to Tatyana and Sweetbay for the seeds and Tina and Monica for the plants!)
Don't you love it when someone writes something that makes you laugh until your sides hurt.

I've read posts that have stayed with me for days; some sad, some joyful. I've seen photos that dazzle. I've pondered questions you've asked; searched for the id of plants you've posted and in the process, learned so much.

My garden has prospered and so have I.

Just the other day, my friend Lisa, who blogs at Natural Gardening,
gave me the best ever compliment.
She showed her landscaping class my way back backyard
to inspire them.

Bumble nectaring in the Goldenrod

Lest you travel down the wrong path,
Lisa was leading a program entitled ~~ 'Renovating the Garden'.
She bumbled them over to my last year's Halloween Post!

It was a Dark and Scary Walk (to see the post go here). The wayback backyard was an overgrown jungle of junipers and bush honeysuckle. It wasn't a stretch to make the photos eerily atmospheric! Her hope was that participants would see the changes made at Clay and Limestone and be inspired: to not give up and to reclaim their own neglected spaces.

I know very well how easy it is to collapse into being over whelmed by a big garden job!

In case you've forgotten or are a new reader, here's a look at the before.

In the south, with our longer growing season and mild winters, it's especially important to keep on top of invasive thugs and some overly enthusiastic natives! It didn't take long for my garden to be overwhelmed when I was sidelined from heavy gardening. Last winter we took back the wayback and began renovating the neglected gardens. When Lisa emailed me, I couldn't help being tickled Practically Pink that she chose to share our progress with her class.

and the after~Spring 2009 It's so empty!

Here's a photo from this morning~~
The thugs are thrilled that we've had about 9 inches of rain this week.
For that matter, they have grown like crazy during this wet and cool summer.

There's one other gift from blogging~~It keeps me motivated in the garden!

Thank you!
Gail

“If you can't be a good example, then you'll just have to serve as a horrible warning.” Catherine Aird